Urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird

Abstract There is a strong conservation need to understand traits of species that adapt to urban environments, but results have been equivocal. Wetland birds exhibit a strong phylogenetic signal towards urban tolerance; however, they have largely been ignored in urban studies. In their historic rang...

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Autores principales:	Betsy A. Evans, Dale E. Gawlik
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e5c6147eb0d5451299bf4d6099160c44
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e5c6147eb0d5451299bf4d6099160c442021-12-02T16:45:46ZUrban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird10.1038/s41598-020-70934-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/e5c6147eb0d5451299bf4d6099160c442020-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70934-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract There is a strong conservation need to understand traits of species that adapt to urban environments, but results have been equivocal. Wetland birds exhibit a strong phylogenetic signal towards urban tolerance; however, they have largely been ignored in urban studies. In their historic ranges, wetland birds inhabit dynamic systems, traveling long distances to locate food. This ability to exploit dynamic resources may translate to success in urban environments, areas characterized by novel food opportunities. We used the Wood Stork (Mycteria americana), a species of conservation concern, to determine if the ability to exploit resources in natural environments translated to exploitation of urban resources. During optimal natural foraging conditions, storks nesting in both urban and natural wetlands had narrow diet breadths and high productivity. However, during suboptimal conditions, urban stork diet expanded to include anthropogenic items, leading to increased productivity. Our study provides a mechanistic understanding of how a wetland species persists, and even thrives, in urban environments. We demonstrated that species inhabiting dynamic systems can exploit urban areas resulting in increased reproductive performance during suboptimal conditions. Together, urban environments may support biodiversity in a variety of ways, but species-specific mechanistic understanding will help highlight how to best mitigate potential threats of urbanization.Betsy A. EvansDale E. GawlikNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Betsy A. Evans Dale E. Gawlik Urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird
description	Abstract There is a strong conservation need to understand traits of species that adapt to urban environments, but results have been equivocal. Wetland birds exhibit a strong phylogenetic signal towards urban tolerance; however, they have largely been ignored in urban studies. In their historic ranges, wetland birds inhabit dynamic systems, traveling long distances to locate food. This ability to exploit dynamic resources may translate to success in urban environments, areas characterized by novel food opportunities. We used the Wood Stork (Mycteria americana), a species of conservation concern, to determine if the ability to exploit resources in natural environments translated to exploitation of urban resources. During optimal natural foraging conditions, storks nesting in both urban and natural wetlands had narrow diet breadths and high productivity. However, during suboptimal conditions, urban stork diet expanded to include anthropogenic items, leading to increased productivity. Our study provides a mechanistic understanding of how a wetland species persists, and even thrives, in urban environments. We demonstrated that species inhabiting dynamic systems can exploit urban areas resulting in increased reproductive performance during suboptimal conditions. Together, urban environments may support biodiversity in a variety of ways, but species-specific mechanistic understanding will help highlight how to best mitigate potential threats of urbanization.
format	article
author	Betsy A. Evans Dale E. Gawlik
author_facet	Betsy A. Evans Dale E. Gawlik
author_sort	Betsy A. Evans
title	Urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird
title_short	Urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird
title_full	Urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird
title_fullStr	Urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird
title_full_unstemmed	Urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird
title_sort	urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/e5c6147eb0d5451299bf4d6099160c44
work_keys_str_mv	AT betsyaevans urbanfoodsubsidiesreducenaturalfoodlimitationsandreproductivecostsforawetlandbird AT daleegawlik urbanfoodsubsidiesreducenaturalfoodlimitationsandreproductivecostsforawetlandbird
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Urban food subsidies reduce natural food limitations and reproductive costs for a wetland bird

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