Potential importance of urban areas for water voles: Arvicola amphibius

Leivesley, Jessica A.; Stewart, Robyn A.; Paterson, Victoria; McCafferty, Dominic J.

doi:10.1007/s10344-021-01467-5

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…However, herons typically wash mammalian prey before ingestion, so it is possible that some floating propagules may attach to fur then. The widespread occurrence of water voles in U.K. samples is striking given their threatened status (Leivesley et al., 2021; Mathews et al., 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A predatory waterbird as a vector of plant seeds and aquatic invertebrates

et al. 2021

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Omnivorous waterbirds play an important role in aquatic ecosystems as dispersal vectors via direct ingestion, transportation, and egestion of plant and invertebrate propagules (i.e. endozoochory). Predatory birds also have the potential to disperse plants and invertebrates that were first carried internally or externally by their prey animals. However, the potential contribution of predatory waterbird species to propagule dispersal in aquatic ecosystems remains understudied. We chose the grey heron Ardea cinerea (Ardeidae) to study the potential of predatory waterbirds to disperse propagules within and among aquatic ecosystems. We hypothesised that: (1) herons disperse a wide variety of plant and invertebrate propagules, from different habitats, with different morphologies (i.e. dispersal syndromes), and including both native and alien species; (2) propagules are ingested with prey species that are primary dispersal vectors (i.e., herons are secondary dispersers); (3) heron pellets show a similar abundance and richness of propagules across their widespread range. We collected 73 regurgitated heron pellets containing undigestible remains from 12 locations across the U.K. and The Netherlands, and examined the taxonomic diversity of plant seeds, invertebrates and prey remains. Pellets were dominated by mammal hairs (99% by volume), and bones confirmed the ingestion of small mammals (prevalence of 38%, e.g. water voles Arvicola amphibius), fish (14%), and birds or amphibians (6%). A total of 266 intact plant seeds were recovered from 71% of the pellets, representing 50 taxa from 17 plant families, including the alien Cotula coronopifolia. The cumulative number of plant species dispersed was lower at higher latitudes. Eight plant species recorded had not previously been recorded as dispersed via waterbirds, and only three species have an endozoochorous dispersal syndrome. Plant taxa were dominated by Caryophyllaceae, Cyperaceae, Juncaceae, and Poaceae, with 24 species from the littoral zone (Ellenberg moisture values of 7–12) and 21 terrestrial species (Ellenberg moisture values of 4–6). Intact invertebrate propagules were found in 30% of the pellets, dominated by Cladocera (Daphniidae) and Bryozoa (including the alien Plumatella casmiana). Our results demonstrate that grey herons disperse plant seeds and aquatic invertebrates widely in north‐western Europe. Herons regurgitate pellets that contain plant and invertebrate propagules from both aquatic or terrestrial habitats, for which secondary dispersal via ingestion along with prey is the likely underlying mechanism (i.e. propagules either attached to or in the digestive systems of the various prey). Our findings showcase the potential of predatory waterbirds as vectors of plants and invertebrates, and how they may facilitate connectivity between freshwater and terrestrial habitats.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A predatory waterbird as a vector of plant seeds and aquatic invertebrates

et al. 2021

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“…It has more than 200 members and allows recording, sharing, displaying, and downloading species records. Records of species sightings are uploaded to the Atlas by registered organisations where datasets are collected by citizen science campaigns [ 26 ]. NBN datasets have previously proved useful in studying distribution patterns of UK species [ 26 , 27 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive citizen science: The role of social media in wildlife observations

2021

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Citizen science plays an important role in observing the natural environment. While conventional citizen science consists of organized campaigns to observe a particular phenomenon or species there are also many ad hoc observations of the environment in social media. These data constitute a valuable resource for ‘passive citizen science’—the use of social media that are unconnected to any particular citizen science program, but represent an untapped dataset of ecological value. We explore the value of passive citizen science, by evaluating species distributions using the photo sharing site Flickr. The data are evaluated relative to those submitted to the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas, the largest collection of species distribution data in the UK. Our study focuses on the 1500 best represented species on NBN, and common invasive species within UK, and compares the spatial and temporal distribution with NBN data. We also introduce an innovative image verification technique that uses the Google Cloud Vision API in combination with species taxonomic data to determine the likelihood that a mention of a species on Flickr represents a given species. The spatial and temporal analyses for our case studies suggest that the Flickr dataset best reflects the NBN dataset when considering a purely spatial distribution with no time constraints. The best represented species on Flickr in comparison to NBN are diurnal garden birds as around 70% of the Flickr posts for them are valid observations relative to the NBN. Passive citizen science could offer a rich source of observation data for certain taxonomic groups, and/or as a repository for dedicated projects. Our novel method of validating Flickr records is suited to verifying more extensive collections, including less well-known species, and when used in combination with citizen science projects could offer a platform for accurate identification of species and their location.

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“…Britain's road verges provide habitats to mice and voles (Bellamy et al 2000), and residential gardens are utilised by bats, foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, mice and voles (Baker and Harris 2007). Rivers and streams within parks, sports grounds, and urban reserves are important habitats for water voles in urban areas in the UK (Leivesley et al 2021). Additionally, research on West European hedgehogs has shown that their numbers have declined markedly in the UK, but that they are still commonly present in areas of human habitation (Williams et al 2018;Gazzard et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of urban areas in supporting vulnerable and endangered mammals

Boakes,

Stafford,

Bramer

et al. 2023

Urban Ecosyst

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The fragmentation of habitats associated with urbanisation poses a significant threat to already vulnerable and endangered mammal species. While the county of Dorset has been identified as one of the UK’s biodiversity hotspots, it is characterised by large-scale urbanisation and intensive agriculture. Focusing on the largest urban area of Dorset—the conurbation of Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole—this study aims to investigate the importance of urban areas in supporting vulnerable and endangered mammals by comparing it to four other major land cover categories in the county: arable & horticulture, grassland, woodland, and heathland. The study utilises data collected by the county’s environmental records department through mainly volunteer-contributed ad-hoc sighting data of 10 872 georeferenced mammal records collected between 2000 and 2018. Our findings reveal that, despite having significantly different mammal communities to all other land covers, urban land cover was shown to host four out of five of the vulnerable and endangered species recorded in this study. These included the European rabbit (vulnerable on the IUCN red list), hazel dormouse (vulnerable on the UK red list), West European hedgehog (vulnerable on the UK red list) and European water vole (endangered on the UK red list). Our findings highlight the significance of urban areas as important habitats for mammal biodiversity, presenting an opportunity for the conservation of specific vulnerable and endangered species. Despite limitations in ad-hoc sighting data, our analysis indicates an overrepresentation of certain 'charismatic' species, like foxes and hedgehogs, in urban samples, likely due to their high intrinsic value to the population. While the recognition of urban habitats for 'red list' species is growing, it is also important to acknowledge the relative importance of charismatic species to urban human communities in conservation and management strategies.

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Potential importance of urban areas for water voles: Arvicola amphibius

Cited by 8 publications

References 8 publications

A predatory waterbird as a vector of plant seeds and aquatic invertebrates

A predatory waterbird as a vector of plant seeds and aquatic invertebrates

Passive citizen science: The role of social media in wildlife observations

The importance of urban areas in supporting vulnerable and endangered mammals

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