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The movement and landscape use of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape
The Western Cape population of Blue Cranes (Anthropoides paradiseus) is the largest and most stable population for the species. The population is primarily threatened by high mortality due to collisions with power-lines and the development of wind farms. Yet, little is known about how this populatio...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Biological Sciences
2019
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| _version_ | 1867613645797588992 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Davis, Sydney Pierce |
| author2 | Ryan, Peter |
| author_browse | Davis, Sydney Pierce Ryan, Peter |
| author_facet | Ryan, Peter Davis, Sydney Pierce |
| author_sort | Davis, Sydney Pierce |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The Western Cape population of Blue Cranes (Anthropoides paradiseus) is the largest and most stable population for the species. The population is primarily threatened by high mortality due to collisions with power-lines and the development of wind farms. Yet, little is known about how this population uses the agricultural landscape and their movements. Thirteen Blue Cranes were fitted with trackers to collect Global Position System data and tracked for 3 – 18 months in the Overberg region of the Western Cape. With the provided spatial-temporal information, I estimated the home range size, daily flight distances, and distance travelled throughout the day of breeding and non-breeding cranes to determine whether the breeding status/season influences their ranging behaviour. There was no significant difference of the home range size between breeding cranes and non-breeding cranes (p > 0.05). There was also no significant difference of the home range size of breeding cranes between their seasons (p > 0.05). Breeding cranes travelled significantly shorter daily flight distances than non-breeding cranes (p < 0.05). Breeding cranes also travelled significantly shorter daily distances during the breeding season than the non-breeding season (p < 0.01). All cranes, regardless of breeding status or season, travelled further distances in the morning, decreasing distance during the midday and early afternoon with an increase in the late afternoon. Breeding cranes travelled shorter distances throughout the day than non-breeding cranes during the breeding season (p < 0.001). Lastly, breeding cranes travelled significantly shorter distances throughout the day in the breeding season than the non-breeding season (p < 0.001). From this study the results suggest that factors other than breeding status influence the ranging behaviour of these cranes. Factors such as the availability of roost and forage sites, the agricultural landscape of the Overberg and the presence of other Blue Cranes could also affect ranging behaviour. Although this study does not give clear guidelines on the movement of the population, it establishes a baseline for further studies into factors that affect their ranging behaviour and can still be used to aid in conservation strategies for the species. Future studies should focus on recording their time budgets, including overnight GPS fixes and assessing ranging behaviour over multiple years. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29754 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:39:26.967Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29754 The movement and landscape use of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape Davis, Sydney Pierce Ryan, Peter Smith,Tanya ranging behaviour, breeding activity, home range, daily distance The Western Cape population of Blue Cranes (Anthropoides paradiseus) is the largest and most stable population for the species. The population is primarily threatened by high mortality due to collisions with power-lines and the development of wind farms. Yet, little is known about how this population uses the agricultural landscape and their movements. Thirteen Blue Cranes were fitted with trackers to collect Global Position System data and tracked for 3 – 18 months in the Overberg region of the Western Cape. With the provided spatial-temporal information, I estimated the home range size, daily flight distances, and distance travelled throughout the day of breeding and non-breeding cranes to determine whether the breeding status/season influences their ranging behaviour. There was no significant difference of the home range size between breeding cranes and non-breeding cranes (p > 0.05). There was also no significant difference of the home range size of breeding cranes between their seasons (p > 0.05). Breeding cranes travelled significantly shorter daily flight distances than non-breeding cranes (p < 0.05). Breeding cranes also travelled significantly shorter daily distances during the breeding season than the non-breeding season (p < 0.01). All cranes, regardless of breeding status or season, travelled further distances in the morning, decreasing distance during the midday and early afternoon with an increase in the late afternoon. Breeding cranes travelled shorter distances throughout the day than non-breeding cranes during the breeding season (p < 0.001). Lastly, breeding cranes travelled significantly shorter distances throughout the day in the breeding season than the non-breeding season (p < 0.001). From this study the results suggest that factors other than breeding status influence the ranging behaviour of these cranes. Factors such as the availability of roost and forage sites, the agricultural landscape of the Overberg and the presence of other Blue Cranes could also affect ranging behaviour. Although this study does not give clear guidelines on the movement of the population, it establishes a baseline for further studies into factors that affect their ranging behaviour and can still be used to aid in conservation strategies for the species. Future studies should focus on recording their time budgets, including overnight GPS fixes and assessing ranging behaviour over multiple years. 2019-02-22T11:22:11Z 2019-02-22T11:22:11Z 2018 2019-02-21T11:10:02Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29754 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | ranging behaviour, breeding activity, home range, daily distance Davis, Sydney Pierce The movement and landscape use of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The movement and landscape use of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape |
| title_full | The movement and landscape use of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape |
| title_fullStr | The movement and landscape use of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape |
| title_full_unstemmed | The movement and landscape use of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape |
| title_short | The movement and landscape use of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape |
| title_sort | movement and landscape use of blue cranes in the western cape |
| topic | ranging behaviour, breeding activity, home range, daily distance |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29754 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davissydneypierce themovementandlandscapeuseofbluecranesinthewesterncape AT davissydneypierce movementandlandscapeuseofbluecranesinthewesterncape |