Habitat selection in birds feeding on ocean shores: landscape effects are important in the choice of foraging sites by oystercatchers

Thomas Schlacher; Justin J Meager; Tara Nielsen

doi:10.1111/maec.12055

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Habitat selection in birds feeding on ocean shores: landscape effects are important in the choice of foraging sites by oystercatchers

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Habitat selection in birds feeding on ocean shores: landscape effects are important in the choice of foraging sites by oystercatchers

Thomas Schlacher, Justin J Meager and Tara Nielsen

Marine Ecology, Vol.35(1), pp.67-76

2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.12055

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Abstract

foraging

habitat selection

prey distributions

shorebird consumers

spatial scale

Food availability is a fundamental determinant of habitat selection in animals, including shorebirds foraging on benthic invertebrates. However, the combination of dynamic habitats, patchy distributions at multiple spatial scales, and highly variable densities over time can make prey less predictable on ocean- exposed sandy shores. This can, hypothetically, cause a mismatch between prey and consumer distributions in these high-energy environments. Here we test this prediction by examining the occurrence of actively foraging pied oyster-catchers (Haematopus longirostris) in relation to physical habitat attributes and macrobenthic prey assemblages on a 34-km long, high-energy beach in Eastern Australia. We incorporate two spatial dimensions: (i) adjacent feeding and non-feeding patches separated by 200 m and (ii) landscape regions with and without foraging birds separated by 2-17 km. There was no support for prey-based or habitat-based habitat choice at the smaller dimension, with birds being essentially randomly distributed at the local scale. Conversely, at the broader landscape dimension, the distribution of oystercatchers was driven by the density of their prey, but not by attributes of the physical beach environment. This scale dependence suggests that, on open-coast beaches, landscape effects modulate how mobile predators respond to variations in prey availability.

Details

Title: Habitat selection in birds feeding on ocean shores: landscape effects are important in the choice of foraging sites by oystercatchers
Authors: Thomas Schlacher (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Justin J Meager (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Tara Nielsen (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Publication details: Marine Ecology, Vol.35(1), pp.67-76
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Verlag GmbH
Date published: 2014
DOI: 10.1111/maec.12055
ISSN: 0173-9565
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; GeneCology Research Centre - Legacy; Academic Support Unit; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99448827702621
Output Type: Journal article

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