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Transport infrastructure shapes foraging habitat in a raptor community.

ABSTRACT: Transport infrastructure elements are widespread and increasing in size and length in many countries, with the subsequent alteration of landscapes and wildlife communities. Nonetheless, their effects on habitat selection by raptors are still poorly understood. In this paper, we analyzed raptors' foraging habitat selection in response to conventional roads and high capacity motorways at the landscape scale, and compared their effects with those of other variables, such as habitat structure, food availability, and presence of potential interspecific competitors. We also analyzed whether the raptors' response towards infrastructure depends on the spatial scale of observation, comparing the attraction or avoidance behavior of the species at the landscape scale with the response of individuals observed in the proximity of the infrastructure. Based on ecological hypotheses for foraging habitat selection, we built generalized linear mixed models, selected the best models according to Akaike Information Criterion and assessed variable importance by Akaike weights. At the community level, the traffic volume was the most relevant variable in the landscape for foraging habitat selection. Abundance, richness, and diversity values reached their maximum at medium traffic volumes and decreased at highest traffic volumes. Individual species showed different degrees of tolerance toward traffic, from higher abundance in areas with high traffic values to avoidance of it. Medium-sized opportunistic raptors increased their abundance near the traffic infrastructures, large scavenger raptors avoided areas with higher traffic values, and other species showed no direct response to traffic but to the presence of prey. Finally, our cross-scale analysis revealed that the effect of transport infrastructures on the behavior of some species might be detectable only at a broad scale. Also, food availability may attract raptor species to risky areas such as motorways.

SUBMITTER: Planillo A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4365038 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Transport infrastructure shapes foraging habitat in a raptor community.

Planillo Aimara A Kramer-Schadt Stephanie S Malo Juan E JE

PloS one 20150318 3

Transport infrastructure elements are widespread and increasing in size and length in many countries, with the subsequent alteration of landscapes and wildlife communities. Nonetheless, their effects on habitat selection by raptors are still poorly understood. In this paper, we analyzed raptors' foraging habitat selection in response to conventional roads and high capacity motorways at the landscape scale, and compared their effects with those of other variables, such as habitat structure, food ...[more]

PMID: 25786218

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Project description:Soil microbes have critical influence on the productivity and sustainability of agricultural ecosystems, yet the magnitude and direction to which management practices affect the soil microbial community remain unclear. This work aimed to examine the impacts of three farming systems, conventional grain cropping (CON), organic grain cropping (ORG), and grain cropping-pasture rotation (ICL), on the soil microbial community structure and putative gene abundances of N transformations using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene and ITS sequencing approaches. Two additional systems, a forest plantation (PF) and an abandoned agricultural field subject to natural succession (SUC), were also included for better assessment of the soil microbial community in terms of variation scale and regulatory importance of management intensity vs. plant type. Farming systems significantly affected the biodiversity of soil fungi but not bacteria, with Shannon index being the lowest in ORG. Bacterial and fungal communities in three cropping systems clustered and separated from those in PF and SUC, suggesting that management practices as such played minor roles in shaping the soil microbial community compared to plant type (i.e., woody vs. herbaceous plants). However, management practices prominently regulated habitat-specific taxa. Lecanoromycetes, a class of Ascomycota accounted for ∼10% of total fungal population in ORG, but almost nil in the other four systems. ORG also enriched bacteria belonging to the phyla, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, and Gemmatimonadetes. Further, PICRUSt predicted that N-cycle community compositions varied with farming systems; compared to CON, ORG and ICL were more divergent from PF and SUC. Soil pH, together with inorganic N, extractable organic C, and soil organic C:N ratio explained < 50% of the total variations in both bacterial and fungal communities. Our data indicates that while moderately affecting the overall structure of the soil microbial community, management practices, particularly fertilization and the source of N (synthetic vs. organic), were important in regulating the presence and abundance of habitat-specific taxa.

Project description:BackgroundConsistent inter-individual differences in behavioural phenotypes may entail differences in energy efficiency and expenditure, with different fitness payoffs. In colonial-breeding species, inter-individual differences in foraging behaviour may evolve to reduce resource use overlap among conspecifics exploiting shared foraging areas. Furthermore, individual differences in foraging behaviour may covary with individual characteristics, such as sex or physiological conditions.MethodsWe investigated individual differences in foraging tactics of a colonial raptor, the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni). We tracked foraging trips of breeding individuals using miniaturized biologgers. We classified behaviours from GPS data and identified tactics at the foraging trip level by cluster analysis. We then estimated energy expenditure associated to each tactic from tri-axial accelerometer data.ResultsWe obtained 489 foraging trips by 36 individuals. Two clusters of trips were identified, one (SF) characterized by more static foraging behaviour and the other (DF) by more dynamic foraging behaviour, with a higher proportion of flying activity and a higher energy expenditure compared to SF. Lesser kestrels showed consistent inter-individual differences in foraging tactics across weather condition gradients, favouring DF trips as solar radiation and crosswind intensity increased. DF trips were more frequent during the nestling-rearing than during the egg incubation stage. Nestlings whose tracked parent was more prone to perform DF trips experienced higher daily mass increase, irrespective of nestling feeding rates.ConclusionsOur study provided evidence that breeding lesser kestrels flexibly adopted different foraging tactics according to contingent weather landscapes, with birds showing consistent inter-individual differences in the tendency to adopt a given tactic. The positive correlation between the tendency to perform more energy-demanding DF trips and nestling growth suggests that individual differences in foraging behaviour may play a role in maintaining key life-history trade-offs between reproduction and self-maintenance.

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Transport infrastructure shapes foraging habitat in a raptor community.

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Transport infrastructure shapes foraging habitat in a raptor community.

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