Behavioral rhythms of an opportunistic predator living in anthropogenic landscapes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Human activities have profoundly altered the spatio-temporal availability of food resources. Yet, there is a clear lack of knowledge on how opportunistic species adapt to these new circumstances by scheduling their daily rhythms and adjust their foraging decisions to predicable patterns of anthropic food subsidies. Here, we used nearly continuous GPS tracking data to investigate the adaptability of daily foraging activity in an opportunistic predator, the yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis), in response to human schedules.

Methods

By using waveform analysis, we compared timing and magnitude of peaks in daily activity of different GPS-tracked individuals in eleven different habitat types, in relation to type of day (i.e., weekday vs. weekend).

Results<

SUBMITTER: Parra-Torres Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7183138 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature