Urbanization and artificial light at night reduce the functional connectivity of migratory aerial habitat

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