Anthropogenic effects on Mountain Chickadees Breeding in Urban Ecosystems.

人为对城市生态系统中山雀繁殖的影响。

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-07045
• 负责人: Otter, Kenneth
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: University of Northern British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=684537
• 关键词: Anthropogenic; effects; Mountain; Chickadees; Breeding

Urban landscapes can pose both challenges and benefits to birds. Artificial lighting, altered vegetation, and differences in microclimate between urban and native habitats can affect timing and success of breeding, while noise pollution associated with urban landscapes can impede communication and increase stress levels. Introduced predators, such as cats, often occur at much higher densities than native predators in rural sites. However, food supplementation from bird feeders can increase individual overwinter survival/condition of urban birds, and nest boxes can increase availability of nesting substrate. The ability to compensate for the relative advantages vs disadvantages of urban settings may depend on plasticity of affected species, and many urban-exploiters are habitat generalists. It is therefore surprising that mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) - montane conifer forests specialists do well in urban landscapes.*** *Our mountain chickadee studies in Kamloops, BC have found birds breeding in urban areas: start breeding up to two weeks earlier; have nestlings with higher feather growth rates; are more likely to double brood; and, have higher song output during dawn singing a trait known to reflect a male's physical condition in chickadees. Urban mountain chickadees appear to compensate for noise pollution via both use of modified songs and calls which reduce known signal-jamming aspects of urban noise on chickadee vocalizations. The research we will undertake investigates the interaction between relative food availability, microclimatic variation and noise/light pollution in urban vs rural landscapes, and how these interact with mountain chickadee condition, settlement and nesting phenology.*** *We will install Light and Temperature Data Loggers on nest boxes distributed throughout multiple urban, rural and interface sites around Kamloops, BC, and manipulate relative food quality available during the winter at different sites. We will couple these with tracking relative insect prey-availability and monitor noise pollution using Autonomous Recording Units (ARU) mounted on nest trees. We will then monitor nest initiation, reproductive output and double-brooding between rural and urban sites to determine which anthropogenic effects most influence nesting phenology and success. We will track individual condition of males with respect to a bird's habitat and manipulated variation in winter/spring food availability via dawn singing behaviour. Leg-band embedded PIT tags placed on nestlings will allow us to track dispersal and survival of nestlings using a network of up to 200 Radio-Frequency Identification(RFID)-equipped bird feeders set across southern Kamloops. The integration of demographic studies and behavioural research will provide insight into what renders anthropogenic landscapes exploitable, which provides guidance for urban planning that integrate these features for avian conservation into our cities.**

城市景观对鸟类既构成挑战，也带来益处。人工照明、改变的植被以及城市和原生栖息地之间的小气候差异会影响繁殖的时间和成功，而与城市景观相关的噪音污染会阻碍交流并增加压力水平。在农村地区，引入的捕食者，如猫，通常比本地捕食者的密度要高得多。然而，鸟类饲养者的食物补充可以提高城市鸟类的个体越冬生存/条件，巢箱可以增加筑巢基质的可用性。补偿城市环境相对优势与劣势的能力可能取决于受影响物种的可塑性，许多城市开发者是生境通才。因此，山地针叶林专家山雀（Poecile gambeli）在城市景观中表现出色是令人惊讶的。*** *我们在不列颠哥伦比亚省坎卢普斯进行的山雀研究发现，鸟类在城市地区繁殖：提前两周开始繁殖；雏鸟羽毛生长速度较快；更有可能双育；而且，在黎明鸣叫时，它们的歌声输出更高，这一特征反映了雄性山雀的身体状况。城市山雀似乎通过使用改良的歌声和叫声来补偿噪音污染，从而减少城市噪音对山雀发声的已知信号干扰。我们将研究相对食物供应、小气候变化和城市与乡村景观中噪音/光污染之间的相互作用，以及它们如何与山雀的生存条件、定居和筑巢物候相互作用。*** *我们将在分布在坎卢普斯省周围多个城市、农村和接口站点的巢箱上安装光和温度数据记录器，并在不同站点操作冬季可获得的相对食物质量。我们将把这些与跟踪相对昆虫猎物可用性相结合，并使用安装在巢树上的自动记录单元（ARU）监测噪声污染。然后，我们将监测农村和城市地点之间的筑巢开始，繁殖产出和双重孵育，以确定哪些人为影响最影响筑巢物候和成功。我们将跟踪雄性鸟类栖息地的个体状况，并通过黎明鸣叫行为操纵冬季/春季食物可用性的变化。放置在雏鸟身上的腿带嵌入式PIT标签将使我们能够使用遍布坎卢普斯南部的多达200个配备射频识别（RFID）的鸟类喂食器网络来跟踪雏鸟的分散和生存。人口统计学研究和行为学研究的结合将有助于深入了解人为景观的可利用性，从而为城市规划提供指导，将鸟类保护的这些特征整合到我们的城市中