Flying animals use aerial habitats to forage, communicate and travel. However, human activities that fragment aerial habitat with built structures, noise, and chemical or light pollution, may limit the ability of wildlife to use airspace efficiently. Applying landscape connectivity theory to aerial habitats could reveal how long-distance migrants respond to sources of aerial habitat fragmentation along their migratory routes. Artificial light at night is a major component of urbanization that fragments dark skies across North America. Attraction of nocturnal migrants to urban light is well documented, but species-specific responses, especially throughout a full migration from breeding to wintering grounds, are not. We tested hypotheses about long-distance migratory movements in relation to artificial light using a highly nocturnal, Nearctic-Neotropical avian migrant (Eastern whip-poor-will Antrostomus vociferus). We applied a resource selection framework at multiple spatial scales to explore whether GPS-tracked birds (n = 10) responded to urbanization in general, or artificial light specifically, during migratory flights. We found little evidence of attraction to artificial light during nocturnal flights. Artificial light and urbanization were highly correlated and difficult to disentangle, but the birds generally avoided urban areas and selected dark-connected skies for travel. Migratory stopovers (locations where GPS-tracked birds (n = 20) paused for at least one night), were located almost exclusively in dark, rural areas. Our results illustrate that considering how nocturnal aerial migrants respond to both aerial and terrestrial habitat elements can improve our understanding of what may facilitate their long-distance movements.

中文翻译：

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城市化和夜间人造光降低了迁徙空中栖息地的功能连通性

飞行动物利用空中栖息地觅食、交流和旅行。然而，人类活动通过建筑结构、噪音以及化学或光污染破坏了空中栖息地，可能会限制野生动物有效利用领空的能力。将景观连通性理论应用于空中栖息地可以揭示长途移民如何应对迁徙路线沿线的空中栖息地破碎源。夜间的人造光是城市化的主要组成部分，它打破了北美的黑暗天空。夜间迁徙者对城市灯光的吸引力有据可查，但特定物种的反应，特别是在从繁殖地到越冬地的整个迁徙过程中，却没有。我们使用高度夜间活动测试了关于与人造光相关的长距离迁徙运动的假设，发声口蘑）。我们在多个空间尺度上应用了一个资源选择框架，以探索 GPS 跟踪的鸟类（n = 10）是否对迁徙飞行期间的总体城市化或人造光作出反应。我们在夜间飞行中几乎没有发现人造光吸引的证据。人造光和城市化高度相关且难以解开，但鸟类通常会避开城市地区并选择黑暗连接的天空进行旅行。迁徙中途停留地（GPS 追踪的鸟类（n = 20）至少停留一晚的地点）几乎完全位于黑暗的农村地区。我们的研究结果表明，考虑夜间空中迁徙者如何对空中和陆地栖息地元素做出反应，可以提高我们对哪些因素可能促进他们的长距离移动的理解。