Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators
The nests of ground-nesting birds rely heavily on camouflage for their survival, and predation risk, often linked to ecological changes from human activity, is a major source of mortality. Numerous ground-nesting bird populations are in decline, so understanding the effects of camouflage on their ne...
Published in: | Ecology and Evolution |
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Language: | English |
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2023
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1983/75f6c5e3-f963-4ed6-a3bb-bdf9d9f02d08 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/75f6c5e3-f963-4ed6-a3bb-bdf9d9f02d08 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10471 |
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ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/75f6c5e3-f963-4ed6-a3bb-bdf9d9f02d08 2024-02-04T10:05:09+01:00 Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators Hancock, George R.A. Grayshon, Lizzie Burrell, Ryan Cuthill, Innes C Hoodless, Andrew Troscianko, Jolyon 2023-09-14 https://hdl.handle.net/1983/75f6c5e3-f963-4ed6-a3bb-bdf9d9f02d08 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/75f6c5e3-f963-4ed6-a3bb-bdf9d9f02d08 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10471 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Hancock , G R A , Grayshon , L , Burrell , R , Cuthill , I C , Hoodless , A & Troscianko , J 2023 , ' Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators ' , Ecology and Evolution , vol. 13 , no. 9 , e10471 . https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10471 article 2023 ftubristolcris https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10471 2024-01-05T00:03:21Z The nests of ground-nesting birds rely heavily on camouflage for their survival, and predation risk, often linked to ecological changes from human activity, is a major source of mortality. Numerous ground-nesting bird populations are in decline, so understanding the effects of camouflage on their nesting behavior is relevant to their conservation concerns. Habitat three-dimensional (3D) geometry, together with predator visual abilities, viewing distance, and viewing angle, determine whether a nest is either visible, occluded, or too far away to detect. While this link is intuitive, few studies have investigated how fine-scale geometry is likely to help defend nests from different predator guilds. We quantified nest visibility based on 3D occlusion, camouflage, and predator visual modeling in northern lapwings, Vanellus vanellus, on different land management regimes. Lapwings selected local backgrounds that had a higher 3D complexity at a spatial scale greater than their entire clutches compared to local control sites. Importantly, our findings show that habitat geometry—rather than predator visual acuity—restricts nest visibility for terrestrial predators and that their field habitats, perceived by humans as open, are functionally closed with respect to a terrestrial predator searching for nests on the ground. Taken together with lapwings' careful nest site selection, our findings highlight the importance of considering habitat geometry for understanding the evolutionary ecology and management of conservation sites for ground-nesting birds. Article in Journal/Newspaper Vanellus vanellus University of Bristol: Bristol Research Ecology and Evolution 13 9 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Bristol: Bristol Research |
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ftubristolcris |
language |
English |
description |
The nests of ground-nesting birds rely heavily on camouflage for their survival, and predation risk, often linked to ecological changes from human activity, is a major source of mortality. Numerous ground-nesting bird populations are in decline, so understanding the effects of camouflage on their nesting behavior is relevant to their conservation concerns. Habitat three-dimensional (3D) geometry, together with predator visual abilities, viewing distance, and viewing angle, determine whether a nest is either visible, occluded, or too far away to detect. While this link is intuitive, few studies have investigated how fine-scale geometry is likely to help defend nests from different predator guilds. We quantified nest visibility based on 3D occlusion, camouflage, and predator visual modeling in northern lapwings, Vanellus vanellus, on different land management regimes. Lapwings selected local backgrounds that had a higher 3D complexity at a spatial scale greater than their entire clutches compared to local control sites. Importantly, our findings show that habitat geometry—rather than predator visual acuity—restricts nest visibility for terrestrial predators and that their field habitats, perceived by humans as open, are functionally closed with respect to a terrestrial predator searching for nests on the ground. Taken together with lapwings' careful nest site selection, our findings highlight the importance of considering habitat geometry for understanding the evolutionary ecology and management of conservation sites for ground-nesting birds. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hancock, George R.A. Grayshon, Lizzie Burrell, Ryan Cuthill, Innes C Hoodless, Andrew Troscianko, Jolyon |
spellingShingle |
Hancock, George R.A. Grayshon, Lizzie Burrell, Ryan Cuthill, Innes C Hoodless, Andrew Troscianko, Jolyon Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators |
author_facet |
Hancock, George R.A. Grayshon, Lizzie Burrell, Ryan Cuthill, Innes C Hoodless, Andrew Troscianko, Jolyon |
author_sort |
Hancock, George R.A. |
title |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators |
title_short |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators |
title_full |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators |
title_fullStr |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators |
title_sort |
habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1983/75f6c5e3-f963-4ed6-a3bb-bdf9d9f02d08 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/75f6c5e3-f963-4ed6-a3bb-bdf9d9f02d08 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10471 |
genre |
Vanellus vanellus |
genre_facet |
Vanellus vanellus |
op_source |
Hancock , G R A , Grayshon , L , Burrell , R , Cuthill , I C , Hoodless , A & Troscianko , J 2023 , ' Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators ' , Ecology and Evolution , vol. 13 , no. 9 , e10471 . https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10471 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10471 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
9 |
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1789974140956966912 |