Burrowing owls eavesdrop on southern lapwings’ alarm calls to enhance their antipredatory behaviour

Cavalli, Matilde; Baladrón, Alejandro V.; Isacch, Juan Pablo; Bo, Marco

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2018.10.002

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Construction of an ethogram is highly valuable as it is available for several birds, but few owl species. Exceptions include Athene brama ( Nerlekar et al, 2014 ), Bubo bengalensis ( Ramanujam, 2010 ), Athene blewitii ( Ishtiaq and Rahmani, 2005 ), Asio flammeus ( Clark, 1975 ; Paulete et al, 2019 ) and Athene cunicularia ( Cavalli et al, 2018 ) . Such scarcity may reflect the difficulty in observing nocturnal birds and the consequent lack of visibility, limiting observations to the daytime period (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glucocorticoid metabolites in an ex situ nocturnal bird, the tropical screech owl Megascops choliba: effects of sex, activity period and inter-individual variation

Barbosa-Moyano

Sobral²,

Oliveira

2023

Conservation Physiology

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Glucocorticoids mediate physiological processes to obtain energy, presenting daily variation in basal levels that may be related to behavioural activity pattern. Identification of plasticity in the secretion of these hormones is essential to understand their effects on physiology and behaviour of wild birds and, therefore, their success in their natural or artificial environment. Serial endocrine evaluations are facilitated by implementing non-invasive methodologies that minimize possible effects of manipulation on the animal’s physiological variables. However, non-invasive endocrine-behavioural studies in nocturnal birds, such as owls, are immature. The present work aimed to validate an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to quantify glucocorticoid metabolites (MGC) in Megascops choliba as well as to evaluate differences in their production at the individual, sexual or daily level. We recorded the behaviour of nine owls during three continuous days to establish activity budget under captive conditions and aiming to correlate with daily MGC variation. The EIA proved to be effective in analytical assays and in pharmacological testing with synthetic ACTH, validating this immunoassay for the species. Additionally, individual differences in MGC production were confirmed in relation to the time of day, especially at 1700 and 2100, but not in relation to sex. During night hours, the owls showed greater behavioural activity, positively related to MGC values. Higher MGC concentrations were significantly related to greater expressions of active behaviours, such as maintenance, while lower MGC concentrations were recorded during moments of higher alertness and resting. The results presented show daily MGC variation to be inversed in this nocturnal species. Our findings can aid future theoretical studies of daily rhythm and evaluations of challenging and/or disturbing situations that result in changes in behaviour or hormonal cascades of these changes in ex situ populations of owls.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glucocorticoid metabolites in an ex situ nocturnal bird, the tropical screech owl Megascops choliba: effects of sex, activity period and inter-individual variation

Barbosa-Moyano

Sobral²,

Oliveira

2023

Conservation Physiology

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“…In many mixed‐species associations, some species are better at acquiring and transferring information than others because of differences in their morphology, ecology and physiology, and these species could be considered “sentinel species” (e.g., Vanellus chilensis , Cavalli et al., 2018) or “community informants” (Carlson et al., 2020), providing community‐wide (public) information (Breed, 2017). Community informants are species that provide reliable information (information sources; Carlson et al., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Crowned lapwings scan frequently for predators, and their vigilance is not affected by conspecific group size (Ward & MacLean, 1988). Like the southern lapwing ( Vanellus chilensis ) of South America, which could be described as a community informant species (Carlson et al., 2020) because of their loud alarm calls and aggressive behaviour towards potential intruders (Cavalli et al., 2018), crowned lapwings also make very loud alarm calls and mob potential predators (Ward & Maclean, 1988). These vocalizations are also urgency‐dependent repeated calls (Müller & Manser, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eavesdropping of an African ground squirrel on the heterospecific alarm calls of a noisy ground‐nesting bird

Waterman

Mai

2020

Ethology

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Animals gather information about their environment from a variety of sources to enable adaptive decision-making behaviour. Eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls enhances predator avoidance, reduces time spent vigilant and allows for more time on daily activities such as foraging. If the information is relevant and reliable, individuals that respond to heterospecific signals may benefit from a wider range of information at a low marginal cost. The Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris) and crowned lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) are ground-dwelling species that are taxonomically distant but share similar predators, habitat and anti-predatory behaviours. We used playback experiments of the alarm calls produced by conspecifics and lapwings to investigate the vigilance responses of adult female Cape ground squirrels. Squirrels responded with greater vigilance to both squirrel and lapwing alarm calls, and no changes of vigilance levels were observed in response to a control sound. However, contrary to our predictions, changes in vigilance and time to relax did not differ between conspecific versus heterospecific playbacks. The results from our study suggest that squirrels perceive lapwing alarm calls as relevant and reliable information and that responding to it could increase their survival.

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“…Here, we used the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) as a model species because it is well adapted to urban environments (Rebolo-Ifrán et al 2015;Cavalli et al 2016Cavalli et al , 2018 and is involved in well-documented HWC (Gillihan 2000, Engelman et al 2012, Smallwood et al 2013, Cardoso et al 2014. Collisions with aircraft involving burrowing owls are relatively common at the Brasilia International Airport (BSB), with this species ranked as the fourth most frequent species involved in accidents (https://www2.fab.mil.br/cenipa).…”

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confidence: 99%

An evaluation of translocation as a tool to reduce burrowing owl collisions at airports

Santos

Wiederhecker²,

Machado

2022

Wildlife Society Bulletin

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Bird strikes at airports pose a human‐wildlife conflict (HWC) present in the world's major cities. Conflict mitigation frequently encompasses translocation, but its effectiveness in resolving HWCs is unclear. Here, we used the Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) as a model species to test the effectiveness of translocation in reducing the number of bird strikes, the primary HWC at airports. We explored the translocation process, focusing on 3 aspects: 1) the influence of landscape structure on the persistence time of translocated animals at the released sites, 2) the influence of the release distance from the source on the return of translocated animals, and 3) the strike rate involving the species at the capture site at Brasília International Airport (BSB). Our results did not support burrowing owl translocation as a management option for solving the HWC at the BSB. We also found that the landscape composition did not guarantee individual persistence since the animals did not remain at release sites, regardless of the spatial configuration. Release distance did not explain the frequency of return of translocated animals to the capture site. Finally, we registered a higher number of collisions during translocation management. Thus, we believe that wildlife management programs must monitor translocated animals assessing if translocations are suited for the context.

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Burrowing owls eavesdrop on southern lapwings’ alarm calls to enhance their antipredatory behaviour

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

Glucocorticoid metabolites in an ex situ nocturnal bird, the tropical screech owl Megascops choliba: effects of sex, activity period and inter-individual variation

Glucocorticoid metabolites in an ex situ nocturnal bird, the tropical screech owl Megascops choliba: effects of sex, activity period and inter-individual variation

Eavesdropping of an African ground squirrel on the heterospecific alarm calls of a noisy ground‐nesting bird

An evaluation of translocation as a tool to reduce burrowing owl collisions at airports

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