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English HM, Börger L, Kane A, Ciuti S. Advances in biologging can identify nuanced energetic costs and gains in predators. MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2024; 12:7. [PMID: 38254232 PMCID: PMC10802026 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-024-00448-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Foraging is a key driver of animal movement patterns, with specific challenges for predators which must search for mobile prey. These patterns are increasingly impacted by global changes, principally in land use and climate. Understanding the degree of flexibility in predator foraging and social strategies is pertinent to wildlife conservation under global change, including potential top-down effects on wider ecosystems. Here we propose key future research directions to better understand foraging strategies and social flexibility in predators. In particular, rapid continued advances in biologging technology are helping to record and understand dynamic behavioural and movement responses of animals to environmental changes, and their energetic consequences. Data collection can be optimised by calibrating behavioural interpretation methods in captive settings and strategic tagging decisions within and between social groups. Importantly, many species' social systems are increasingly being found to be more flexible than originally described in the literature, which may be more readily detectable through biologging approaches than behavioural observation. Integrating the effects of the physical landscape and biotic interactions will be key to explaining and predicting animal movements and energetic balance in a changing world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holly M English
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Luca Börger
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Adam Kane
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Simone Ciuti
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
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2
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Cioccarelli S, Terras A, Assandri G, Berlusconi A, Grattini N, Mercogliano A, Pazhera A, Sbrilli A, Cecere JG, Rubolini D, Morganti M. Vegetation height and structure drive foraging habitat selection of the lesser kestrel ( Falco naumanni) in intensive agricultural landscapes. PeerJ 2022; 10:e13979. [PMID: 36221268 PMCID: PMC9548312 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2022] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Habitat selection in animals is a fundamental ecological process with key conservation implications. Assessing habitat selection in endangered species and populations occupying the extreme edges of their distribution range, or living in highly anthropized landscapes, may be of particular interest as it may provide hints to mechanisms promoting potential range expansions. We assessed second- and third-order foraging habitat selection in the northernmost European breeding population of the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), a migratory falcon of European conservation interest, by integrating results obtained from 411 direct observations with those gathered from nine GPS-tracked individuals. The study population breeds in the intensively cultivated Po Plain (northern Italy). Direct observations and GPS data coincide in showing that foraging lesser kestrels shifted their habitat preferences through the breeding cycle. They positively selected alfalfa and other non-irrigated crops during the early breeding season, while winter cereals were selected during the nestling-rearing phase. Maize was selected during the early breeding season, after sowing, but significantly avoided later. Overall, vegetation height emerged as the main predictor of foraging habitat selection, with birds preferring short vegetation, which is likely to maximise prey accessibility. Such a flexibility in foraging habitat selection according to spatio-temporal variation in the agricultural landscape determined by local crop management practices may have allowed the species to successfully thrive in one of the most intensively cultivated areas of Europe. In the southeastern Po Plain, the broad extent of hay and non-irrigated crops is possibly functioning as a surrogate habitat for the pseudo-steppe environment where most of the European breeding population is settled, fostering the northward expansion of the species in Europe. In intensive agricultural landscapes, the maintenance of alfalfa and winter cereals crops and an overall high crop heterogeneity (deriving from crop rotation) is fundamental to accommodate the ecological requirements of the species in different phases of its breeding cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Cioccarelli
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, University of Milan, Milan, Italy,Ethology Unit, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Anna Terras
- Laboratoire Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers Cedex 9, France
| | - Giacomo Assandri
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Ozzano Emilia (BO), Italy
| | - Alessandro Berlusconi
- Environment Analysis and Management Unit—Guido Tosi Research Group— Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Varese (VA), Italy,Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche—Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio (MB) and Montelibretti (RM), Italy
| | - Nunzio Grattini
- SOM Stazione Ornitologica Modenese “Il Pettazzurro”, Mirandola (MO), Italy
| | | | - Aliona Pazhera
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Andrea Sbrilli
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche—Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio (MB) and Montelibretti (RM), Italy
| | - Jacopo G. Cecere
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Ozzano Emilia (BO), Italy
| | - Diego Rubolini
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, University of Milan, Milan, Italy,Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche—Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio (MB) and Montelibretti (RM), Italy
| | - Michelangelo Morganti
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche—Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio (MB) and Montelibretti (RM), Italy
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Ramellini S, Imperio S, Morinay J, De Pascalis F, Catoni C, Morganti M, Rubolini D, Cecere JG. Individual foraging site fidelity increases from incubation to nestling rearing in a colonial bird. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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Soravia C, Bisazza A, Cecere JG, Rubolini D. Extra food provisioning does not affect behavioural lateralization in nestling lesser kestrels. Curr Zool 2022; 69:66-75. [PMID: 36974149 PMCID: PMC10039179 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Costs and benefits of brain lateralization may depend on environmental conditions. Growing evidence indicates that the development of brain functional asymmetries is adaptively shaped by the environmental conditions experienced during early life. Food availability early in life could act as a proxy of the environmental conditions encountered during adulthood, but its potential modulatory effect on lateralization has received little attention. We increased food supply from egg laying to early nestling rearing in a wild population of lesser kestrels Falco naumanni, a sexually dimorphic raptor, and quantified the lateralization of preening behaviour (head turning direction). As more lateralized individuals may perform better in highly competitive contexts, we expected that extra food provisioning, by reducing the level of intra-brood competition for food, would reduce the strength of lateralization. We found that extra food provisioning improved nestling growth, but it did not significantly affect the strength or direction of nestling lateralization. In addition, maternal body condition did not explain variation in nestling lateralization. Independently of extra food provisioning, the direction of lateralization differed between the sexes, with female nestlings turning more often towards their right. Our findings indicate that early food availability does not modulate behavioural lateralization in a motor task, suggesting limited phenotypic plasticity in this trait.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Soravia
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology (M092), University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Angelo Bisazza
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, Padova, I-35131, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Orus 2/B, Padova, I-35129, Italy
| | - Jacopo G Cecere
- ISPRA—The Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, via Cà Fornacetta 9, Ozzano dell'Emilia (, BO, I-40064, Italy, )
| | - Diego Rubolini
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 26, Milano, I-20133, Italy
- Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque, IRSA-CNR, Via del Mulino 19, Brugherio, MB, I-20861, Italy,
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De Pascalis F, Austin RE, Green JA, Arnould JPY, Imperio S, Maugeri M, Haakonsson J, Cecere JG, Rubolini D. Influence of rainfall on foraging behavior of a tropical seabird. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Acquiring resources for self-maintenance and reproduction is a key challenge for wild animals, and the methods that individuals employ are, in part, shaped by environmental conditions that vary in time and space. For birds, rainfall may affect behavior, impairing senses and increasing energetic costs, but its consequences on movement patterns are poorly explored. We investigated the influence of rainfall on the foraging behavior of the magnificent frigatebird, Fregata magnificens. This peculiar tropical seabird lacks feather waterproofing and is known to track environmental conditions while searching for food. Thus, its foraging behavior should be highly sensitive to the effects of rainfall. By GPS-tracking chick-rearing adults, we showed that frigatebirds did not avoid areas with rainfall during foraging trips, nor did rainfall influence trip characteristics. However, rainfall decreased time devoted to foraging and increased time spent perching. Moreover, it affected flight mode, inducing birds to fly slower and at lower altitudes. Wind speed, which was not correlated with rainfall, only affected behavior during night-time, with strong winds decreasing time spent perching. Our results indicate that rainfall does not affect the spatial distribution of foraging frigatebirds but does alter fine-scale foraging behavior by reducing flight activity. We suggest that the ongoing environmental change in this region, including an increase in rainfall events, has the potential to impair foraging and negatively affect fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico De Pascalis
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli studi di Milano, via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, 4 Brownlow Street, L69 3GP Liverpool, UK
| | - Rhiannon E Austin
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, 4 Brownlow Street, L69 3GP Liverpool, UK
| | - Jonathan A Green
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, 4 Brownlow Street, L69 3GP Liverpool, UK
| | - John P Y Arnould
- School of Life and Environmental Science, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, 3125 Burwood, Australia
| | - Simona Imperio
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, ISPRA, via Ca’ Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy
- Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, IGG CNR, Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Maurizio Maugeri
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli studi di Milano, via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Jane Haakonsson
- Department of Environment, Cayman Islands Government, 580 North Sound Road, KY1-1002 Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
| | - Jacopo G Cecere
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, ISPRA, via Ca’ Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy
| | - Diego Rubolini
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli studi di Milano, via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
- Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque, IRSA CNR, Via del Mulino 19, 20861 Brugherio, Italy
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A fat chance of survival: Body condition provides life-history dependent buffering of environmental change in a wild mammal population. CLIMATE CHANGE ECOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecochg.2021.100022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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Michelangeli M, Payne E, Spiegel O, Sinn DL, Leu ST, Gardner MG, Sih A. Personality, spatiotemporal ecological variation and resident/explorer movement syndromes in the sleepy lizard. J Anim Ecol 2021; 91:210-223. [PMID: 34679184 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Individual variation in movement is profoundly important for fitness and offers key insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics of populations and communities. Nonetheless, individual variation in fine-scale movement behaviours is rarely examined even though animal tracking devices offer the long-term, high-resolution, repeatable data in natural conditions that are ideal for studying this variation. Furthermore, of the few studies that consider individual variation in movement, even fewer also consider the internal traits and environmental factors that drive movement behaviour which are necessary for contextualising individual differences in movement patterns. In this study, we GPS tracked a free-ranging population of sleepy lizards Tiliqua rugosa, each Austral spring over 5 years to examine consistent among-individual variation in movement patterns, as well as how these differences were mediated by key internal and ecological factors. We found that individuals consistently differed in a suite of weekly movement traits, and that these traits strongly covaried among-individuals, forming movement syndromes. Lizards fell on a primary movement continuum, from 'residents' that spent extended periods of time residing within smaller core areas of their home range, to 'explorers' that moved greater distances and explored vaster areas of the environment. Importantly, we also found that these consistent differences in lizard movement were related to two ecologically important animal personality traits (boldness and aggression), their sex, key features of the environment (including food availability, and a key water resource), habitat type and seasonal variation (cool/moist vs. hot/drier) in environmental conditions. Broadly, these movement specialisations likely reflect variation in life-history tactics including foraging and mating tactics that ultimately underlie key differences in space use. Such information can be used to connect phenotypic population structure to key ecological and evolutionary processes, for example social networks and disease-transmission pathways, further highlighting the value of examining individual variation in movement behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus Michelangeli
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.,School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.,Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Eric Payne
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Orr Spiegel
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.,The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - David L Sinn
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Stephan T Leu
- School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Michael G Gardner
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.,Evolutionary Biology Unit, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
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Brood sex ratio modulates the effects of extra food on parental effort and sibling competition in a sexually dimorphic raptor. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-02970-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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Morganti M, Cecere JG, Quilici S, Tarantino C, Blonda PN, Griggio M, Ambrosini R, Rubolini D. Assessing the relative importance of managed crops and semi-natural grasslands as foraging habitats for breeding lesser kestrels Falco naumanni in southeastern Italy. WILDLIFE BIOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.2981/wlb.00800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michelangelo Morganti
- M. Morganti (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8047-0429) ✉ , National Research Council – Water Research Inst. (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio, (MB), Italy
| | - Jacopo G. Cecere
- J. G. Cecere (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4925-2730), Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Ozzano Emilia, (BO), Italy
| | - Silvia Quilici
- S. Quilici (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7499-1749), R. Ambrosini (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7148-1468) and D. Rubolini (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2703-5783), Dipto di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Univ. degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Cristina Tarantino
- C. Tarantino (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3304-5355) and P. N. Blonda (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4576-2669), Inst. of Atmospheric Pollution Research (IIA), National Research Council (CNR), c/o Interateneo Physics Dept, Bari, Italy
| | - Palma N. Blonda
- C. Tarantino (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3304-5355) and P. N. Blonda (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4576-2669), Inst. of Atmospheric Pollution Research (IIA), National Research Council (CNR), c/o Interateneo Physics Dept, Bari, Italy
| | - Matteo Griggio
- M. Griggio (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3298-2905), Dipto di Biologia, Univ. di Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Roberto Ambrosini
- S. Quilici (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7499-1749), R. Ambrosini (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7148-1468) and D. Rubolini (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2703-5783), Dipto di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Univ. degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Diego Rubolini
- S. Quilici (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7499-1749), R. Ambrosini (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7148-1468) and D. Rubolini (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2703-5783), Dipto di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Univ. degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
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De Pascalis F, Imperio S, Benvenuti A, Catoni C, Rubolini D, Cecere JG. Sex-specific foraging behaviour is affected by wind conditions in a sexually size dimorphic seabird. Anim Behav 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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