Search results for " Movement ecology"
showing 8 items of 8 documents
Large birds travel farther in homogeneous environments
2019
Aim: Animal movement is an important determinant of individual survival, population dynamics and ecosystem structure and function. Nonetheless, it is still unclear how local movements are related to resource availability and the spatial arrangement of resources. Using resident bird species and migratory bird species outside the migratory period, we examined how the distribution of resources affects the movement patterns of both large terrestrial birds (e.g., raptors, bustards and hornbills) and waterbirds (e.g., cranes, storks, ducks, geese and flamingos). Location: Global. Time period: 2003–2015. Major taxa studied: Birds. Methods: We compiled GPS tracking data for 386 individuals across 3…
Diurnal timing of nonmigratory movement by birds: the importance of foraging spatial scales
2020
Timing of activity can reveal an organism's efforts to optimize foraging either by minimizing energy loss through passive movement or by maximizing energetic gain through foraging. Here, we assess whether signals of either of these strategies are detectable in the timing of activity of daily, local movements by birds. We compare the similarities of timing of movement activity among species using six temporal variables: start of activity relative to sunrise, end of activity relative to sunset, relative speed at midday, number of movement bouts, bout duration and proportion of active daytime hours. We test for the influence of flight mode and foraging habitat on the timing of movement activit…
Spatial and Temporal Variability in Migration of a Soaring Raptor Across Three Continents
2019
Disentangling individual- and population-level variation in migratory movements is necessary for understanding migration at the species level. However, very few studies have analyzed these patterns across large portions of species' distributions. We compiled a large telemetry dataset on the globally endangered egyptian vulture neophron percnopterus (94 individuals, 188 completed migratory journeys), tracked across similar to 70% of the species' global range, to analyze spatial and temporal variability of migratory movements within and among individuals and populations. We found high migratory connectivity at large spatial scales (i.e., different subpopulations showed little overlap in winte…
Natal Dispersal of First Winter Peregrine Falcons
2017
Quantitative information about natal dispersal is available for many species, usually focused on their long-distance migration. Basic information on non-migrant Peregrine falcons is virtually lacking, despite the amount of scientific data on this species, and the sensitivity of this stage in the Peregrines’ life history. Information on movements is crucial for the definition of young post-fledging areas, the behaviour of floaters and also gives key information about juvenile mortality. Thanks to satellite telemetry, we were able to provide data about the destiny, movement and habitat use during both the phase of post-fledging dependence by parents (PFDP) and the dispersal period of 14 Peregr…
Seabirds mated for life migrate separately to the same places: behavioural coordination or shared proximate causes?
2015
Long-term pair bonds occur in diverse animal taxa, but they are most common in birds, and can last from a few years to a lifetime. In many of these species, after the reproductive season, birds migrate to distant nonbreeding grounds where they remain for several months, and until recently, little was known about whether partners maintain contact during migration. This gap in knowledge was primarily due to past methodological difficulties in tracking long-term, large-scale movements of individuals. However, the development of new animal-borne geolocation devices has enabled researchers to track movements of individuals for a year or more. We tracked the annual migrations of both members of b…
Strategies of migration and wintering of Italian lesser kestrel Falco naumanni populations.
2017
Avian migration is naturally a plastic trait, and tracking migratory birds is problematic because of distances and areas involved. Electronic data loggers (e.g. light-level geolocators, GPS/GSM tags, etc) provide a means to directly follow several individuals and understand migration routes and geographic patterns of population displacements in overwintering areas. Thanks to the collaboration between different projects (PRIN, LIFE+ LIFE11/NAT/IT068), we tracked lesser kestrels equipped with GPS/UHF and GLS devices and we analyzed the migration data of more than 20 individuals breeding in different populations of Sicily (Gela Plain) and Southern Italy (Altamura, Gravina). The weights of comp…
Hydrogen isotopes reveal evidence of migration of Miniopterus schreibersii in Europe
2020
Abstract Background The Schreiber’s bat, Miniopterus schreibersii, is adapted to long-distance flight, yet long distance movements have only been recorded sporadically using capture-mark-recapture. In this study, we used the hydrogen isotopic composition of 208 wing and 335 fur specimens from across the species' European range to test the hypothesis that the species migrates over long distances. Results After obtaining the hydrogen isotopic composition (δ2H) of each sample, we performed geographic assignment tests by comparing the δ2H of samples with the δ2H of sampling sites. We found that 95 bats out of 325 showed evidence of long-distance movement, based on the analysis of either fur or …
Data from: Moving in the Anthropocene: global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements
2019
Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-range movements from areas with higher human impact. Global loss of vagility alters a key ecological trait of animals that affects no…