ecological trap
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Author(s):  
Letizia Campioni ◽  
Ilaria Marengo ◽  
Jacinto Román ◽  
Marcello D’Amico
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ève Courtois ◽  
Dany Garant ◽  
Fanie Pelletier ◽  
Marc Bélisle

Author(s):  
Guilherme Tavares Nunes ◽  
Márcio Amorim Efe ◽  
Cindy Tavares Barreto ◽  
Juliana Vallim Gaiotto ◽  
Aline Barbosa Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippine Chambault ◽  
Philippe Gaspar ◽  
Florence Dell’Amico

Unusual environmental events can push marine animals outside their physiological tolerances through changes in trophic and/or thermal conditions. Such events typically increase the risk of stranding. Rescue Centers offer a unique opportunity to report animals in distress and satellite track rehabilitated individuals to identify potential new habitats and support an effective conservation of these endangered species. By combining sightings (1988–2020) and tracking data (2008–2020) collected along the French Atlantic and English Channel coasts, our study assessed if the Bay of Biscay is an ecological trap or a favorable habitat for immature sea turtles. The largest tracked individuals migrated westward to pelagic waters, likely toward their natal beaches, while smaller individuals remained within the Bay of Biscay (BoB) and crossed colder (mean: 17.8 ± 3.0°C) but more productive waters. The turtles’ directions differed from the ones of ocean currents, excluding a passive advection to these unexpected habitats. Although the BoB might be thermally unsuitable in winter, the higher micronekton biomass predicted in this region could offer a productive foraging habitat for immature turtles. However, the majority of the sightings referred to individuals stranded alive (75%), suggesting this area could also act as an ecological trap for the smallest individuals that are mostly reported in winter suffering cold-stunning. Assumed to be outside the species range, our results reveal a potential foraging ground in the North-East Atlantic for these young turtles, confirming the crucial role of the rehabilitation centers and the need to continue prioritizing conservation of these endangered species, particularly vulnerable at this stage and at such temperate latitudes.


Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
Jana Růžičková ◽  
Zoltán Elek

Carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are considered as one of the most cardinal invertebrate predatory groups in many ecosystems, including forests. Previous studies revealed that the predation pressure provided by carabids significantly regulates the ecological network of invertebrates. Nevertheless, there is no direct estimation of the predation risk on carabids, which can be an important proxy for the phenomenon called ecological trap. In our study, we aimed to explore the predation pressure on carabids using 3D-printed decoys installed in two types of forestry treatments, preparation cuts and clear cuts, and control plots in a Hungarian oak–hornbeam forest. We estimated the seasonal, diurnal and treatment-specific aspects of the predation pressure on carabids. Our results reveal a significantly higher predation risk on carabids in both forestry treatments than in the control. Moreover, it was also higher in the nighttime than daytime. Contrarily, no effects of season and microhabitat features were found. Based on these clues we assume that habitats modified by forestry practices may act as an ecological trap for carabids. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of how ecological interactions between species may change in a modified forest environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (38) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Teske ◽  
Arsalan Emami-Khoyi ◽  
Tirupathi R. Golla ◽  
Jonathan Sandoval-Castillo ◽  
Tarron Lamont ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Sudyka ◽  
Irene Di Lecce ◽  
Lucyna Wojas ◽  
Patryk Rowiński ◽  
Marta Szulkin

To mitigate the shortage of natural breeding sites in cities, nest-boxes are provided for cavity-nesters. However, these are not the breeding sites these animals originally evolved in and optimised their breeding performance to. It thus remains inconclusive if nest-boxes can provide adequate substitutes, ensuring equivalent fitness returns for breeding animals. Additionally, the majority of knowledge on the ecology of urban birds comes from nest-box populations, but no study to date directly compared fitness consequences of breeding inside nest-boxes in relation to natural-cavities in an urban context. This limits our understanding of the urban ecology of cavity-nesters and addressing its functional meaning. We investigate fitness consequences and life-history trait variation according to the nesting site type to provide a comprehensive understanding of conservation potential of nest-boxes in cities and to support/question generalisations stemming from nest-box studies on urbanization. We directly compare the reproductive performance of two small passerines, blue tits and great tits, breeding in nest-boxes as opposed to natural-cavities in a seminatural forest of a capital city using a quasi-experimental setting. We show that the effects of nest type vary between species: in blue tits, fitness proxies were negatively affected by nest-boxes (lower fledging success and fledgling numbers, longer time spent in nest and later fledging date in comparison to natural-cavities), while great tit performance appeared to be unaffected by nest type. We detected that both species breeding in nest-boxes accelerated incubation onset, but since there were no major differences in pre-hatching traits (lay date, clutch size, hatching rates) between the nest types, we attribute the fitness deterioration to post-hatching effects. Interestingly, overall breeding density of tits in urban natural-cavities was higher than observed in a primeval habitat. Nest-boxes may become an ecological trap for some species and the unaffected species can consequently outcompete them, decreasing overall biodiversity in cities. We highlight the ecological importance of old-growth tree stands, providing natural tree cavities for city-breeding animals. Due to the detected nest type-dependent variation in reproductive performance, we support the criticism regarding the unconditional extrapolation of evolutionary and ecological interpretations of nest-box studies to general populations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 107054
Author(s):  
Shidong Liu ◽  
Yuhuan Geng ◽  
Jianjun Zhang ◽  
Xiufen Kang ◽  
Xuelian Shi ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1952) ◽  
pp. 20210582
Author(s):  
Yen-Hua Huang ◽  
Hendrina Joel ◽  
Martina Küsters ◽  
Zoe R. Barandongo ◽  
Claudine C. Cloete ◽  
...  

When a transmission hotspot for an environmentally persistent pathogen establishes in otherwise high-quality habitat, the disease may exert a strong impact on a host population. However, fluctuating environmental conditions lead to heterogeneity in habitat quality and animal habitat preference, which may interrupt the overlap between selected and risky habitats. We evaluated spatio-temporal patterns in anthrax mortalities in a plains zebra ( Equus quagga ) population in Etosha National Park, Namibia, incorporating remote-sensing and host telemetry data. A higher proportion of anthrax mortalities of herbivores was detected in open habitats than in other habitat types. Resource selection functions showed that the zebra population shifted habitat selection in response to changes in rainfall and vegetation productivity. Average to high rainfall years supported larger anthrax outbreaks, with animals congregating in preferred open habitats, while a severe drought forced animals into otherwise less preferred habitats, leading to few anthrax mortalities. Thus, the timing of anthrax outbreaks was congruent with preference for open plains habitats and a corresponding increase in pathogen exposure. Given shifts in habitat preference, the overlap in high-quality habitat and high-risk habitat is intermittent, reducing the adverse consequences for the population.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francoise Cavada-Blanco ◽  
Aldo Cróquer ◽  
Edgard Yerena ◽  
Jon P. Rodríguez

Adaptation to changes in the delivery of ecosystem services while maintaining resilience of natural systems is one of the main challenges faced by multi-use marine protected areas (MPAs). To overcome this, it is crucial to improve our understanding of interdependencies among resource users and ecosystems. In this study we used networks to model the socio-ecological system of a multi-use MPA in the southern Caribbean. Using a mixed-method approach, we built a socio ecological network (SEN) from the flow of economic benefits that stakeholders obtain from coral reefs in Los Roques National Park. We specifically looked at how these benefits are distributed among stakeholder groups and how the structure and other network properties can inform management. For this, four networks (simple, weighted, directed and directed-weighted) were built from 125 nodes representing three services and six stakeholder groups, linked through 475 edges. The SEN structure indicated an open resource use pattern with reduced social capital, suggesting that community-based management could be challenging. Only 31% of the benefits from ecosystem services stay within the SEN. Regulation services, derived from the coral reef framework were the most important in terms of maintaining the flow of benefits through the SEN; however, most benefits depended on provisioning services. This approach, based on network theory allowed identification of inequalities in the access to benefits among groups, externalities in benefits derived from fisheries and trade-offs between provisioning and regulation services. Our results suggest that Los Roques might be falling into a socio-ecological trap. Improving access to benefits and increasing trust need be prioritized. Low-cost management intervention can help internalize financial benefits and reduce trade-offs affecting more vulnerable stakeholder groups. However, these would require changes in governance and institutions at the executive level.


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