Dataset Information

Day and night use of habitats by northern pintails during winter in a primary rice-growing region of Iberia.

ABSTRACT: Loss of natural wetlands is a global phenomenon that has severe consequences for waterbird populations and their associated ecosystem services. Although agroecosystems can reduce the impact of natural habitat loss, drivers of use of such artificial habitats by waterbirds remain poorly understood. Using the cosmopolitan northern pintail Anas acuta as a model species, we monitored home-range and fine-scale resource selection across the agricultural landscape. Individuals were tracked using GPS-GSM transmitters, and a suite of environmental and landscape features were measured throughout the winter seasons. Spatial patterns of habitat use were analysed using generalized linear mixed effect models by integrating field-observations with GPS telemetry. All birds used rice fields as foraging grounds at night and commuted to an adjacent reservoir to roost during daylight. Home-ranges and maximum foraging distances of nocturnally foraging birds increased with decreasing availability of flooded fields, and were positively correlated with moonlight levels. Birds selected flooded rice paddies (water depth range: 9-21 cm) with standing stubble and substrate with pebbles smaller than 0.5 cm in diameter. Density of rice seeds, rice paddy size, and other environmental and landscape features did not emerge as significant predictors. Our findings indicate that nocturnal foraging of northern pintails within rice fields is driven primarily by straw manipulation, water level and substrate pebble size. Thus, the presence of standing stubble in flooded paddies with soft bottoms should be prioritized to improve foraging areas for dabbling ducks. These management procedures in themselves would not increase economic costs or affect rice production and could be applied for dabbling-duck conservation throughout the world.

SUBMITTER: Parejo M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6658120 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Day and night use of habitats by northern pintails during winter in a primary rice-growing region of Iberia.

Parejo Manuel M Gutiérrez Jorge S JS Navedo Juan G JG Soriano-Redondo Andrea A Abad-Gómez José M JM Villegas Auxiliadora A Corbacho Casimiro C Sánchez-Guzmán Juan M JM Masero José A JA

PloS one 20190725 7

Loss of natural wetlands is a global phenomenon that has severe consequences for waterbird populations and their associated ecosystem services. Although agroecosystems can reduce the impact of natural habitat loss, drivers of use of such artificial habitats by waterbirds remain poorly understood. Using the cosmopolitan northern pintail Anas acuta as a model species, we monitored home-range and fine-scale resource selection across the agricultural landscape. Individuals were tracked using GPS-GSM ...[more]

PMID: 31344107

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Project description:Few studies have described winter microclimate selection by bats in the southern United States. This is of particular importance as the cold-adapted fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which causes the fatal bat disease white-nose syndrome (WNS), continues to spread into southern United States. To better understand the suitability of winter bat habitats for the growth of P. destructans in this region, we collected roost temperature and vapor pressure deficit from 97 hibernacula in six ecoregions in Texas during winter 2016-17 and 2017-18. We also measured skin temperature of Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii), Townsend's big-eared bats (C. townsendii), big-brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius), cave myotis (M. velifer), tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus), and Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) during hibernation to study their use of torpor in these habitats. We found that temperatures within hibernacula were strongly correlated with external air temperatures and were often within the optimal range of temperatures for P. destructans growth. Hibernacula and skin temperatures differed among species, with Rafinesque's big-eared bats, southeastern myotis, and Mexican free-tailed bats occupying warmer microclimates and having higher torpid skin temperatures. For species that were broadly distributed throughout Texas, hibernacula and skin temperatures differed within species by ecoregion; Tri-colored bats and cave myotis in colder, northern regions occupied colder microclimates within hibernacula and exhibited colder skin temperatures, than individuals of the same species in warmer, southern regions. These data illustrate the variability in microclimates used as hibernacula by bats in Texas and suggest similar variation in susceptibility to WNS in the state. Thus, monitoring microclimates at winter roosts may help predict where WNS may develop, and where management efforts would be most effective.

Dataset Information

Day and night use of habitats by northern pintails during winter in a primary rice-growing region of Iberia.

Publications

Day and night use of habitats by northern pintails during winter in a primary rice-growing region of Iberia.

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