Home Ranges, Habitats, and Roosts of Wintering Burrowing Owls In Agricultural Landscapes In Central Mexico

Valdez-Gómez, Héctor E.; Holroyd, Geoffrey L.; Trefry, Helen E.; Contreras-Balderas, Armando J.

doi:10.3356/jrr-16-104.1

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…To evaluate how long burrowing owls remained at a release site, we recorded the number of minutes between the release when the individual left the site area as determined by radial thresholds of 200, 600, and 1,000 m. We assumed 200 m would capture a burrowing owl's narrower perception of the release environment immediately after release, and 600 m and 1,000 m would capture a broader perception that occur after exploration of the novel environment. We defined the last 2 values based on the central (600 m) and total (1,000 m) home range sizes reported for burrowing owls in several studies (Gervais et al 2003, Moulton et al 2004, Rosenberg and Haley 2004, Valdez‐Gómez et al 2018).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

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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Section: Methodsmentioning

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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“…However, in the South America distribution range, the species has colonized urban areas in recent years, reaching higher densities in urban than in rural areas (Rebolo-Ifrán et al 2017;Baladrón et al 2020). Despite observations of burrowing owls foraging in illuminated areas (Griffin et al 2018;Valdez-Gómez et al 2018), ALAN has been overlooked in habitat selection studies (Baladrón et al 2016;Martínez et al 2017;Rebolo-Ifrán et al 2017). ALAN has been considered as a pervasive influence on the habitat use in North America because prey availability may decrease in illuminated areas (Scobie et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial light at night as a driver of urban colonization by an avian predator

2020

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Urbanization and artificial light at night (ALAN) are major drivers of local biodiversity losses causing community alterations, disruption of predator-prey interactions, and ultimately, promotion of cascading effects. However, some species can colonize urban environments. ObjectivesWe explore the role of ALAN as a driver of the colonization of urban environments by a nocturnal avian predator, the burrowing owl Athene cunicularia. MethodsWe studied in a suburban locality in La Pampa, Argentina: 1) prey availability with pitfall traps under streetlights and control sites; 2) diet by analyzing pellets; 3) space use by deploying GPS data-loggers to breeding owls; 4) nesting habitat selection by comparing environmental variables at nest and random locations; and 5) productivity by correlating environmental variables with the number of fledglings. ResultsFirst, streetlights altered the invertebrate availability, attracting them to illuminated areas. Second, the owl diet was more similar to the invertebrate taxa trapped at pitfall traps under streetlights than that in control traps. Third, owl space use was determined by streetlights. Owls spent more time around light sources, particularly during the nighttime. Fourth, the most important habitat feature influencing the nesting habitat selection was the distance to streetlight. Owls selected areas close to streetlights for nesting. Finally, productivity was not explained by any of our habitat variables. ConclusionsWe demonstrate that ALAN alters the availability of invertebrates and plays a role in the diet, space use, and occupation of urban burrowing owls. Streetlights increase foraging efficiency for owls due to the clumping of prey attracted to lights. This predator-prey relationship might be only supported in suburban environments where low urbanization levels let burrowing owls nest in bare ground areas, and invertebrates are attracted to ALAN from surrounding wilder areas.

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“…We thoroughly searched for owl nests within the study area (~70 hours) and, at each nest found, S1). Since burrowing owls are territorial animals (Green & Anthony 1989, Haug & Oliphant 1990, Gervais et al 2003, Moulton et al 2004, Rosenberg & Haley 2004, Valdez-Gómez et al 2018, Poulin et al 2020, we can ensure that each owl was sampled only once.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We tested the influence of habitat suitability on FID considering two spatial scales: burrow adjacency and home range. We used average values of environmental suitability around each burrow (buffer) for a 50m buffer (representing the environmental suitability directly adjacent to the burrow) and a 600m buffer (representing the environmental suitability of the owls' home range - Green & Anthony 1989, Haug & Oliphant 1990, Moulton et al 2004, Rosenberg & Haley 2004, Valdez-Gómez et al 2018, Poulin et al 2020. Each spatial scale buffer was extracted from the suitability raster using the raster package (Hijmans 2017) (Anselin 1995), using the distance matrix as an associated weight (I = -0.063 ± 0.07, P = 0.59) (Gittleman & Kot 1990).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A adequabilidade ambiental afeta a distância de início do vôo na coruja-buraqueira?

2022

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Fleeing from predators might save individual's life, however, being vigilant or fleeing consumes time, energy and decreases chances for feeding, mating, and protecting the nest. Thus, escaping preferentially occurs when the costs of fleeing is higher than remaining (Blumstein 2006, Cooper & Frederick 2007, Bateman & Fleming 2011).Additionally, there is a trade-off between foraging and being vigilant, influencing the decision-making process of staying or fleeing. This trade-off directly influences an animal's decision to remain and/or establish itself in different locations (Bateman & Fleming 2011). For example, in urban environments, the number of pedestrians reduced bird's abundance, and remaining individuals increased vigilance, reducing foraging, being this effect more intense in large animals (Fernández-Juricic et al. 2002).

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Home Ranges, Habitats, and Roosts of Wintering Burrowing Owls In Agricultural Landscapes In Central Mexico

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

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

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

Artificial light at night as a driver of urban colonization by an avian predator

A adequabilidade ambiental afeta a distância de início do vôo na coruja-buraqueira?

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Home Ranges, Habitats, and Roosts of Wintering Burrowing Owls In Agricultural Landscapes In Central Mexico

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

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

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

Artificial light at night as a driver of urban colonization by an avian predator

A adequabilidade ambiental afeta a distância de iní­cio do vôo na coruja-buraqueira?

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A adequabilidade ambiental afeta a distância de início do vôo na coruja-buraqueira?