Functional connectivity network between terrestrial and aquatic habitats by a generalist waterbird, and implications for biovectoring

Martín‐Vélez, Víctor; Mohring, Bertille; Leeuwen, Casper H. A. van; Shamoun‐Baranes, Judy; Thaxter, Chris B.; Baert, Jeroen; Camphuysen, C.J.; Green, Andy J.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135886

Cited by 37 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 68 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The only groups that presented consistent habitat use in both seasons were those of small wading birds and opportunistic gulls. Opportunistic gulls showed higher richness in fish ponds, which is likely to be related to their preference for establishing breeding colonies in this area (as for other Laridae, Ramírez et al, 2012) as well as their use of ponds as roost sites when making daily flights to feed in ricefields or landfills outside our study area (Martín‐Vélez et al., 2020). Small wading birds were less represented in natural wetlands than in all other wetland types.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Comparing the diversity and composition of waterbird functional traits between natural, restored, and artificial wetlands

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The restoration of degraded areas and the creation of artificial ecosystems have partially compensated for the continuing loss of natural wetlands. However, the success of these wetlands in terms of the capacity of supporting biodiversity and ecosystem functions is unclear. Research is needed to improve our understanding of the value of restored and constructed wetlands for functional diversity of freshwater fauna. We compared natural, restored, and artificially created wetlands present within the Doñana Natural Space, Spain and valued as important for waterbirds. We evaluated if these wetlands are equivalent in terms of waterbird functional trait diversity and composition, during both the wintering and breeding seasons. We modelled functional diversity measures and functional group species richness describing species diet, body mass, and foraging techniques with generalised linear mixed models in 20 wetlands monitored between 2006 and 2011. We used three different statistical approaches to evaluate the robustness of our results. Artificial wetlands constructed for conservation failed to reach the functional diversity of natural and restored wetlands. Unexpectedly, artificial ponds constructed for fish production performed better, and even exceeded natural wetlands for functional richness during winter. Fish ponds stood out as having a unique functional composition, connected with increase in richness of opportunistic gulls and decrease of species sensitive to high salinity. Overall, the functional structure of breeding communities was more affected by wetland type than wintering communities. Our findings suggest that compensating the loss of natural wetlands with restored and artificial wetlands results in systems with altered waterbird‐supported functions, such as seed dispersal or nutrient cycling. Protection of natural Mediterranean wetlands is vital to maintain the original diversity and composition of waterbird functional traits. Furthermore, restoration must be prioritised over the creation of artificial wetlands, which, even when intended for conservation, may not provide an adequate replacement.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Comparing the diversity and composition of waterbird functional traits between natural, restored, and artificial wetlands

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a much larger waterbird also known to feed on crayfish within rice fields (Tablado et al, 2010), but its role in endozoochory is unknown. Both these species are benefitting from the expansion of artificial habitats, and can show high functional connectivity between different habitat types (Bécares et al, 2019;Martín-Vélez et al, 2020), increasing their potential as plant vectors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Endozoochory of the same community of plants lacking fleshy fruits by storks and gulls

Martín‐Vélez

Lovas‐Kiss

Sánchez

et al. 2020

J Vegetation Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims: Research into the dispersal of plants lacking a fleshy fruit by avian endozoochory remains limited, particularly regarding the different roles of specific vectors in the same habitat. Methods: We compared plants dispersed by endozoochory between two migratory waterbirds differing in body size: the lesser black-backed gull Larus fuscus, and the white stork Ciconia ciconia. We collected faeces and pellets from roosting flocks on dykes in rice fields in Doñana, SW Spain, and extracted intact seeds. Results: We recovered 424 intact seeds from excreta, representing 21 plant taxa, 11 of which germinated under laboratory conditions. Eight plant species are considered weeds, four of them as alien species, and only two have a fleshy fruit. Seed abundance and species richness per sample did not differ between storks and gulls. Toadrush (Juncus bufonius) was the dominant species, accounting for 49% of seeds recovered. PERMANOVA and mvabund analyses revealed no differences in the proportions of each plant species dispersed by the two vectors, and seasonal variation in abundance was absent. Overall, germinability was 19%, and declined with increasing delay between sample collection and processing. Transects along dykes identified 52 plant taxa, only 18 of which were recorded in excreta. Conclusions: Overlap in the communities of non-fleshy-fruited plants dispersed by two unrelated birds of different size suggests that waterbird plant dispersal networks are different from frugivore networks. Unlike for frugivores, decoupling between seed production and ingestion reduces seasonal variation in endozoochory rates. For Juncus bufonius and other plants, these avian vectors provide maximum dispersal distances several orders of magnitude greater than predicted from their dispersal syndromes. Endozoochory by migratory waterbirds has major implications for plant distributions in a rapidly changing world, and more research is required before we can predict which plants disperse regularly via this mechanism.

show abstract

“…Preference of LBBG for arti cial wetlands other than rice elds was also strong at the individual scale. Arti cial shponds were selected strongly by a subset of tracked gulls, whereas the natural marshes of 2018; Martín-Vélez et al 2019, 2020. Gulls are also likely to disperse genes for antimicrobial resistance into rice elds, both when feeding at land lls or when roosting in the nearby river, which is contaminated with urban wastewaters (Ahlstrom et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have consequently bene tted from the increasing development of many areas within their global distribution, exhibiting rapidly increasing population trends in anthropogenic areas across their range (Calladine 2004 of Europe, and decreased availability of sheries discards from altered shing practices have led to a larger dependence of gulls on terrestrial and anthropogenic foods (Harris, 1965;Camphuysen, 1995;Oro, 1996). The spatial shift in Larus gulls and their growing use of food resources associated with humans raises concerns about their environmental and societal impacts, especially given their known role as biovectors, linking terrestrial and aquatic as well as anthropogenic and ecological systems (Martín-Veléz et al, 2019, 2020. For example, increased availability of terrestrial food in anthropogenic landscapes has led to roosting of large numbers of gulls on inland water bodies, with important impacts on water quality (Byappanahalli et al 2015, Winton & River 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Ramo et al 2013) adjacent to the Doñana wetlands. These rice elds are the node with the greatest centrality within the network of important habitat sites for LBBG across the region (Martín-Vélez et al 2020). During the rice harvest period, they feed on invasive cray sh exposed as rice plants are harvested, as well as on spilled rice grain (Lovas-Kiss et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Dynamic Space Use of Andalusian Rice Fields by Overwintering Lesser Black-Backed Gulls is Driven by Harvest-Related Flooding

Rees¹,

Aragonés²,

Bouten³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Research on the space use and behavior of waterbirds—as highly mobile of wetland habitats—yields important insights on human-wildlife interactions of ecological and societal importance under global change. The extent to which dynamic (within-season) changes in anthropogenic landscapes affects these interactions is poorly understood. Lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus) are prominent biovectors of biological and artificial materials, and have exhibited large population increases in parts of southern Europe in recent decades. Methods: We combined GPS tracking, earth observation, accelerometry and field observations to study the space use of overwintering in a mixed rice field landscape in Andalusia, Southern Spain. We used Manly selectivity metrics and classified remote sensing imagery to directly evaluate space use and habitat selection for these gulls and how it changed throughout the rice harvest cycle. Results: Analysis of over 45,000 GPS fixes and 14 classified remotely-sensed images from winter 2016-17 showed dynamic space use driven by the harvest-related flooding across the rice harvest cycle. Prior to harvest, gulls foraged in rice paddies during the day and roosted in adjacent waterbodies (the River Guadalquivir, and fish ponds) at night. During harvest, they spent nearly 100% of their daily cycle within the rice fields, foraging in harvested paddies and roosting in post-harvest, flooded paddies. After harvest, they roosted in flooded fields at night and foraged at landfills in the surrounding landscape. Conclusion: Gull space use at landscape and paddy scales was closely linked to dynamic land and water management over the rice agricultural cycle, illustrating the detailed scales at which human activities influence the movements of ecologically important, human-associated biovectors like gulls. The frequent early-spring movement patterns of these increasingly numerous gulls between landfills and agricultural fields an important biotransport link for potentially toxic materials between waste sites and places where food is grown for human consumption.

show abstract

Functional connectivity network between terrestrial and aquatic habitats by a generalist waterbird, and implications for biovectoring

Cited by 37 publications

References 68 publications

Comparing the diversity and composition of waterbird functional traits between natural, restored, and artificial wetlands

Comparing the diversity and composition of waterbird functional traits between natural, restored, and artificial wetlands

Endozoochory of the same community of plants lacking fleshy fruits by storks and gulls

Dynamic Space Use of Andalusian Rice Fields by Overwintering Lesser Black-Backed Gulls is Driven by Harvest-Related Flooding

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About