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Habitat selection of woodchat shrikes Lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy

Every spring a huge number of passerines cross the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea on their way to their breeding grounds. Stopover sites after such extended barriers where birds can rest, refuel, and find shelter from adverse weather, are of crucial importance for the outcome of their migra...

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Autores principales: Papageorgiou, Danai, Barboutis, Christos, Kassara, Christina, Giokas, Sinos
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5804170/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29491971
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cz/zow079
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author Papageorgiou, Danai
Barboutis, Christos
Kassara, Christina
Giokas, Sinos
author_facet Papageorgiou, Danai
Barboutis, Christos
Kassara, Christina
Giokas, Sinos
author_sort Papageorgiou, Danai
collection PubMed
description Every spring a huge number of passerines cross the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea on their way to their breeding grounds. Stopover sites after such extended barriers where birds can rest, refuel, and find shelter from adverse weather, are of crucial importance for the outcome of their migration. Stopover habitat selection used by migrating birds depends on landscape context, habitat patch characteristics, as well as on the particular energetic conditions and needs of individual birds, but it is still poorly investigated. We focused on a long-distance migrating passerine, the woodchat shrike, in order to investigate for the first time the species’ habitat selection at a spring stopover site (island of Antikythira, Greece) after the crossing of the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea. We implemented radio-tracking, color-ringing, and visual behavioral observations to collect data on microhabitat use. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were developed to identify the species’ most preferred microhabitat during its stopover on this low human disturbed island. We found that high maquis vegetation surrounded by low vegetation was chosen as perches for hunting. Moreover, high maquis vegetation appeared to facilitate hunting attempts toward the ground, the most frequently observed foraging strategy. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context of conservation practices for the woodchat shrike and their stopover sites on Mediterranean islands.
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spelling pubmed-58041702018-02-28 Habitat selection of woodchat shrikes Lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy Papageorgiou, Danai Barboutis, Christos Kassara, Christina Giokas, Sinos Curr Zool Articles Every spring a huge number of passerines cross the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea on their way to their breeding grounds. Stopover sites after such extended barriers where birds can rest, refuel, and find shelter from adverse weather, are of crucial importance for the outcome of their migration. Stopover habitat selection used by migrating birds depends on landscape context, habitat patch characteristics, as well as on the particular energetic conditions and needs of individual birds, but it is still poorly investigated. We focused on a long-distance migrating passerine, the woodchat shrike, in order to investigate for the first time the species’ habitat selection at a spring stopover site (island of Antikythira, Greece) after the crossing of the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea. We implemented radio-tracking, color-ringing, and visual behavioral observations to collect data on microhabitat use. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were developed to identify the species’ most preferred microhabitat during its stopover on this low human disturbed island. We found that high maquis vegetation surrounded by low vegetation was chosen as perches for hunting. Moreover, high maquis vegetation appeared to facilitate hunting attempts toward the ground, the most frequently observed foraging strategy. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context of conservation practices for the woodchat shrike and their stopover sites on Mediterranean islands. Oxford University Press 2017-04 2016-07-10 /pmc/articles/PMC5804170/ /pubmed/29491971 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cz/zow079 Text en © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Articles
Papageorgiou, Danai
Barboutis, Christos
Kassara, Christina
Giokas, Sinos
Habitat selection of woodchat shrikes Lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy
title Habitat selection of woodchat shrikes Lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy
title_full Habitat selection of woodchat shrikes Lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy
title_fullStr Habitat selection of woodchat shrikes Lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy
title_full_unstemmed Habitat selection of woodchat shrikes Lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy
title_short Habitat selection of woodchat shrikes Lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy
title_sort habitat selection of woodchat shrikes lanius senator during spring stopover is related to foraging strategy
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5804170/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29491971
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cz/zow079
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