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Quiles P, Barrientos R. Interspecific interactions disrupted by roads. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:1121-1139. [PMID: 38303408 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
Roads have pervasive impacts on wildlife, including habitat loss and fragmentation, road mortality, habitat pollution and increased human use of habitats surrounding them. However, the effects of roads on interspecific interactions are less understood. Here we provide a synthesis of the existing literature on how species interactions may be disrupted by roads, identify knowledge gaps, and suggest avenues for future research and conservation management. We conducted a systematic search using the Web of Science database for each species interaction (predation, competition, mutualism, parasitism, commensalism and amensalism). These searches yielded 2144 articles, of which 195 were relevant to our topic. Most of these studies focused on predation (50%) or competition (24%), and less frequently on mutualism (17%) or, parasitism (9%). We found no studies on commensalism or amensalism. Studies were biased towards mammals from high-income countries, with most conducted in the USA (34%) or Canada (18%). Our literature review identified several patterns. First, roads disrupt predator-prey relationships, usually with negative impacts on prey populations. Second, new disturbed habitats created in road corridors often benefit more competitive species, such as invasive species, although some native or endangered species can also thrive there. Third, roads degrade mutualistic interactions like seed dispersal and pollination. Fourth, roads can increase parasitism rates, although the intensity of the alteration is species specific. To reduce the negative impacts of roads on interspecific interactions, we suggest the following management actions: (i) verges should be as wide and heterogenous as possible, as this increases microhabitat diversity, thus enhancing ecosystem services like pollination and seed dispersal; (ii) combining different mowing regimes can increase the complexity of the habitat corridor, enabling it to act as a habitat for more species; (iii) the use of de-icing salts should be gradually reduced and replaced with less harmful products or maintenance practices; (iv) wildlife passes should be implemented in groups to reduce animal concentrations inside them; (v) periodic removal of carcasses from the road to reduce the use of this resource by wildlife; and (vi) implementation of traffic-calming schemes could enhance interspecific interactions like pollination and avoid disruption of predator-prey relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Quiles
- Road Ecology Lab, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, C/ José Antonio Novais 12, E-28040, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rafael Barrientos
- Road Ecology Lab, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, C/ José Antonio Novais 12, E-28040, Madrid, Spain
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McCluskey EM, Kuzma FC, Enander HD, Cole‐Wick A, Coury M, Cuthrell DL, Johnson C, Kelso M, Lee YM, Methner D, Rowe L, Swinehart A, Moore J. Assessing habitat connectivity of rare species to inform urban conservation planning. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11105. [PMID: 38444724 PMCID: PMC10912553 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Urbanization is commonly associated with biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation. However, urban environments often have greenspaces that can support wildlife populations, including rare species. The challenge for conservation planners working in these systems is identifying priority habitats and corridors for protection before they are lost. In a rapidly changing urban environment, this requires prompt decisions informed by accurate spatial information. Here, we combine several approaches to map habitat and assess connectivity for a diverse set of rare species in seven urban study areas across southern Michigan, USA. We incorporated multiple connectivity tools for a comprehensive appraisal of species-habitat patterns across these urban landscapes. We observed distinct differences in connectivity by taxonomic group and site. The three turtle species (Blanding's, Eastern Box, and Spotted) consistently had more habitat predicted to be suitable per site than other evaluated species. This is promising for this at-risk taxonomic group and allows conservation efforts to focus on mitigating threats such as road mortality. Grassland and prairie-associated species (American Bumble Bee, Black and Gold Bumble Bee, and Henslow's Sparrow) had the least amount of habitat on a site-by-site basis. Kalamazoo and the northern Detroit sites had the highest levels of multi-species connectivity across the entire study area based on the least cost paths. These connectivity results have direct applications in urban planning. Kalamazoo, one of the focal urban regions, has implemented a Natural Features Protection (NFP) plan to bolster natural area protections within the city. We compared our connectivity results to the NFP area and show where this plan will have an immediate positive impact and additional areas for potential consideration in future expansions of the protection network. Our results show that conservation opportunities exist within each of the assessed urban areas for maintaining rare species, a key benefit of this multi-species and multi-site approach.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Faith C. Kuzma
- Biology DepartmentGrand Valley State UniversityAllendaleMichiganUSA
| | - Helen D. Enander
- Michigan Natural Features InventoryMichigan State University ExtensionLansingMichiganUSA
| | - Ashley Cole‐Wick
- Michigan Natural Features InventoryMichigan State University ExtensionLansingMichiganUSA
| | - Michela Coury
- Biology DepartmentGrand Valley State UniversityAllendaleMichiganUSA
| | - David L. Cuthrell
- Michigan Natural Features InventoryMichigan State University ExtensionLansingMichiganUSA
| | - Caley Johnson
- Biology DepartmentGrand Valley State UniversityAllendaleMichiganUSA
| | - Marianne Kelso
- Biology DepartmentGrand Valley State UniversityAllendaleMichiganUSA
| | - Yu Man Lee
- Michigan Natural Features InventoryMichigan State University ExtensionLansingMichiganUSA
| | - Diana Methner
- Biology DepartmentGrand Valley State UniversityAllendaleMichiganUSA
| | - Logan Rowe
- Michigan Natural Features InventoryMichigan State University ExtensionLansingMichiganUSA
| | - Alyssa Swinehart
- Biology DepartmentGrand Valley State UniversityAllendaleMichiganUSA
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Bertrand OJN, Sonntag A. The potential underlying mechanisms during learning flights. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2023:10.1007/s00359-023-01637-7. [PMID: 37204434 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-023-01637-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Hymenopterans, such as bees and wasps, have long fascinated researchers with their sinuous movements at novel locations. These movements, such as loops, arcs, or zigzags, serve to help insects learn their surroundings at important locations. They also allow the insects to explore and orient themselves in their environment. After they gained experience with their environment, the insects fly along optimized paths guided by several guidance strategies, such as path integration, local homing, and route-following, forming a navigational toolkit. Whereas the experienced insects combine these strategies efficiently, the naive insects need to learn about their surroundings and tune the navigational toolkit. We will see that the structure of the movements performed during the learning flights leverages the robustness of certain strategies within a given scale to tune other strategies which are more efficient at a larger scale. Thus, an insect can explore its environment incrementally without risking not finding back essential locations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier J N Bertrand
- Neurobiology, Bielefeld University, Universitätstr. 25, 33615, Bielefeld, NRW, Germany.
| | - Annkathrin Sonntag
- Neurobiology, Bielefeld University, Universitätstr. 25, 33615, Bielefeld, NRW, Germany
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James L, Reynolds AM, Mellor IR, Davies TGE. A Sublethal Concentration of Sulfoxaflor Has Minimal Impact on Buff-Tailed Bumblebee ( Bombus terrestris) Locomotor Behaviour under Aversive Conditioning. TOXICS 2023; 11:279. [PMID: 36977044 PMCID: PMC10057571 DOI: 10.3390/toxics11030279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Revised: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Pesticide exposure has been cited as a key threat to insect pollinators. Notably, a diverse range of potential sublethal effects have been reported in bee species, with a particular focus on effects due to exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides. Here, a purpose-built thermal-visual arena was used in a series of pilot experiments to assess the potential impact of approximate sublethal concentrations of the next generation sulfoximine insecticide sulfoxaflor (5 and 50 ppb) and the neonicotinoid insecticides thiacloprid (500 ppb) and thiamethoxam (10 ppb), on the walking trajectory, navigation and learning abilities of the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris audax) when subjected to an aversive conditioning task. The results suggest that only thiamethoxam prevents forager bees from improving in key training parameters (speed and distanced travelled) within the thermal visual arena. Power law analyses further revealed that a speed-curvature power law, previously reported as being present in the walking trajectories of bumblebees, is potentially disrupted under thiamethoxam (10 ppb) exposure, but not under sulfoxaflor or thiacloprid exposure. The pilot assay described provides a novel tool with which to identify subtle sublethal pesticide impacts, and their potential causes, on forager bees, that current ecotoxicological tests are not designed to assess.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura James
- Protecting Crops and the Environment, Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden AL5 2JQ, UK (A.M.R.)
- Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK;
| | - Andrew M. Reynolds
- Protecting Crops and the Environment, Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden AL5 2JQ, UK (A.M.R.)
| | - Ian R. Mellor
- Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK;
| | - T. G. Emyr Davies
- Protecting Crops and the Environment, Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden AL5 2JQ, UK (A.M.R.)
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Bullinger E, Greggers U, Menzel R. Generalization of navigation memory in honeybees. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1070957. [PMID: 36950065 PMCID: PMC10025308 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1070957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Flying insects like the honeybee learn multiple features of the environment for efficient navigation. Here we introduce a novel paradigm in the natural habitat, and ask whether the memory of such features is generalized to novel test conditions. Foraging bees from colonies located in 5 different home areas were tested in a common area for their search flights. The home areas differed in the arrangements of rising natural objects or their lack, and in the existence or lack of elongated ground structures. The test area resembled partly or not at all the layout of landmarks in the respective home areas. In particular, the test area lacked rising objects. The search flights were tracked with harmonic radar and quantified by multiples procedures, extracting their differences on an individual basis. Random search as the only guide for searching was excluded by two model calculations. The frequencies of directions of flight sectors differed from both model calculations and between the home areas in a graded fashion. Densities of search flight fixes were used to create heat maps and classified by a partial least squares regression analysis. Classification was performed with a support vector machine in order to account for optimal hyperplanes. A rank order of well separated clusters was found that partly resemble the graded differences between the ground structures of the home areas and the test area. The guiding effect of elongated ground structures was quantified with respect to the sequence, angle and distance from these ground structures. We conclude that foragers generalize their specific landscape memory in a graded way to the landscape features in the test area, and argue that both the existence and absences of landmarks are taken into account. The conclusion is discussed in the context of the learning and generalization process in an insect, the honeybee, with an emphasis on exploratory learning in the context of navigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Bullinger
- Institut für Automatisierungstechnik, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Uwe Greggers
- Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Randolf Menzel
- Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Theodorou P, Kühn O, Baltz LM, Wild C, Rasti SL, Bucksch CR, Strohm E, Paxton RJ, Kurze C. Bumble bee colony health and performance vary widely across the urban ecosystem. J Anim Ecol 2022; 91:2135-2148. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Panagiotis Theodorou
- General Zoology Institute for Biology, Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Leipzig Germany
| | - Olga Kühn
- General Zoology Institute for Biology, Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Lucie M. Baltz
- General Zoology Institute for Biology, Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Christopher Wild
- General Zoology Institute for Biology, Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Sirus Leonard Rasti
- General Zoology Institute for Biology, Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Carolina Ruiz Bucksch
- General Zoology Institute for Biology, Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Erhard Strohm
- Institute of Zoology, University of Regensburg Regensburg Germany
| | - Robert J. Paxton
- General Zoology Institute for Biology, Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Leipzig Germany
| | - Christoph Kurze
- General Zoology Institute for Biology, Martin‐Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany
- Institute of Zoology, University of Regensburg Regensburg Germany
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Space, the original frontier. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Guth TL, Persons MH. Landmark‐guided T‐maze learning in the wolf spider
Tigrosa helluo. Ethology 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tiffany L. Guth
- Neuroscience Program Biology Department Susquehanna University Selinsgrove Pennsylvania USA
| | - Matthew H. Persons
- Neuroscience Program Biology Department Susquehanna University Selinsgrove Pennsylvania USA
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