Winter Foraging Behaviour and Resource Availability for a Guild of Insectivorous Gleaning Birds in a Southern Alpine Larch Forest

1986 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 347 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Laurent
Keyword(s):  
Resource Availability ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Larch Forest ◽  
Winter Foraging ◽  
Alpine Larch

scholarly journals Foraging efficiency, social status and body condition in group-living horses and ponies

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10305
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Giles ◽  
Pat Harris ◽  
Sean A. Rands ◽  
Christine J. Nicol
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Social Dominance ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Winter Foraging ◽  
Proxy Measure ◽  
Domestic Horses

Individual animals experience different costs and benefits associated with group living, which may impact on their foraging efficiency in ways not yet well specified. This study investigated associations between social dominance, body condition and interruptions to foraging behaviour in a cross-sectional study of 116 domestic horses and ponies, kept in 20 discrete herds. Social dominance was measured for each individual alongside observations of winter foraging behaviour. During bouts of foraging, the duration, frequency and category (vigilance, movement, social displacements given and received, scratching and startle responses) of interruptions were recorded, with total interruption time taken as a proxy measure of foraging efficiency. Total foraging time was not influenced by body condition or social dominance. Body condition was associated with social dominance, but more strongly associated with foraging efficiency. Specifically, lower body condition was associated with greater vigilance. This demonstrates that factors other than social dominance can result in stable differences in winter body condition.

scholarly journals Foraging behaviour of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) in conifer forests regenerating after fire

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (5) ◽  
pp. 446-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hutchen ◽  
K.E. Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Pinus Contorta ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Tree Regeneration ◽  
Lepus Americanus ◽  
Conifer Forests ◽  
Cover Type ◽  
Heterogeneous Landscapes ◽  
Snowshoe Hares ◽  
Winter Foraging ◽  
Dense Tree

Wildfires in conifer forests create patchy, heterogeneous landscapes. For many animal species, this post-fire variability means having to navigate quite different habitat patches to locate adequate cover and food. For snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777), post-fire landscapes could include risky open patches, as well as dense regenerating stands rich in food and cover. We analyzed snowshoe hare tortuosity, speed of movement, and amount of browse along winter foraging pathways in unburned mature forest and in dense regenerating stands or open areas with sparse regeneration 12–13 years after the Okanagan Mountain Park fire (>25 000 ha near Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada) to determine whether hares change foraging behaviour in relation to cover type. Hares moved the fastest and browsed the least in open habitats. Hares browsed most often in areas where sapling regeneration was dense; their main forage was lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon). No differences were found in pathway tortuosity in relation to cover type (open, regenerating, or mature patches). When hares moved slower along foraging pathways, they also moved slightly more tortuously and ate more. These results suggest that hares prefer post-fire areas with dense tree regeneration.

scholarly journals Prey field switching based on preferential behaviour can induce Lévy flights

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (78) ◽  
pp. 20120489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu G. Lundy ◽  
Alan Harrison ◽  
Daniel J. Buckley ◽  
Emma S. Boston ◽  
David D. Scott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Behavioural Response ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Preference Behaviour ◽  
Foraging Movements

Using the foraging movements of an insectivorous bat, Myotis mystacinus , we describe temporal switching of foraging behaviour in response to resource availability. These observations conform to predictions of optimized search under the Lévy flight paradigm. However, we suggest that this occurs as a result of a preference behaviour and knowledge of resource distribution. Preferential behaviour and knowledge of a familiar area generate distinct movement patterns as resource availability changes on short temporal scales. The behavioural response of predators to changes in prey fields can elicit different functional responses, which are considered to be central in the development of stable predator–prey communities. Recognizing how the foraging movements of an animal relate to environmental conditions also elucidates the evolution of optimized search and the prevalence of discrete strategies in natural systems. Applying techniques that use changes in the frequency distribution of movements facilitates exploration of the processes that underpin behavioural changes.

Summer foraging behaviour of a generalist predator, the New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri)

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Harcourt ◽  
Corey J. A. Bradshaw ◽  
Lloyd S. Davis
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Short Duration ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Generalist Predator ◽  
Dive Behaviour ◽  
Fur Seal ◽  
New Zealand Fur Seal

This study examined the dive behaviour of 20 lactating New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri) breeding at Fuchsia Gully (Ohinepuha, 45˚52S, 170˚44E), Otago Peninsula, New Zealand, over five consecutive austral summers (1993/94–1997/98). We examined annual variation in dive behaviour by classifying series of dives into dive bouts using an iterative statistical technique. We found a non-random pattern of dive bouts and bout classification was relatively insensitive to changes in the clustering parameters used. Minimum bouts consisted of at least three dives 10 m occurring within a 20-min period. Bouts were classified into three bout types (clusters) using a multi-variate clustering procedure. These clusters described bouts of: (1) long duration with many dives of medium depth (LONG); (2) short duration with few, shallow dives (SHALLOW); and (3) short duration consisting of long, deep dives and long surface intervals and bottom times (DEEP). Diving was primarily nocturnal, and bout type varied significantly with time of day. The proportion of LONG bouts was greatest at dusk and least near dawn, SHALLOW bouts predominated during the night, and DEEP bouts were of importance near dawn. Few dives occurred during the day. We detected no annual differences in individual parameters of dive behaviour due to low statistical power. We used randomisation tests to assess whether the proportion of each bout type might vary in years of differing prey consumption, but no significant differences were found. Changes in prey composition were detected in two of these years, which suggests that using the dive behaviour of generalist predators to detect changes in resource availability may be a poor option. The high degree of flexibility in foraging behaviour of the New Zealand fur seal means that, inevitably, analyses of dive behaviour will have low statistical power. Changes in foraging behaviour may only be useful to detect very large changes in resource availability. Alternatively, very large sample sizes may be able to detect more subtle changes.

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