Detecting ecological traps in human-altered landscapes: A case study of the thick-billed longspur nesting in croplands

被引：3

作者：

Swicegood, Amber E. ^{[1
]}

Ellison, Kevin S. ^{[2
]}

Sather, Marisa ^{[3
]}

Somershoe, Scott G. ^{[4
]}

McNew, Lance B. ^{[1
,5
]}

机构：

[1] Montana State Univ, Dept Anim & Range Sci, Bozeman, MT USA

[2] Amer Bird Conservancy, Northern Great Plains, Bozeman, MT USA

[3] US Fish & Wildlife Serv, Fish & Wildlife Program, Glasgow, MT USA

[4] US Fish & Wildlife Serv, Div Habitat Conservat, Land Bird Coordinator, Migratory Birds Program, Denver, CO USA

[5] Montana State Univ, 103 Anim Biosci Bldg, Bozeman, MT 59717 USA

来源：

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION | 2023年 / 13卷 / 04期

关键词：

ecological trap; farmland birds; grassland birds; maladaptive selection; Rhynchophanes mccownii; thick-billed longspur; REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS; GRASSLAND BIRD; AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION; POPULATION VIABILITY; MODEL SELECTION; MINIMUM-TILLAGE; FARMLAND BIRDS; NORTH-DAKOTA; GREAT-PLAINS; HABITAT USE;

D O I：

10.1002/ece3.9993

中图分类号：

Q14 [生态学（生物生态学）];

学科分类号：

071012 ; 0713 ;

摘要：

Conversion of the North American prairies to cropland remains a prominent threat to grassland bird populations. Yet, a few species nest in these vastly modified systems. Thick-billed longspurs historically nested in recently disturbed or sparsely vegetated patches within native mixed-grass prairie, but observations of longspurs in spring cereal and pulse crop fields during the breeding season in northeastern Montana, USA, suggest such fields also provide cues for habitat selection. Maladaptive selection for poor-quality habitat may contribute to ongoing declines in longspur populations, but information on thick-billed longspur breeding ecology in crop fields is lacking. We hypothesized that crop fields may function as ecological traps; specifically, we expected that crop fields may provide cues for territory selection, but frequent human disturbance would result in reduced reproduction. To address this hypothesis, we compared measures of habitat selection (settlement patterns and trends in abundance) and productivity (nest density, nest survival, and number of young fledged) between crop fields and native grassland sites during 2020-2021. Across both years, settlement patterns were similar between site types and occupancy ranged from 0.52 +/- 0.17 SE to 0.99 +/- 0.01 on April 7 and 30, respectively. Early season abundance differed by year, and changes in abundance during the breeding season appeared to be associated with precipitation-driven vegetation conditions rather than habitat type. While an index of nest density was lower in crop than native sites, the number of young fledged per successful nest (2.9 +/- 0.18 SE) and nest survival (0.24 +/- 0.03 SE; n = 222 nests) were similar for crop and native sites. Collectively, the data did not support our ecological trap hypothesis: longspurs did not exhibit a clear preference for crop sites and reproductive output was not significantly reduced. Our results indicate that croplands may provide alternative breeding habitat within a human-dominated landscape.

引用

页数：19