Overexploitation of wildlife is a major global conservation concern that is especially prevalent in tropical rainforests. Hunting offtake has steadily increased over the past several decades due to deforestation, road development, agricultural land conversion, more advanced weapons, and a burgeoning human population. These factors combined have had a major impact on the populations of many large mammal species. However, the removal of mammal biomass may also have indirect impacts on other, non-targeted taxa such as birds. This project uses a gradient of human hunting activity (and large mammal abundance) to examine how non-hunted bird communities are indirectly influenced by bushmeat extraction.
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The transmission of pathogens between wildlife and humans is increasingly prevalent. Understanding the relationship between changing faunal assemblages and disease regulation is critical as defaunation progresses globally. Previous research has shown that the exclusion of large-bodied mammals can influence infection prevalence in some species. This is due, in part, to the release and proliferation of smaller species (such as rodents) which often carry high ectoparasite loads, important vectors of infectious disease. However, very little is known about the role that birds play in regulating ecosystem-wide disease transmission. Birds share several ectoparasites with mammals, are often immune to mammal-associated pathogens, and can dramatically increase the potential dispersal distance of many diseases.
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Hummingbird territorialism has the potential to restrict plant gene movement by limiting opportunities for pollen to enter or leave the boundaries of defended areas. One way in which these genetic barriers are broken down is through territory intrusions. This is when neighbouring hummingbirds visit flowers before being chased off by the territory owner - introducing foreign pollen and carrying pollen away again. From the perspective of plant populations, understanding where these territory intrusions are most likely to be successful can tell us a lot. In this study, we used radio telemetry to map the space use patterns of territorial hummingbirds. Using the inverse of these patterns, we may be able to predict territory intrusion likelihood to better understand plant gene movement across Andean landscapes.
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