Can providing shade at water points help Kalahari birds beat the heat?

dc.contributor.authorAbdu, Salamatu
dc.contributor.authorMcKechnie, Andrew E.
dc.contributor.authorLee, Alan T.K.
dc.contributor.authorCunningham, Susan J.
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-27T05:20:05Z
dc.date.issued2018-05
dc.description.abstractArid-zone birds trade-off dehydration and hyperthermia during hot weather, as they are dependent on evaporative cooling when air temperature approaches or exceeds body temperature. Water points in many arid ecosystems become surrounded by piospheres, exposing drinking birds to high radiant heat loads and exacerbating this trade-off. This challenge will be aggravated under climate warming. One possible mitigation approach is to reduce heat loads birds experience when seeking water. We experimentally shaded water points on farmland in the Kalahari. We used a Before–After Control–Impact design to assess the impact of artificial shade on species, visitation rates and visitation patterns of drinking birds. The number of species drinking was not affected by the introduction of shade, but overall visitation rates declined, despite a habituation period prior to data collection and increased use of shaded water points during the heat of the day. Of the ten most common species, one –the smallest species in the study - significantly increased and four significantly reduced visitation rates to experimentally shaded water points. Providing shade benefited few species overall, perhaps because of increased perceived predation risk. Future work should investigate the impacts of shader design in order to develop this method as a conservation tool.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentZoology and Entomologyen_ZA
dc.description.embargo2019-05-02
dc.description.librarianhj2018en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenven_ZA
dc.identifier.citationAbdu, S., McKechnie, A.E., Lee, A.T.K. & Cunningham, S.J., Can providing shade at water points help Kalahari birds beat the heat?, Journal of Arid Environments (2018), 152: 21-27, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2018.01.0182018.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0140-1963 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1095-922X (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1016/j.jaridenv.2018.01.018
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/64087
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherElsevieren_ZA
dc.rights© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Arid Environments. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Arid Environments, vol. 152, pp. 21-27, 2018. doi : 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2018.01.018.en_ZA
dc.subjectTemperatureen_ZA
dc.subjectPiosphereen_ZA
dc.subjectHyperthermiaen_ZA
dc.subjectDehydrationen_ZA
dc.subjectClimate changeen_ZA
dc.subjectBefore-after control-impact (BACI)en_ZA
dc.titleCan providing shade at water points help Kalahari birds beat the heat?en_ZA
dc.typePostprint Articleen_ZA

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