Flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls
Being faced with unknown environments is a concomitant challenge of species' range expansions. Strategies to cope with this challenge include the adaptation to local conditions and a flexibility in resource exploitation. The gulls of the Larus argentatus-fuscus-cachinnans group form a system in...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4f37ee042fd4441792779d40b4e6dfd4 2023-05-15T17:07:55+02:00 Flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls Mariëlle L. van Toor Elena Arriero Richard A. Holland Markku J. Huttunen Risto Juvaste Inge Müller Kasper Thorup Martin Wikelski Kamran Safi 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160164 https://doaj.org/article/4f37ee042fd4441792779d40b4e6dfd4 EN eng The Royal Society https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.160164 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.160164 https://doaj.org/article/4f37ee042fd4441792779d40b4e6dfd4 Royal Society Open Science, Vol 4, Iss 1 (2017) ecological specialization flexibility habitat use niche comparison species distributionmodel translocation Science Q article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160164 2022-12-31T12:53:41Z Being faced with unknown environments is a concomitant challenge of species' range expansions. Strategies to cope with this challenge include the adaptation to local conditions and a flexibility in resource exploitation. The gulls of the Larus argentatus-fuscus-cachinnans group form a system in which ecological flexibility might have enabled them to expand their range considerably, and to colonize urban environments. However, on a population level both flexibility and local adaptation lead to signatures of differential habitat use in different environments, and these processes are not easily distinguished. Using the lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) as a system, we put both flexibility and local adaptation to a test. We compare habitat use between two spatially separated populations, and use a translocation experiment during which individuals were released into novel environment. The experiment revealed that on a population-level flexibility best explains the differences in habitat use between the two populations. We think that our results suggest that the range expansion and huge success of this species complex could be a result of its broad ecological niche and flexibility in the exploitation of resources. However, this also advises caution when using species distribution models to extrapolate habitat use across space. Article in Journal/Newspaper Lesser black-backed gull Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Royal Society Open Science 4 1 160164 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ecological specialization flexibility habitat use niche comparison species distributionmodel translocation Science Q |
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ecological specialization flexibility habitat use niche comparison species distributionmodel translocation Science Q Mariëlle L. van Toor Elena Arriero Richard A. Holland Markku J. Huttunen Risto Juvaste Inge Müller Kasper Thorup Martin Wikelski Kamran Safi Flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls |
topic_facet |
ecological specialization flexibility habitat use niche comparison species distributionmodel translocation Science Q |
description |
Being faced with unknown environments is a concomitant challenge of species' range expansions. Strategies to cope with this challenge include the adaptation to local conditions and a flexibility in resource exploitation. The gulls of the Larus argentatus-fuscus-cachinnans group form a system in which ecological flexibility might have enabled them to expand their range considerably, and to colonize urban environments. However, on a population level both flexibility and local adaptation lead to signatures of differential habitat use in different environments, and these processes are not easily distinguished. Using the lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) as a system, we put both flexibility and local adaptation to a test. We compare habitat use between two spatially separated populations, and use a translocation experiment during which individuals were released into novel environment. The experiment revealed that on a population-level flexibility best explains the differences in habitat use between the two populations. We think that our results suggest that the range expansion and huge success of this species complex could be a result of its broad ecological niche and flexibility in the exploitation of resources. However, this also advises caution when using species distribution models to extrapolate habitat use across space. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mariëlle L. van Toor Elena Arriero Richard A. Holland Markku J. Huttunen Risto Juvaste Inge Müller Kasper Thorup Martin Wikelski Kamran Safi |
author_facet |
Mariëlle L. van Toor Elena Arriero Richard A. Holland Markku J. Huttunen Risto Juvaste Inge Müller Kasper Thorup Martin Wikelski Kamran Safi |
author_sort |
Mariëlle L. van Toor |
title |
Flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls |
title_short |
Flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls |
title_full |
Flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls |
title_fullStr |
Flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls |
title_full_unstemmed |
Flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls |
title_sort |
flexibility of habitat use in novel environments: insights from a translocation experiment with lesser black-backed gulls |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160164 https://doaj.org/article/4f37ee042fd4441792779d40b4e6dfd4 |
genre |
Lesser black-backed gull |
genre_facet |
Lesser black-backed gull |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science, Vol 4, Iss 1 (2017) |
op_relation |
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.160164 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.160164 https://doaj.org/article/4f37ee042fd4441792779d40b4e6dfd4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160164 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
160164 |
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1766063433780822016 |