Effects of Land Cover on the Movement of Frugivorous Birds in a Heterogeneous Landscape

PLoS One. 2016 Jun 3;11(6):e0156688. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156688. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Movement is a key spatiotemporal process that enables interactions between animals and other elements of nature. The understanding of animal trajectories and the mechanisms that influence them at the landscape level can yield insight into ecological processes and potential solutions to specific ecological problems. Based upon optimal foraging models and empirical evidence, we hypothesized that movement by thrushes is highly tortuous (low average movement speeds and homogeneous distribution of turning angles) inside forests, moderately tortuous in urban areas, which present intermediary levels of resources, and minimally tortuous (high movement speeds and turning angles next to 0 radians) in open matrix types (e.g., crops and pasture). We used data on the trajectories of two common thrush species (Turdus rufiventris and Turdus leucomelas) collected by radio telemetry in a fragmented region in Brazil. Using a maximum likelihood model selection approach we fit four probability distribution models to average speed data, considering short-tailed, long-tailed, and scale-free distributions (to represent different regimes of movement variation), and one distribution to relative angle data. Models included land cover type and distance from forest-matrix edges as explanatory variables. Speed was greater farther away from forest edges and increased faster inside forest habitat compared to urban and open matrices. However, turning angle was not influenced by land cover. Thrushes presented a very tortuous trajectory, with many displacements followed by turns near 180 degrees. Thrush trajectories resembled habitat and edge dependent, tortuous random walks, with a well-defined movement scale inside each land cover type. Although thrushes are habitat generalists, they showed a greater preference for forest edges, and thus may be considered edge specialists. Our results reinforce the importance of studying animal movement patterns in order to understand ecological processes such as seed dispersal in fragmented areas, where the percentage of remaining habitat is dwindling.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Biodiversity
  • Brazil
  • Cities
  • Conservation of Natural Resources*
  • Ecosystem*
  • Female
  • Forests
  • Geography
  • Likelihood Functions
  • Male
  • Movement
  • Probability
  • Seed Dispersal
  • Songbirds / physiology*
  • Telemetry
  • Temperature
  • Trees

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Centro Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e tecnológico (http://http://www.cnpq.br/) (MAP and MCR); Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (http://http://www.capes.gov.br/) (NSS); and Fundação de Amparo a pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo 2013/50421-2 (http://http://www.fapesp.br/) (MCR and MAP). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.