Latest News Latest News

Las altas temperaturas están provocando que las lagunas y las marismas de Doñana pierdan agua rápidamente

La superficie inundada en la marisma es de un 78% pero la profundidad es escasa. Por otra parte, sólo el 1,9% de las lagunas temporales están inundadas. Las precipitaciones crean una oportunidad...

Traffic noise causes lifelong harm to baby birds

A study with CSIC participation reveals for the first time that car noise harms individuals throughout their lifetime even years after exposure

Illegal wildlife trade, a serious problem for biodiversity and human health

A research team led by the Doñana BIological Station and the University Pablo de Olavide have detected wild-caught pets in 95% of the localities in the Neotropic and warns of the risk of zoonotic...

Urbanization and loss of woody vegetation are changing key traits of arthropod communities

Urbanization is favouring smaller beetle species and larger spider species with greater dispersal capacity.

The loss of woody areas is linked to a decline in the duration of the activity...

Asset Publisher Asset Publisher

Back

Foxes, rabbits and nightjars interact on roads

Foxes, rabbits and nightjars interact on roads

Linear developments, such as roads, firebreaks, and railways, provide a stark juxtaposition of different habitats with contrasting associated predation risks, thus potentially influencing predator–prey interactions. However, empirical evidence is still very limited. The effect of fox abundance and that of their main prey, the European rabbit, on habitat selection by an alternative prey, the red-necked nightjar, was studied in a road network crossing the Doñana Natural Space. Nightjars generally forage on the same roads used by foxes to search for alternative prey when rabbits are scarce and, as a result, predation risk for nightjars may vary over time. Contrary to expectations, nightjars continued foraging on roads when foxes were most abundant, yet they behaved more cautiously. During risky periods, nightjars perched nearby tall roadside cover, which is known to functions as a protective barrier against fox attacks. Conversely, when predation risk decreased, nightjars shifted to safer microsites near short plants, further away from the roadside. This study shows how nightjar plasticity in microhabitat selection allows them to forage even in areas where predators are abundant, and highlights the important role that linear structures may play in interspecific interactions. informacion[at]ebd.csic.es: Camacho et el (2017) Nightjars, rabbits, and foxes interact on unpaved roads: spatial use of a secondary prey in a shared-predator system. Ecosphere DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1611


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1611/full