Habitat selection by an avian top predator in the tropical megacity of Delhi: human activities and socio-religious practices as prey-facilitating tools
Habitat selection by an avian top predator in the tropical megacity of Delhi: human activities and socio-religious practices as prey-facilitating tools
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DOI：
10.1007/s11252-017-0716-8
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发表时间：
2018-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Sergio, Fabrizio
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Kumar, Nishant;Gupta, Urvi;Sergio, Fabrizio
随着城市环境的指数级增长，城市生态学的研究正在迅速增长。然而，很少有研究关注热带大城市，以及捕食者的栖息地选择与人类社会经济方面之间的相互作用，这可能会调节它们的恢复能力以及与人类的共存。我们研究了德里（印度）的同人猛禽黑风筝 Milvus migrans 的繁殖栖息地选择机制，那里的风筝主要依靠：（1）人类粪便及其相关的猎物动物群，以及（2）仪式化的风筝喂养，尤其是穆斯林所实行的。我们使用混合效应模型来测试城市栖息地配置和人类实践对栖息地选择、场地占用和繁殖成功的影响。风筝栖息地的决定、领地占用和繁殖成功与人类活动紧密相关：风筝更喜欢人口密度高、废物管理不善以及道路配置有利于更好地获取人类提供的资源的地区，特别是提供仪式补贴的穆斯林殖民地。此外，只有当靠近穆斯林殖民地时，风筝才会在人类垃圾较少的“干净”地点繁殖，这表明靠近仪式喂食地点调节了其他栖息地的适宜性。正如之前描述的那样，人类并不是一种需要避免的麻烦，而是一种有针对性的觅食资源，它将捕食者的分布与多个时空尺度的人类活动、政治、历史、社会经济和城市规划联系起来。许多共城市物种可能会以比之前假设的更微妙和更直接的方式利用人类，但发现它们需要将人类社会文化估计更大程度地整合到城市生态研究中。
Research in urban ecology is growing rapidly in response to the exponential growth of the urban environment. However, few studies have focused on tropical megacities, and on the interplay between predators' habitat selection and human socio-economic aspects, which may mediate their resilience and coexistence with humans. We examined mechanisms of breeding habitat selection by a synanthropic raptor, the Black Kite Milvus migrans, in Delhi (India) where kites mainly subsist on: (1) human refuse and its associated prey-fauna, and (2) ritualised feeding of kites, particularly practised by Muslims. We used mixed effects models to test the effect of urban habitat configuration and human practices on habitat selection, site occupancy and breeding success. Kite habitat decisions, territory occupancy and breeding success were tightly enmeshed with human activities: kites preferred areas with high human density, poor waste management and a road configuration that facilitated better access to resources provided by humans, in particular to Muslim colonies that provided ritual subsidies. Furthermore, kites bred at 'clean' sites with less human refuse only when close to Muslim colonies, suggesting that the proximity to ritual-feeding sites modulated the suitability of other habitats. Rather than a nuisance to avoid, as previously portrayed, humans were a keenly-targeted foraging resource, which tied a predator's distribution to human activities, politics, history, socio-economics and urban planning at multiple spatio-temporal scales. Many synurbic species may exploit humans in more subtle and direct ways than was previously assumed, but uncovering them will require greater integration of human socio-cultural estimates in urban ecological research.