Habitat selection by owls in a seasonal semi-deciduous forest in southern Brazil

Menq, Willian; Anjos, Luiz dos

doi:10.1590/1519-6984.07614

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In fact, owls in urban settings have been shown to take advantage of habitat heterogeneity due to the opportunities for nesting and high availability of prey items (Lövy and Riegert 2013;Poppleton 2016). Therefore, the Mottled Owl seems to take advantage of urban spatial heterogeneity and greenspaces of Xalapa, which could supply the ecological requirements for maintaining territories and nesting sites (Gerhardt et al 1994;Lloyd 2013;Enríquez 2015;Menq and Anjos 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We expected to find a positive association between green cover percentage with the presence of the Mottled Owl given the dependence of this species on well-preserved forested areas for breeding and foraging (Gerhardt et al 1994;Menq and Anjos 2015;Holt et al 2019), as well as previous evidence suggesting strong relationships between the quantity of greenspaces with raptors occurrence in urban areas (Dykstra et al 2012;Poppleton 2016). Furthermore, given the pollution status that noise and ALAN represent, we predicted these variables to be negatively related with the occurrence of the Mottled Owl, as they could limit the habitat use of some owl species (Patón et al 2012;Scobie et al 2016;Ciach 2017, 2019;Shonfield and Bayne 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…(e.g., mature forests, second growth forests, coffee and cacao plantations, areas with scattered trees near to small urban settings; Holt et al 2019). Mottled Owls are cavity nesters associated to forests with high canopy and high abundance of large trees (Gerhardt et al 1994;Rivera-Rivera et al 2012;Menq and Anjos 2015;Restrepo-Cardona et al 2015). This owl is exclusively nocturnal and very territorial (adults could maintain the same territory-home range 20.8 ha-for multiple seasons; Gerhardt et al 1994;Holt et al 2019).…”

Section: Focal Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nightlife in the city: drivers of the occurrence and vocal activity of a tropical owl

et al. 2020

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Background: Cities differ from non-urban environments by the intensity, scale, and extent of anthropogenic pressures, which can drive the occurrence, physiology, and behavior of the organisms thriving in these settings. Traits as green cover often predict the occurrence patterns of bird species in urban areas. Yet, anthropogenic noise and artificial light at night (ALAN) could also limit the presence and disrupt the behavior of birds. However, there is still a dearth of knowledge about the influence of urbanization through noise and light pollution on nocturnal bird species ecology. In this study, we assessed the role of green cover, noise, and light pollution on the occurrence and vocal activity of the Mottled Owl (Ciccaba virgata) in the city of Xalapa (Mexico). Methods: We obtained soundscape recordings in 61 independent sites scattered across the city of Xalapa using autonomous recording units. We performed a semi-automated acoustic analysis of the recordings, corroborating all Mottled Owl vocalizations. We calculated two measures of anthropogenic noise at each study site: daily noise (during 24 h) and masking noise (mean noise amplitude at night per site that could mask the owl's vocalizations). We further performed generalized linear models to relate green cover, ALAN, daily noise, and masking noise in relation to the owl's occurrence (i.e., detected, undetected). We also ran linear models to assess relationships among the beginning and ending of vocal activity with ALAN, and with the anthropogenic and masking noise levels at the moment of which vocalizations were emitted. Finally, we explored variations of the vocal activity of the Mottled Owl measured as vocalization rate across time. Results: The presence of Mottled Owls increased with the size of green cover and decreased with increases in both artificial light at night and noise levels. At the temporal scale, green cover was positively related with the ending of the owl's vocal activity, while daily noise and ALAN levels were not related to the timing and vocal output (i.e., number of vocalizations). Furthermore, the Mottled Owl showed a marked peak of vocal activity before dawn than after dusk. Although anthropogenic noise levels varied significantly across the assessed time, we did not find an association between high vocal output during time periods with lower noise levels. Conclusions: Spatially, green cover area was positively related with the presence of the Mottled Owl in Xalapa, while high noise and light pollution were related to its absence. At a temporal scale, daily noise and ALAN levels were not related with the timing and vocal output. This suggests that instead of environmental factors, behavioral contexts such as territoriality and mate interactions could drive the vocal activity of the Mottled Owl. Further studies need to

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Focal Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nightlife in the city: drivers of the occurrence and vocal activity of a tropical owl

et al. 2020

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“…The sounds to be superimposed to the sound generated by the power transformers were selected based on the study of their acoustic properties and literature research [10][11][12], which describe significant improvement of the soundscape through the external inclusion of such masking sounds. Among the nature sounds selected, the songs of three nocturnal birds present in the Brazilian Atlantic region were investigated and incorporated into the masking sound: (i) the yellow-bellied Murucutu (Pulsatrix koeniswaldiana) or Tawny-browed Owl [13]; (ii) the Urutau (Nyctibius griséus) Grey Potoo [14]; and (iii) the Juruva -Baryphthengus ruficapillus (Rufous-capped Motmot) [15].…”

Section: Synthetizing Of the Masking Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Validation of a Masking System for Mitigation of Low-Frequency Audible Noise from Electrical Substations

Regazzi¹,

Cunha²,

Miranda³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Low-frequency audible noise generated by the magnetostriction effect inherent to the operation of power transformers has become a major drawback, especially in cases where the electrical substation is located in urban areas subject to strict environmental regulations that imposes sound pressure limits, differing for day and night periods. Such regulations apply a +5 dB penalty if a tonal component of noise is present, which is clearly the case of magnetostriction noise, typically concentrated at twice the industrial frequency (50 Hz or 60 Hz, depending on the country). The strategy used to eliminate the tonal characteristics, therefore contributing to establish compliance with the applicable regulation and to alleviate the discomfort it causes to the human ear, consisted in superimposing to the substation noise a masking sound synthesized from “sounds of nature” with suitable intensities, to flatten the noise spectrum while enhancing the soundscape. The masking system (heavy-duty speakers powered by a microprocessor platform) was validated at an already judicialized urban scenario. Measurement results confirmed that the masking solution was capable of flattening the tonal frequencies, whose beneficial effect yielded the cancellation of the public civil action filed by the neighbors. The proposed solution is ready to be replicated to other scenarios.

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“…Considering that population information about this group is still scarce in southern Brazil (e.g., Belton, 1994;Motta-Júnior and Braga, 2012;Motta-Junior et al, 2017), studies that evaluate trophic patterns (Brentano et al, 2020), behavioral patterns (Sick, 1997;Motta-Júnior et al, 2017), abundance, composition (Sick, 1997;Motta-Junior, 2006;Legal et al, 2009;Motta-Júnior et al, 2017) and structure of vegetation on the environments that present nocturnal birds occurrence (Menq and Anjos, 2015) are extremely important to be documented (Motta-Júnior et al, 2017). In this sense, the current study aimed to obtain information on the abundance, richness, and composition of nocturnal birds found in forest fragments in southern Brazil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of Nocturnal Birds in Forest Fragments in the Pampa Biome, Southern Brazil

et al. 2021

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choliba). Summer was the most representative season in abundance and species richness. In terms of composition, fragment (A) presented a distinction, with an exclusive species, the bacurau-chintã (Hydropsalis parvula).  e feeding guilds are composed of carnivorous and insectivorous individuals, most of which are annual residents of the state.  e assemblage of nocturnal birds recorded in the fragments of deciduous seasonal forest in the central region reports information about this group, which seems to be locally adapted to live in these altered forest environments, which in a way, still provide resources to meet their trophic needs.

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Habitat selection by owls in a seasonal semi-deciduous forest in southern Brazil

Cited by 11 publications

References 11 publications

Nightlife in the city: drivers of the occurrence and vocal activity of a tropical owl

Nightlife in the city: drivers of the occurrence and vocal activity of a tropical owl

Development and Validation of a Masking System for Mitigation of Low-Frequency Audible Noise from Electrical Substations

Diversity of Nocturnal Birds in Forest Fragments in the Pampa Biome, Southern Brazil

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