Drivers of fatal bird collisions in an urban center Van Doren, Benjamin M.; Willard, David E.; Hennen, Mary ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
06/2021, Letnik:
118, Številka:
24
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Significance
Collisions with built structures are an important source of bird mortality, killing hundreds of millions of birds annually in North America alone. Nocturnally migrating birds are ...attracted to and disoriented by artificial lighting, making light pollution an important factor in collision mortality, and there is growing interest in mitigating the impacts of light to protect migrating birds. We use two decades of data to show that migration magnitude, light output, and wind conditions are important predictors of collisions at a large building in Chicago and that decreasing lighted window area could reduce bird mortality by ∼60%. Our finding that extinguishing lights can reduce bird death has global implications for conservation action campaigns aimed at eliminating an important cause of bird mortality.
Millions of nocturnally migrating birds die each year from collisions with built structures, especially brightly illuminated buildings and communication towers. Reducing this source of mortality requires knowledge of important behavioral, meteorological, and anthropogenic factors, yet we lack an understanding of the interacting roles of migration, artificial lighting, and weather conditions in causing fatal bird collisions. Using two decades of collision surveys and concurrent weather and migration measures, we model numbers of collisions occurring at a large urban building in Chicago. We find that the magnitude of nocturnal bird migration, building light output, and wind conditions are the most important predictors of fatal collisions. The greatest mortality occurred when the building was brightly lit during large nocturnal migration events and when winds concentrated birds along the Chicago lakeshore. We estimate that halving lighted window area decreases collision counts by 11× in spring and 6× in fall. Bird mortality could be reduced by ∼60% at this site by decreasing lighted window area to minimum levels historically recorded. Our study provides strong support for a relationship between nocturnal migration magnitude and urban bird mortality, mediated by light pollution and local atmospheric conditions. Although our research focuses on a single site, our findings have global implications for reducing or eliminating a critically important cause of bird mortality.
Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) were extirpated from most of the continental United States by widespread use of the pesticide DDT in the 1960s. Populations have rebounded with banning of the ...pesticide and successful implementation of captive breeding and hacking programs. An essentially new population of Midwestern peregrines now exists that is comprised almost entirely of urban-nesting birds. The new population is considered to be of mixed ancestry, occurs at relatively high densities, and has nest sites in close proximity, factors that could influence breeding behaviors including mate fidelity, nest-site fidelity, extra-pair paternity, and natal dispersal. We investigated these behaviors using a combination of field observations and DNA microsatellite genotyping. Data for eleven microsatellite DNA markers, including eight newly developed for the species, were analyzed from a total of 350 birds from nine Midwestern cities, representing 149 broods collected at 20 nest sites. To document breeding behavior, parentage was inferred by likelihood techniques when both parents were sampled and by parental genotype reconstruction when only one parent was sampled. In cases where neither parent was sampled, a sibship reconstruction approach was used. We found high mate fidelity and nest-site fidelity in urban peregrines; in 122 nesting attempts made by long-term breeders, only 12 (9.8%) mate changes and six (4.9%) nest-site changes occurred. Only one brood (of 35 tested) revealed extra-pair paternity and involved a male tending two offspring of a recently acquired mate. Natal dispersal patterns indicated that female peregrines dispersed on average 226 km, almost twice the distance of males (average 124 km). Despite the novel environment of cities, our results suggest that monogamous breeding, nest fidelity, and female natal dispersal are high in urban peregrines, not unlike other raptors living in non-urban habitats.
Increasing temperatures associated with climate change are predicted to cause reductions in body size, a key determinant of animal physiology and ecology. Using a four‐decade specimen series of ...70 716 individuals of 52 North American migratory bird species, we demonstrate that increasing annual summer temperature over the 40‐year period predicts consistent reductions in body size across these diverse taxa. Concurrently, wing length – an index of body shape that impacts numerous aspects of avian ecology and behaviour – has consistently increased across species. Our findings suggest that warming‐induced body size reduction is a general response to climate change, and reveal a similarly consistent and unexpected shift in body shape. We hypothesise that increasing wing length represents a compensatory adaptation to maintain migration as reductions in body size have increased the metabolic cost of flight. An improved understanding of warming‐induced morphological changes is important for predicting biotic responses to global change.
Understanding interactions between biota and the built environment is increasingly important as human modification of the landscape expands in extent and intensity. For migratory birds, collisions ...with lighted structures are a major cause of mortality, but the mechanisms behind these collisions are poorly understood. Using 40 years of collision records of passerine birds, we investigated the importance of species' behavioural ecologies in predicting rates of building collisions during nocturnal migration through Chicago, IL and Cleveland, OH, USA. We found that the use of nocturnal flight calls is an important predictor of collision risk in nocturnally migrating passerine birds. Species that produce flight calls during nocturnal migration tended to collide with buildings more than expected given their local abundance, whereas those that do not use such communication collided much less frequently. Our results suggest that a stronger attraction response to artificial light at night in species that produce flight calls may mediate these differences in collision rates. Nocturnal flight calls probably evolved to facilitate collective decision-making during navigation, but this same social behaviour may now exacerbate vulnerability to a widespread anthropogenic disturbance. Our results also suggest that social behaviour during migration may reflect poorly understood differences in navigational mechanisms across lineages of birds.
We analyzed the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of three vagrant Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulva) specimens from Illinois, New York, and New Jersey and compared them to published sequences from ...across the breeding range of the species. All three specimens were assigned to the southwestern United States/Mexico subspecies (P. f. pallida group) on the basis of plumage coloration. Molecular results reveal that all three birds possess unique and novel mitochondrial haplotypes that are closely related to haplotypes from known P. f. pallida individuals. None of the three haplotypes from the vagrant individuals is within the monophyletic clade of haplotypes that corresponds to the Caribbean subspecies (P. f. fulva).
Understanding interactions between biota and the built environment is increasingly important as human modification of the landscape expands in extent and intensity. For migratory birds, collisions ...with lighted structures are a major cause of mortality, but the mechanisms behind these collisions are poorly understood. Using 40 years of collision records of passerine birds, we investigated the importance of species' behavioural ecologies in predicting rates of building collisions during nocturnal migration through Chicago, IL and Cleveland, OH, USA. We found that the use of nocturnal flight calls is an important predictor of collision risk in nocturnally migrating passerine birds. Species that produce flight calls during nocturnal migration tended to collide with buildings more than expected given their local abundance, whereas those that do not use such communication collided much less frequently. Our results suggest that a stronger attraction response to artificial light at night in species that produce flight calls may mediate these differences in collision rates. Nocturnal flight calls probably evolved to facilitate collective decision-making during navigation, but this same social behaviour may now exacerbate vulnerability to a widespread anthropogenic disturbance. Our results also suggest that social behaviour during migration may reflect poorly understood differences in navigational mechanisms across lineages of birds.
The life and works of William J. Beecher is presented. Born on May 23, 1914 in Chicago, his interest in birds began in earnest as the results of a class assignment from Brother Anselm of St. Patrick ...Academy. Beecher wrote many books on ornithology and joined many ornithological organizations. He also invented the Beecher mirage binoculars for people with macular degeneration. He will be remembered for his lifetime commitment to nature education and bird conservation.
The Genus Diorchidium in the Neotropics Hennen, Joe F.; Sotao, Helen M. P.; Hennen, Mary M. Winkler
Mycologia,
11/1998, Letnik:
90, Številka:
6
Journal Article
O estudo das Uredinales de tres áreas de cerrado, nas Estações Experimentais de Moji-Mirim-SP, de Moji-Guaçu-SP e de Luís Antonio-SP, foi realizado com o objetivo de ampliar o conhecimento sobre esse ...importante grupo de patógenos vegetais. Estas áreas contêm remanescentes de vegetação de cerrados no estado de São Paulo e representam uma amostra importante da biodiversidade deste ecossistema. Com base em 1.176 espécimes de Uredinales coletados entre 1975 e 1999, foram identificados 128 gêneros de plantas hospedeiras, distribuídas em 49 famílias botânicas. A partir deste material foram identificadas 157 espécies de patógenos distribuídas em 36 gêneros, sendo os mais freqüentes as especies de Puccinia (53), Uromyces (19), Aecidium e Phakopsora (10), Prospodium (8), Uredo (6), Crossopsora e Ravenelia (5) e Coleosporium (4). O trabalho inclui uma listagem em ordem alfabética das espécies de Uredinales seguidas da citação original e do tipo nomenclatural de cada binômio quando disponível, novas notações para os ciclos de vida baseadas na escola ontogênica, os sinônimos e os dados dos espécimes coletados, bem como um índice de hospedeiros. Espécimes foram depositados nos herbários do Instituto Biológico (IBI), do Botanical Research Institute of Texas, USA (BRIT) e do Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (RB). The study of the Uredinological mycota of three Cerrado areas of São Paulo State, Brazil, was performed in order to increase the knowledge about this important group of plant pathogens. The studied areas are amongst the few remnants of once widespread 'cerrado' vegetation in the State of São Paulo. Based on 1176 Uredinales samples collected between 1975 and 1999, 128 genera of hosts distributed in 49 plant families were identified. Rust fungi were represented by 157 species distributed in 36 genera with predominance of the following: Puccinia (53 spp.), Uromyces (19 spp.), Aecidium and Phakopsora (10 spp.), Prospodium (8 spp.), Uredo (6 spp.), Crossopsora and Ravenelia (5 spp.) and Coleosporium (4 spp.). The species list includes the original citation, nomenclatural-type whenever extant, a new notation for the life cicle based on the ontogenic school, synonymy, collecting data and comments on nomenclature and a host index. Voucher specimens were deposited in the herbaria at Instituto Biológico (IBI), Botanical Research Institute (BRIT), Texas, USA and Rio de Janerio Botanical Garden (RB).
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