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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Local Weather Explains Annual Variation In Northern Goshawk Reproduction In The Northern Great Basin, Usa, Allyson B. Bangerter, Eliana R. Heiser, Jay D. Carlisle, Robert A. Miller Dec 2021

Local Weather Explains Annual Variation In Northern Goshawk Reproduction In The Northern Great Basin, Usa, Allyson B. Bangerter, Eliana R. Heiser, Jay D. Carlisle, Robert A. Miller

Intermountain Bird Observatory Publications and Presentations

Weather is thought to influence raptor reproduction through effects on prey availability, condition of adults, and survival of nests and young; however, there are few long-term studies of the effects of weather on raptor reproduction. We investigated the effects of weather on Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis; henceforth goshawk) breeding rate, productivity, and fledging date in south-central Idaho and northern Utah, USA. Using data from 42 territories where we found evidence of breeding attempts in ≥1 yr from 2011–2019, we analyzed breeding rates using 315 territory–season combinations, analyzed productivity for 134 breeding attempts, and analyzed fledging date for 118 …


Low Activities Of Digestive Enzymes In The Guts Of Herbivorous Grouse (Aves: Tetraoninae), Jennifer Sorensen Forbey Apr 2021

Low Activities Of Digestive Enzymes In The Guts Of Herbivorous Grouse (Aves: Tetraoninae), Jennifer Sorensen Forbey

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Avian herbivores face the exceptional challenge of digesting recalcitrant plant material while under the selective pressure to reduce gut mass as an adaptation for fight. One mechanism by which avian herbivores may overcome this challenge is to maintain high activities of intestinal enzymes that facilitate the digestion and absorption of nutrients. However, previous studies in herbivorous animals provide equivocal evidence as to how activities of digestive enzymes may be adapted to herbivorous diets. For example, “rate-maximizing” herbivores generally exhibit rapid digesta transit times and high activities of digestive enzymes. Conversely, “yield-maximizing” herbivores utilize long gut retention times and express lower …


Noise Distracts Foraging Bats, Louise C. Allen, Nickolay I. Hristov, Juliette J. Rubin, Joseph T. Lightsey, Jesse R. Barber Feb 2021

Noise Distracts Foraging Bats, Louise C. Allen, Nickolay I. Hristov, Juliette J. Rubin, Joseph T. Lightsey, Jesse R. Barber

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Predators frequently must detect and localize their prey in challenging environments. Noisy environments have been prevalent across the evolutionary history of predator–prey relationships, but now with increasing anthropogenic activities noise is becoming a more prominent feature of many landscapes. Here, we use the gleaning pallid bat, Antrozous pallidus, to investigate the mechanism by which noise disrupts hunting behaviour. Noise can primarily function to mask—obscure by spectrally overlapping a cue of interest, or distract—occupy an animal's attentional or other cognitive resources. Using band-limited white noise treatments that either overlapped the frequencies of a prey cue or did not …