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Animal niches in the airspace

Nilsson, Cecilia LU orcid ; Shamoun-Baranes, Judy ; Satterfield, Dara A. ; Sjöberg, Sissel LU orcid and Cohen, Emily B. (2025) In Trends in Ecology and Evolution 40(11). p.1112-11011
Abstract

For flying animals, including many birds, bats, and insects, the air is a crucial arena for a range of behaviors. Technological advances, such as year-round tracking of flight altitudes and expanded use of radar, increasingly show how flying animals use the aerial habitat. This enables us to answer questions about the environmental patterns and ecological processes that shape aerial niches, including energetics, biotic interactions, and risk due to growing anthropogenic conflicts. In this review, we identify environmental conditions and biological interactions influencing where animals occur in the airspace throughout their life cycles. We outline an ecological framework to advance understanding of how different properties of the... (More)

For flying animals, including many birds, bats, and insects, the air is a crucial arena for a range of behaviors. Technological advances, such as year-round tracking of flight altitudes and expanded use of radar, increasingly show how flying animals use the aerial habitat. This enables us to answer questions about the environmental patterns and ecological processes that shape aerial niches, including energetics, biotic interactions, and risk due to growing anthropogenic conflicts. In this review, we identify environmental conditions and biological interactions influencing where animals occur in the airspace throughout their life cycles. We outline an ecological framework to advance understanding of how different properties of the airspace shape fundamental aerial habitat niches and how biotic interactions influence the realized niches.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
aerial habitat, aeroecology, animal flight, bats, biotic interactions, birds, flight altitudes, insects
in
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
volume
40
issue
11
pages
1112 - 11011
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:40973545
  • scopus:105017796826
ISSN
0169-5347
DOI
10.1016/j.tree.2025.08.006
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
id
9f06961a-58f5-4e1c-8b70-eaae5953e9bf
date added to LUP
2025-12-01 13:07:55
date last changed
2025-12-09 03:15:23
@article{9f06961a-58f5-4e1c-8b70-eaae5953e9bf,
  abstract     = {{<p>For flying animals, including many birds, bats, and insects, the air is a crucial arena for a range of behaviors. Technological advances, such as year-round tracking of flight altitudes and expanded use of radar, increasingly show how flying animals use the aerial habitat. This enables us to answer questions about the environmental patterns and ecological processes that shape aerial niches, including energetics, biotic interactions, and risk due to growing anthropogenic conflicts. In this review, we identify environmental conditions and biological interactions influencing where animals occur in the airspace throughout their life cycles. We outline an ecological framework to advance understanding of how different properties of the airspace shape fundamental aerial habitat niches and how biotic interactions influence the realized niches.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nilsson, Cecilia and Shamoun-Baranes, Judy and Satterfield, Dara A. and Sjöberg, Sissel and Cohen, Emily B.}},
  issn         = {{0169-5347}},
  keywords     = {{aerial habitat; aeroecology; animal flight; bats; biotic interactions; birds; flight altitudes; insects}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{1112--11011}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Trends in Ecology and Evolution}},
  title        = {{Animal niches in the airspace}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.08.006}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.tree.2025.08.006}},
  volume       = {{40}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}