Cargando…

Closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment

The expansion of urban landscapes has both negative and positive effects on wildlife. Understanding how different species respond to urbanization is key to assessing how urban landscapes influence regional wildlife behavior and ecosystem structure. Gulls are often described as strong urban adapters,...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lato, K. A., Madigan, D. J., Veit, R. R., Thorne, L. H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8655058/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34880306
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02821-y
_version_ 1784612001135198208
author Lato, K. A.
Madigan, D. J.
Veit, R. R.
Thorne, L. H.
author_facet Lato, K. A.
Madigan, D. J.
Veit, R. R.
Thorne, L. H.
author_sort Lato, K. A.
collection PubMed
description The expansion of urban landscapes has both negative and positive effects on wildlife. Understanding how different species respond to urbanization is key to assessing how urban landscapes influence regional wildlife behavior and ecosystem structure. Gulls are often described as strong urban adapters, but few studies have explored species-specific differences in habitat use. Here, we use GPS tracking in conjunction with stable isotope analysis (SIA) to quantify the habitat use and trophic ecology of great black-backed gulls (Larus marinus) and herring gulls (L. argentatus) in an urbanized area. Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) of foraging locations revealed significant differences in the habitat use between species. Great black-backed gulls foraged primarily in marine habitats and herring gulls foraged primarily in specific urban habitats (e.g., landfills, dumpsters) and showed higher site fidelity in terms of the proportion of foraging sites revisited. Further, great black-backed gulls had significantly higher δ(15)N and δ(13)C than herring gulls, reflecting the use of marine, rather than urban, food sources. This study highlights the variability in urban habitat utilization among closely related species, assesses stable isotope signatures of urban diets in wild birds, and discusses ecological implications of the relative contribution of urban and marine foraging.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8655058
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-86550582021-12-09 Closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment Lato, K. A. Madigan, D. J. Veit, R. R. Thorne, L. H. Sci Rep Article The expansion of urban landscapes has both negative and positive effects on wildlife. Understanding how different species respond to urbanization is key to assessing how urban landscapes influence regional wildlife behavior and ecosystem structure. Gulls are often described as strong urban adapters, but few studies have explored species-specific differences in habitat use. Here, we use GPS tracking in conjunction with stable isotope analysis (SIA) to quantify the habitat use and trophic ecology of great black-backed gulls (Larus marinus) and herring gulls (L. argentatus) in an urbanized area. Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) of foraging locations revealed significant differences in the habitat use between species. Great black-backed gulls foraged primarily in marine habitats and herring gulls foraged primarily in specific urban habitats (e.g., landfills, dumpsters) and showed higher site fidelity in terms of the proportion of foraging sites revisited. Further, great black-backed gulls had significantly higher δ(15)N and δ(13)C than herring gulls, reflecting the use of marine, rather than urban, food sources. This study highlights the variability in urban habitat utilization among closely related species, assesses stable isotope signatures of urban diets in wild birds, and discusses ecological implications of the relative contribution of urban and marine foraging. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-12-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8655058/ /pubmed/34880306 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02821-y Text en © The Author(s) 2021, corrected publication 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Lato, K. A.
Madigan, D. J.
Veit, R. R.
Thorne, L. H.
Closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment
title Closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment
title_full Closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment
title_fullStr Closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment
title_full_unstemmed Closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment
title_short Closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment
title_sort closely related gull species show contrasting foraging strategies in an urban environment
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8655058/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34880306
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02821-y
work_keys_str_mv AT latoka closelyrelatedgullspeciesshowcontrastingforagingstrategiesinanurbanenvironment
AT madigandj closelyrelatedgullspeciesshowcontrastingforagingstrategiesinanurbanenvironment
AT veitrr closelyrelatedgullspeciesshowcontrastingforagingstrategiesinanurbanenvironment
AT thornelh closelyrelatedgullspeciesshowcontrastingforagingstrategiesinanurbanenvironment