RT Journal Article
T1 Human-induced changes in landscape configuration influence individual movement routines : lessons from a versatile, highly mobile species
A1 Camacho, Carlos
A1 Palacios, Sebastián
A1 Sáez Gómez, Pedro
A1 Sánchez, Sonia
A1 Potti, Jaime
AB Landscape conversion by humans may have detrimental effects on animal populations inhabiting managed ecosystems, buthuman-altered areas may also provide suitable environments for tolerant species. We investigated the spatial ecology of ahighly mobile nocturnal avian species–the red-necked nightjar (Caprimulgus ruficollis)–in two contrastingly managed areasin Southwestern Spain to provide management recommendations for species having multiple habitat requirements. Basedon habitat use by radiotagged nightjars, we created maps of functional heterogeneity in both areas so that the movementsof breeding individuals could be modeled using least-cost path analyses. In both the natural and the managed area,nightjars used remnants of native shrublands as nesting sites, while pinewood patches (either newly planted or naturalmature) and roads were selected as roosting and foraging habitats, respectively. Although the fraction of functional habitatwas held relatively constant (60.9% vs. 74.1% in the natural and the managed area, respectively), landscape configurationchanged noticeably. As a result, least-cost routes (summed linear distances) from nest locations to the nearest roost andforaging sites were three times larger in the natural than in the managed area (mean 6 SE: 1356676 m vs. 439632 m). Itseems likely that the increased proximity of functional habitats in the managed area relative to the natural one is underlyingthe significantly higher abundances of nightjars observed therein, where breeders should travel shorter distances to linktogether essential resources, thus likely reducing their energy expenditure and mortality risks. Our results suggest thatlandscape configuration, but not habitat availability, is responsible for the observed differences between the natural and themanaged area in the abundance and movements of breeding nightjars, although no effect on body condition was detected.Agricultural landscapes could be moderately managed to preserve small native remnants and to favor the juxtaposition offunctional habitats to benefit those farm species relying on patchy resources.
PB Public Library of Science
SN 1932-6203
YR 2014
FD 2014
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/11740
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/11740
LA eng
NO Camacho C, Palacios S., Saéz Gómez, P., Sánchez, S., Potti, J.: "Human-induced changes in landscape configuration influence individual movement routines : lessons from a versatile, highly mobile species". PLoS ONE 9(8): e104974. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104974
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026