Effects of Human Disturbance on the Behavior and Energetics of Nonbreeding Sanderlings

Morton, John

Human disturbance of avifauna and other wildlife is defined as any intentional or unintentional anthropogenic action that elicits a metabolic or behavioral response. proposed that the energetic response to disturbance should be reflected as increased existence metabolism (EM). If so, then there must be three behavioral responses to increased EM: increased energy intake compensates for increased EM, habituation reduces increased EM, and dispersal avoids increasing EM altogether. I applied this model to captive and free-ranging nonbreeding sanderlings (ealidris alba). I exposed 24 captive sanderlings to a 5-min disturbance event during each of 10 diurnal hours over two 4-d trials. The metabolizable energy of food ingested was determined for each bird daily. Total body electrical conductivity and body mass were measured during trials to account for energy derived from metabolized body tissues. These combined values suggest that EM was elevated by 7% in response to disturbance during 8% of daylight hours.

Effects of Human Disturbance on the Behavior and Energetics of Nonbreeding Sanderlings

Collections