scholarly journals Effects of climate variation on bird escape distances modulate community responses to global change

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Díaz ◽  
T. Grim ◽  
G. Markó ◽  
F. Morelli ◽  
J. D. Ibáñez-Alamo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Antipredator Behaviour ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Increasing Temperature ◽  
Flight Initiation

AbstractClimate and land use are rapidly changing environmental conditions. Behavioral responses to such global perturbations can be used to incorporate interspecific interactions into predictive models of population responses to global change. Flight initiation distance (FID) reflects antipredator behaviour defined as the distance at which an individual takes flight when approached by a human, under standardized conditions. This behavioural trait results from a balance between disturbance, predation risk, food availability and physiological needs, and it is related to geographical range and population trends in European birds. Using 32,145 records of flight initiation distances for 229 bird species during 2006–2019 in 24 European localities, we show that FIDs decreased with increasing temperature and precipitation, as expected if foraging success decreased under warm and humid conditions. Trends were further altered by latitude, urbanisation and body mass, as expected if climate effects on FIDs were mediated by food abundance and need, differing according to position in food webs, supporting foraging models. This provides evidence for a role of behavioural responses within food webs on how bird populations and communities are affected by global change.

A ROLE OF WILD BIRD POPULATION IN THE TRANSMISSION OF PARASITIC FLATWORMS (PLATYHELMINTHES: CESTOIDEA AND TREMATODEA) IN VIETNAM’S FOREST

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (10) ◽  
pp. 99-107
Author(s):  
Boyko Georgiev B. ◽  
Jean Mariaux ◽  
Gergana Vasileva P ◽  
Huy Nguyen Quoc ◽  
Manh Vu Quang
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Wild Bird ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Avian Species ◽  
Mountainous Region ◽  
Bird Population ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Avian Populations

The study aimed to evaluate the role of transmitting flatworms (Cestoidea and Trematodea) of wild bird populations in three national parks of Vietnam: Xuan Son in the Northwest mountainous region, Tam Dao in the Northeast mountainous region, and Cat Ba in the Hong River Delta region. Twenty-two wild avian species of 10 families were found to contain parasitic flatworms. According to the number of avian species containing parasitic flatworms, bird families are ranking: Timaliidae recorded with 7 species > Leiothrichidae and Nectariniidae both with 3 species > Pycononotidae and Muscicapidae both with 2 species > Vireonidae, Sylvidae, Picidae, Cisticolidae and Cettiidae with 1 species. According to sex, avian populations containing parasitic flatworms decrease in the order: females accounting for 43.94% of the total individuals > males for 39.40% > juveniles for 16.66%. Three bird species containing flatworms A. pallidus, M. gularis and C. bayumas were found in two of the studied national parks, among them, only the first species was found common to all three studied national parks. They are vectors of high significance from a parasitological point of view.

Theoretical Ecology

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Change Theory ◽  
Theoretical Ecology ◽  
Novel Theory ◽  
Ecological Applications ◽  
Population Interactions ◽  
Theoretical Science ◽  
The Way ◽  
Forward Looking

This book continues the authoritative and established edited series of theoretical ecology books initiated by Robert May which helped pave the way for ecology to become a more robust theoretical science, encouraging the modern biologist to better understand the mathematics behind their theories. This latest instalment in the Theoretical Ecology series builds on the legacy of its predecessors with a completely new set of contributions. Rather than placing emphasis on the historical ideas in theoretical ecology, the editors have encouraged each contribution to: i) synthesize historical theoretical ideas within modern frameworks that have emerged in the last ten to twenty years (e.g., bridging population interactions to whole food webs); ii) describe novel theory that has emerged in the last twenty years from historical empirical areas (e.g., macro-ecology); and iii) cover the booming area of theoretical ecological applications (e.g., disease theory and global change theory). The result is a forward-looking synthesis that will help guide the field through a further decade of development and discovery.

scholarly journals Evaluating the role of contracting and expanding rainforest in initiating cycles of speciation across the Isthmus of Panama

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1742) ◽  
pp. 3520-3526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Tilston Smith ◽  
Amei Amei ◽  
John Klicka
Keyword(s):  
Bird Species ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Isthmus Of Panama ◽  
Species Pairs ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Impact

Climatic and geological changes across time are presumed to have shaped the rich biodiversity of tropical regions. However, the impact climatic drying and subsequent tropical rainforest contraction had on speciation has been controversial because of inconsistent palaeoecological and genetic data. Despite the strong interest in examining the role of climatic change on speciation in the Neotropics there has been few comparative studies, particularly, those that include non-rainforest taxa. We used bird species that inhabit humid or dry habitats that dispersed across the Panamanian Isthmus to characterize temporal and spatial patterns of speciation across this barrier. Here, we show that these two assemblages of birds exhibit temporally different speciation time patterns that supports multiple cycles of speciation. Evidence for these cycles is further corroborated by the finding that both assemblages consist of ‘young’ and ‘old’ species, despite dry habitat species pairs being geographically more distant than pairs of humid habitat species. The matrix of humid and dry habitats in the tropics not only allows for the maintenance of high species richness, but additionally this study suggests that these environments may have promoted speciation. We conclude that differentially expanding and contracting distributions of dry and humid habitats was probably an important contributor to speciation in the tropics.

scholarly journals Using insect natural history collections to study global change impacts: challenges and opportunities

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1763) ◽  
pp. 20170405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Kharouba ◽  
Jayme M. M. Lewthwaite ◽  
Rob Guralnick ◽  
Jeremy T. Kerr ◽  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Genomic Information ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Global Change Research ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Over the past two decades, natural history collections (NHCs) have played an increasingly prominent role in global change research, but they have still greater potential, especially for the most diverse group of animals on Earth: insects. Here, we review the role of NHCs in advancing our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary responses of insects to recent global changes. Insect NHCs have helped document changes in insects' geographical distributions, phenology, phenotypic and genotypic traits over time periods up to a century. Recent work demonstrates the enormous potential of NHCs data for examining insect responses at multiple temporal, spatial and phylogenetic scales. Moving forward, insect NHCs offer unique opportunities to examine the morphological, chemical and genomic information in each specimen, thus advancing our understanding of the processes underlying species’ ecological and evolutionary responses to rapid, widespread global changes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the anthropocene’.

Foraging behaviour in East Asian desert rodents and its implications on coexistence

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 171-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling-Ying Shuai ◽  
Yan-Ling Song ◽  
Burt P. Kotler ◽  
Keren Embar ◽  
Zhi-Gao Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Interference Competition ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Gobi Desert ◽  
Patch Use ◽  
Desert Rodents ◽  
Daily Scale

We studied the foraging behaviour of two sympatric rodents (Meriones meridianus and Dipus sagitta) in the Gobi Desert, Northwestern China. The role of the foraging behaviour in promoting species coexistence was also examined. We used giving-up densities (GUDs) in artificial food patches to measure the patch use of rodents and video trapping to directly record the foraging behaviour, vigilance, and interspecific interactions. Three potential mechanisms of coexistence were evaluated (1) microhabitat partitioning; (2) spatial heterogeneity of resource abundance with a tradeoff in foraging efficiency vs. locomotion; and (3) temporal partitioning on a daily scale. Compared to M. meridianus, D. sagitta generally possessed lower GUDs, spent more time on patches, and conducted more visits per tray per capita, regardless of microhabitat. However, M. meridianus possessed advantages in average harvesting rates and direct interference against D. sagitta. Our results only partly support the third mechanism listed above. We propose another potential mechanism of coexistence: a tradeoff between interference competition and safety, with M. meridianus better at interference competition and D. sagitta better at avoiding predation risk. This mechanism is uncommon in previously studied desert rodent systems.

scholarly journals The Occurence of Ecological Traps in Bird Populations: Is our Knowledge Sufficient? A Review

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Suvorov ◽  
Jana Svobodová
Keyword(s):  
Exotic Species ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ecological Trap ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Arable Fields ◽  
Insufficient Time

ABSTRACT Anthropogenic changes in a landscape create new cues for birds, which must permanently adapt to these. If landscape changes occur too quickly, individuals have insufficient time to develop adequate reactions. They may, therefore, preferentially nest in low-quality habitats, which can lead to diminished nesting success and to reduction of their population size. This is usually termed the ecological trap hypothesis. We reviewed 38 studies investigating this phenomenon and analysed whether relationships exist between ecological trap occurrence and geographical region, habitat type, and/or life strategies of bird species. Ecological traps were most often associated with the presence of exotic species. Exotic species can modify environmental conditions in ways to which native communities are not adapted. They have been mainly detected in open habitats. Such open habitats as arable fields and meadows are under greater human pressure, and rapid changes probably occur there more frequently. Although more studies from North America were investigated, the hypothesis was supported more frequently in European studies. This is possibly due to higher human population density and, hence, more frequent habitat changes. Our results show that an ecological trap is not likely associated with migration. Ground nests suffered fewer consequences of such traps than did other nest types. Although the implications of the ecological trap hypothesis in species conservation are undisputable, a more detailed approach is still needed. For instance, some habitat types, such as suburban areas, have been neglected in the context of ecological traps, as has been the phenomenon’s appearance in pristine habitats.

scholarly journals Role of microhabitats in food webs of benthic communities in a mangrove forest

2007 ◽  
Vol 340 ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Kon ◽  
H Kurokura ◽  
K Hayashizaki
Keyword(s):  
Food Webs ◽  
Mangrove Forest ◽  
Benthic Communities

scholarly journals Induction of Changes in Internal Gas Pressure of Bulky Plant Organs by Temperature Gradients

1990 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth A. Corey ◽  
Zhi-Yi Tan
Keyword(s):  
Bath Temperature ◽  
Ideal Gas ◽  
Gas Pressure ◽  
Temperature Gradients ◽  
Maximum Pressure ◽  
Plant Organs ◽  
Ideal Gas Law ◽  
Increasing Temperature ◽  
Pressure Changes

Water manometers were connected to fruits of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), and then fruits were submerged in water baths providing initial temperature gradients between fruit and water of 0 to 19C. Apple (Malus domestics Borkh.) fruits, carrot (Daucus carota L.) roots, witloof chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) roots, rhubarb Rheum rhabarbarum L.) petioles, and pokeweed (Phytolacca americana L.) stems were subjected to water bath temperature gradients of 5C. Internal partial vacuums developed in all organs within minutes of imposing the gradients. The maximum partial vacuums in tomato and pepper fruits increased with increasing temperature gradients. Uptake of water accompanied changes in internal pressure reaching maxima of 17% (w/w) and 2% (w/w) of pepper and tomato fruits, respectively, after 22 hours. Maximum pressure changes achieved in bulky organs deviated from those predicted by the ideal gas law, possibly due to concomitant changes in gas pressure upon replacement of intercellular spaces with water and dissolution of CO2. Partial vacuums also developed in pepper fruits, rhubarb petioles, and pokeweed stems following exposure to air 15C cooler than initial organ temperatures. Results point to the role of temperature gradients in the transport of liquids and gases in plant organs.

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