Urban specialization reduces habitat connectivity by a highly mobile wading bird.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mobile animals transport nutrients and propagules across habitats, and are crucial for the functioning of food webs and for ecosystem services. Human activities such as urbanization can alter animal movement behavior, including site fidelity and resource use. Because many urban areas are adjacent to natural sites, mobile animals might connect natural and urban habitats. More generally, understanding animal movement patterns in urban areas can help predict how urban expansion will affect the roles of highly mobile animals in ecological processes.

Methods

Here, we examined movements by a seasonally nomadic wading bird, the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus), in South Florida, USA. White ibis are colonial wading birds that forage on aquatic prey; in recent years,

SUBMITTER: Teitelbaum CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7720518 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature