Animals may consider both biotic and abiotic factors in foraging site choice. Among the biotic factors, food availability and predation risk are two widely reported important factors in determining ...foraging site fidelity. Their earlier investments, such as those retreat‐building species' efforts in retreats construction, however, have been largely ignored. The orb‐web spider Cyclosa monticola constructs a long column of masquerading detritus decoration in its web for predator avoidance purpose. This detritus decoration also functions as a retreat. However, the role of the detritus decoration for its foraging site fidelity is unknown. By manipulating three factors, presence of detritus decoration, prey availability and predation risk to the spider webs in the field, we show that the self‐constructed detritus decoration is as important as prey availability and predation risk in mediating foraging site fidelity. In addition, the web area also has a significant impact to the foraging site fidelity of the spider, those with larger webs were more likely to leave after being manipulated. However, other factors such as spider body size, decoration length and rain all have no significant impact. Our study may strengthen the current understanding of the movement and foraging of animals, especially those building retreats.
Non‐native tree species are widely used in forest plantations. This may have negative consequences for biodiversity. Hitherto, most studies have compared species diversity between native and ...non‐native forest stands, which makes it difficult to separate the impact of tree species per se from stand characteristics. Our study, conducted in the south of Sweden, compares saproxylic beetle diversity across different nutritional groups, in dead wood of two native and four non‐native tree species in a block design after one and three seasons. Such an approach allows analysis of the impact of non‐native tree species per se.
Mean species richness (± SD) per log was lower in non‐native than in native tree species (non‐native trees: lodgepole pine: 10.7 (± 5.3); Sitka spruce: 8.5 (± 4.3), Douglas fir: 7.1 (± 4.3), Japanese larch 9.4 (± 4.6); native trees: Norway spruce: 12.0 (± 6.0), Scots pine: 12.3 (± 5.2)). Sample‐based rarefaction revealed that when only native tree species were pooled, the species richness was higher than for all tree species combined. The difference in species composition among tree species was strongly driven by bark and wood consumers in the first season, while for predators and fungivores, the differences were smaller. Species composition differed most in the first season.
Dissimilarity in beetle species composition was positively correlated with phylogenetic distances of the tree species. Species richness was lower in non‐native tree species that are only remotely related to native trees species. Of the studied non‐native tree species, lodgepole pine was more closely related to native tree species and consistently harboured higher species richness.
Synthesis and applications. Although non‐native tree species also harbour saproxylic beetle communities, the use of non‐native tree species, especially those only remotely related to native tree species, reduces local diversity of saproxylic beetles. Thus, for biodiversity conservation, an extensive use of non‐native tree species is not recommended as this increases the risk of losing forest biodiversity, especially when they are only distantly related to native tree species.
Although non‐native tree species also harbour saproxylic beetle communities, the use of non‐native tree species, especially those only remotely related to native tree species, reduces local diversity of saproxylic beetles. Thus, for biodiversity conservation, an extensive use of non‐native tree species is not recommended as this increases the risk of losing forest biodiversity, especially when they are only distantly related to native tree species.
Null model analysis of species co‐occurrence patterns has long been used to gain insight into community assembly but is often limited to identifying non‐random patterns without providing clarity ...about underlying ecological mechanisms. This challenge is especially apparent when sampling units are spread across a heterogeneous landscape or along an environmental gradient because multiple mechanisms can produce similar co‐occurrence patterns. We developed a trait‐based approach for discriminating between environmental filtering and biotic interactions as the probable driver of co‐occurrence patterns across environmentally heterogeneous sites. We demonstrate our framework by analyzing the co‐occurrence of small mammals over elevation in three independent mountain ranges in the Great Basin of the western United States. Our sampling design accounts for landscape scale environmental variability and within‐site habitat heterogeneity. We identified 52 non‐random species pairs, of which 36 were aggregated and 16 were segregated. For each pair, we determined which mechanism was the likely ecological explanation using a hypothesis‐testing framework based on functional trait similarity. Expectations of biotic interactions were based on similarity of diet and body size whereas habitat affinity and geographic range were used for environmental filtering. Only four pairs were consistent with expectations under biotic interactions, including pairs for which competitive exclusion has previously been documented. In addition to analyzing individual pairs, we used binomial tests of observed versus expected totals of intra‐ and inter‐guild pairs to determine assemblage‐wide deviations from random community structure. Signatures of environmental filtering were consistent across mountain ranges and scales. Despite differences in species composition and significant pairs among data sets, our approach revealed consistent mechanistic conclusions, emphasizing the value of trait‐based methods to co‐occurrence and community assembly.
The note is a case study of youth recruitment to cultural labour. The main protagonist is MJ, a young woman who has been engaged in doing culture for more than 10 years. The note traces her path from ...early participation in a local writer's school for young people to serving as senior editor of a national major cultural magazine. MJ's path is entangled in numerous ways with cultural institutions, festivals, temporary projects, local cultural leaders, and she thinks of herself as a youth 'recycled' by local cultural institutions. The note applies ecology of culture as a conceptual framework to explore and describe a mechanism of cultural reproduction. The note contributes to the study of ecology of culture by describing in detail how youths are groomed for entrepreneurial, cultural labour, and by conceptualising how the work of cultural reproduction effectively transcends singular cultural organisations as youths move between organisations.
In the western Amazon Basin, recent intensification of river-level cycles has increased flooding during the wet seasons and decreased precipitation during the dry season. Greater than normal floods ...occurred in 2009 and in all years from 2011 to 2015 during high-water seasons, and a drought occurred during the 2010 low-water season. During these years, we surveyed populations of terrestrial, arboreal, and aquatic wildlife in a seasonally flooded Amazonian forest in the Loreto region of Peru (99,780 km²) to study the effects of intensification of natural climatic fluctuations on wildlife populations and in turn effects on resource use by local people. Shifts in fish and terrestrial mammal populations occurred during consecutive years of high floods and the drought of 2010. As floods intensified, terrestrial mammal populations decreased by 95%. Fish, waterfowl, and otter (Pteronura brasiliensis.) abundances increased during years of intensive floods, whereas river dolphin and caiman populations had stable abundances. Arboreal species, including, macaws, game birds, primates, felids, and other arboreal mammals had stable populations and were not affected directly by high floods. The drought of 2010 had the opposite effect: fish, waterfowl, and dolphin populations decreased, and populations of terrestrial and arboreal species remained stable. Ungulates and large rodents are important sources of food and income for local people, and large declines in these animals has shifted resource use of people living in the flooded forests away from hunting to a greater reliance on fish. En la cuenca occidental del Amazonas la reciente intensificación de los ciclos de niveles en los ríos ha incrementado las inundaciones durante la temporada de lluvias y ha disminuido la precipitación durante la temporada seca. En 2009 y en todos los años de 2011 a 2015 hubo inundaciones mayores a lo normal durante la temporada de creciente, y en 2010 hubo una sequía durante la temporada de niveles bajos. Durante estos años, censamos las poblaciones de fauna terrestre, arbórea y acuática en un bosque amazónico de anegación temporal en la región de Loreto en Perú (99,780 km²) para estudiar los efectos de la intensificación de las fluctuaciones climáticas sobre las poblaciones de fauna silvestre, y a la vez los efectos sobre el uso de recursos por parte de la gente local. Ocurrieron cambios en las poblaciones de peces y mamíferos terrestres durante los años consecutivos de las inundaciones y la sequía de 2010. Conforme las inundaciones se intensificaron, las poblaciones de mamíferos terrestres disminuyeron en un 95%. La abundancia de peces, aves acuáticas y nutrias (Pteronura brasiliensis) incrementó durante los años de las inundaciones intensas, mientras que las poblaciones de delfines de río y caimanes tuvieron una abundancia estable. Las especies arbóreas, incluyendo a las guacamayas, aves de caza, primates, félidos, y otros mamíferos arbóreos tuvieron poblaciones estables y no fueron afectadas directamente por las inundaciones. La sequía de 2010 tuvo el efecto contrario: las poblaciones de peces, aves acuáticas y delfines de río disminuyeron, y las poblaciones de especies terrestres y arbóreas permanecieron estables. Los ungulados y los grandes roedores son fuentes importantes de alimento y de ingresos para la gente local, y las grandes declinaciones de estos animales ha cambiado el uso de recursos de las personas que habitan en los bosques inundados de la caza a una mayor dependencia de la pesca. 近期西亚马逊盆地的河流水位周期性加剧增加了雨季的洪涝发生，并减少了旱季的降雨量。 在2009及2011-2015年的高水位季节，洪涝的发生要高于正常水平;而在2010年的低水位季节，却发生了干 旱。2009-2015年，我//フ在秘鲁洛雷托(Loreto) 一块发生季节性洪涝的亚马逊林区(99,780 km2\对陆生、树栖 以及水生野生动物种群进行了调査，以研究气候自然波动的加剧对野生动物种群的影响及随之产生的对当地人 资源利用的影响。在持续的髙洪涝年份和2010年的干旱年份，鱼类和陆生哺乳动物种群发生了变化。因洪涝加 剧，陆生哺乳动物种群减少了95%。在洪游加剧的年份，鱼类、水鸟以及水獭(Pteronurabrasitíensis) 的丰度增 加了’ 而淡水豚和凯门鳄种群丰度保持稳定。树栖物种，包括金刚鹦鹉、猎鸟ヽ灵长类ヽ猫科动物以及其它树栖 的哺乳动物，其种群保持稳定，未直接受到高洪涝的影响。2010年的干旱则有相反的影响:鱼类、水鸟和淡水膝 种群下降，而陆生和树栖物种种群保持稳定。有蹄类和大型啮齿类动物是当地人重要的食物和收入来源，这些动 物种群的下降改变了在洪涝林区生活的人们对资源的利用模式, 从狩猎转为更加依赖渔捞。
Several mechanisms of habitat choice can contribute to speciation. Empirical studies of habitat choice mechanisms provide important insights into the relative roles of these mechanisms in speciation. ...A recent paper by Van Belleghem and colleagues characterizes the mechanistic basis of a component of habitat choice--departure behavior--in two salt marsh beetle ecotypes that inhabit different environments. The authors compare the departure behavior between the two ecotypes in response to an environmental cue and find that ecotypes differ in their tendency to depart in response to this cue and that the environment experienced by immature beetles affects the departure behavior of adult beetles. The authors conclude that such plastic behavioral differences between ecotypes should reduce gene flow and thereby facilitate reproductive isolation between ecotypes. We question whether such a mechanism of departure behavior would effectively reduce gene flow between ecotypes. Furthermore, their study highlights the need for some clarification of habitat choice mechanisms and related concepts, as conceptual inconsistencies are common in the literature. Here, we clarify major mechanisms of habitat choice and discuss how each mechanism might facilitate speciation. We emphasize that future empirical work should be guided by careful consideration of the natural history of species under study.
We distributed anthelmintic baits on a university campus in Japan inhabited by foxes infected with Echinococcus multilocularis to design an effective baiting protocol for small public areas. ...High-density baiting can reduce the risk for human exposure to the parasite to near zero. However, monthly baiting is recommended to maintain this effect.
Mesocarnivores play a key role in ecosystem dynamics through the regulation of prey populations and are sensitive to environmental changes; thus, they are often considered good model organisms for ...conservation planning. However, data regarding the factors that influence the habitat use of threatened small wild felids such as the Andean tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus pardinoides) are scarce. We conducted a two-year survey with 58 camera trap stations to evaluate the determinants of Andean tiger cat habitat use in three protected areas in the Middle Cauca, Colombia. We developed site occupancy models and found that Andean tiger cat habitat use increased with leaf litter depth at intermediate elevations and far from human settlements. Through conditional cooccurrence models, we found that Andean tiger cat habitat use was invariant to the presence of prey or potential intraguild competitors and killers/predators, but its detectability increased when they were present and detected. This suggests that Andean tiger cats may be more likely to be detected in sites with high prey availability. We found that Andean tiger cats preferred sites with deep leaf litter, which is a particular feature of cloud forests that provides suitable conditions for ambush hunting and hiding from intraguild enemies. Our results showed that Andean tiger cats avoided human settlements, which may minimize potential mortality risks in those areas. Moreover, the restricted use of middle elevations by Andean tiger cats suggested that they could be used as a sentinel species to track the effects of climate change since their suitable habitat is likely to be projected upward in elevation. Future conservation actions must be focused on identifying and mitigating human-related threats close to the Andean tiger cat habitat while preserving microhabitat conditions and the existing networks of protected areas.
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•Applying the zeta diversity metric allowed disentangling of factors affecting turnover of rare versus common flea species.•Host turnover was more important than environment in its ...effect on rare but not common fleas in three of four realms.•Effects of environmental factors on the turnover of rare versus common fleas differed between biogeographic realms.
We investigated drivers of species turnover in fleas parasitic on small mammals in four biogeographic realms using novel methodology (zeta diversity, and Multi-Site Generalised Dissimilarity Modelling). We asked whether (i) flea turnover was better explained by host turnover or environmental variables; (ii) different factors drive the turnover of rare and widespread fleas; (iii) the factors affecting the turnover of rare or widespread fleas differ between realms; and (iv) environmental variables drive flea turnover directly or via their effects on hosts. Dissimilarity in host species composition was the most important factor affecting flea turnover in all realms. In the Afrotropics, the Nearctic, and the Neotropics, this was true mainly for rare species, whereas the zeta diversity of the Palearctic hosts exerted a strong effect on the turnover of both rare and widespread fleas. Dissimilarity in temperature contributed the most to the turnover of rare fleas in the Neotropics and the Palearctic, whereas the turnover of widespread species in these realms was strongly affected by dissimilarity in precipitation. In the Nearctic, dissimilarity in precipitation or temperature mostly affected the turnover of rare fleas or common species, respectively. In the Afrotropics, dissimilarity in the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index and temperature affected the turnover of all species, independently of their level of commonness, while dissimilarity in rainfall was important for the turnover of rare fleas. The responses of flea assemblages to environmental factors represented a combination of direct responses and responses mediated via effects on host turnover. We conclude that host turnover is a more important factor than environmental dissimilarity in its effect on flea species turnover. However, the relative effects of host composition and environment, as well as those of temperature, precipitation and the amount of vegetation, on flea turnover differ (i) between realms and (ii) between rare and common fleas.
Aim
Macroecological studies that require habitat suitability data for many species often derive this information from expert opinion. However, expert‐based information is inherently subjective and ...thus prone to errors. The increasing availability of GPS tracking data offers opportunities to evaluate and supplement expert‐based information with detailed empirical evidence. Here, we compared expert‐based habitat suitability information from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with habitat suitability information derived from GPS‐tracking data of 1,498 individuals from 49 mammal species.
Location
Worldwide.
Time period
1998–2021.
Major taxa studied
Forty‐nine terrestrial mammal species.
Methods
Using GPS data, we estimated two measures of habitat suitability for each individual animal: proportional habitat use (proportion of GPS locations within a habitat type), and selection ratio (habitat use relative to its availability). For each individual we then evaluated whether the GPS‐based habitat suitability measures were in agreement with the IUCN data. To that end, we calculated the probability that the ranking of empirical habitat suitability measures was in agreement with IUCN's classification into suitable, marginal and unsuitable habitat types.
Results
IUCN habitat suitability data were in accordance with the GPS data (> 95% probability of agreement) for 33 out of 49 species based on proportional habitat use estimates and for 25 out of 49 species based on selection ratios. In addition, 37 and 34 species had a > 50% probability of agreement based on proportional habitat use and selection ratios, respectively.
Main conclusions
We show how GPS‐tracking data can be used to evaluate IUCN habitat suitability data. Our findings indicate that for the majority of species included in this study, it is appropriate to use IUCN habitat suitability data in macroecological studies. Furthermore, we show that GPS‐tracking data can be used to identify and prioritize species and habitat types for re‐evaluation of IUCN habitat suitability data.
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