Cool birds: facultative use by an introduced species of mechanical air conditioning systems during extremely hot outdoor conditions

Mills, Raegan; McGraw, Kevin J.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2020.0813

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Indeed, restaurants can provide food but also other resources. Particularly, in Phoenix, many restaurants may also act as cooler microclimates [ 106 ]. In the spring and summer, restaurants often provide misters around their outdoor seating areas to keep patrons comfortable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the spring and summer, restaurants often provide misters around their outdoor seating areas to keep patrons comfortable. These cooler areas may also reduce the impacts of extreme heat, which species could otherwise not tolerate [ 106 ]. Further, restaurants may be associated with other factors that alter avian abundance like noise [ 107 , 108 ] and may indirectly alter other food sources (e.g., attracting insects via outdoor lighting or trash; [ 109 ]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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No fry zones: How restaurant distribution and abundance influence avian communities in the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area

Brown

Lerman²,

Basile³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Urbanization is one of the most widespread and extreme examples of habitat alteration. As humans dominate landscapes, they introduce novel elements into environments, including artificial light, noise pollution, and anthropogenic food sources. One understudied form of anthropogenic food is refuse from restaurants, which can alter wildlife populations and, in turn, entire wildlife communities by providing a novel and stable food source. Using data from the Maricopa Association of Governments and the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project, we investigated whether and how the distribution of restaurants influences avian communities. The research aimed to identify restaurants, and thus the associated food they may provide, as the driver of potential patterns by controlling for other influences of urbanization, including land cover and the total number of businesses. Using generalized linear mixed models, we tested whether the number of restaurants within 1 km of bird monitoring locations predict avian community richness and abundance and individual species abundance and occurrence patterns. Results indicate that restaurants may decrease avian species diversity and increase overall abundance. Additionally, restaurants may be a significant predictor of the overall abundance of urban-exploiting species, including rock pigeon (Columba livia), mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), and Inca dove (Columbina Inca). Understanding how birds utilize anthropogenic food sources can inform possible conservation or wildlife management practices. As this study highlights only correlations, we suggest further experimental work to address the physiological ramifications of consuming anthropogenic foods provided by restaurants and studies to quantify how frequently anthropogenic food sources are used compared to naturally occurring sources.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No fry zones: How restaurant distribution and abundance influence avian communities in the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area

Brown

Lerman²,

Basile³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Human utilities also become involved in ameliorating tolerance to extreme climates. For instance, rosy-faced lovebirds in Phoenix (USA) use relief-air vents on building surfaces to cool down in summer, and European starlings perch atop of chimneys in lower winter temperatures (Mills and McGraw, 2021).…”

Section: Climate and Urban Heat Island Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reviewing the role of urbanisation in facilitating the introduction and establishment of Invasive Animal Species

Carlon¹,

Dominoni²

2023

Preprint

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While urbanisation is often associated to a loss of biodiversity, non-native invasive animal species are strikingly successful in urban landscapes. As biological invasions are recognised to have detrimental environmental, social and economic impacts, extensive understanding of the interactions between invasive species and the abiotic and biotic environment is necessary for effective prevention and management strategies. However, the mechanisms underlying the success of invasive animals in urban environments are still poorly understood. This literature review aims at summarising and explaining the mechanisms enhancing biological invasive potential in urban environments, by both isolating and interlinking the abiotic and biotic drivers involved. Ultimately, providing a first conceptual review of the role of urbanisation in the introduction, establishment, and potential further spread of invasive animal species through anthropogenic landscapes. Moreover, we provide a review of the current state of literature, and identify important knowledge gaps, such as the scarcity of studies investigating socio-economic spatial patterns in the presence and abundance of invasive species, or literature investigating the role of urban landscapes in adaptive evolution of invasive animal species.

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“…Although we expect organisms to adopt behaviors that maximize their fitness, this is not always the case when individuals encounter novel conditions (e.g., responses to novel predators, artificial light, anthropogenic food; Tuomainen and Candolin, 2011). Although some species may have sufficient cognitive and behavioral flexibility to cope with this transition point (Ghalambor et al, 2007;Mills and McGraw, 2021), for others, air temperatures above body temperature may act as an insurmountable barrier to effective behavioral thermal regulation. Australian flying foxes (Pteropus spp.…”

Section: Behavioral Responses To Heatmentioning

confidence: 99%

In the Hot Seat: Behavioral Change and Old-Growth Trees Underpin an Australian Songbird’s Response to Extreme Heat

2022

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Anthropogenic climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heat waves, thereby threatening biodiversity, particularly in hot, arid regions. Although free-ranging endotherms can use behavioral thermoregulation to contend with heat, it remains unclear to what degree behavior can buffer organisms from unprecedented temperatures. Thermoregulatory behaviors that facilitate dry heat loss during moderate heat become maladaptive once environmental temperatures exceed body temperature. Additionally, the costs associated with behavioral thermoregulation may become untenable with greater heat exposure, and effective cooling may be dependent upon the availability of specific microhabitats. Only by understanding the interplay of these three elements (responses, costs and habitat) can we hope to accurately predict how heat waves will impact wild endotherms. We quantified the thermoregulatory behaviors and microhabitat use of a small passerine, the Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans), in the mallee woodland of SE Australia. At this location, the annual number of days ≥ 42°C has doubled over the last 25 years. The birds’ broad repertoire of behavioral responses to heat was nuanced and responsive to environmental conditions, but was associated with reduced foraging effort and increased foraging costs, accounting for the loss of body condition that occurs at high temperatures. By measuring microsite surface temperatures, which varied by up to 35°C at air temperatures > 44°C, we found that leaf-litter coverage and tree size were positively correlated with thermal buffering. Large mallee eucalypts were critical to the birds’ response to very high temperatures, providing high perches that facilitated convective cooling, the coolest tree-base temperatures and the greatest prevalence of tree-base crevices or hollows that were used as refuges at air temperatures > 38°C. Tree-base hollows, found only in large mallees, were cooler than all other microsites, averaging 2°C cooler than air temperature. Despite the plasticity of the birds’ response to heat, 29% of our habituated study population died when air temperatures reached a record-breaking 49°C, demonstrating the limits of behavioral thermoregulation and the potential vulnerability of organisms to climate change.

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Cool birds: facultative use by an introduced species of mechanical air conditioning systems during extremely hot outdoor conditions

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

No fry zones: How restaurant distribution and abundance influence avian communities in the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area

No fry zones: How restaurant distribution and abundance influence avian communities in the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area

Reviewing the role of urbanisation in facilitating the introduction and establishment of Invasive Animal Species

In the Hot Seat: Behavioral Change and Old-Growth Trees Underpin an Australian Songbird’s Response to Extreme Heat

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