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50 results for “ecological trap”
Data from: Benefit or ecological trap? Monitoring the effects of small clear-cuts on capercaillie Tetrao urogallus and its mammalian predators
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Climate change is leading to an ecological trap in a migratory insect
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Data from: The interface of ecological novelty and behavioral context in the formation of ecological traps
Ecological traps occur when rapid environmental change causes animals to actually prefer inferior habitats. Traps increase the likelihood of species extinction, but our understanding of how evolved behavioral algorithms interface with increasingly novel ecosystems to trigger them remains limited. Both polarized and unpolarized light are increasingly common forms of light pollution known to cause maladaptive behavior for both water-seeking and entirely terrestrial insects by maladaptively triggering innate habitat selection and navigation preferences, respectively. We designed a nocturnal, field-based experiment to investigate how diverse nocturnal insect taxa use and contextualize these cues when they are placed in evolutionarily novel proximity, and so test the hypothesis that cues that originally evolved to guide navigation behavior can enhance or hinder the ability of different nocturnal insects to avoid maladaptive behavior within the context of habitat selection. Unpolarized light created more attractive ecological traps, even for aquatic taxa known to use polarized light as their sole habitat selection cue. We found that these cues could, in aquatic taxa, act both additively and synergistically to increase the attraction of ecological traps. While one family showed evidence of partitioning their response to these 2 forms of light within their respective behavioral contexts (navigation, habitat selection), our results indicate that the novel proximity of cues from separate behavioral contexts can act to enhance the attractiveness of ecological traps within a focal context.
Data from: Using camera trapping and hierarchical occupancy modelling to evaluate the spatial ecology of an African mammal community
Emerging conservation paradigms have shifted from single to multi-species approaches focused on sustaining biodiversity. Multi-species hierarchical occupancy modelling provides a method for assessing biodiversity while accounting for multiple sources of uncertainty. We analysed camera trapping data with multi-species models using a Bayesian approach to estimate the distributions of a terrestrial mammal community in northern Botswana and evaluate community, group, and species-specific responses to human disturbance and environmental variables. Groupings were based on two life-history traits: body size (small, medium, large and extra-large) and diet (carnivore, omnivore and herbivore). We photographed 44 species of mammals over 6607 trap nights. Camera station-specific estimates of species richness ranged from 8 to 27 unique species, and species had a mean occurrence probability of 0·32 (95% credible interval = 0·21–0·45). At the community level, our model revealed species richness was generally greatest in floodplains and grasslands and with increasing distances into protected wildlife areas. Variation among species' responses was explained in part by our species groupings. The positive influence of protected areas was strongest for extra-large species and herbivores, while medium-sized species actually increased in the non-protected areas. The positive effect of grassland/floodplain cover, alternatively, was strongest for large species and carnivores and weakest for small species and herbivores, suggesting herbivore diversity is promoted by habitat heterogeneity. Synthesis and applications. Our results highlight the importance of protected areas and grasslands in maintaining biodiversity in southern Africa. We demonstrate the utility of hierarchical Bayesian models for assessing community, group and individual species' responses to anthropogenic and environmental variables. This framework can be used to map areas of high conservation value and predict impacts of land-use change. Our approach is particularly applicable to the growing number of camera trap studies world-wide, and we suggest broader application globally will likely result in reduced costs, improved efficiency and increased knowledge of wildlife communities.
A systematic review of global road ecology camera trap studies that monitored animals' use of wildlife crossings in road-fragmented landscapes
<p>Much research has emphasised the importance of incorporating wildlife crossing-structures in the design of road networks to facilitate connectivity of wildlife crossings in road-fragmented landscapes. Although camera traps have been effective in monitoring wildlife crossing structures, limited studies explore camera trap protocol to monitor wildlife use of crossing structures, particularly in Africa. Our study reviewed and assessed camera trap peer-reviewed research that monitored the use of crossing-structures by wildlife to navigate landscapes fragmented by roads. We found 70 camera trap peer-reviewed publications from 2001 to 2022 that monitored wildlife use of crossing-structures in landscapes intersected by roads, and these were from 22 countries and six continents. The included peer-reviewed studies varied significantly globally, with geographical trends indicating that most studies were conducted in North America. However, the methods used varied considerably between studies, especially in terms of camera trap placement protocol (placement height of camera trap, survey length, and camera multi-shot settings). This showed that camera trap usage for monitoring animal use of crossing structures is still an emerging area of research, and there is a potential for developing a standardised protocol for each type of crossing structure design and size. Future camera trap studies exploring wildlife use of crossing-structures should consider monitoring existing crossing structures (culverts, bridges, and tunnels) as this provides a less costly method of restoring landscape connectivity. We recommend that further research develop a standardised camera trap protocol for monitoring wildlife using crossing-structures to reduce the threats to biodiversity.</p>
Migratory cavity nesters (Ficedula hypoleuca) incur fitness costs from ecological traps
<p><span>When selecting a habitat for breeding and offspring rearing, it is optimal for organisms to select a stable habitat with high amounts of quality resources. However, organisms may inadvertently select a habitat for breeding that would initially appear preferential and healthy, but may in reality be detrimental to parent and/or offspring fitness. Such ecological traps may even be the result of human habitat modification and conservation efforts. In this study, we tested whether migratory European pied flycatcher (</span>Ficedula hypoleuca) offspring cavity-nesting in patches of forest affected by outbreaks of the great web-spinning sawfly (Acantholyda posticalis<span>) incurred fitness detriments characteristic of ecological traps when compared to flycatchers that nested in patches of unaffected forest. Outbreaking sawfly larvae overconsume Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) needles and substrate, which decreases resource availability directly and indirectly–through cascading effects–for birds inhabiting the forest. In installing nest boxes to attract breeding pairs and potentially combat the outbreak, we found that flycatchers inhabiting areas of sawfly outbreaks had similar clutch sizes to pairs breeding in healthy forest patches. Contrarily, the fledgling number and body condition were significantly lower for those nesting in the damaged forests. Though larvae serve as the primary food source for nestlings, the forest patches damaged by sawflies also had lower larval biomass from rapid resource decline due to overconsumption. In provisioning nest boxes for migrating flycatcher pairs in forest patches that were subsequently impacted by a pest insect outbreak, an ecological trap arose for those pairs choosing to nest in what appeared to be an unaffected forest at first. Given the inability of breeding pairs to distinguish habitat quality on initial inspection, we suggest that nest boxes be used with caution in areas with unstable habitat conditions when attracting migratory birds given the trends of their declining global numbers.</span></p>
Nonideal nest box selection by tree swallows breeding in farmlands: evidence for an ecological trap?
<p>Animals are expected to select a breeding habitat using cues that should reflect, directly or not, the fitness outcome of the different habitat options. However, human-induced environmental changes can alter the relationships between habitat characteristics and their fitness consequences, leading to maladaptive habitat choices. The most severe case of such nonideal habitat selection is the ecological trap, which occurs when individuals prefer to settle in poor-quality habitats while better ones are available. Here we studied the adaptiveness of nest box selection in a tree swallow (<i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>) population breeding over a 10-year period in a network of 400 nest boxes distributed along a gradient of agricultural intensification in southern Québec, Canada. We first examined the effects of multiple environmental and social habitat characteristics on nest box preference to identify potential settlement cues. We then assessed the links between those cues and habitat quality as defined by the reproductive performance of individuals that settled early or late in nest boxes. We found that tree swallows preferred nesting in open habitats with high cover of perennial forage crops, high spring insect biomass, and high density of house sparrows (<i>Passer domesticus</i>), their main competitors for nest sites. They also preferred nesting where the density of breeders and their mean number of fledglings during the previous year were high. However, we detected mismatches between preference and habitat quality for several environmental variables. The density of competitors and conspecific social information showed severe mismatches, as their relationships to preference and breeding success went in opposite direction under certain circumstances. Spring food availability and agricultural landscape context, while related to preferences, were not related to breeding success. Overall, our study emphasizes the complexity of habitat selection behavior and provides evidence that multiple mechanisms may potentially lead to an ecological trap in farmlands. </p>
Data from: Zooming in on mechanistic predator-prey ecology: integrating camera traps with experimental methods to reveal the drivers of ecological interactions
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Nonideal nest box selection by tree swallows breeding in farmlands: evidence for an ecological trap?
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Data from: The interface of ecological novelty and behavioral context in the formation of ecological traps
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Data from: Timing of breeding in an ecologically trapped bird
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Ecological traps and species distribution models: a challenge for prioritizing areas of conservation importance
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Data from: Susceptibility to ecological traps is similar among closely related taxa but sensitive to spatial isolation
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Data from: Using camera trapping and hierarchical occupancy modelling to evaluate the spatial ecology of an African mammal community
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A systematic review of global road ecology camera trap studies that monitored animals’ use of wildlife crossings in road-fragmented landscapes
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Data from: Social attraction to a predatory black hole: A natural ecological trap for lobsters
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Data from: Puma responses to unreliable human cues suggest an ecological trap in a fragmented landscape
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Data from: Under the snow: a new camera trap opens the white box of subnivean ecology
Snow covers the ground over large parts of the world for a substantial portion of the year. Yet very few methods are available to quantify biotic variables below the snow, with most studies of subnivean ecological processes relying on comparisons of data before and after the snow cover season. We developed a camera trap prototype to quantify subnivean small mammal activity. The trap consists of a camera that is attached facing downward from the ceiling of a box, which is designed to function as a snow-free tunnel. We tested it by placing nine traps with passive infrared sensors in a subarctic habitat where snow cover lasted for about 6 months. The traps were functional for the whole winter, permitting continuous data collection of site-specific presence and temporal activity patterns of all three small mammal species present (the insectivorous common shrew, Sorex araneus, the herbivorous tundra vole, Microtus oeconomus, and the carnivorous stoat, Mustela erminea) as well as abiotic conditions (presence/absence of snow cover and subnivean temperature). Based on their successful functioning (only 6% of the photographs appeared empty or were of poor quality, whereas ca 80% were of small mammals and the remaining of birds and invertebrates), we discuss how the new camera trap can enable subnivean studies of small mammal communities. This greatly increases the temporal resolution and extent of data collection and thereby provides unpreceded opportunities to understand population and food web dynamics in ecosystems with snow cover.
Data from: Discovery and exploitation of a natural ecological trap for a mosquito disease vector
Ecological traps occur due to a mismatch between a habitat's attractiveness and quality, wherein organisms show preference for low-quality habitats over other available high-quality habitats. Our previous research identified leaf litter from common blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis) as a natural ecological trap for an important vector for West Nile virus (Culex pipiens), attracting mosquitoes to oviposit in habitats deleterious to the survival of their larvae. Here we demonstrate that manipulation of leaf litter in stormwater catch basins, an important source of disease vector mosquitoes in urban environments, can increase Cx. pipiens oviposition but reduce survival. In a series of experiments designed to elucidate the mechanisms that explain the attractive and lethal properties of this native plant, behavioral bioassays suggest that oviposition site selection by Cx. pipiens is mediated primarily by chemical cues as leaves decompose. However, we also show that juvenile mosquito survival mainly is related to the suitability of the bacterial community in the aquatic habitat for mosquito nutritional needs, which does not appear to create a cue that influences oviposition choice. This mismatch between oviposition cues and drivers of larval habitat quality may account for the ecological trap phenomenon detected in this study. Our findings provide new insights into potential mechanistic pathways by which ecological traps may occur in nature and proof-of-concept for a new 'attract-and-kill' tool for mosquito control.
Increased microclimatic variation in artificial nests does not create ecological traps for a secondary cavity breeder, the European roller
Artificial devices are increasingly used in conservation measures to mitigate the disappearance of natural habitats. However, few studies have demonstrated their benefits for the target species, and they may pose a risk of creating ecological traps. This occurs when lower individual fitness is found in artificial habitats that are more attractive than their natural equivalents. In this study, we tested the ecological trap hypothesis on a dense population of European rollers Coracias garrulus breeding in both natural cavities and nest-boxes. Our initial prediction was that the more stressful microclimatic conditions of nest-boxes would lead to reduced fitness of European rollers, thus creating an ecological trap. The results showed that nest-boxes were preferred over natural cavities. Despite significantly more extreme microclimatic conditions in nest-boxes, we found similar breeding parameters between artificial and natural nest types. Our results also suggest that European rollers selected the nest-boxes which best buffered the temperature, thus avoiding potential ecological traps. Overall our results led to the conclusion that nest-boxes do not create ecological traps for European rollers in this study area. However, other species may be more sensitive to microclimatic variations or less able to avoid the least favourable nest-boxes. These findings could help to inform the placement of nest-boxes in order to reduce extreme temperatures and variation in humidity rates. Future studies could compare nest types for other fitness parameters, such as juvenile body condition or survival. We also recommend the ecological trap hypothesis as a useful framework to evaluate the outcomes of artificial devices used for conservation.
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