Explanipedia

Habitat degradation relates to reduced immune function in nestlings, but not adults, of a tropical forest bird Open

Tamara Isabelle Sorg, Arne Hegemann, Laurence Cousseau, Janne Heiskanen, Luc Lens , et al. · 2025

Human-induced habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are among the leading causes of species decline worldwide. This is particularly true in tropical forests, where unique, often highly specialized fauna is under threat. By altering r…

Predicting current and future distribution of the common waxbill using a mechanistic modelling approach Open

Cesare Pacioni, Luís Reino, Luc Lens, Diederik Strubbe · 2025

Biological invasions and climate change are two of the most pressing drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. Anticipating where invasive species are likely to establish, as well as the potential impact of climate change on their range expa…

Weak evaporative cooling capacity and body size shape thermal limits in tropical montane forest birds Open

Cesare Pacioni, Beate Apfelbeck, Peter Njoroge, Mwangi Githiru, Diederik Strubbe , et al. · 2025

Climate warming and forest fragmentation threaten tropical biodiversity by altering microclimates and narrowing the range of temperatures within which species can maintain optimal physiological performance. We investigated the thermoregula…

Avian influenza causes age-related mortality in a long-lived seabird Open

Wouter Courtens, Mónika Z. Ballmann, Ruben Fijn, Morten Frederiksen, S. Kuehn , et al. · 2025

Recently, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A (H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b viruses have caused mass mortality events in seabirds worldwide, raising concern for long-lived species with low reproductive rates. Using individual-level data fro…

Understanding individual range use in free-range chickens - a systematic review Open

Birgit Szabo, Luc Lens, Joah R. Madden, Vítor Ferreira, Frederick Verbruggen · 2025

Every year, over 50 billion chickens are raised globally for meat and eggs. Increasing consumer demand has driven a shift towards free-range and organic systems. These systems allow chickens outdoor access aimed to improve behavioural dive…

Metabolic responses at sub-thermoneutral temperatures in captive common waxbills ( <i>Estrilda astrild</i> ) Open

Cesare Pacioni, Hanne Dannels, Laura Dutrieux, Marina Sentís, Luc Lens , et al. · 2025

Understanding how endotherms manage energy expenditure at sub-thermoneutral temperatures is crucial for predicting their physiological flexibility and adaptive potential. This study investigated the metabolic responses of captive-bred comm…

Early-life social instability affects aggression, but not response inhibition, in chickens Open

Kathryn Willcox, Alizée Vernouillet, Birgit Szabo, An Martel, Luc Lens , et al. · 2025

Living in complex social environments presents behavioural and cognitive challenges. A key challenge is the regulation of aggression, which may be facilitated by response inhibition, the ability to suppress inappropriate actions. In more c…

Multitaxon assessment reveals inconsistent biodiversity responses to forest structural complexity in temperate forests Open

Cesare Pacioni, Kris Verheyen, An Martel, Lander Baeten, Frank Pasmans , et al. · 2025

Increasing forest structural complexity is a key objective of future-proof forest management, with potential benefits for biodiversity. However, empirical evidence for consistent biodiversity-structure relationships across taxa is still li…

Species characteristics predict the effectiveness of avian survey methods in an Afromontane sky‐island Open

Vikram Malhi, Gino Brignoli, Jane Hallam, Peter Njoroge, Luc Lens , et al. · 2025

Biodiversity conservation requires effective monitoring of ecological communities in remote locations, where limited accessibility often restricts survey efforts. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is becoming an established method for meas…

LBBG_ADULT - Lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus, Laridae) breeding in Belgium Open

Eric Stienen, Wendt Mülller, Luc Lens, Tanja Milotić, Peter Desmet · 2025

LBBG_ADULT - Lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus, Laridae) breeding in Belgium is a bird tracking dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). It contains animal tracking data collected by the LifeWatch GPS…

Home range and activity budget in the Falkland Steamer Duck (Tachyeres brachypterus) Open

Alix M. I. Kristiansen, Alastair M. M. Baylis, Sébastien A.P. Dupray, Luc Lens, Heather Q. Mathews , et al. · 2025

The Falkland Islands support globally important populations of seabirds and coastal birds, underscoring their value for international conservation efforts. However, substantial knowledge gaps impede the development of coherent species mana…

Bird health in forests: exploring relationships between forest structural complexity, body condition, and tick infestation Open

Bram Catfolis, Magali Frauendorf, Kris Verheyen, Lander Baeten, Tosca Vanroy , et al. · 2025

Evaluating wildlife rehabilitation: Successful return of rehabilitated gulls in the wild Open

Tine Uytterschaut, Reinoud Allaert, Wouter Courtens, Claude Velter, Wendt Mueller , et al. · 2025

The expansion of human activities has increased the need for animal rehabilitation, especially for urban-breeding species such as herring gulls ( Larus argentatus ) and lesser black-backed gulls ( L. fuscus ), which now commonly nest on bu…

Heterophil-to-lymphocyte ratio varies with habitat fragmentation and canopy cover in a tropical understory insectivore Open

Vincent Otieno Onyango, Magdalena Ginko, George G. Ndiritu, Laurence Cousseau, Janne Heiskanen , et al. · 2025

Habitat fragmentation and degradation are major problems in tropical forests, leading to a decline in biodiversity. However, it is often unclear which aspects of habitat change are responsible for the decline of specific species. Physiolog…

LBBG_JUVENILE - Juvenile lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus, Laridae) and herring gulls (Larus argentatus, Laridae) hatched in Zeebrugge (Belgium) Open

Eric Stienen, Wendt Müller, Luc Lens, Tanja Milotić, Peter Desmet · 2025

LBBG_JUVENILE - Juvenile lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus, Laridae) and herring gulls (Larus argentatus, Laridae) hatched in Zeebrugge (Belgium) is a bird tracking dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (I…

REMOVED DUE TO POLICY VIOLATIONS Open

Luc Lens · 2025

Spatiotemporal differences in plastic biovectoring among three sympatric waterbirds Open

Julián Cano-Povedano, Cosme López‐Calderón, Francisco Hortas, Víctor Martín‐Vélez, Marta I. Sánchez , et al. · 2025

Abiotic vectors of plastic and their impact in natural areas have been extensively studied, whereas biotic vectors have received less attention. Recent studies demonstrate that birds can act as powerful agents of plastic transport, moving …

Context-dependent effects of woody layer complexity on arthropod biomass and abundance in deciduous forests Open

Bram Catfolis, Tosca Vanroy, Kris Verheyen, Lander Baeten, An Martel , et al. · 2025

Forest structural complexity influences arthropod communities by shaping habitat availability, microclimatic conditions, and resource distribution. However, the extent to which structural complexity and specific structural components drive…

Isotopic niche segregation during the non-breeding period in Black-faced Cormorants ( <i>Phalacrocorax fuscescens</i> ) Open

Thomas Cansse, Luc Lens, Gilles Lepoint, John P. Y. Arnould · 2025

peer reviewed

To peck or not to peck: the influence of early-life social environment on response inhibition and impulsive aggression in Japanese quails Open

Alizée Vernouillet, Kathryn Willcox, Reinoud Allaert, Anneleen Dewulf, Wen Zhang , et al. · 2025

Deficits in response inhibition (RI; i.e. the ability to suppress inappropriate responses) may contribute to increased impulsive aggression (IA; i.e. unplanned behaviours that harm others). Since early-life environment might influence the …

Energetic metabolism and condition indices in native versus invasive common waxbills Open

Marina Sentís, Cesare Pacioni, Luís Reino, Colleen T. Downs, Luc Lens , et al. · 2025

Invasive alien species (IAS) pose a serious threat to global biodiversity, and unravelling the mechanisms driving their expansion across new ranges remains an important challenge for ecosystem conservation. Assessing similarities and diffe…

How does cognition determine an individual’s fitness? A systematic review of the links between cognition, behaviour and fitness in non-human animals Open

Joah R. Madden, Samuel Ellis, Luc Lens, Frederick Verbruggen · 2025

Recent efforts to understand the evolution of cognition have adopted a within-species approach where cognitive performance, and its effects on behaviour, is correlated with fitness benefits and, if related, is assumed to be selected for. W…

Influence of forest structural complexity on small mammal body condition and its impact on tick burden and pathogen prevalence Open

Tosca Vanroy, Lander Baeten, An Martel, Bram Catfolis, Manoj Fonville , et al. · 2025

Background More and more forest management focuses on increasing structural complexity to improve environmental conditions for biodiversity and forest functioning. However, it remains uncertain whether animal populations also benefit from …

Do ecological valid stop signals aid detour performance? A comparison of four bird species Open

Anneleen Dewulf, Clara García-Có, Wendt Müller, Joah R. Madden, An Martel , et al. · 2025

Response inhibition (RI), or the stopping of actions, is considered a key component of flexible and adaptive behaviour. Across fields, RI is often treated as a unitary cognitive mechanism. However, we propose that RI consists of a chain of…

Assessing the thermoregulatory capacity of forest-dependent tropical birds living in forest fragments Open

Cesare Pacioni, Beate Apfelbeck, Ran Xu, Marina Sentís, Luc Lens , et al. · 2025

Climate change is rapidly altering ecosystems, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services. Forest fragmentation exacerbates these challenges by altering microclimatic conditions, such as through increased exposure to solar radiation, …

Neophobia across social contexts in juvenile herring gulls Open

Reinoud Allaert, Sophia Knoch, Simon Braem, Dries Debeer, An Martel , et al. · 2025

Neophobia, the fear or avoidance of the unfamiliar, can have significant fitness consequences. It is typically assessed by exposing individuals to unfamiliar objects when they are alone, but in social species, the presence of conspecifics …

Ecophysiology of an Avian Invader: Body Condition and Metabolic Rate Adjustments to Ambient Temperature Open

Marina Sentís, Cesare Pacioni, Emma Bossuyt, Andrey Bushuev, А.Б. Керимов , et al. · 2025

This study examines the ecophysiological responses of common waxbills to temperature variation in Portugal. We measured body condition and basal metabolic rate (BMR) during summer and winter across two regions in Portugal. Body condition w…

Habitat disturbance alters movement behaviour in a social Afrotropical forest bird Open

Gladys Nyakeru Kung'u, Christina Fischer, Janne Heiskanen, Laurence Cousseau, Mwangi Githiru , et al. · 2025

Circular Cities: Exploring the factors that drive urban citizens to engage in circular food behaviors Open

Francesca Rubiconto, Margrietha D. van der Vlist, Luc Lens, Michiel W. Vink, Joana Wensing · 2024

Urbanization is projected to significantly increase food consumption in city regions, exacerbating the negative impact of the current food system on the environment. As a response, the transition towards a more circular, regenerative urban…

To Peck or Not To Peck: The influence of early-life social environment on response inhibition and impulsive aggression in Japanese quails Open

Alizée Vernouillet, Kathryn Willcox, Reinoud Allaert, Anneleen Dewulf, Wen Zhang , et al. · 2024

Summary Deficits in response inhibition (i.e., the ability to suppress inappropriate responses) may contribute to increased impulsive aggression (i.e., unplanned behaviors that harm others). Since early-life environment might influence the…

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