Animals employ a variety of behaviors to reduce or manage predation risk. Often, these are studied in isolation, but selection may act on packages of behavior that are referred to as behavioral syndromes. We focused on yellowbellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) and examined three commonly studied antipredator behaviors. We fitted general linear models to explain variation in maximum running speed, time allocated to vigilance and foraging during bouts of foraging, and flight initiation distance (FID). Marmot maximum running speed was influenced by the substrate run across; marmots ran fastest across dirt or low vegetation and slowest across stones or talus. Incline and several other variables shown to affect running speed in other marmot species failed to explain significant variation in yellow-bellied marmots. From these results we expected marmots to be sensitive to substrate while foraging, but insensitive to incline. However, time allocated to foraging was affected by incline but not by substrate. In bouts of foraging observed in different habitats, and on different inclines, more time was allocated to foraging and less to vigilance on steep slopes and less on level ground. Substrate influenced FID. Marmots in tall vegetation were less tolerant of an approaching person than were those in shorter vegetation. Finally, we found significant correlations between the residuals from the maximum running speed model and the residuals from the time allocated to vigilance and foraging models. We found a tendency for marmots that ran slower than predicted to be less vigilant while foraging. We also found that relatively slow marmots engaged in more active foraging and less vigilance during foraging bouts. This finding suggests a Ôlocomotor abilitywariness while foragingÕ syndrome. It also suggests that vulnerable individuals minimize their exposure while foraging.
IntroductionAlleys are common features of many North American cities. For example, in Los Angeles, California, alleys run more than 930 linear miles. Yet as elements of urban form they have rarely been investigated by geographers or other social scientists. Unlike city streets, alleys usually go unnamed and are ignored by city policy. They are enigmatic, liminal spaces whose identity is blurred: simultaneously public and private, at times threatening but nonetheless places of great possibility.In this paper we explore alleysö their distribution, context, physical features, activity patterns, and resident perceptions ö in the City of Los Angeles. We begin by noting gaps in existing literature on alleys, and suggest a direction for research that may highlight their potential benefits for the environment, for community, and for the economy. In the next section we describe our methodology, which combines
This article explores protection efforts that have arisen in the New York City metropolitan area around the monk parakeet, a nonnative bird that has achieved a broad distribution outside its native habitat range. In some urban regions in which populations are established, controversy has developed around the parakeets' use of utility infrastructure and potential impacts on native species and agricultural crops. This case provides an opportunity to explore animal protection rhetoric about nonnative species, an understudied topic, considering the great extent to which species have become established in ecosystems outside their natural ranges and the persistence of public affinity for nonnative plants and wildlife. This article identifies four major frames through which advocates have delivered the birds to public and legal audiences and considers how they have mobilized and handled notions of "nonnative-ness" in their advocacy work.
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