Search

Competition typically takes place in a spatial context, but eco-evolutionary models rarely address the joint evolution of movement and competition strategies. Here we investigate a spatially explicit producer-scrounger model where consumers can either forage on a heterogeneous resource landscape or steal resource items from conspecifics (kleptoparasitism). We consider three scenarios: (1) a population of foragers in the absence of kleptoparasites; (2) a population of consumers that are either specialized on foraging or on kleptoparasitism; and (3) a population of individuals that can fine-tune their behavior by switching between foraging and kleptoparasitism depending on local conditions. By means of individual-based simulations, we study the joint evolution of movement and competition strategies, and we investigate the implications on the resource landscape and the distribution of consumers over this landscape. In all scenarios and for all parameters considered, movement and competition strategies evolved rapidly and consistently across replicate simulations. The evolved movement and resource exploitation patterns differ considerably across the three scenarios. For example, foragers are attracted by conspecifics in scenario (1), while they are repelled by conspecifics in scenario (2). Generally the movement strategies of kleptoparasites differ markedly from those of foragers, but even within each class of consumers polymorphisms emerge, corresponding to pronounced differences in movement patterns. In all scenarios, the distribution of consumers over resources differs substantially from ‘ideal free’ predictions. We show that this is related to the intrinsic difficulty of moving effectively on a depleted landscape with few reliable cues for movement. Our study emphasises the advantages of a mechanistic approach when studying competition in a spatial context, and suggests how evolutionary modelling can be integrated with current work in animal movement ecology.

Extreme weather events, like high temperatures and droughts, are predicted to become common with climate change, and may negatively impact plant growth. How honey bees (Apis mellifera L. [Hymenoptera: Apidae]) will respond to this challenge is unclear, especially when collecting pollen, their primary source of protein, lipids, and micro-nutrients. We explored this response with a data set from multiple research projects that measured pollen collected by honey bees during 2015–2017 in which above-average temperatures and a drought occurred in 2017. We summarized the abundance and diversity of pollen collected from July to September in replicated apiaries kept at commercial soybean and corn farms in Iowa, in the Midwestern USA. The most commonly collected pollen was from clover (Trifolium spp. [Fabales: Fabaceae]), which dramatically declined in absolute and relative abundance in July 2017 during a period of high temperatures and drought. Due to an apparent lack of clover, honey bees switched to the more drought-tolerant native species (e.g., Chamaecrista fasciculata [Michx.] Greene [Fabales: Fabaceae], Dalea purpurea Vent. [Fabales: Fabaceae], Solidago spp. [Asterales: Asteraceae]), and several species of Asteraceae. This was especially noticeable in August 2017 when C. fasciculata dominated (87%) and clover disappeared from bee-collected pollen. We discuss the potential implications of climate-induced forage dearth on honey bee nutritional health. We also compare these results to a growing body of literature on the use of native, perennial flowering plants found in Midwestern prairies for the conservation of beneficial insects. We discuss the potential for drought resistant-native plants to potentially promote resilience to climate change for the non-native, managed honey bee colonies in the United States.

Small, volant and nocturnal, bats face strong challenges to avoid heat loss. Among aerial insectivores, body mass varies by two orders of magnitude between the smallest and the largest species. At low temperatures, physiological constraints should be harsher for smaller bats, as they lose more heat through their body surface than larger species. So, temperature variations should lead to distinct behavioural responses by bats of different body masses. Also, because they feed on arthropods, dependent on ambient temperature, aerial insectivores should halt feeding at low temperatures. Using ultrasound detectors and temperature and humidity sensors, we investigated how aerial insectivores of the coldest region in austral Brazil respond to nightly temperature variations and compared those responses between guilds of distinct body masses. We predict that smaller bats reduce their activity faster than larger bats, but that foraging should reduce simultaneously in the two guilds, as they depend on ectothermic prey. Bat activity reduced significantly below 12 °C. Larger bats maintained their activity at temperatures where the activity of smaller bats had already halted. However, larger bats foraged mostly during the first half of the night, at higher temperatures than those chosen by smaller bats to forage. We associate these differential responses to the thermal convection process, which may increase prey availability at higher altitudes, where larger molossids are known to forage. Smaller species, mostly edge-space hunters, probably take advantage of less variable prey availability during the night, resulting in a more regular behavioural pattern of navigation and foraging.

BACKGROUND Determining factors influencing animal movements at a temporal scale that is similar to that at which management actions are conducted (e.g. weekly) is crucial for identifying efficient methods of wildlife conservation and management. Using global positioning system (GPS) data from 49 wild pigs in the southeast United States, we constructed weekly 50% and 95% utilization distributions to quantify the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on weekly core area and home range size, as well as home range shape. RESULTS We found vegetative composition (i.e. proportion of bottomland hardwoods), season (based on forage availability), meteorological conditions (i.e. temperature and pressure), and sex influenced wild pig weekly home range and core area size, while vegetative composition (i.e. proportion of upland pines) and landscape features (i.e. distance to streams) also were important factors influencing home range shape. At close distances to streams, wild pigs had more elongate home ranges when their home ranges comprised less upland pine habitat; however, farther from streams, there was no change in home range shape across fluctuating proportions of upland pines. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate that fine-scale wild pig home ranges and movements are pliable from week to week and influenced by several habitat, landscape, and meteorological attributes that can easily be quantified from available land use and meteorological databases. These findings are important for designing monitoring studies, identifying high risk zones for disease transmission, planning response to disease emergence events, and allowing more effective and efficient short-term management planning.

Investigations to record the diversity and phenological patterns of insect pollinators associated with scrubland weed flora in three sites differing in their land use were made. In this study the plant-pollinator interaction network consisted of 25 insect species and 14 weedy plants associated with crop ecosystems. This research identifies potential weedy plants supporting indigenous pollinators including social bees, solitary bees and wasps. The group-level index revealed that mean number of partners for the pollinators varied from 0.597 to 0.704 while for the weedy plants this value was 1.626 to 1.868. The phenological patterns indicated that majority of pollinators showed congruent pattern in visitation abundance. Among the weedy plants, Caesulina axillaris, Luffa echinata and Alternanthera ficoidea showed high degree, species strength and effective number of partners. The findings suggest that sustainable management of weedy species can provide important forage resources to the pollinators in these ecosystems.

Optimal nutrition is crucial for honey bee colony growth and robust immune systems. Honey bee nutrition is complex and depends on the floral composition of the landscape. Foraging behavior of honey bees depends on both colony environment and external environment. There are significant gaps in knowledge regarding honey bee nutrition, and hence no optimal diet is available for honey bees, as there is for other livestock. In this review, we discuss (1) foraging behavior of honey bees, (2) nutritional needs, (3) nutritional supplements used by beekeepers, (4) probiotics, and (5) supplemental forage and efforts integrating floral diversity into cropping systems.

Bee conservation is a topic of global concern, particularly in agroecosystems where their contribution to crop pollination is highly valued. Over a decade ago, bees and other pollinators were made a priority of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a U.S. federal program that pays land owners to establish a conservation cover, typically grassland, on environmentally sensitive farmland. Despite large financial investment in this program, few studies have measured the benefit of CRP to bees, particularly in complex agroecosystems with abundant alternative forage. To determine if CRP land seeded with pollinator-attractive native flowers and/or introduced legumes provides distinct floral composition that attracts more foraging bees than non-CRP habitats, we compared CRP land to paired non-CRP fields and roadsides at 31 sites in Michigan, U.S.A.. We found CRP land had unique floral species community composition, higher floral abundance, greater species richness, more native floral species, and greater inflorescence coverage. Greater inflorescence coverage on CRP land was associated with a greater abundance of both honey bees and wild bees than either non-CRP fields or roadsides, as was native flower abundance for wild bees. Showy native plant species were important forage resources on CRP land: Monarda fistulosa was the most foraged upon species by both honey bees and wild bees, and goldenrod species were important late-summer forage resources for honey bees. These findings demonstrate the benefit of managing CRP land with herbaceous seed mixes to create dense, showy, native plant communities that provide summer-long resources to both bee groups. Insights from this study could be used to enhance the composition of future conservation program investments and management of non-CRP land to benefit pollinators.

Habitat selection has a significant influence on animals’ fitness, and has been well studied in various ungulates. A trade-off between the access to forage and to shelter often occurs for ungulates’ habitat selections, which vary temporally. However, habitat selections for primitive ungulates with solitary and sedentary, such as the Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus), are poorly known. We examined habitat selection at the within-home range scale of the Japanese serow in a montane forest of Mt. Asama, central Japan, at two temporal scales, season and time of day (day or night), by radio-tracking. Serows selected shrub-rich habitats with steep slopes and avoided shrub-poor habitats with gentle slopes, and their selection showed little variation according to season. Shrub-rich habitats with steep slopes provide both abundant food and shelter against potential danger, which suggests that it is an adequate habitat for serows throughout the year. The habitat selection of serows had few differences according to time of day, which suggests that shrub-rich habitats with steep slopes are suitable for both feeding and resting (i.e., all times of day). Our results suggest that trade-offs between the access to forage and to shelter may be less likely to occur for serow’s habitat selection, unlike other ungulates.

Predation-risk and ecological disturbance regimes can both influence behavioral decisions by prey, yet few studies have simultaneously considered responses to these ecological pressures. Elucidating relationships between predation risk and the costs and benefits associated with multiple natural disturbances can contribute to a better understanding of how prey adapt to varied predator and disturbance regimes. We quantified spatial variation in predation risk and resource selection strategies of female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) with different fate outcomes during the fawning season across a landscape with poor-quality, heterogeneous food resources. We quantified resource selection relative to ecological disturbance regimes and vulnerability to Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) predation and linked these behavioral patterns to mortality outcomes. We found that female deer that were killed by panthers selected flooded areas that contained higher quality forage, but these areas also conferred higher relative predation risk. Females that survived the fawning season selected frequently and recently burned areas that had both high-quality forage and lower panther predation risk. The interplay between predation risk and ecological disturbance regimes appeared to drive behavioral strategies by deer. Females exhibited different strategies relative to the forage-predation risk trade-off, which led to different fitness outcomes. These behavioral strategies may affect maternal care, adding additional complexity to tradeoffs involving adult survival and recruitment.

Understanding habitat needs and patch utilization of wild and managed bees has been identified as a national research priority in the United States. We used occupancy models to investigate patterns of bee use across 1030 transects spanning a gradient of floral resource abundance and richness and distance from apiaries in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of the United States. Estimates of transect use by honey bees were nearly 1.0 during our 3.5‐month sampling period, suggesting honey bees were nearly ubiquitous across transects. Wild bees more frequently used transects with higher flower richness and more abundant flowers; however, the effect size of the native flower abundance covariate (β^native = 3.90 ± 0.65 [1SE]) was four times greater than the non‐native flower covariate (β^non‐native = 0.99 ± 0.17). We found some evidence that wild bee use was lower at transects near commercial apiaries, but the effect size was imprecise (β^distance = 1.4 ± 0.81). Honey bees were more frequently detected during sampling events with more non‐native flowers and higher species richness but showed an uncertain relationship with native flower abundance. Of the 4039 honey bee and flower interactions, 85% occurred on non‐native flowers, while only 43% of the 738 wild bee observations occurred on non‐native flowers. Our study suggests wild bees and honey bees routinely use the same resource patches in the PPR but often visit different flowering plants. The greatest potential for resource overlap between honey bees and wild bees appears to be for non‐native flowers in the PPR. Our results are valuable to natural resource managers tasked with supporting habitat for managed and wild pollinators in agroecosystems., We investigated use of grassland patches by wild bees and honey bees. Our study showed that while honey bees and wild bees commonly co‐occurred at the same resource patches, they often visited different species of flowers within patches.

Traits of organisms are shaped by their living environments and also determined in part by their phylogenetic relationships. For example, phylogenetic relationships often affect the geographic distributions of animals and cause variation in their living environments, which usually play key roles in the life history and determine the functional traits of species. As an ancient family of mammals, bears widely distribute and have evolved some specific strategies for survival and reproduction during their long‐term evolutionary histories. Many studies on the ecology of bears have been conducted in recent decades, but few have focused on the relationships between their geographic distributions and ecological adaptations. Here, using bears as a model system, we collected and reanalyzed data from the available literatures to explore how geographic distributions and phylogenetic relationships shape the functional traits of animals. We found a positive relationship between phylogenetic relatedness and geographic distributions, with bears distributed in adjacent areas applying more similar strategies to survive and reproduce: (a) Bears living at high latitudes consumed a higher proportion of vertebrates, which may provide more fat for adaptation to low temperatures, and (b) their reproduction rhythms follow fluctuations in seasonal forage availability and quality, in which bears reach mating status from March to May and give birth in approximately November or later., We used bears as a model system, and collected and reanalyzed data from the available literature to explore how geographical distribution shapes the functional traits of animals. This is the first time to use the species within a family to explore the relationships between geographic distribution and functional traits of animals and demonstrate the ecological adaptations of animals with close phylogenetic relationships.

Bats have a great variety of wing morphologies that determines the bat’s flight performance, and this in turn conditions the forage aerosphere and the food it can obtain. Several studies have shown differences in wing morphology, flight performance, and forage aerospheres among species from different trophic guilds. However, for species that share a guild this is not entirely clear. It is possible that these species have differences in their diet and show changes in wing morphology that modify their flight performance and forage areas. Determining this will allow a better understanding of spatial segregation among species that share a trophic guild. These studies allow the identification of species assemblages based on wing morphological differences and flight performance that would not be distinguished only by guild membership. Our goal was to define the species assemblages that make up a community of Neotropical cave dwelling bats based on their trophic guild, flight performance, and forage zone. A community of Neotropical cave dwelling bats from a cave in Veracruz, Mexico was analyzed. The diet of each species was determined by means of their stomach contents and bibliographic review. In addition, aspect ratio, wing loading and tip index were calculated. Based on the wing characteristics and diet, multivariate groupings and orders were performed, as well as to define the assemblages present. According to the wing characteristics and the dietary composition, four groups of species were found that represent four different flight characteristics in terms of agility and maneuverability. There was agreement between diet and wing characteristics, and the four trophic groups were identified through canonical correspondence analysis. Correlating wing morphology, diet and forage area allows us to adequately define the assemblages of a community of bats. Regarding the hypothesis, it was found that species that share a food guild show differences in the composition of their food and wing morphology, which generate differences in flight performance and forage areas. Four assemblages differing in forage aerospheres among three trophic guilds are described: understory and facultative artrhopodivorous, semi-clearing hematophages, and facultative nectarivores. Finally, spatial segregation between the species of the families Mormoopidae and Natalidae was recognized.

Global declines of bumble bees place natural and agricultural ecosystems at risk. Given bumble bees importance to Maine’s major agricultural crops, we conducted a statewide, quantitative survey of bumble bee species seasonal and ecoregional abundance, richness, diversity, and floral resource use. We recorded 11 Bombus species at 40 survey sites across Maine’s three ecoregions, with Bombus ternarius Cresson, 1863 and Bombus impatiens Cresson, 1863 being the most common and Bombus citrinus Smith, 1854 the least commonly encountered. Bumble bee species richness did not differ as a function of ecoregion, but did decline over the season, while species diversity differed by ecoregion and also declined over the season. Multiple response permutation procedure (MRPP) indicated ecoregional differences in species composition of bumble bee assemblages and nonmetric multidimensional scaling produced a stable ordination suggesting assemblage differences were associated with survey site variables including forage plant cover, forage plant richness, elevation, development, and deciduous forest cover. Both MRPP and correspondence analysis also revealed differences in the floral resources utilized by bumble bee species in each ecoregion. Low connectance and nestedness levels indicated low stability pollinator networks in each ecoregion, suggesting Maine bumble bee assemblages may be at risk of decline in response to additional external perturbations.

Varying environmental conditions and energetic demands can affect habitat use by predators and their prey. Anthropogenic habitats provide an opportunity to document both predation events and foraging activity by prey and therefore enable an empirical evaluation of how prey cope with trade‐offs between starvation and predation risk in environments of variable foraging opportunities and predation danger. Here, we use seven years of observational data of peregrine falcons Falco peregrinus and shorebirds at a semi‐intensive shrimp farm to determine how starvation and predation risk vary for shorebirds under a predictable variation in foraging opportunities. Attack rate (mean 0.1 attacks/hr, equating 1 attack every ten hours) was positively associated with the total foraging area available for shorebirds at the shrimp farm throughout the harvesting period, with tidal amplitude at the adjacent mudflat having a strong nonlinear (quadratic) effect. Hunt success (mean 14%) was higher during low tides and declined as the target flocks became larger. Finally, individual shorebird vigilance behaviors were more frequent when birds foraged in smaller flocks at ponds with poorer conditions. Our results provide empirical evidence of a risk threshold modulated by tidal conditions at the adjacent wetlands, where shorebirds trade‐off risk and rewards to decide to avoid or forage at the shrimp farm (a potentially dangerous habitat) depending on their need to meet daily energy requirements. We propose that semi‐intensive shrimp farms serve as ideal “arenas” for studying predator–prey dynamics of shorebirds and falcons, because harvest operations and regular tidal cycles create a mosaic of foraging patches with predictable food supply. In addition, the relatively low hunt success suggests that indirect effects associated with enhanced starvation risk are important in shorebird life‐history decisions., Shrimp farms can serve as ideal arenas for the study of trade‐offs between starvation and predation risk in shorebird populations at coastal areas during the nonbreeding season.

The historical rise of intensive agricultural practices is hypothesized to be related to declines of grassland and aerial insectivorous birds. Drivers of declines may also influence the overall abundance and spatial distribution of insects within agricultural landscapes. Subsequently, the food provisioning rate of birds breeding within more agro-intensive landscapes may be impacted. Lower provisioning rates in agro-intensive landscapes may lead to reduced growth rate, body condition or fledging success of nestlings but also to diminished body condition of food provisioning adults. Results from a previous study supported this hypothesis as the fledging success and proxies of nestling body condition were lowest for an aerial insectivore breeding in more agro intensive landscapes. Of the multiple hypotheses put forward to explain these correlations, one mechanism may act through variation in food provisioning rates. In this study, we expounded on this hypothesis using data derived from the aforementioned study system and assessed if provisioning rates to nestlings and food provisioning behavior of adults varied across a gradient of agricultural intensification in a declining aerial insectivore, the Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor). We found that the hourly provisioning rate was lower in agro-intensive landscapes, and yet travel distances were longest within less agro-intensive landscapes. Our results highlight that, in order to maximize long term average gain rates, Tree Swallows breeding within agro-intensive landscapes must forage with greater intensity, perhaps at a cost to themselves, or else costs will transfer to growing broods. Our work provides further evidence that agricultural intensification on the breeding grounds can contribute to the declines of aerial insectivores in part through a trophic pathway.

The honeybee has a significant impact on industry and nature. In recent years, a mysterious disease make honeybees die, often losses reach 80–100% of the apiaries. The causal syndrome of such massive die-off is called Colony Collapse Disorder. The model adopted in the paper is constituted by a system of three ordinary differential equations that account for the change in time of the population size of the hive bees, forage workers and infected foragers. It models the condition as a contagion, transmitted by both bee-to-bee and bee-to-plant interaction. What is more, it supports both healthy and unhealthy population dynamics. We solve a parameter identification inverse problem to reconstruct the values, which are directly unobservable but vital in honeybee management. We apply an adjoint equation optimization approach to solve this inverse problem. Numerical analysis confirms the results obtained theoretically.

Flowering plants in tropical rainforests rely heavily on pollen vectors for successful reproduction. Research into pollination systems in tropical rainforests is dominated by canopy species, while subcanopy plant–pollinator interactions remain under‐represented. The microclimate beneath the rainforest canopy is characterized by low light levels and is markedly different from the canopy environment that receives more light energy. We studied the floral attractants and floral visitors of a dioecious, subcanopy tree, Fontainea picrosperma (Euphorbiaceae), in the Wet Tropics bioregion of northern Queensland, Australia. We found that wind pollination is rare and male and female flowers do not produce nectar. Female flowers are likely pollinated due to their perceptual similarity to pollen‐offering male flowers. Female flowers had the same scent profile as male flowers, and floral scent was an important floral attractant that acted to regulate pollinator behavior. The two most abundant scent compounds present in the floral bouquet were benzyl alcohol and 4‐oxoisophorone. These compounds are ubiquitous in nature and are known to attract a wide variety of insects. Both day‐time and night‐time pollinators contributed to successful pollen deposition on the stigma, and diurnal flower visitors were identified from several orders of insects including beetles, flies, predatory wasps, and thrips. Fontainea picrosperma is therefore likely to be pollinated by a diverse array of small insects. Synthesis. Our data indicate that F. picrosperma has a generalist, entomophilous pollination syndrome. The rainforest subcanopy is a distinctive environment characterized by low light levels, low or turbulent wind speeds, and relatively high humidity. Female flowers of F. picrosperma exhibit cost‐saving strategies by not producing nectar and mimicking the smell of reward‐offering male flowers. Insects opportunistically forage on or inhabit flowers, and pollination occurs from a pool of small insects with low energy requirements that are found beneath the rainforest canopy.

The vegetation on Liwa Botanical Gardens is used by several types of birds as a place of rest, sleep, nest and forage. This study was purposely done to classify bird species based on feed group / guild type. The method used in this research is point count. The bird species data obtained were grouped based on the feed guild which was divided into 6 types of guilds including, insectivoree, carnivoree, frugivore, granivoreee, nectarivoreous, and omnivoree. Each species only have one guild type, as many as 41 species of birds were found in Liwa Botanical Gardens, which was dominated by frugivores.

Stingless bees forage to the flower for nectar and at the same time, pollen also trapped in the body hairs of the bees. Mostly pollen was concentrated into the pollen basket and transferred to the pollen and honey pot in the stingless bee nest. Pollen is male gametophytes of seed plants which have various of shapes, sizes, and ornamentations. This palynology study was aimed to identify the plants of pollen source that were found in honey of stingless bee Heterotrigona itama and Tetragonula laeviceps in Belitung and to analyze characteristics of the pollen. Pollen was extracted from honey and conducted the acetolysis and identification of the pollen in honey. We found 11 and 19 plant species as pollen soirce in the honey of H. itama and T. laeviceps, respectively. Pollen from Macaranga tanarius (23.72%) and Cocos nucifera (22.53%) were the two most dominant species on the H. itama honey. Pollen from Ageratum conyzoides (16.36%) are most often found in T. laeviceps honey. The most common pollen in honey of H. itama and T. laeviceps were from Arecaceae with a total of three species. Pollen from plants with tree habitus is most commonly found in honey of both species of stingless bees.

Ecosystem engineers alter, and can be influenced in turn by, the ecosystems they live in. Woodpeckers choose foraging and nesting sites based, in part, on food availability. Once abandoned, these cavities, particularly within areas of high forage, may be crucial to secondary cavity‐nesting birds otherwise limited by cavities formed through decay. Our study examined factors that influence the nesting success of primary cavity nesters and the subsequent impact on secondary cavity‐nesting birds. Using 5 years of point count data, we monitored the outcomes of cavity‐nesting birds in South Texas. We used logistic‐exposure models to predict daily survival rates based on cavity metrics and used woodpecker foraging trends and insect surveys to determine if nesting where woodpeckers actively forage benefits secondary cavity‐nesting birds. Both woodpeckers and secondary cavity nesters shared predictors of daily survival; nests were more successful in cavities with small openings in minimally decayed trees. All secondary cavity nesters had higher probabilities of success when nesting in an abandoned woodpecker cavity, opposed to ones formed by decay. Woodpeckers tended to forage in areas with higher‐than‐average levels of the insect orders Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Orthoptera, and secondary cavity nesters had higher rates of success when nesting in these areas. Our results suggest abandoned woodpecker cavities may be constructed in a way that directly benefit secondary cavity nesters. Additionally, we suggest an interplay between these ecosystem engineers, food availability, and secondary cavity nesters: Woodpeckers engineer superior nesting cavities in areas where food is more abundant, and the resultant cavities in areas of high forage may benefit local secondary cavity nesters. Our findings indicate that there is still much to be explored in the role of ecosystem engineers, and how they influence local communities on multiple trophic levels., Woodpeckers leave behind nesting cavities that are crucial to secondary cavity‐nesting organisms. At a study site in southern Texas, USA, we evaluated how local secondary cavity‐nesting birds may be influenced by the placement and structure of abandoned Golden‐fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) cavities, in terms of both food resources and nesting success. We found that secondary cavity nesters had higher nest success in abandoned woodpecker cavities than in naturally occurring cavities, trends that correlated with both food resources in the area and the survival rates of the woodpecker chicks. Contrary to our previous understanding of woodpecker ecology, woodpeckers in this region chose dense, live trees in which to excavate nests as opposed to soft, decayed trees, potentially influenced by anti‐predator tactics and the extreme heat of the region.

The Leningrad Oblast has a rich food base for bees on forest land. Still, currently, there is no regulatory basis for assessing the honey resources of birch forest land at the regional level. Therefore, forest areas with woody, shrubby or herbaceous plants as part of the woody, shrubby or herbaceous layer are used as a forage base for bees. The birch forests of the Leningrad region are the second largest in terms of the area covered. The research aims to carry out an inventory of honey resources and determine honey productivity for the primary honey plants under the birch canopy and forest edges. We used a proven survey methodology for counting plants of the understorey at the experimental sites. The study presented 71 species from 31 families of melliferous plants of blueberry, wormwood and herb-meadow birch forests. Significant melliferous plants under the birch canopy are Aegopodium podagraria L. (herb-twine and sagebrush birch, 57 kilograms/hectare); Vaccinium myrtillus L. (birch bilberry and acidic birch, 27 kilograms/hectare); Veronica chamaedrys L. (acidic birch, 24 kilograms/hectare). Rubus idaeus L. (107 kg/ha) has maximum honey production in the forest margins. The honey yield of Frangula Alnus Mill. and Chamaenerion angustifolium (L.) Scop is 50-60 kg/ha; the honey yield of Trifolium medium L. is 32 kg/ha. The evaluation of the birch woodlands showed that the studied components of the forest phytocenosis are characterized by a significant number of honey-bearing plant species that have a wide range of honey productivity.

Optimal foraging models predict that individual animals will optimize net energy gain by intensifying forage activity and/or reducing forage energy cost. Then, the free distribution model predicts an animal's distribution in a patchy landscape will match the distribution of the resources. If not modified by other factors, such patterns may be expected to be particularly explicit in variable and extreme, forage‐limited, and patchy environments, notably alpine and Arctic environments during winter. The large ungulate wild mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) surviving in such environments is used as a model during the forage‐limited winter season. The largest wild reindeer area in Western Europe (Hardangervidda, 8130 km2) is actively managed to sustain 10,000–12,000 wild reindeer. Since 2001, 104 different individuals have been GPS‐tracked at 3‐hr intervals. In winter, mountain reindeer may either choose to seek out and forage in patchy snow‐free habitats, typically on top of wind‐blown ridges, or use energy‐demanding digging through the snow to reach ground forage (cratering). We use late April satellite data from Landsat 5 and 8 (30 × 30 m), airborne laser scanning subsampling (processed to 1 × 1 m grid), and topographic information (1 m resolution) derived from digital aerial photographs (0.25 × 0.25 m resolution) to delineate snow‐free patches, constituting less than 694 km2. By overlaying recorded wild reindeer GPS positions winters 2001–2017 (188,942 positions), we document a strong positive selection for snow‐free patches, which were used about four times more frequently than expected from a “random walk” model. On a daily basis, the preference for snow‐free areas was slightly stronger in the evenings. In the sustainable management of wild mountain reindeer, the area of snow‐free patches is an important predictor of winter forage availability and important winter source areas. It may be derived from remote sensing data., Remote sensing data were used to delineate typically snow‐free or near snow‐free patches within a 8,600 km2 alpine mountain reindeer area. Comparison with wild reindeer GPS positions across winters 2001–2017 documented a strong positive selection for snow‐free patches (four times more use). In the sustainable management of wild mountain reindeer, area of (near) snow‐free snow‐free patches is an important predictor of winter carrying capacity.

Site fidelity is thought to provide increased fitness through familiarity with the distribution of forage, protective cover, breeding and offspring rearing sites, and predators. For moose (Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758)), previous research has documented fidelity at varying spatial scales. Our objective was to build on this knowledge and assess fidelity by adult female moose in two areas of central Ontario, Canada (Algonquin Provincial Park (APP) and Wildlife Management Unit 49 (WMU49)). We used global positioning system data to generate mean weekly locations for collared moose, then measured the distance between paired weekly locations among consecutive years to evaluate site fidelity. We tested for effects of study area, biological season, moose age, and reproductive status using generalized linear mixed models. Moose demonstrated stronger site fidelity in WMU49, an area with more anthropogenic disturbance, than the protected area, APP. Fidelity was weakest in the winter, but was similar among other seasons and was independent of maternal age and the presence of a calf. Our study highlights the need to consider the scale of site fidelity relative to habitat management. Actions aimed at supporting moose populations might benefit more by protecting habitat classes selected by moose rather than specific sites used by individuals.

Fact BoxSpecies: Phalsa (Grewia asiatica L.) is one of the most grown plants throughout the world. The other species include G. optiva, G. sapida, G. tenax, G. flavescens, G. bicolor, G. occidental...

Aerial insectivores show worldwide population declines coinciding with shifts in agricultural practices. Increasing reliance on certain agricultural practices is thought to have led to an overall reduction in insect abundance that negatively affects aerial insectivore fitness. The relationship between prey availability and the fitness of insectivores may thus vary with the extent of agricultural intensity. It is therefore imperative to quantify the strength and direction of these associations. Here we used data from an 11-year study monitoring the breeding of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) and the availability of Diptera (their main prey) across a gradient of agricultural intensification in southern Québec, Canada. This gradient was characterized by a shift in agricultural production, whereby landscapes composed of forage and pastures represented less agro-intensive landscapes and those focusing on large-scale arable row crop monocultures, such as corn (Zea mays) or soybean (Glycine max) that are innately associated with significant mechanization and agro-chemical inputs, represented more agro-intensive landscapes. We evaluated the landscape characteristics affecting prey availability, and how this relationship influences the fledging success, duration of the nestling period, fledgling body mass, and wing length as these variables are known to influence the population dynamics of this species. Diptera availability was greatest within predominately forested landscapes, while within landscapes dominated by agriculture, it was marginally greater in less agro-intensive areas. Of the measured fitness and body condition proxies, both fledging success and nestling body mass were positively related to prey availability. The impact of prey availability varied across the agricultural gradient as fledging success improved with increasing prey levels within forage landscapes yet declined in more agro-intensive landscapes. Finally, after accounting for prey availability, fledging success was lowest, nestling periods were the longest, and wing length of fledglings were shortest within more agro-intensive landscapes. Our results highlight the interacting roles that aerial insect availability and agricultural intensification have on the fitness of aerial insectivores, and by extension how food availability may interact with other aspects of breeding habitats to influence the population dynamics of predators.Open ResearchData are not yet provided (option 4) as they are being used for other research projects. We affirm that data will be permanently archived if the paper is accepted for publication on the Dryad repository.

Availability of preferred salmonid prey and a sufficiently quiet acoustic environment in which to forage are critical to the survival of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the northeastern Pacific. Although piscivorous killer whales rely on echolocation to locate and track prey, the relationship between echolocation, movement, and prey capture during foraging by wild individuals is poorly understood. We used acoustic biologging tags to relate echolocation behavior to prey pursuit and capture during successful feeding dives by fish-eating killer whales in coastal British Columbia, Canada. The significantly higher incidence and rate of echolocation prior to fish captures compared to afterward confirms its importance in prey detection and tracking. Extremely rapid click sequences (buzzes) were produced before or concurrent with captures of salmon at depths typically exceeding 50 m, and were likely used by killer whales for close-range prey targeting, as in other odontocetes. Distinctive crunching and tearing sounds indicative of prey handling behavior occurred at relatively shallow depths following fish captures, matching concurrent observations that whales surfaced with fish prior to consumption and often shared prey. Buzzes and prey-handling sounds are potentially useful acoustic signals for estimating foraging efficiency and determining if resident killer whales are meeting their energetic requirements.

Within-species variation in pollinator behavior is widely observed, but its causes have been minimally investigated. Pollinator sex is associated with large differences in behavior that may lead to predictable differences in flower foraging, but this expectation has not been explicitly tested. We investigate sex-associated differences in nectar-foraging behavior of the hawkmoth Hyles lineata, using pollen on the proboscis as a proxy for flower visitation. We tested two predictions emerging from the literature: (1) the sexes differ in the flower species they visit, (2) females are more specialized in flower choice. We also examined potential drivers underlying these predictions by performing field and laboratory experiments to test whether males (3) switch among flower species more frequently, or (4) fly farther and therefore encounter more species than females. Consistent with prediction (1), pollen load composition differed between the sexes, indicative of visitation differences. Contrary to prediction (2), females consistently carried more species-rich pollen loads than males. (3) Both sexes switched between flower species at similar rates, suggesting that differences in floral fidelity are unlikely to explain why females are less specialized than males. (4) Males flew longer distances than females; coupled with larger between-site differences in pollen composition for females, this result suggests that sex differences in mobility influence foraging, and that females may forage more frequently and in smaller areas than males. Together, our results demonstrate that sex-associated foraging differences can be large and consistent over time, and highlight the importance of sex as a driver of variation in pollinator behavior.

The role of learning to navigate toward a specific location has been extensively studied in the foraging context of social hymenopteran females, which bring resources to the colony. On the contrary, empirical field studies on learning in other behavioral contexts are scarce, particularly in the context of mating. Apis mellifera males (drones) do not forage for themselves and/or for their colony, but they only return to their colony to refuel if they were unsuccessful in mating with a female. In the present study, to test whether homing in drones results from learning the landscape around their hives, we compared the homing success between drones released at sites that were familiar to them (resident group) and those released at unfamiliar sites (transported group). Drones from the resident group were able to return to their hive, whereas those from the transported group could not, with the exception of a few drones that were released close to the sites that offered direct visual information for the drones to return to the hives. These results indicate that drones learn about their hives and the surrounding landscape during their flights.

O paisagismo tem como finalidade ornamentar ambientes, utilizando espécies vegetais com aptidões multifuncionais, como as plantas bioativas, além de considerar, também, uma forma de preservação do patrimônio vegetal. As plantas bioativas são aquelas que apresentam princípios ativos que possibilitam diversos benefícios aos seres vivos, desde comestível, medicinal a ornamental. Assim, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo realizar uma revisão de literatura sobre o uso de plantas bioativas no paisagismo, por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica em livros, artigos e plataformas digitais. Observou-se que há um grande número de espécies vegetais (arbóreas, arbustivas e de forração) que podem ser caracterizadas como bioativas, sendo a essas atribuídas um ou mais usos quanto a sua finalidade, seja alimentar, medicinal, condimentar, aromática, fitorremediadora de ambientes contaminados, fungicida e inseticida natural, entre outros. Os dados publicados na literatura indicam que o uso de plantas bioativas em áreas planejadas através do paisagismo pode ser multifuncional, a escolha da espécies podem auxiliar tanto em aspectos estéticos, psicológicos e alimentares.

Changes in geographical distributions underlie a variety of fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes, from allopatric speciation to local extinction. However, little is known about general principles governing the evolution of range sizes at macroevolutionary scales. In this study we measure rates of geographical range size and position in a large-scale dataset of nearly 20,000 species including mammals, birds, squamates and anurans to test three predictions regarding the relationship between endothermy and geographical range evolution, namely whether endotherms show (1) larger geographical ranges; (2) faster rates of range size evolution; and (3) faster changes in the geographical position of their ranges. We found evidence in favor of all of these predictions, suggesting that the evolution of endothermy was associated with a fundamental change in the tempo of range evolution in terrestrial vertebrates. These results are consistent with two previously hypothesized relationships between range size and metabolic rate: the thermal plasticity hypothesis, which suggests that high metabolic rate increases thermal tolerance, and the energy constraint hypothesis, which posits that due to the higher, sustained levels of energy requirements, individuals with high metabolic rates would necessitate to forage farther and to space themselves more broadly, which would result in lower population densities, larger home ranges and ultimately larger range sizes. On the other hand, there was substantial variation in rates of range size evolution among the studied taxa that cannot be explained by the evolution of endothermy alone.

Spatial orientation is important for animals to forage, mate, migrate, and escape certain threats, and can require simple to complex cognitive abilities and behaviours. As these behaviours are more difficult to experimentally test in vertebrates, considerable research has focussed on investigating spatial orientation in insects. However, the majority of insect spatial orientation research tends to focus on a few taxa of interest, especially social insects. Beetles present an interesting insect group to study in this respect, due to their diverse taxonomy and biology, and prevalence as agricultural pests. In this article, I review research on beetle spatial orientation. Then, I use this synthesis to discuss mechanisms beetles employ in the context of different behaviours that require orientation or navigation. I conclude by discussing two future avenues for behavioural research on this topic, which could lead to more robust conclusions on how species in this diverse order are able to traverse through a wide variety of environments.

Mechanisms promoting stable coexistence allow multiple species to persist in the same trophic level of a given network of species interactions. One of the most common stabilizing mechanisms of coexistence is niche differentiation, such as temporal and spatial patchiness. To understand the limits of coexistence between species we have to understand the limits of competitive interactions which translate in species exclusion or patterns of non-co-occurrence. We evaluated spatiotemporal niche-based mechanisms that could promote stable coexistence between ants and spiders which forage on extrafloral nectary (EFN)-bearing plants. We observed co-occurrence and overlapping patterns between ants and spiders in a temporal and spatial scale in nine different EFN-bearing plant species in a Neotropical savanna, using both community and species-level approach. Ants and spiders showed asynchrony of their abundances over the year with low temporal overlapping patterns between them (temporal niche specialization). Greater abundance of ants occurred between September and March, whereas greater abundance of spiders occurred between March and August, exactly at the time when the abundance of ants decreases on plants. However, there might also be some levels of temporal overlapping, but then individual ants and spiders occupy different branches (spatial segregation). Finally, we also observed a spatial negative effect of the abundance of ants on the presence of spiders. Our results suggest that spatiotemporal partitioning between ants and spiders may be one of the potential mechanisms behind a stable coexistence between these two groups of organisms that forage on EFN-bearing plants in the Brazilian savanna.

An assessment of beekeeping potential, richness, and distribution of plant species foraged by stinging honey bee Apis mellifera L. in West Kilimanjaro Tanzania Forest Service Agency (TFS) Plantation area was conducted in 2020. A total of 40, 20 m x 20 m plots were set on the 5 natural vegetation remnants within the plantation forest ranges of Sanya juu, Lemosho, Hill wood, Wasendo, and Londrosi at an interval of 100 m. Within the 20 m x 20 m, 1 m x 1 m nested plots were established to assess herbs, sedge, grasses, and seedlings, while 2 m x 5 m were established to determine shrubs. Agriculture crops grown by the bordering villagers were identified and evaluated for the bee forage potential. Plant species richness (S) was determined from the total number of plant species identified from every site using the Shannon Weiner Diversity Index (H’). Plant species distribution was determined grounded on the frequency (F) and evenness (E) were determined. The sites were revealed to have high plant species diversity foraged by stinging honey bees. A total of 204 plant species belonging to 76 families and 178 genera were identified. The calculates H’ of 2.37 for non-wood plants and 3.05 for wood plants implied high plant diversity. The most distributed plant species had a relative frequency (RF) of 6.250 ± 3.0303, while the rest had an RF < 3.0303. The disappearance of one species does not cause any significant effect on bees, as they can go for another species in the area. 92% of non-woody plants and 94% of the identified woody plants were known to be foraged by stinging honey bees. The evenness (E) of 0.7484 for non-wood plants and 0.795 implied that the plants in all categorize were not evenly distributed. West Kilimanjaro Forest Plantation (WKFP) natural forest patches are potential for honey beekeeping. Stinging honey bee fodder plants should be planted, regular visits to the project sites should be exercised to protect honey theft, spot clearing to give a room for naturally germinated seedlings covered by climbers. Further study should be done on the biological species diversity, training to beekeeping staff, and plan for regular inspection of the honey bee colony strength will help to reveal any challenges facing the venture including diseases and hives strengths and weakness.

The article provides study results of the existence peculiarities of adventitious lepidopteran species of leaf blotch miners (Gracillariidee Steinton, 1854) Pаrectopа robiniellа (Clemens, 1863) in the conditions of Dnipro city (Ukraine). In various ecosystems, the invasive leaf miner's invasion degree was estimated with the number of mines visually recorded on the leaves of Robinia pseudoacacia Linnaeus (1753) as a forage plant species. The research covered all major park ecosystems various in size within Dnipro city where the forage trees have been planted. Field surveys were conducted during three growing seasons (2018–2020). The adaptive ability to survive in a new environment was evaluated by analyzing the intrapopulation and interpopulation polymorphism on the third stage of insect development (pupae). According to our study results on Robinia trees occupation by miner species, the highest density of mines was found in ecologically cleaner green areas like Oles Honchar Dnipro National University Botanical Garden and Dnieper-Orel Nature Reserve. Different living conditions may cause this; the miners that inhabit the green zones in Dnipro city may be affected by a complex of anthropogenic factors that suppress their populations' development. We can conclude that the most vulnerable Robinia specimens were those located outside the city boundary. Investigation of P. robiniella pupae morphometric characteristics showed that both linear characteristics and indices were stable relative to the average value since a significant variation coefficient was observed only in specimens collected in the Pridneprovsky Park. However, skewness and excess coefficients indicate that most studied P. robiniella populations showed a trend to displace Poisson distribution. Moreover, in this case, the sample selected in the Dnipro-Orel Nature Reserve also differed significantly: the high coefficient of excess was found for wing length and the ratio of body length to wing length, compared to other ecosystems. The population closest by this parameter was shown in the Peoples' Friendship Park, a pristine ecosystem compared to the city center. The intrapopulation polymorphism of two linear characteristics and three indices was higher than the interpopulation polymorphism. From this, we can conclude that pupae's diversity within a particular population or ecosystem is more significant than pupae's diversity from diverse ecosystems. That is, conditions of ecosystems within the city limits have little effect on pupae's diversity of the black locust miner. However, when comparing pupae samples collected within the city and outside its borders, morphometric characteristics can vary.

Kleptoparasitic spiders live and forage in the webs of other spiders. Using vibratory cues generated by the host spider during prey capture, they leave their resting positions in the upper peripheries of the host web and move towards the centre of the web where they feed along with the host spider or steal small pieces of prey. While the triggers for initiating the foraging raids are known, there is little information about the fine-scale trajectory dynamics in this model system. We mapped the movement of the kleptoparasite Argyrodes elevatus in the web of the host Trichonephila clavipes. We filmed the movement of the kleptoparasite spiders and quantified the trajectory shape, speed, heading directions and path revisitation. Our results show that kleptoparasitic spider movement is spatially structured, with higher levels of speed at the peripheries and slower in the centre of the web. We found a high level of variation in trajectory shapes between individuals. We found that the majority of heading orientations were away from the hub suggesting that detouring or repeated approaches are an essential component of kleptoparasite movement strategies. Our results of the revisitation rate also confirm this pattern, where locations close to the hub were revisited more often than in the periphery. The kleptoparasite–host spider system is a promising model to study fine-scale movement patterns in small bounded spaces.

Memories linked to specific locations provide information for animals to plan future actions and anticipate the occurrence of events. Here, we examined goal-directed travel towards locations where biologically meaningful events had previously taken place to elucidate the relative importance of past social and ecological information for route planning. We inferred goal-directed travelling by detecting long sections of straight-line travel, followed by significant directional changes along travel trajectories of five neighbouring groups of black howler monkeys, Alouatta pigra, at Palenque National Park, Mexico. Post hoc, we determined at the approached locations: (1) the behaviour of the group; (2) the occurrence of previous intergroup interactions; and (3) the ecological properties of the feeding tree (i.e. importance in diet, level of phenological synchrony). The likelihood of goal-directed travel towards a location to engage in loud calling increased after having experienced an encounter with a neighbouring group at that same location in the past. Additionally, the likelihood of goal-directed travel towards a location to forage on fruits increased when the approached tree was considered important in the diet with highly synchronous phenological cycles. Our results indicate that route planning in wild animals involves an integration of both social and ecological variables.

A long developmental period in animals is often needed to learn skills for adult reproduction and survival, including feeding behaviour. The nocturnal Javan slow loris, Nycticebus javanicus, is unusual in that it consumes a specialized diet of difficult to extract resources, as well as disperses up to a year after sexual maturity. Here, we examined the ontogeny of its feeding behaviour to understand whether learning to feed on difficult resources, including by co-feeding, is related to delayed dispersal. We collected feeding and proximity data on developing and adult wild slow lorises at a long-term field site in Cipaganti, West Java from 2012 to 2018. To determine whether acquisition of insects, exudates, nectar and flowers varied by age, we ran logistic generalized additive mixed models. We found that intake of insects and exudates occurred significantly more in the early stages, and feeding on nectar significantly more in the later stages, of development. Co-feeding occurred for all food types, with insects showing the most co-feeding events during early development, and co-feeding on exudates remaining high throughout development. Social learning via co-feeding is a potentially important factor in transmission of dietary information from older individuals, including siblings and parents, to young slow lorises. Differences between immature and adult diets levelled off after sexual maturity and before average dispersal. Together these factors suggest that the period required to learn to forage on difficult items could help explain the delayed dispersal patterns seen in mammals with similar foraging strategies.

Genetic traits within Ornithopus sativus Brot. make it suitable for breeding as a forage legume in agriculture. The breeding system of O. sativus must be understood to stabilize valuable traits once developed. Hybridization between white‐flowered and pink‐flowered genotypes of O. sativus revealed the white flower colour to be inherited recessively to pink, while early flowering showed genetic dominance over late flowering (d = 0.5). The pink flower colour was always associated with red pigmentation on seedling hypocotyls, which provided a pragmatic aid in the selection process. Pollination of O. sativus is largely autogamous, but examination of hypocotyl colour of seedlings from white‐flowered trap plants placed among pink‐flowered plants in a sward indicated a xenogamic cross‐pollination rate of 25% is possible. This significant level of cross‐pollination revealed opportunities for breeding desirable traits within the species, while providing a warning that shifts in population structure could occur in response to selection pressure.

Elucidating correlations between wild pig (Sus scrofa) behavior and landscape attributes can aid in the advancement of management strategies for controlling populations. Using GPS data from 49 wild pigs in the southeastern U.S., we used hidden Markov models to define movement path characteristics and assign behaviors (e.g., resting, foraging, travelling). We then explored the connection between these behaviors and resource selection for both sexes between two distinct seasons based on forage availability (i.e., low forage, high forage). Females demonstrated a crepuscular activity pattern in the high-forage season and a variable pattern in the low-forage season, while males exhibited nocturnal activity patterns across both seasons. Wild pigs selected for bottomland hardwoods and dense canopy cover in all behavioral states in both seasons. Males selected for diversity in vegetation types while foraging in the low-forage season compared to the high-forage season and demonstrated an increased use of linear anthropogenic features across seasons while traveling. Wild pigs can establish populations and home ranges in an array of landscapes, but our results demonstrate male and female pigs exhibit clear differences in movement behavior and there are key resources associated with common behaviors that can be targeted to improve the efficiency of management programs.

Colletes hederae,the ivy bee, (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) has undergone large range expansions in Europe in recent years, including colonising Britain in 2001 with its original distribution limited to Western mainland Europe and the Channel Islands. It is thought to specialise onHedera helixL. (Apiales: Ariliaceae), common ivy. However, some research has questioned this dependence. This study quantifies the foraging ecology ofC. hederaeto determine its relationship with ivy in Sussex. We quantified the phenology of ivy bloom,C. hederaeactivity and flower visitation, and pollen collection of females through pollen analysis. We also gathered equivalent data onApis melliferaboth as a comparison and to assess alternative pollen sources. The phenology of femaleC. hederaeactivity was highly correlated with and phonologically contained within the ivy bloom period. Pollen analysis fromC. hederaeidentified ivy pollen was 98.5% of samples, significantly more than forA. mellifera(90%). Two other plant species were identified and more common inC. hederaesamples when ivy bloom was not at its peak. Surveys of ivy flowers surrounding the aggregations found thatC. hederaewere the most common insect (26%) foraging on ivy.AlthoughC. hederaecan forage on other species, ivy was found to be an important floral resource. The results also suggest the potential for competition withA. mellifera, the only other bee present in more than small numbers onH. helixflowers, as althoughA. melliferais a generalist, in autumn it mainly forages on ivy.

Supplementing vulture populations with carcasses disposed at feeding stations is a common management and conservation practice worldwide. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the dependence of large vultures on the supplementary feeding stations (SFS) in areas with high abundance of natural food. We tagged 11 Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus, Hablizl 1783) with GSM/GPS transmitters in the Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria and studied the seasonal dynamic of feedings at SFS and at occasional carcasses found in the field. We used combination of remote sensing and field inspections to identify the vulture feeding events. Our results show that most of the feeding events occurred at occasional carcasses found in the wild (77.4%), whereas only 22.6% were at SFS, but high seasonal variation was observed. Vulture’s reliance on feeding stations was lowest in summer (19.82 ± 7.8%) and highest in winter when 56.5 ± 16.1% of the feedings were at the SFS. Griffon Vultures travelled longer daily distances in days feeding in the wild compared to days when they were not feeding or were visiting SFS. Our study indicates that in habitats with high abundance of natural food (free-range livestock and game), vultures tend to actively forage and use feeding stations as supplemental sources of food, mostly during long periods of adverse weather or in winter when foraging conditions are worse and natural food is less abundant.

Declines in wild bee abundance and diversity may have cascading effects throughout ecosystems as well as negatively impact food security. Understanding the scale at which wild bees forage within agricultural landscapes is an important component of developing effective pollinator conservation strategies. Foraging ranges of wild bee species can provide insight into the extent to which wild bees pollinate crops. In the southern Great Plains, Brassica napus (canola) is an important edible oil, oilseed meal, and biofuels crop that benefits from bee pollination. We measured body size of three common wild bee species at increasing distances into canola fields (75, 150, and 300 m), as well as landscape characteristics and seed set of canola. We found positive intraspecific correlations between body size and distance into canola fields for two of the species, as well as seed set and distance into canola fields. We also found correlations between land use and body size across three nested spatial scales (250 m, 500 m, and 1 km). As the area of grass and pasture increased so did the body size of Agapostemon texanus (Cresson), whereas the body size of Lasioglossum disparile (Cresson) decreased. As the area of development increased, the body size of Colletes mandibularis (Smith) decreased. Body size variation at the population level may have implications for pollination efficacy and foraging ranges of wild bees and should be considered in future studies, particularly with a more robust sample size. Furthermore, intraspecific variation in body size may provide insights into species level responses to land use change and other environmental stressors.

When social animals forage together, they may engage in frequency-dependent strategies either as producers, those who acquire food with their own energy, or as scroungers, those who feed on what the producers discover. An individual's choice of strategy may depend on the frequency of strategies within the group, or it may depend on the individual's own traits. Most of our understanding of producer–scrounger relationships comes from highly social species, but we may gain different insights by studying less social species. We used novel puzzle box experiments to study social foraging relationships and identify the traits associated with strategy choice in facultatively social yellow-bellied marmots, Marmota flaviventer. We found that marmots had consistent strategies as either producers or scroungers. Furthermore, several individuals specialized as scroungers, following the producers to the puzzle box before other scroungers. However, their roles were only associated with sex (males were more likely to produce), and not with age, boldness or dominance rank. Marmots' lack of trait-regulated foraging roles may be associated with their relatively abundant and not-entirely defensible food, or may emerge from their lack of obligate social structure. We discuss how multiple factors may explain variation in social foraging behaviour.

Human-generated noise can deleteriously affect many animals. Echolocating bats, which crucially depend on sound for their activity, might therefore serve as bioindicators to quantify the ecological effects of sound pollution. While the influence of sound pollution on animal behaviour has been widely studied, the impact of music is almost unknown. We tested whether music, broadcast loudly, affects bats’ foraging and drinking behaviour. The study was done at two waterbodies, where bats drink and forage in the Negev Desert, Israel, during summertime, when water availability is limited: both sites, one isolated natural pond and one artificial waterbody, frequently host recreational parties and concerts. We broadcast music whose frequency range did not overlap with that of bat echolocation calls, and acoustically assessed bat activity before and after the music broadcast. At the remote waterbody, used by bats as a drinking site, the number of bat passes did not vary between treatments. However, after music was broadcast, bats performed significantly more unsuccessful drinking attempts. At the artificial waterbody—a foraging site—activity decreased significantly after music was broadcast. Additionally, music had a cumulative effect on bats, since overall activity significantly decreased over the experimental period. Noise may affect bats by narrowing their attention or distracting them from their primary task. Broadcasting loud music near remote waterbodies is, therefore, significantly hazardous for bats and other wildlife.

Deficits in insect-mediated pollination service undermine ecosystem biodiversity and function, human nutrition, and economic welfare. Global pollinator supply continues to decline, while production of pollination-dependent crops increases. Using publicly available price and production data and existing pollination field studies, we quantify economic dependence of United States crops on insect-mediated pollination service at the county level and update existing coefficients of insect dependence of sample crops when possible. Economic value dependent on pollination service totals 34.0 billion USD in 2012. Twenty percent of US counties produce 80% of total economic value attributable to insect pollinators. We compile county-level data and consider the spatial relationship between economic value dependent on insect-mediated pollination, region-specific forage suitability, and crop-specific agricultural areas within US landscapes. We identify vulnerable, highly dependent areas where habitat for wild pollinators has been reduced. These results can help inform future efforts to conserve and bolster managed and wild pollinator populations to ensure sustainable production of key agricultural crops.

Horseshoe (Rhinolphidae) and Old World leaf-nosed (Hipposideridae) bats are high duty cycle (HDC) echolocators sharing a suite of adaptations including long duration signals relative to their signal periods, peak energy concentrated in a narrow spectral band dominated by a constant frequency (CF) component, ‘auditory fovea’ (over-representation and sharp tuning of neurons responsible for frequencies at or around the CF) and ability to compensate for Doppler shifts in echoes. HDC bats separate signals from returning echoes in the frequency domain. Rhinolophids are more specialised neurobiologically than hipposiderids, producing longer duration signals at higher duty cycles, and have narrowly tuned auditory fovea and almost full Doppler shift compensation. Here, I examine whether these differences have produced ecological divergence between the families by testing predictions of differences in prey perception, prey capture behaviour, foraging habitat and diet. I found no discernible differences in these variables between the two families. Rhinolophids and hipposiderids both forage close to vegetation, capture prey by aerial hawking and gleaning from surfaces, and consume mostly flying insects with spiders and terrestrial, flightless arthropods taken occasionally. The data presented here show that the two families are similar in foraging ecology despite differences in echolocation and audition.

Subterranean rodents spend most of their lives in underground burrow systems, and most studies to date on their morphological, behavioral, and physiological, adaptations have been based on their whole-life existence in subterranean ecotopes. However, a few studies have reported that some subterranean rodents exhibit aboveground activity under particular circumstances, and the results of these studies help zoologists to better understand the adaptations of subterranean rodents coping both with belowground and aboveground environments. These studies, however, do not include direct observations of the aboveground activity of these rodents. Moreover, studies into the factors that influence the movement of these subterranean rodents outside of their burrow systems are relatively scarce. Here, we report the aboveground activity pattern of plateau zokor (Myospalax fontanieri) based on videos and photographs captured by infrared cameras combined with radiotracking technology in the eastern Qilian Mountains, northwest China. In addition, the potential factors that influence the aboveground activity of plateau zokor, including temperature, humidity, food, dispersal, and mating, were studied in 2015 and 2016. We found that, of the 16 zokors with radiocollars, five females moved aboveground during the day and night in June and July 2015, with the frequency of their aboveground activity being higher during the day than that at night. Temperature, humidity, mating, and dispersal, had no effects on aboveground plateau zokor movement. However, results of a binary logistic regression indicated that the crude fat contents of aboveground and belowground plants were positively and negatively correlated with the aboveground activity of these zokors, respectively. We infer that plateau zokor move on the ground to forage for plants with higher fat content and that changes in available nutrients might serve as potential cues that affect the surface activity of plateau zokor.