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Froidevaux JSP, Jones G, Kerbiriou C, Park KJ. Acoustic activity of bats at power lines correlates with relative humidity: a potential role for corona discharges. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222510. [PMID: 36919430 PMCID: PMC10015334 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
With the ever-increasing dependency on electric power, electrical grid networks are expanding worldwide. Bats exhibit a wide diversity of foraging and flight behaviours, and their sensitivity to anthropogenic stressors suggests this group is very likely to be affected by power lines in a myriad of ways. Yet the effects of power lines on bats remains unknown. Here we assessed the responses of insectivorous bats to very high voltage power lines (VHVPL; greater than 220 kV). We implemented a paired sampling design and monitored bats acoustically at 25 pairs, one pair consisting of one forest edge near to VHVPL matched with one control forest edge. Relative humidity mediates the effects of power lines on bats: we detected bat attraction to VHVPL at high relative humidity levels and avoidance of VHVPL by bats at low relative humidity levels. We argue that the former could be explained by insect attraction to the light emitted by VHVPL owing to corona discharges while the latter may be owing to the physical presence of pylons/cables at foraging height and/or because of electromagnetic fields. Our work highlights the response of bats to power lines at foraging habitats, providing new insight into the interactions between power lines and biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jérémy S. P. Froidevaux
- Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LJ, UK
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO, UMR 7204), CNRS, MNHN, Sorbonne-Université, Concarneau/Paris 29900/75005, France
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Gareth Jones
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Christian Kerbiriou
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO, UMR 7204), CNRS, MNHN, Sorbonne-Université, Concarneau/Paris 29900/75005, France
| | - Kirsty J. Park
- Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LJ, UK
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Murugavel B, Kandula S, Somanathan H, Kelber A. Home ranges, directionality and the influence of moon phases on the movement ecology of Indian flying fox males in southern India. Biol Open 2023; 12:286595. [PMID: 36648245 PMCID: PMC9922730 DOI: 10.1242/bio.059513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Flying foxes of the genus Pteropus are amongst the largest fruit bats and potential long-range pollinators and seed dispersers in the paleotropics. Pteropus giganteus (currently P. medius) is the only flying fox that is distributed throughout the Indian mainland, including in urban and rural areas. Using GPS telemetry, we mapped the home ranges and examined flight patterns in P. giganteus males across moon phases in a semi-urban landscape in southern India. Home range differed between the tracked males (n=4), likely due to differences in their experience in the landscape. We found that nightly time spent outside the roost, distance commuted and the number of sites visited by tracked individuals did not differ significantly between moon phases. In 61% of total tracked nights across bats, the first foraging site was within 45˚ of the emergence direction. At the colony-level, scan-based observations showed emergence flights were mostly in the northeast (27%), west (22%) and southwest (19%) directions that could potentially be related to the distribution of foraging resources. The movement ecology of fruit bats in relation to the pollination and seed dispersal services they provide requires to be investigated in future studies. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baheerathan Murugavel
- IISER TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Maruthamala P. O, Vithura, Kerala 695551, India
| | - Sripathi Kandula
- 74-6-51, Sravanthi Enclave, Prakash Nagar, Rajamahendravaram, Andhra Pradesh, 533103 India
| | - Hema Somanathan
- IISER TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Maruthamala P. O, Vithura, Kerala 695551, India
| | - Almut Kelber
- Lund Vision Group, Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 35, 22362 Lund, Sweden,Author for correspondence ()
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Yabsley SH, Meade J, Martin JM, Welbergen JA. Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0259395. [PMID: 34723974 PMCID: PMC8559981 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Urban expansion is a major threat to natural ecosystems but also creates novel opportunities that adaptable species can exploit. The grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is a threatened, highly mobile species of bat that is increasingly found in human-dominated landscapes, leading to many management and conservation challenges. Flying-fox urbanisation is thought to be a result of diminishing natural foraging habitat or increasing urban food resources, or both. However, little is known about landscape utilisation of flying-foxes in human-modified areas, and how this may differ in natural areas. Here we examine positional data from 98 satellite-tracked P. poliocephalus for up to 5 years in urban and non-urban environments, in relation to vegetation data and published indices of foraging habitat quality. Our findings indicate that human-modified foraging landscapes sustain a large proportion of the P. poliocephalus population year-round. When individuals roosted in non-urban and minor-urban areas, they relied primarily on wet and dry sclerophyll forest, forested wetlands, and rainforest for foraging, and preferentially visited foraging habitat designated as high-quality. However, our results highlight the importance of human-modified foraging habitats throughout the species' range, and particularly for individuals that roosted in major-urban environments. The exact plant species that exist in human-modified habitats are largely undocumented; however, where this information was available, foraging by P. poliocephalus was associated with different dominant plant species depending on whether individuals roosted in 'urban' or 'non-urban' areas. Overall, our results demonstrate clear differences in urban- and non-urban landscape utilisation by foraging P. poliocephalus. However, further research is needed to understand the exact foraging resources used, particularly in human-modified habitats, and hence what attracts flying-foxes to urban areas. Such information could be used to modify the urban foraging landscape, to assist long-term habitat management programs aimed at minimising human-wildlife conflict and maximising resource availability within and outside of urban environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha H. Yabsley
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
| | - Jessica Meade
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
| | - John M. Martin
- Institute of Science and Learning, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Mosman, NSW, Australia
| | - Justin A. Welbergen
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
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Zuñiga-Palacios J, Zuria I, Castellanos I, Lara C, Sánchez-Rojas G. What do we know (and need to know) about the role of urban habitats as ecological traps? Systematic review and meta-analysis. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 780:146559. [PMID: 34030347 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Revised: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Urban areas represent a spectrum that goes from being safe habitats for biodiversity (i.e., habitats more or equally preferred, without costs to fitness) to being ecological traps (i.e., habitats more or equally preferred, but with costs to fitness). Given the imminent urban expansion, it is valuable to assess how biodiversity is responding to urbanization and thus generate timely conservation strategies. We systematically review the urban ecology literature to analyze how much do we know about the role of urban areas as ecological traps. Using a formal meta-analytical approach, we test whether urban areas are functioning as ecological traps or as safe habitats for different taxonomic groups. We generated a data set of 646 effect sizes of different measures of habitat preferences and fitness from 38 papers published between 1985 and 2020. The data set covered 15 countries and 47 urban areas from four continents, including 29 animal species. Studies from North America and Europe were best represented, and birds were the most studied taxa. Overall, the meta-analysis suggests that urbanized habitats are functioning more as safe sites than as ecological traps, mainly for certain species with characteristics that have allowed them to adapt well to urban areas. That is, many of the studied species prefer more urbanized habitats over other less urbanized sites, and their fitness is not modified, or it is even increased. However, there was high heterogeneity among studies. We also performed meta-regressions to identify variables accounting for this heterogeneity across studies and we demonstrate that outcomes may depend on methodological aspects of studies, such as study design or the approach used to measure habitat preference and fitness. More research is needed for poorly studied regions and on a wider range of species before generalizations can be made on the role of urban areas for biodiversity conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús Zuñiga-Palacios
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
| | - Iriana Zuria
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico.
| | - Ignacio Castellanos
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
| | - Carlos Lara
- Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Mexico
| | - Gerardo Sánchez-Rojas
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
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Sengupta A, McConkey KR, Kwit C. The influence of provisioning on animal‐mediated seed dispersal. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Asmita Sengupta
- Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment Bangalore Karnataka India
- National Inst. of Advanced Studies Bangalore Karnataka India
| | - Kim R. McConkey
- School of Geography, Univ. of Nottingham Malaysia Campus Semenyih Selangor Malaysia
| | - Charles Kwit
- Dept of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, Univ. of Tennessee Knoxville TN USA
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Spotswood EN, Beller EE, Grossinger R, Grenier JL, Heller NE, Aronson MFJ. The Biological Deserts Fallacy: Cities in Their Landscapes Contribute More than We Think to Regional Biodiversity. Bioscience 2021; 71:148-160. [PMID: 33613128 PMCID: PMC7882369 DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaa155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Cities are both embedded within and ecologically linked to their surrounding landscapes. Although urbanization poses a substantial threat to biodiversity, cities also support many species, some of which have larger populations, faster growth rates, and higher productivity in cities than outside of them. Despite this fact, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the potentially beneficial links between cities and their surroundings. We identify five pathways by which cities can benefit regional ecosystems by releasing species from threats in the larger landscape, increasing regional habitat heterogeneity and genetic diversity, acting as migratory stopovers, preadapting species to climate change, and enhancing public engagement and environmental stewardship. Increasing recognition of these pathways could help cities identify effective strategies for supporting regional biodiversity conservation and could provide a science-based platform for incorporating biodiversity alongside other urban greening goals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Erin E Beller
- San Francisco Estuary Institute San Francisco, California in the United States. Erin E. Beller is the Urban Ecology Program manager for the Real Estate and Workplace Services Sustainability Team at Google, Mountain View, California, in the United States
| | - Robin Grossinger
- San Francisco Estuary Institute San Francisco, California in the United States. Erin E. Beller is the Urban Ecology Program manager for the Real Estate and Workplace Services Sustainability Team at Google, Mountain View, California, in the United States
| | - J Letitia Grenier
- San Francisco Estuary Institute San Francisco, California in the United States. Erin E. Beller is the Urban Ecology Program manager for the Real Estate and Workplace Services Sustainability Team at Google, Mountain View, California, in the United States
| | - Nicole E Heller
- Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Myla F J Aronson
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
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Barbosa JM, Hiraldo F, Romero MÁ, Tella JL. When does agriculture enter into conflict with wildlife? A global assessment of parrot–agriculture conflicts and their conservation effects. DIVERS DISTRIB 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jomar M. Barbosa
- Department of Conservation Biology Estación Biológica de DoñanaC.S.I.C. Seville Spain
| | - Fernando Hiraldo
- Department of Conservation Biology Estación Biológica de DoñanaC.S.I.C. Seville Spain
| | - Miguel Á. Romero
- Department of Conservation Biology Estación Biológica de DoñanaC.S.I.C. Seville Spain
| | - José L. Tella
- Department of Conservation Biology Estación Biológica de DoñanaC.S.I.C. Seville Spain
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Opportunistic or Non-Random Wildlife Crime? Attractiveness Rather Than Abundance in the Wild Leads to Selective Parrot Poaching. DIVERSITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/d12080314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Illegal wildlife trade, which mostly focuses on high-demand species, constitutes a major threat to biodiversity. However, whether poaching is an opportunistic crime within high-demand taxa such as parrots (i.e., harvesting proportional to species availability in the wild), or is selectively focused on particular, more desirable species, is still under debate. Answering this question has important conservation implications because selective poaching can lead to the extinction of some species through overharvesting. However, the challenges of estimating species abundances in the wild have hampered studies on this subject. We conducted a large-scale survey in Colombia to simultaneously estimate the relative abundance of wild parrots through roadside surveys (recording 10,811 individuals from 25 species across 2221 km surveyed) and as household, illegally trapped pets in 282 sampled villages (1179 individuals from 21 species). We used for the first time a selectivity index to test selection on poaching. Results demonstrated that poaching is not opportunistic, but positively selects species based on their attractiveness, defined as a function of species size, coloration, and ability to talk, which is also reflected in their local prices. Our methodological approach, which shows how selection increases the conservation impacts of poaching for parrots, can be applied to other taxa also impacted by harvesting for trade or other purposes.
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