Movement patterns of a keystone waterbird species are highly predictable from landscape configuration

Movement behaviour is fundamental to the ecology of animals and their interactions with other organisms, and as such contributes to ecosystem dynamics. Waterfowl are key players in ecological processes in wetlands and surrounding habitats through predator-prey interactions and their transportation of nutrients and other organisms. Understanding the drivers of their movement behaviour is crucial to predict how environmental changes affect their role in ecosystem functioning. Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) are the most abundant duck species worldwide and important dispersers of aquatic invertebrates, plants and pathogens like avian influenza viruses. By GPS tracking of 97 mallards in four landscape types along a gradient of wetland availability, we identified patterns in their daily movement behaviour and quantified potential effects of weather conditions and water availability on the spatial scale of their movements