Movement Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Environmental cues and individuality shape diel and seasonal antelope behaviour in African drylands.","authors":"Paul Berry, Melanie Dammhahn, Morgan Hauptfleisch, Robert Hering, Niels Blaum","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00604-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00604-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Large herbivores play a central role in dryland ecosystems, influencing vegetation dynamics, nutrient cycling, and trophic interactions. While they are adapted to cope with harsh climates, their persistence is increasingly threatened by anthropogenic pressures. However, the behavioural strategies they use to cope with these combined environmental challenges remain understudied. Using multi-year accelerometer data from springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis), greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), and common eland (Taurotragus oryx) in northern Namibia, we examined diel and seasonal behaviour in relation to vegetation greenness (NDVI), temperature, lunar phase, and individual differences. While activity was mainly diurnal, nocturnal behaviour was closely linked to the lunar cycle: during moonlit nights, antelope, particularly springbok, increased feeding and walking while reducing rumination and resting. Seasonal patterns tracked plant phenology, with head-up feeding rising sharply during the woody flush at the onset of the green season, while head-down feeding followed grass growth but declined as the season progressed. Seasonal dynamics differed from studies in other regions, suggesting that prolonged dryness and mild winters favour energy conservation over compensatory feeding. Hierarchical partitioning showed that feeding behaviours were environmentally cued, driven by plant phenology and seasonality, whereas walking, rumination, and resting were shaped mainly by individuality. Ambient temperature added little explanatory power, indicating that long-term rhythms are governed more by vegetation cycles and photoperiod than by thermal conditions. Our findings reveal that external cues such as phenology and moonlight synchronise foraging across individuals, while intrinsic factors contribute most to the variation in walking, ruminating and resting, potentially buffering populations against environmental variability. Recognising the combined influence of environmental cues and individual variation is essential for predicting how dryland herbivores will respond to climate and land-use change.</p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"77"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12570786/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145395124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Linking bathythermal habitat selection to management of a migratory freshwater fish.","authors":"Richard T Kraus, Matthew D Faust, Scott Colborne, Christopher S Vandergoot","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00570-5","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00570-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"76"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12548210/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145356728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lake sturgeon behavioral diversity in the Laurentian great lakes: migratory patterns across populations and habitats.","authors":"Skye D Fissette, Charles C Krueger, Lisa M O'Connor, Thomas C Pratt, Daniel A Isermann, Dan Wilfond, John A Sweka, Darryl W Hondorp","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00585-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00585-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Characterizing the diversity of migration behaviors from the individual to the population level is essential for understanding how organisms respond to environmental variation and how these responses affect survival and habitat use. Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) is a species of special concern in the Laurentian Great Lakes that are long-lived and generally classified as intermittent, adfluvial spawners. Observations of lake sturgeon movements at ecologically relevant spatiotemporal scales have shown that migration behavior often varies among individuals within the same population. However, studies on individual populations, particularly when focused only on a part of the life cycle (e.g., often spawning), provide just a partial understanding of the species' full migratory scope and processes underlying expression of different migratory behaviors. To better understand lake sturgeon migratory diversity, we characterized and compared migratory behaviors of six lake sturgeon populations occupying environments that varied in habitat availability and connectivity in different Laurentian Great Lakes.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Sequence analysis combined with agglomerative hierarchical clustering and visual inspection of daily location data were used to identify distinct lake sturgeon migratory behaviors present in each population.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Seven distinct migratory behaviors were identified based on differential patterns of lake and river use that encompass spawning and other seasonal periods. Behaviors were categorized as annual spring river, intermittent spring river, intermittent two-step, annual summer river, annual winter river, and annual interlake migrants along with river residents. The presence and frequency of migratory behaviors varied substantially among populations.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study demonstrated that migratory diversity is a general feature of lake sturgeon life history that may be partially shaped by habitat availability and connectivity. Given these results, we propose a conceptual model that links habitat availability and connectivity to migratory diversity and predict a positive association between them. This updated framework provides a cohesive basis for understanding lake sturgeon migratory behavior across variable ecological contexts in the Laurentian Great Lakes and will help promote future research to refute or refine the model.</p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"75"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12548266/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145350020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Habitat conditions during winter explain movement among subpopulations of a declining migratory bird.","authors":"Alexander R Schindler, Anthony D Fox, Alyn J Walsh, Larry R Griffin, Seán B A Kelly, Lei Cao, Mitch D Weegman","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00600-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00600-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>BACKGROUND: Understanding animal movement patterns among subpopulations is crucial for identifying spatiotemporal patterns in animal abundance. Quantifying such movement rates enables a better understanding of population dynamics and how animals decide to move between habitats throughout their range. However, detailed assessments of animal movements among subpopulations are often difficult to obtain with typical capture-mark-recapture methods, limiting our ability to incorporate movement information into conservation planning. METHODS: We used six years of high-resolution Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking data in a Bayesian multistate model to quantify habitat drivers of monthly intra- (i.e., from one month to the next within a winter) and inter-winter (i.e., from the last month of one winter to the first month of the following winter) movements among eight different subpopulations of a declining migratory bird, the Greenland white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons flavirostris). RESULTS: We found that while Greenland white-fronted geese were highly philopatric to geographically distinct wintering subpopulations, individuals made intra- and inter-winter movements based on locally available foraging habitat. These decisions changed within and among winters; geese were more likely to make intra-winter movements to areas with fewer croplands and boglands, potentially in response to local food depletion, and more likely to make inter-winter movements to areas with more boglands and “greener” grasslands. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated a framework for using high-frequency GPS tracking data to discover movement patterns and test hypotheses about environmental drivers of movements, which could be linked with population dynamics and applied to other species of concern for an improved understanding of metapopulations across space and time. Implementing habitat management strategies that optimize foraging conditions throughout winter, including rewetting degraded peatlands to provide bogland food plants, provision of cereal stubbles in early winter and high-quality grasslands throughout winter may help improve conservation outcomes for Greenland white-fronted geese. </p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"74"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12532439/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145309892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Divergent migratory strategies lead to variable refueling performance amongst Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis) during spring stopover in the Gulf of Mexico.","authors":"Michael Griego, Mariamar Gutierrez Ramirez, Alexander R Gerson","doi":"10.1186/s40462-024-00518-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-024-00518-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Each spring, migratory Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis, henceforth referred to as Catbirds) that have wintered in Central America and the Caribbean, fly across the Gulf of Mexico during their northern migration. These long-distance flights are primarily fueled by lipid reserves, but protein is also catabolized leading to significant depletions in organ and muscle tissue mass upon arrival at stopover sites. Here, Catbirds must not only recover from their previous intensive flight across the Gulf but must also provision for the next leg of migration as they continue to their breeding grounds in North America. There is still much to be known about how reduced lean mass at stopover may constrain refueling performance. Catbirds present a unique opportunity to study refueling performance relating to differential migratory strategies as these songbirds have significant geographic spread in their North American breeding grounds. We caught Catbirds during spring migration on St. George Island, FL over three consecutive years. We measured total fat and lean mass using non-invasive quantitative magnetic resonance, basal metabolic rate using standard flow-through respirometry techniques, and plasma triglycerides to determine refueling rate. We then used feather deuterium (δD) to estimate breeding location and migratory distance. We determined, with high probability, three migratory strategies used by this group of Catbirds at stopover, yet found no differences in total, fat, or lean body mass amongst birds attributed to be short, medium, or long-distance migrants. However, migratory distance explains the relationship between total mass and refueling rates, with long-distance migrants having a larger increase in plasma triglyceride concentration per unit increase of body mass compared to short-distance migrants. Furthermore, we document a physiological strategy whereby long-distance migrants can deposit greater amounts of lean and fat mass with a smaller associated increase of metabolic rate than predicted for their size.</p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"73"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12522247/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145304496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Marine predator movements create seascape connectivity in remote coral reef ecosystems.","authors":"Luciana C Ferreira, Ronen Galaiduk, Ben Radford, Vinay Udyawer, Mark Meekan, Michele Thums, Rob Harcourt, Kate A Lee, Eric A Treml","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00598-7","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00598-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Movement of marine predators can connect different habitats and create links that are key for maintaining metapopulation dynamics, genetic diversity, energy flow and trophic links within and between systems. This key ecological process is known as ecological connectivity.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used a combination of acoustic telemetry data, network analysis (graph theory), habitat modelling and machine learning methods to quantify movement patterns and habitat use of three coral reef predators (grey reef shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, silvertip shark Carcharhinus albimarginatus and red bass Lutjanus bohar). We also assessed how movements and habitat preference influence connectivity in two remote reef systems (Rowley Shoals and Scott Reef) off Northwest Australia.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Grey reef shark movements created more substantial connections within reef systems, greater than silvertip sharks and red bass, with occasional long-ranging movement linking distant atolls. Core use areas (nodes with high degree centrality) were represented by low complexity habitats in shallow areas near passages in the reef crest, but varied among species, time of the day and sex. Overall, female sharks had larger networks with greater movement extent than males indicating potential sex-specific patterns in movement and connectivity of sharks at both local (within an atoll) and regional (within reef system) spatial scales. Red bass movements resulted in local-scale connectivity between the lagoon and nearby forereef areas, whereas reef shark connectivity operated at broader scales with movement along the forereef creating stronger connections across distant areas within the reef systems.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The combination of animal tracking data, network analyses and machine learning allowed us to describe complex patterns of movement and habitat use within and between remote coral reef ecosystems and how they influence ecological connectivity over local and regional scales. Importantly, we suggest that the existing spatial protection across these remote coral reefs is effective in protecting the local-scale connectivity of mesopredators, yet broad-scale protection is required to effectively encompass the seascape connectivity of large predators which is crucial for the long-term health and stability of coral reef ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"72"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12512746/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145276671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Migration strategies, connectivity and corridor features of the partial migrant little bustard (Tetrax tetrax) across the Iberian Peninsula.","authors":"David González Del Portillo, Beatriz Arroyo, Eladio L García de la Morena, Gerard Bota, João Paulo Silva, Ana Teresa Marques, João Gameiro, Filipa Coutinho Soares, Manuel B Morales","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00595-w","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00595-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The study of migration ecology is crucial for understanding the factors and pressures affecting migratory species. Here, we studied the migratory ecology of the little bustard (Tetrax tetrax), a steppe bird that has suffered a sharp decline over recent decades, mainly due to agricultural intensification. Using 105 adult birds tagged across the main Iberian regions where the species is present (Alentejo, Extremadura, Ebro Valley, Northern Plateau, Southern Plateau and Guadalquivir Valley), we analysed the ratio of migratory and resident birds in each population and assessed their connectivity during the three main migratory periods (summer, winter and pre-breeding). Additionally, we describe the features of the migrations recorded in terms of length, duration and day period. Our results corroborate that little bustards can be considered partial migrants across Iberia, although the proportion of residents versus migrants varied between populations: the Alentejo (94.74%) and Northern Plateau (93.75%) had the highest proportion of migrants, followed by Guadalquivir Valley (81.82%), Extremadura (65.38%), Southern Plateau (55.56%) and Ebro Valley (25.93%). Migratory connectivity varied between periods: the pre-breeding and summering migrations showed a trend to move northwards, while birds moved southwards for winter. Regarding the migratory corridors obtained from the 253 migrations identified, we found three main routes: one corridor that connects the Northern Plateau with the western part of the Southern Plateau and Extremadura, another one that connects the Southern Plateau, Extremadura, Alentejo and Guadalquivir Valley, and one corridor that concentrates migrations within the Ebro Valley, and between the Ebro Valley and the Southern Plateau. Finally, analyses showed that little bustards migrate at night through areas dominated by herbaceous cover (avoiding tree-covered land and water bodies) and of low elevation and terrain roughness. Our results highlight the importance of developing an international and inter-regional conservation strategy to protect not only the breeding and wintering quarters, but also this endangered species' migratory corridors, thus supporting the viability of the metapopulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"71"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12512745/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145276655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Identification and conservation of critical nodes for shorebirds based on migration network perspective.","authors":"Qing Xiao, Houlang Duan, Bingrun Zhu, Shaoxia Xia, Zhengwang Zhang, Xiubo Yu","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00599-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00599-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The degradation and loss of critical nodes in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) migration network could have implications for the migration of shorebirds. The conservation of critical nodes along the EAAF is important for maintaining the stability of migratory networks. However, identifying these nodes remains a major challenge.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used a network method that integrates GPS tracking data and remote sensing data to identify critical nodes for three shorebird species (Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa), Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata), and Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)) in migratory networks along the EAAF and priority conservation areas to facilitate the development of conservation and management plans.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 111, 37, and 81 nodes in the migratory networks were identified for the Black-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Curlew, and Pied Avocet, respectively; these included 25, 13, and 16 critical nodes, respectively. Node importance (node betweenness) was higher in the migration period than in the breeding and wintering periods. Habitat loss was observed in most stopover nodes. A total of 23 unprotected critical nodes were identified as priority conservation areas.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Habitat loss was observed in most of the unprotected critical nodes in stopover regions for all three species. The inclusion of these sites such as Haoyao sumu forest farm and Tianjin coast, into flyway site networks (the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP)) should be prioritized, and the habitat quality of nearby alternative nodes should be improved. Future studies should focus on developing new node indexes that integrate ecological variables with each node's role in maintaining network connectivity using data from a larger number of tracked individuals and birdwatching data. Such studies could help identify currently unknown regions with critical habitats.</p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"70"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12502238/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145240453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing downstream passage of European silver eel at a tidal pumping station: acceleration as a proxy for eel activity.","authors":"I van der Knaap, H Kuipers, J van Eerbeek, P P Schollema, J B J Huisman","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00588-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00588-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>To complete their lifecycle, diadromous fish often need to pass anthropogenic barriers in regulated rivers and estuaries (e.g., pumping stations, weirs, hydropower facilities). The safe and timely passage of the endangered catadromous European eel (Anguilla anguilla), through pumping stations is a major concern and European legislation stipulates that safe downstream passage must be provided at hazardous intakes. To implement effective mitigation measures, specific knowledge on eel passage behaviour at barriers is needed.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used acoustic telemetry with acceleration sensors tags, to understand eel movement and activity, migration routes, escapement success, and delay at a tidal pumping station. Tri-axes accelerometers measured eel acceleration in three directions and provide a root-mean-square (RMS) value over the measurement period, providing a proxy for eel activity. A network of 10 receivers was placed along the migration route to track 40 tagged individuals. Telemetry data were analysed using visual investigation of eel detections and Generalised Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) for analysing acceleration data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We found that 75% of the tagged eels migrated to the estuary via the pumping station (PS), 5% used other routes, and 20% did not migrate seaward that season. Acceleration data showed that eels significantly increased their activity up until the moment of PS passage, from an overall mean RMS acceleration of 1.04 m/s² (95% CI = 0.93-1.18) when the pumping station started pumping (between 1 up to 4 h before eel passage), to 1.14 m/s² (95% CI = 1.04-1.26) at 10 min before the eels passed through the pumps, and 1.66 m/s² (95% CI = 1.32-2.08) 1 min before passage. Most eels passed the pumping station at night, and we found that eels had the highest movement activity between 15:00 and 00:00 with a peak around 19:00, which coincided with the moment of PS passage.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Acceleration provides a proxy for fish movement activity and our study demonstrates how including accelerometer sensors with telemetry can help understand movement of endangered species at migration barriers. This information is vital for implementing strategies to improve outward migration success, towards the spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea, and thus the conservation and restoration of eel populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"69"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12486681/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145202082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of urbanisation on the movements of an arboreal specialist using hidden Markov models.","authors":"Caio Santos Neto, Ross G Dwyer, Theo Michelot, Romane H Cristescu","doi":"10.1186/s40462-025-00569-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40462-025-00569-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>BACKGROUND: Species with specialised ecological niches rely heavily on specific resources or conditions, making them less resilient to habitat fragmentation and land-use changes. For specialists with limited mobility, the challenges are even greater, as they may struggle to locate new habitats for their survival. While some highly mobile species adjust their movement behaviours in human-modified environments by either avoiding areas with faster, straighter paths or adapting to forage for human-related resources, little is known about how arboreal species with low mobility adapt to urban landscapes. Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) are highly susceptible to the impacts of urbanisation due to their unique adaptations and reliance on tree canopy cover, which is thought to be a major factor driving population decline in the increasingly urbanised Australian coast. METHODS: In this study, we applied biotelemetry to track the movements of 72 koalas in urban and nonurban environments. We then applied hidden Markov models (HMMs) to these data to investigate how environmental factors (such as human land use), as well as biological factors (e.g., sex) and temporal cycles (e.g., time of day), influenced koala movement behaviours. RESULTS: We detected little effect of land use type on the movement behaviours of koalas in urban and nonurban landscapes, suggesting that the type of land use does not play a substantial role in how koalas shift between different movement behaviours. However, urban-dwelling koalas exhibited faster and more directed movements at night (rather than at dusk) and showed less pronounced changes in their movement behaviours across seasons than those typically observed in natural environments. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the adaptability and flexibility of koalas in modifying their movement behaviours to navigate human-modified environments. By focusing their movements during times when human activity is lower, koalas may be able to reduce the likelihood of agonistic interactions with humans. We suggest that creating low-disturbance areas in urban and peri-urban environments could allow wildlife to maintain more natural behaviours, potentially improving their overall well-being. </p>","PeriodicalId":54288,"journal":{"name":"Movement Ecology","volume":"13 1","pages":"66"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12487388/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145202072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}