Nonrandom territory occupancy by nesting Gyrfalcons (<i>Falco rusticolus</i>)

Anderson, David L.; Bente, Peter J.; Booms, Travis L.; Dunn, Leah; McClure, Christopher J. W.

doi:10.1139/as-2018-0024

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Observed frequencies correspond to the number of burrows occupied for 1 to 7 years, respectively. We then tested whether frequencies of observed occupancy differed from expected ones using a Fisher’s exact test (as in Sergio & Newton, 2003 ; Pagán, Martínez & Calvo, 2009 ; Anderson et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and individual determinants of burrow-site microhabitat selection, occupancy, and fidelity in eastern chipmunks living in a pulsed-resource ecosystem

Gaudreau-Rousseau

Bergeron

Réale

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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Background Habitat selection has major consequences on individual fitness, particularly selection for breeding sites such as nests or burrows. Theory predicts that animals will first use optimal habitats or rearrange their distribution by moving to higher-quality habitats whenever possible, for instance when another resident disperses or dies, or when environmental changes occur. External constraints, such as predation risk or resource abundance, and interindividual differences in age, sex and body condition can lead to variation in animals’ perception of habitat quality. Following habitat use by individuals over their lifetime is thus essential to understand the causes of variation in habitat selection within a population. Methods We used burrow occupancy data collected over eight years to assess burrow-site selection in a population of wild eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) relying on pulsed resources. We first compared characteristics of burrow microhabitats with those of equivalent unused plots. We then investigated the factors influencing the frequency of burrow occupation over time, and the individual and environmental causes of annual burrow fidelity decisions. Results Our results indicate that chipmunks select microhabitats with a greater number of woody debris and greater slopes. Microhabitats of burrows with higher occupancy rates had a lower shrub stratum, were less horizontally opened and their occupants’ sex-ratio was skewed towards males. Burrow fidelity was higher in non-mast years and positively related to the occupant’s age, microhabitat canopy cover and density of large red maples. Conclusion The quality of a burrow microhabitat appears to be determined in part by characteristics that favour predation avoidance, but consideration of occupancy and fidelity patterns over several years also highlighted the importance of including individual and contextual factors in habitat selection studies.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and individual determinants of burrow-site microhabitat selection, occupancy, and fidelity in eastern chipmunks living in a pulsed-resource ecosystem

Gaudreau-Rousseau

Bergeron

Réale

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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“…Territories (i.e. nest sites and their surrounding areas) were delineated by a set of decision rules following Anderson et al (2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bayesian stable isotope mixing models effectively characterize the diet of an Arctic raptor

Johnson

Henderson

Anderson

et al. 2020

Journal of Animal Ecology

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1. Bayesian stable isotope mixing models (BSIMMs) for δ 13 C and δ 15 N can be a useful tool to reconstruct diets, characterize trophic relationships, and assess spatiotemporal variation in food webs. However, use of this approach typically requires a priori knowledge on the level of enrichment occurring between the diet and tissue of the consumer being sampled (i.e. a trophic discrimination factor or TDF). 2. Trophic discrimination factors derived from captive feeding studies are highly variable, and it is challenging to select the appropriate TDF for diet estimation in wild populations. We introduce a novel method for estimating TDFs in a wild population-a proportionally balanced equation that uses high-precision diet estimates from nest cameras installed on a subset of nests in lieu of a controlled feeding study (TDF CAM). 3. We tested the ability of BSIMMs to characterize diet in a free-living population of gyrfalcon Falco rusticolus nestlings by comparing model output to high-precision nest camera diet estimates. We analysed the performance of models formulated with a TDF CAM against other relevant TDFs and assessed model sensitivity to an informative prior. We applied the most parsimonious model inputs to a larger sample to analyse broad-scale temporal dietary trends. 4. Bayesian stable isotope mixing models fitted with a TDF CAM and uninformative prior had the best agreement with nest camera data, outperforming TDFs derived from captive feeding studies. BSIMMs produced with a TDF CAM produced reliable diet estimates at the nest level and accurately identified significant temporal shifts in gyrfalcon diet within and between years. 5. Our method of TDF estimation produced more accurate estimates of TDFs in a wild population than traditional approaches, consequently improving BSIMM diet estimates. We demonstrate how BSIMMs can complement a high-precision diet study by expanding its spatiotemporal scope of inference and recommend this integrative methodology as a powerful tool for future trophic studies.

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“…Arnold [36] therefore argued for the use of 85% confidence intervals when interpreting the results of models selection performed using AIC. To allow for inference using both Arnold's [36] recommendation and traditionally-used 95% confidence intervals, some studies interpret those instances where 85% or 95% confidence intervals exclude zero as weak and strong evidence, respectively [37][38][39].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating citizen science outreach: A case-study with The Peregrine Fund’s American Kestrel Partnership

et al. 2021

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Citizen science programs can be powerful drivers of knowledge and scientific understanding and, in recent decades, they have become increasingly popular. Conducting successful research with the aid of citizen scientists often rests on the efficacy of a program’s outreach strategies. Program evaluation is increasingly recognized as a critical practice for citizen science practitioners to ensure that all efforts, including outreach, contribute to the overall goals of the program. The Peregrine Fund’s American Kestrel Partnership (AKP) is one such citizen science program that relies on outreach to engage participants in effective monitoring of a declining falcon species. Here, we examine whether various communication strategies were associated with desired outreach goals of the AKP. We demonstrate how social media, webcams, discussion boards, and newsletters were associated with perception of learning, agreement with our conservation messaging, and participation in our box monitoring program. Our results thus help us to improve our outreach methodology, suggest areas where other citizen science programs might improve their outreach efforts, and highlight future research priorities.

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Nonrandom territory occupancy by nesting Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus)

Cited by 6 publications

References 44 publications

Environmental and individual determinants of burrow-site microhabitat selection, occupancy, and fidelity in eastern chipmunks living in a pulsed-resource ecosystem

Environmental and individual determinants of burrow-site microhabitat selection, occupancy, and fidelity in eastern chipmunks living in a pulsed-resource ecosystem

Bayesian stable isotope mixing models effectively characterize the diet of an Arctic raptor

Evaluating citizen science outreach: A case-study with The Peregrine Fund’s American Kestrel Partnership

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