Larger male Yellow Warbler ( Setophaga petechia ) occupy smaller home ranges over winter in natural and agricultural sites in western Mexico
Agroecosystems are becoming increasingly important bird habitats as natural Neotropical habitats are converted to agriculture at a rate of 3.5 million ha annually. We still know little about how some of the most common herbaceous crops (e.g., maize, sorghum) are used by wintering birds and the conse...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Resilience Alliance
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Field Ornithology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journal.afonet.org/vol95/iss4/art4 |
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| Summary: | Agroecosystems are becoming increasingly important bird habitats as natural Neotropical habitats are converted to agriculture at a rate of 3.5 million ha annually. We still know little about how some of the most common herbaceous crops (e.g., maize, sorghum) are used by wintering birds and the consequences of wintering in these agroecosystems. We used radio-tracking to estimate home ranges of 49 wintering Yellow Warblers ( Setophaga petechia ) across agriculture and two natural habitats of known quality for Yellow Warblers (high-quality riparian forest and poor-quality coastal vegetation) in Mexico. We assessed whether traits related to competitiveness (sex, age, body size, and migratory origin) interacted with land cover to influence home range size and if home range size influenced annual (apparent) return probability. We found that home range size of wintering Yellow Warblers is highly variable (range = 0.02–3.99 ha) and influenced by land cover, sex, and body size. Home ranges in high-quality riparian forest were smaller than those in coastal vegetation and agriculture. Across all land covers, males tended to have smaller home ranges than females (males: mean = 0.56 ha, 84% CI = 0.36–0.77 ha, females: mean = 0.90 ha, 84% = 0.65–1.16 ha). Body size did not influence home range size for females, but larger males had smaller, presumably better-quality territories than smaller males. In agricultural sites, this meant larger birds (predominantly males) had small, exclusive territories in the hedgerow, while smaller males and females had large, non-exclusive home ranges in the crops. Our work shows that the different components of low-intensity agriculture provide foraging opportunities for different population segments. Because agriculture intensification is expected to increase in Latin America, retaining hedgerows, small field sizes, and crop heterogenicity is important to ensure co-benefits for people and birds. |
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| ISSN: | 1557-9263 |