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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Golden Eagle Dietary Shifts Following Wildfire And Shrub Loss Have Negative Consequences For Nestling Survivorship, Julie A. Heath, Michael N. Kochert, Karen Steenhof
Golden Eagle Dietary Shifts Following Wildfire And Shrub Loss Have Negative Consequences For Nestling Survivorship, Julie A. Heath, Michael N. Kochert, Karen Steenhof
Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations
Wildfires and invasive species have caused widespread changes in western North America’s shrub-steppe landscapes. The bottom–up consequences of degraded shrublands on predator ecology and demography remain poorly understood. We used a before–after paired design to study whether Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) diet and nestling survivorship changed following wildfires in southwestern Idaho, USA. We assessed burn extents from 1981 to 2013 and vegetation changes between 1979 (pre-burn) and 2014 (post-burn) within 3 km of Golden Eagle nesting centroids. We measured the frequency and biomass of individual prey, calculated diet diversity indexes, and monitored nestling survivorship at 15 territories in …
Intra-Specific Variation In Migration Phenology Of American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius) In Response To Spring Temperatures, Breanna F. Powers, Jason M. Winiarski, Juan M. Requena-Mullor, Julie A. Heath
Intra-Specific Variation In Migration Phenology Of American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius) In Response To Spring Temperatures, Breanna F. Powers, Jason M. Winiarski, Juan M. Requena-Mullor, Julie A. Heath
Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations
In migratory birds, among- and within-species heterogeneity in response to climate change may be attributed to differences in migration distance and environmental cues that affect timing of arrival at breeding grounds. We used eBird observations and a within-species comparative approach to examine whether migration distance (with latitude as a proxy) and weather predictors can explain spring arrival dates at the breeding site in a raptor species with a widespread distribution and diverse migration strategies, the American Kestrel Falco sparverius. We found an interactive effect between latitude and spring minimum temperatures on arrival dates, whereby at lower latitudes (short-distance migrants) …