What makes a tactile forager join mixed-species flocks? A case study with the endangered Crested Ibis (<i>Nipponia nippon</i>)

Ye, Yuanxing; Jiang, Yiting; Hu, Canshi; Liu, Yao; Qing, Baoping; Wang, Chao; Fernández‐Juricic, Esteban; Ding, Changqing

doi:10.1642/auk-16-191.1

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…FID of sparrows in Yibin was also affected by flock size, with shorter FIDs in larger flocks, which is in line with the results of Samia et al. (2015) and Ye et al. (2017) .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Face masks matter: Eurasian tree sparrows show reduced fear responses to people wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Jiang

Liu

Zhang

et al. 2020

Global Ecology and Conservation

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Continuous exposure to human activity has led to considerable behavioural changes in some wildlife populations. Animals are more likely to survive in a changing environment by adjusting their behaviour to repeatedly occurring but harmless stimulations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, starting in late 2019, face masks were recommended to the public to prevent the spread of pathogens. In this context, we compared the flight initiation distance (FID) of the Eurasian tree sparrow ( Passer montanus ), a commonly seen bird across China, in Yibin and Dazhou, Sichuan, in response to people with or without face masks. After continuous exposure to people wearing face masks for nearly six months, sparrows evidently became adapted to people wearing face masks, and correspondingly showed shorter FIDs in response to people wearing masks. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that birds show reduced fear responses to people wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results suggest a novel aspect of short-term adaptation of wildlife to human behaviour, and that the learning ability of sparrows allows them to adjust their behaviours to adapt to such subtle changes in the environment.

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“…FID of sparrows in Yibin was also affected by flock size, with shorter FIDs in larger flocks, which is in line with the results of Samia et al. (2015) and Ye et al. (2017) .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Face masks matter: Eurasian tree sparrows show reduced fear responses to people wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Jiang

Liu

Zhang

et al. 2020

Global Ecology and Conservation

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“…By joining groups, Birds 2021, 2 405 individuals can reduce the time invested in vigilance (e.g., [2]) and increase safety (manyeyes hypothesis [3]; dilution effect [4]). Interestingly, vigilance-and, therefore, costs-are often reduced even further in mixed-species assemblages [5][6][7][8]. Reasons for this can include less foraging competition, requiring less tracking of nearby companions [9,10], but more importantly, different perception abilities can be combined resulting in earlier detection of threats [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morph Composition Matters in the Gouldian Finch (Chloebia gouldiae): Involvement of Red-Headed Birds Increases Vigilance

Mettke-Hofmann

2021

Birds

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Animals invest in costly vigilance to detect threats. Joining groups reduces these costs, which can be further reduced in mixed-species assemblages. In colour-polymorphic species, morphs often experience different predation pressure and vary in a variety of traits. However, little is known about differences in vigilance or how group composition affects vigilance. The aim was to investigate whether higher conspicuousness increased vigilance and whether vigilance was reduced in mixed-morph groups like in mixed-species assemblages. I tested vigilance in the colour-polymorphic Gouldian Finch (Chloebia gouldiae). Same sex pairs of different age and of either pure (red-red or black-black) or mixed head colour were exposed to three contexts (familiar, changed and novel environment) and head movements were recorded. All birds reduced the frequency of head movements with increasing novelty, indicating different vigilance strategies (switching from a searching to a tracking strategy) depending on the situation. While vigilance did not differ between morphs, morph composition mattered. Black-headed pairs made fewer head movements than mixed-head colour pairs. Results indicated that conspicuousness did not affect vigilance, possibly due to existing adaptations to reduce predation risk. However, whenever red-headed birds were involved, vigilance increased either because of higher group conspicuousness or prevalence of aggression.

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“…Currently, the Hanjiang River Basin in southern Shaanxi is the sole remaining habitat for the Crested Ibis 22 . Among the coexisting species that partially overlap in diet with the Crested Ibis include the Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Chinese Pond Heron (Aedeola bacchus), Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), and Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) 23,24 . Researchers have used multi-temporal niche models to predict potential shifts in the ecological niche and distribution of the Crested Ibis under future climate and land use scenarios 25 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation Challenges: Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Changes Increasing Habitat Overlap Among Endangered Crested Ibis and Sympatric Egret‎/‎Heron Species

Tuohetahong,

Lu,

Guo

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Climate and land use/land cover (LULC) changes have far-reaching effects on various biological processes in wildlife, particularly interspecific interactions. Unfortunately, interspecific interactions are often overlooked when assessing the impacts of environmental changes on endangered species. In this study, we analyzed niche similarities and habitat overlaps among wild Crested Ibis and sympatric Egret and Heron species (EHs) in Shaanxi, China. We aimed to forecast potential alterations in habitat overlaps due to climate and LULC changes. The results showed that although EHs possess a broader niche breadth compared to the Crested Ibis, they still share certain niche similarities, as indicated by Schoener’s D and Hellinger’s I values exceeding 0.5, respectively. An intriguing observation is that despite the differing degrees of habitat reduction for each species, the shared habitat area of all six species expands with the changes in climate and LULC. We suggest that with the climate and LULC changes, the habitats of sympatric EHs are likely to suffer varying degrees of destruction, forcing them to seek refuge and migrate to the remaining wild Ibis habitat. This is primarily due to the effective conservation efforts in the Crested Ibis habitat in Yangxian County and neighboring areas. Consequently, due to the niche similarity, they will share and compete for limited habitat resources, including food and space. Therefore, we recommend that conservation efforts extend beyond protecting the Crested Ibis habitat. It is crucial to control human activities that contribute to LULC changes to safeguard the habitats of both Crested Ibis and other sympatric birds.

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What makes a tactile forager join mixed-species flocks? A case study with the endangered Crested Ibis (Nipponia nippon)

Cited by 15 publications

References 53 publications

Face masks matter: Eurasian tree sparrows show reduced fear responses to people wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Face masks matter: Eurasian tree sparrows show reduced fear responses to people wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Morph Composition Matters in the Gouldian Finch (Chloebia gouldiae): Involvement of Red-Headed Birds Increases Vigilance

Conservation Challenges: Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Changes Increasing Habitat Overlap Among Endangered Crested Ibis and Sympatric Egret‎/‎Heron Species

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