Shifting individual habitat specialization of a successful predator living in anthropogenic landscapes

J Navarro,W Bouten,Fj Ramirez,Mg Forero,I Afán,D Grémillet

doi:10.3354/meps12124

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 578:243-251 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12124 Shifting individual habitat specialization of a successful predator living in anthropogenic landscapes Joan Navarro1,2,*, David Grémillet2, Francisco J. Ramirez1, Isabel Afán1, Willem Bouten3, Manuela G. Forero1 1Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla 41092, Spain 2Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, 34293 Montpellier, France 3Computational Geo-Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics IBED, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands *Corresponding author: joan@ebd.csic.esAdvance View was available online May 15, 2017 ABSTRACT: Population expansions of successful species have gained importance as a major conservation and management concern. The success of these ‘winners’ is widely attributed to their high adaptability and behavioural plasticity, which allow them to efficiently use opportunities provided by human-modified habitats. However, most of these studies consider conspecifics as ecological equivalents, without considering the individual components within populations. This is critical for a better understanding of the main ecological mechanisms related to the success of winning species. Here, we investigated the spatial ecology of the opportunistic yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis, a clear example of a winning species in southern Europe, to examine its degree of individual specialization in habitat use. To test for such individual strategies, we applied specialization metrics to spatial data obtained from 18 yellow-legged gulls that were GPS-tracked simultaneously during the breeding season. The results revealed that population-level generalism in habitat use in the yellow-legged gull arises through varying levels of individual specialization, and individual spatial segregation within each habitat. Importantly, we found that the combination of individual specialization and individual spatial segregation may reduce intra-specific competition, with these 2 important mechanisms driving the success of this winning species. KEY WORDS: Foraging strategies · Gulls · GPS · Habitat use · Individual specialization · Movement ecology · Opportunistic seabirds · Seabird · Spatial ecology · Winning species Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Navarro J, Grémillet D, Ramirez FJ, Afán I, Bouten W, Forero MG (2017) Shifting individual habitat specialization of a successful predator living in anthropogenic landscapes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 578:243-251. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12124 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 578. Online publication date: August 31, 2017 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.

Highlights

Human activities are globally impacting ecosystems, with important effects on biodiversity, including extinction processes (McKinney 2006, Worm et al 2006)
Most of these studies consider conspecifics as ecological equivalents. This simplification can be useful to provide an overview of population-level feeding preferences or population dynamics (Ramos et al 2011, Payo-Payo et al 2015), taking into account the individual component within populations is essential for a better understanding of the main ecological mechanisms related to the success of winning species (Grémillet et al 1999, Cardador et al 2012, Chapple et al 2012, Liebl & Martin 2014, Ceia & Ramos 2015, Potier et al 2015)
We examined the spatial ecology of yellow-legged gulls to test the degree of individual specialization in their habitat use, by tracking 18 individuals simultaneously over 1 mo during the breeding period

Summary

Introduction

Human activities are globally impacting ecosystems, with important effects on biodiversity, including extinction processes (McKinney 2006, Worm et al 2006). Population expansions of winning species have gained importance as a major conservation and management concern (Cardador et al 2011, Sih et al 2011, Newsome et al 2015) The success of these winners is widely attributed to their high adaptability and behavioural plasticity, which allow them to efficiently exploit opportunities provided by novel, Publisher: Inter-Research · www.int-res.com. It is well-known that some gull species are successful They efficiently adapt to exploiting a wide suite of novel resources that provide direct biotic and abiotic benefits, including food, shelter and refuge from predation (Ramírez et al 2012, Alonso et al 2015, Osterback et al 2015). This simplification can be useful to provide an overview of population-level feeding preferences or population dynamics (Ramos et al 2011, Payo-Payo et al 2015), taking into account the individual component within populations is essential for a better understanding of the main ecological mechanisms related to the success of winning species (Grémillet et al 1999, Cardador et al 2012, Chapple et al 2012, Liebl & Martin 2014, Ceia & Ramos 2015, Potier et al 2015)

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion