Foraging in the Anthropocene: Feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring

For centuries, human activities have altered the population dynamics of wildlife. New anthropogenic food sources provide a predictable and abundant food supply that often induces very significant changes in the size, distribution, and behaviour of many populations, with ultimate consequences on the...

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Autores principales: Jazel Ouled-Cheikh, Virginia Morera-Pujol, Álvaro Bahillo, Francisco Ramírez, Marta Cerdà-Cuéllar, Raül Ramos
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Publicado: Elsevier 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/5f5763183bc14c969a7cb0a124474585
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:5f5763183bc14c969a7cb0a1244745852021-12-01T04:56:24ZForaging in the Anthropocene: Feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107943https://doaj.org/article/5f5763183bc14c969a7cb0a1244745852021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21006087https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XFor centuries, human activities have altered the population dynamics of wildlife. New anthropogenic food sources provide a predictable and abundant food supply that often induces very significant changes in the size, distribution, and behaviour of many populations, with ultimate consequences on the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems. Here, we combine historical and contemporary feather samples of a population of a superabundant, opportunistic predator, the yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis, to assess its trophic ecology and relate it to human activities in the long term. Dietary assessments were based on stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur (δ13C, δ15N and δ34S), and were conducted through three end-point (marine prey, waste from landfills-slaughterhouses, and terrestrial invertebrates) Bayesian mixing models. Our results suggest that gulls’ diet showed a progressive decrease in the consumption of marine prey throughout the most recent period (late 20th century onwards), linked to an increase in the consumption of meat waste and small terrestrial invertebrates. Reported dietary changes over the sampling period correlated positively with the availability of marine resources around the breeding area. We provide evidence suggesting that the ability of gulls to exploit efficiently diverse anthropogenic food subsidies likely resulted in the exponential demographic increase of this population throughout the 20th century. In addition, current regulations affecting the availability of these food resources (e.g., fishing discards and landfill waste) likely reversed this trend over the last decade. Long-term evidence of population trophic plasticity, like the one we present here, is essential to implement and support management and conservation actions that limit the availability of anthropogenic resources, especially when it comes to superabundant, problematic species.Jazel Ouled-CheikhVirginia Morera-PujolÁlvaro BahilloFrancisco RamírezMarta Cerdà-CuéllarRaül RamosElsevierarticleDietary assessmentsLongitudinal studiesLarus michahellisStable isotope analysisTrophic plasticityYellow-legged gullEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 129, Iss , Pp 107943- (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Dietary assessments
Longitudinal studies
Larus michahellis
Stable isotope analysis
Trophic plasticity
Yellow-legged gull
Ecology
QH540-549.5
spellingShingle Dietary assessments
Longitudinal studies
Larus michahellis
Stable isotope analysis
Trophic plasticity
Yellow-legged gull
Ecology
QH540-549.5
Jazel Ouled-Cheikh
Virginia Morera-Pujol
Álvaro Bahillo
Francisco Ramírez
Marta Cerdà-Cuéllar
Raül Ramos
Foraging in the Anthropocene: Feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring
description For centuries, human activities have altered the population dynamics of wildlife. New anthropogenic food sources provide a predictable and abundant food supply that often induces very significant changes in the size, distribution, and behaviour of many populations, with ultimate consequences on the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems. Here, we combine historical and contemporary feather samples of a population of a superabundant, opportunistic predator, the yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis, to assess its trophic ecology and relate it to human activities in the long term. Dietary assessments were based on stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur (δ13C, δ15N and δ34S), and were conducted through three end-point (marine prey, waste from landfills-slaughterhouses, and terrestrial invertebrates) Bayesian mixing models. Our results suggest that gulls’ diet showed a progressive decrease in the consumption of marine prey throughout the most recent period (late 20th century onwards), linked to an increase in the consumption of meat waste and small terrestrial invertebrates. Reported dietary changes over the sampling period correlated positively with the availability of marine resources around the breeding area. We provide evidence suggesting that the ability of gulls to exploit efficiently diverse anthropogenic food subsidies likely resulted in the exponential demographic increase of this population throughout the 20th century. In addition, current regulations affecting the availability of these food resources (e.g., fishing discards and landfill waste) likely reversed this trend over the last decade. Long-term evidence of population trophic plasticity, like the one we present here, is essential to implement and support management and conservation actions that limit the availability of anthropogenic resources, especially when it comes to superabundant, problematic species.
format article
author Jazel Ouled-Cheikh
Virginia Morera-Pujol
Álvaro Bahillo
Francisco Ramírez
Marta Cerdà-Cuéllar
Raül Ramos
author_facet Jazel Ouled-Cheikh
Virginia Morera-Pujol
Álvaro Bahillo
Francisco Ramírez
Marta Cerdà-Cuéllar
Raül Ramos
author_sort Jazel Ouled-Cheikh
title Foraging in the Anthropocene: Feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring
title_short Foraging in the Anthropocene: Feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring
title_full Foraging in the Anthropocene: Feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring
title_fullStr Foraging in the Anthropocene: Feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring
title_full_unstemmed Foraging in the Anthropocene: Feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring
title_sort foraging in the anthropocene: feeding plasticity of an opportunistic predator revealed by long term monitoring
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/5f5763183bc14c969a7cb0a124474585
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