Border wall: bad for biodiversity

Keitt, Tim; Schmidt, Olivia; Terry, Martin; Trout, Keeper

doi:10.1002/fee.1785

Cited by 19 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Transboundary frontiers are landscapes arti cially fractured by geopolitical borders that rarely contain an ecological foundation (Liu et al 2020). These boundaries often overlap with endemic species' habitats (Fowler et al 2018) and may consist of physical barriers along international borders, such as the US-Mexico border wall. Alternatively, there may be no physical barrier, but the two countries may have vastly different policies regarding wildlife management and conservation (Arrondo et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movement ecology, breeding, diet, and roosting behavior of barn owls (Tyto alba) in a transboundary conflict region

et al. 2021

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Transboundary frontiers often contain wildlife habitats that are fractured by geopolitical borders, which could have adverse effects on the wildlife that inhabit those areas. We examined the movement, breeding, roosting and diet of 15 GPS-tagged barn owls (Tyto alba) along the Israeli-Jordanian and Israeli-Palestinian Authority borders. Our results showed that 80% of the barn owls hunted across the border. On average, the owls engaged in 5.4 hunting trips per night, 16% of which were cross-border excursions, and they crossed the borders as frequently as expected randomly, highlighting the importance of wildlife protection on all sides. Hunting movement, rather than cross-border activity, had an effect on the annual reproductive success and diet composition. Speci cally, female owls that spent more time at the nest and engaged in longer distance hunting trips had higher reproductive success. 80% of the females roosted outside of the nest box at a median distance of 908 m (range = 199-4,112 m). Only 13.3% of the owls (2/15 owls) roosted across the border. These results increase our understanding of the movement, breeding, and roosting behavior of a non-migratory avian raptor. However, a serious lack of cooperation and communication between bordering countries hampers our ability to understand the full effects of differing environmental policies on a species that knows no borders.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movement ecology, breeding, diet, and roosting behavior of barn owls (Tyto alba) in a transboundary conflict region

et al. 2021

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“…Recently, the Rio Grande river has been at the forefront of a growing socio-political issue. The United States government has secured funding to build a border wall along the Rio Grande between the U.S. and Mexico (Fowler et al 2018). The LRGR in Texas will be the most impacted by the construction since there are approximately 2000 km of border between countries (Fowler et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The United States government has secured funding to build a border wall along the Rio Grande between the U.S. and Mexico (Fowler et al 2018). The LRGR in Texas will be the most impacted by the construction since there are approximately 2000 km of border between countries (Fowler et al 2018). There is little or no data that can serve as a baseline to determine the effects of ongoing ecological change in this important riparian corridor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sampling plots in both habitats were separated on average by 172 m. The total area representative of the sampled habitats was approximately. 003 km 2 , and the selected habitats were characteristic of the riparian corridor exposed to invasion by exotic invasive plants (Rubio et al 2014) and human management (Fowler et al 2018). Each transect and pan trap was sampled monthly from February 2017 to May 2019.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Watershed disturbances, especially those occurring proximal to river channels (i.e. riparian corridors) impact resources for wildlife (Fowler et al 2018). For example, invasive plant species pose a significant threat to plant and pollinator communities along the Rio Grande in Texas (Rubio et al 2014), but this has not been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bee and Flowering Plant Communities in a Riparian Corridor of the Lower Rio Grande River (Texas, USA)

Rubio

Wright

Longing

2020

Preprint

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5The Lower Rio Grande River (LRGR) in Texas is the physical boundary between the United 6 States and Mexico and is considered one of the world's most at-risk rivers due to intensified 7 management of the riparian corridor and human use. Exotic plant invasions have significantly 8 altered the native floral communities because of invasive giant reed, with potential impacts to the 9 native wildlife using resources in the riparian corridor. This study was conducted along a 3.22 10 km stretch of the LRGR in southwestern Webb County, TX to assess bee (Anthophila) 11 communities and their flowering-plant resources among proximal and distal terrestrial upland 12 and river-adjacent sub-corridors. Patterns related to the bee community across the two habitats 13 consisted of low variation and dominance by common taxa, suggesting the riparian corridor 14 could be used as a resource for bee foraging and soil-nesting. Although a lack of community 15 structure similarities among habitats were found, indicator species analysis produced two bee 16 genera that were more common and abundant in the upland habitat. Total number of individual 17 bees and genera collected across 26 dates and 2 years show a bimodal trend, with peaks in 18

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Collateral Values: The Natural Capital Created by Landscapes of War

Lookingbill

Smallwood

2019

Landscape Series

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Border wall: bad for biodiversity

Cited by 19 publications

References 7 publications

Movement ecology, breeding, diet, and roosting behavior of barn owls (Tyto alba) in a transboundary conflict region

Movement ecology, breeding, diet, and roosting behavior of barn owls (Tyto alba) in a transboundary conflict region

Bee and Flowering Plant Communities in a Riparian Corridor of the Lower Rio Grande River (Texas, USA)

Collateral Values: The Natural Capital Created by Landscapes of War

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