Biology subjects

Magle, S.

Publications and source records attributed to Magle, S..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Infection and host-feeding patterns of West Nile virus vectors varies by urban greenspace composition

Greenspaces are integral to the urban environment and affect climate resilience, yet the extent to which they affect mosquito and West Nile virus (WNV) host populations and behavior is not clear. To address this question, we collected mosquitoes along a transect spanning a range of urban development. Mosquitoes were tested for West Nile virus, and the host species that were fed on determined for blood-fed specimens. Bird counts and camera traps were used to assess avian and mammal species availability. Different components that contribute to WNV transmission intensity responded to different landcover variables. Abundance of Culex mosquitoes was most strongly tied to impervious surface, while prevalence of infection was associated with increasing amounts of turf grass. The amount of turf was itself correlated with a measure of avian community reservoir competence. Blood meal analysis suggested the majority of blood meals in the ornithophagic species Cx. pipiens and Cx. restuans came from American robins and northern cardinals, with the latter in particular being overutilized relative to their abundance in sites with higher WNV prevalence. This work furthers our understanding of how the design of urban greenspaces could benefit from consideration of vector-host-virus interactions.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Impacts of urbanization on the health of American Robins (Turdus migratorus) in Chicagoland

Wild animals in urbanized environments face several unique challenges, including increased anthropogenic stressors, decreased natural food availability and quality, and increased pollutant exposure. While some work has shown that individual urbanization stressors can have negative impacts on aspects of wild bird physiology, other studies have demonstrated ambiguous or sometimes positive interactions. As such, the impact of multiple, coincident urban stressors on avian health still needs to be fully understood. Here, we addressed this knowledge gap by holistically measuring multiple physiological markers of American robin (Turdus migratorius) health across a gradient of urbanization throughout Chicagoland. We predicted that birds using highly urbanized habitats would experience higher heavy metal contamination, higher oxidative stress, lower body condition, higher avian malaria burden, and decreased measures of immune response compared to exurban birds in the Chicagoland area. Multiple linear models revealed that robins in more urbanized areas exhibited higher levels of heavy metal contamination and slightly elevated levels of associated physiological impairments compared to their counterparts in exurban sites. Additionally, noise and light pollution were significantly associated with oxidative stress and infection status, respectively, albeit in different directions. Overall, our findings underscore how the complex environmental changes that accompany urbanization can impact the health of urban bird populations.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Mammals adjust diel activity across gradients of urbanization

Time is a fundamental component of ecological processes. How animal behavior changes over time has been explored through well-known ecological theories like niche partitioning and predator-prey dynamics. Yet, changes in animal behavior within the shorter 24-hour light-dark cycle have largely gone unstudied. Understanding if an animal can adjust their temporal activity to mitigate or adapt to environmental change has become a recent topic of discussion and is important for effective wildlife management and conservation. While spatial habitat is a fundamental consideration in wildlife management and conservation, temporal habitat is often ignored. We formulated a temporal resource selection model to quantify the diel behavior of eight mammal species across ten U.S. cities. We found high variability in diel activity patterns within and among species and species-specific correlations between diel activity and human population density, impervious land cover, available greenspace, vegetation cover, and mean daily temperature. We also found that some species may modulate temporal behaviors to manage both natural and anthropogenic risks. Our results highlight the complexity with which temporal activity patterns interact with local environmental characteristics, and suggest that urban mammals may use time along the 24-hour cycle to reduce risk, adapt, and therefore persist in human-dominated ecosystems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Rethinking habitat occupancy modeling and the role of diel activity in an anthropogenic world

Current methods to model species habitat use through space and diel time are limited. Development of such models is critical when considering rapidly changing habitats where species are forced to adapt to anthropogenic change, often by shifting their diel activity across space. We use an occupancy modeling framework to develop a new model, the multi-state diel occupancy model (MSDOM), which can evaluate species diel activity against continuous response variables which may impact diel activity within and across seasons or years. We used two case studies, fosa in Madagascar and coyote in Chicago, USA, to conceptualize the application of this model and to quantify the impacts of human activity on species spatial use in diel time. We found support that both species varied their habitat use by diel states--in and across years, and by human disturbance. Our results exemplify the importance of understanding animal diel activity patterns and how human disturbance can lead to temporal habitat loss. The MSDOM will allow more focused attention in ecology and evolution studies on the importance of the short temporal scale of diel time in animal-habitat relationships and lead to improved habitat conservation and management.

ecology↗