Within-season movements of Alpine songbird distributions are driven by fine-scale environmental characteristics

AbstractInformation about distribution and habitat use of organisms is crucial for conservation. Bird distribution within the breeding season has been usually considered static, but this assumption has been questioned. Within-season movements may allow birds to track changes in habitat quality or to adjust site choice between subsequent breeding attempts. Such movements are especially likely in temperate mountains, given the substantial environmental heterogeneity and changes occurring during bird breeding season. We investigated the within-season movements of breeding songbirds in the European Alps in spring-summer 2018, using repeated point counts and dynamic occupancy models. For all the…