Fientes fluorescentes et corridors biologiques

Energy facility near Aiken, South Carolina, have found a new method for tracking birds : to give them artificially fluorescent fruit. They have tested the method on Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis). Then biologists just have was to follow the glowing droppings to discover how the birds use « corridors » to travel between habitats. They coated the fruits of the wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera) bush with a diluted form of sticky Wiltproof-an agricultural adhesive to which fluorescent powder binds. The birds then obligingly dropped their feces into well-placed plastic flowerpots near popular perches throughout a large, wooded test area. In the pots, fluorescent undigested pulp and seeds were visible under a flourescent scope.
The project area covered hundreds of acres. Fruit-rich wax myrtle bushes were situated in a central patch, while several areas of mature pine forest were cleared to create shrubby meadows, each about the size of a football field. The fields were separated by hundreds of meters of pine forest. Some were connected with corridors, while others were not. The birds did indeed use the corridors. The proof: Researchers found much more fluorescent droppings in the connected habitat areas than in those that were isolated.
The study was published in the issue of June 2005 of the journal Science.