%0 Journal Article
%A Matsinos, Y.G.
%A Wolff, W.F.
%A Moustakas, A.
%T Adapting foraging to habitat heterogeneity and climate change: an individual-based model for wading birds
%J Ethology, ecology & evolution
%V 24
%@ 0394-9370
%C New York, NY
%I Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
%M PreJuSER-19041
%P 209 - 229
%D 2012
%Z This research was funded in part by the Ecological Research Division, Office of Health and Environmental Research, US Department of Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC05-84OR21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. and the Science Alliance Center of Excellence, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1300. A. Moustakas was funded from a NERC, UK, Research Grant (NE-E017436-1). The study was accomplished with assistance from the National Park Service, US Department of the Interior (Cooperative Agreement No. CA-5460-0-9001). The statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and other data in this report are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Comments of two anonymous reviewers considerably improved an earlier manuscript draft.
%X In an effort to assess the role of adaptive foraging behaviour to the spatial and temporal heterogeneity as a factor determining the success of the colony, we used single-colony individual-based spatial models for a visual foraging, the Great Blue Heron and a tactile foraging bird, the Wood Stork. The model followed simultaneously daily activities of individuals, their spatial movements, foraging efficiency, bioenergetics and growth of the nestlings during a nesting season. For each colony we used two scenarios; in the first, that depicted a normal nesting season, the extent and distribution of feeding sites led to successful reproduction for both species. In the second, we simulated increased precipitation regimes resulting in reversals in water depth (i.e. increases in depth during the dry season when water levels are normally falling). The results reveal that Wood Storks were significantly more adversely affected than Great Blue Herons by the prey dilution caused by the reversals in water depth. In the latter scenario where resources became scarce, resource predictability decreased. The foraging birds that foraged in groups exhibited low foraging success, resulting in poor reproductive performance. This result was more pronounced in the case of storks that foraged in groups than for herons foraging in groups. Concluding, increased variance in precipitation regimes is more likely to affect tactile rather than visual foraging bird species. Further, in harsh climatic conditions (increased precipitation and water level regimes) solitary foraging was more beneficial for wading birds than group foraging.
%K J (WoSType)
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000308102600001
%R 10.1080/03949370.2011.601762
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/19041