Post‐fledging survival of Little Owls Athene noctua in relation to nestling food supply

Among the range of determinants of post‐fledging survival in altricial birds, the energy supply to the growing juveniles is likely to play a central role. However, the exact mechanisms shaping post‐fledging survival are poorly understood. Using a food supplementation experiment, we determined the effect of variation in food supply on the survival of juvenile Little Owls Athene noctua from hatching to 2 months post‐fledging. Experimental broods were food‐supplemented for 36 days during the nestling and the early post‐fledging period. The fate of 307 juveniles (95 of them provided with extra food) was determined by nest monitoring and radiotelemetry. In unsupplemented birds, the rates of survival measured at 5‐day intervals were lowest during the nestling stage, remained low during the early post‐fledging stage and steadily increased after about 2 weeks post‐fledging. Food supplementation substantially increased nestling survival, but we detected no direct treatment effect on post‐fledging survival. Instead, we found a strong indirect effect of food supplementation, in that fledglings of good physical condition had markedly higher chances of surviving the post‐fledging period compared with those in poor condition. Experimental food supplementation increased survival over the first 3 months from 45% to 64.6%. This suggests that energy reserves built up during the nestling stage influence post‐fledging survival and ultimately parental reproductive output. The low nestling and post‐fledging survival shows that the early life‐history stages constitute a crucial bottleneck of reproductive ecology in Little Owls. The strong treatment effects on the number of independent offspring indicate that natural variation in food supply is an important determinant of spatio‐temporal patterns in Little Owl demography.     

The effects of force‐fledging and premature fledging on the survival of nestling songbirds

Despite the broad consensus that force‐fledging of nestling songbirds lowers their probability of survival and therefore should be generally avoided by researchers, that presumption has not been tested. We used radiotelemetry to monitor the survival of fledglings of Ovenbirds Seiurus aurocapilla and Golden‐winged Warblers Vermivora chrysoptera that we unintentionally force‐fledged (i.e. nestlings left the nest in response to our research activities at typical fledging age), that fledged prematurely (i.e. nestlings left the nest earlier than typical fledging age), and that fledged independently of our activities. Force‐fledged Ovenbirds experienced significantly higher survival than those that fledged independent of our activities, and prematurely fledged Ovenbirds had a similarly high survival to those that force‐fledged at typical fledging age. We observed a similar, though not statistically significant, pattern in Golden‐winged Warbler fledgling survival. Our results suggest that investigator‐induced force‐fledging of nestlings, even when deemed premature, does not necessarily result in reduced fledgling survival in these species. Instead, our results suggest that a propensity or ability to fledge in response to disturbance may be a predictor of a higher probability of fledgling survival.     

High within‐winter and annual survival rates in a declining Afro‐Palaearctic migratory bird suggest that wintering conditions do not limit populations

For migratory birds, it is necessary to estimate annual and overwinter survival rates, identify factors that influence survival, and assess whether survival varies with age and sex if we are to understand population dynamics and thus inform conservation. This study is one of the first to document overwinter and annual survival from the wintering grounds of a declining Afro‐Palaearctic migrant bird, the Whinchat Saxicola rubetra. We monitored a population of marked individuals for which dispersal was low and detectability was high, allowing accurate estimates of survival. Annual survival was at least 52% and did not differ significantly across demographic groups or with habitat characteristics or residency time in the previous winter. Overwinter survival was very high and monthly survival at least 98% at some sites. Although winter residency varied spatially and with age, lower residency did not correlate with reduced annual survival, suggesting occupancy of multiple wintering sites rather than higher winter mortality of individuals with shorter residency. Our results suggest that mortality occurs primarily outside the wintering period, probably during migration, and that wintering conditions have minimal influence on survival. The similarity between survival rates for all age and sex classes when measured on the wintering grounds implies that any difference in survival with age or sex occurs only during the first migration or during the post‐fledging stage, and that selection of wintering habitat, or territory quality, makes little difference to survival in Whinchats. Our findings suggest that the wintering grounds do not limit populations as much as the migratory and breeding stages, with implications for the conservation of declining Afro‐Palaearctic migrants more widely.     

Behavior of adult and young grassland songbirds at fledging

The behavior of adults and young at the time of fledging is one of the least understood aspects of the breeding ecology of birds. Current hypotheses propose that fledging occurs either as a result of parent‐offspring conflict or nestling choice. We used video recordings to monitor the behavior of nestling and adult grassland songbirds at the time of fledging. We observed 525 nestlings from 166 nests of 15 bird species nesting in grasslands of Alberta, Canada, and Wisconsin, USA. Overall, 78% of nestlings used terrestrial locomotion for fledging and 22% used wing‐assisted locomotion. Species varied in propensity for using wing‐assisted locomotion when fledging, with nestling Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum) and Henslow's Sparrows (Centronyx henslowii) often doing so (47% of fledgings) and nestling Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia), Common Yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas), and Chestnut‐collared Longspurs (Calcarius ornatus) rarely doing so (3.5% of fledgings). For 390 fledging events at 127 nests, camera placement allowed adults near nests to be observed. Of these, most young fledged (81.5%) when no adult was present at nests. Of 72 fledging events that occurred when an adult was either at or approaching a nest, 49 (68.1%) involved feeding. Of those 49 fledgings, 30 (62.1%) occurred when one or more nestlings jumped or ran from nests to be fed as an adult approached nests. The low probability of nestlings fledging while an adult was at nests, and the tendency of young to jump or run from nests when adults did approach nests with food minimize opportunities for parents to withhold food to motivate nestlings to fledge. These results suggest that the nestling choice hypothesis best explains fledging by nestlings of ground‐nesting grassland songbirds, and fledging results in families shifting from being place‐based to being mobile and spatially dispersed.     

Sex,growth rate,rank order after brood reduction,and hatching date affect first‐year survival of long‐lived Herring Gulls

Among most species of birds, survival from hatching throughout the first year of life is generally lower than subsequent survival rates. Survival of young birds during their first year may depend on a combination of selection, learning, unpredictable resources, and environmental events (i.e., post‐fledging factors). However, knowledge about post‐fledging development in long‐lived species is usually limited due to a lengthy immature stage when individuals are generally unobservable. Therefore, pre‐fledging characteristics are often used to predict the survival of young birds. We assessed effects of nestling growth rates, hatching date, hatching asynchrony, brood size and rank order after brood reduction, and sex on first‐year survival of 137 fledglings using a mark‐resighting analysis. We found that the survival probability (Φ_1yr = 0.39) of first‐year Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) in our study colony located at the outer port of Zeebrugge (Belgium) was lower than that of older individuals (Φ_>1yr = 0.75). All 10 models best supported by our data included nestling growth rate, suggesting that variability in first‐year survival may be linked primarily to individual variation in growth. First‐year survival was negatively correlated with hatching date and rank order after brood reduction. Hence, carry‐over effects of breeding season events such as timing of breeding, early development, and social status had an influence on survival of Herring Gulls after fledging. Furthermore, we found sex‐biased mortality in first‐year Herring Gulls, with females (Φ_1yr = 0.45) surviving better than males (Φ_1yr = 0.38). Although adult survival is generally regarded as the key parameter driving population trajectories in long‐lived species, juvenile survival has recently been acknowledged as an important source of variability in population growth rates. Thus, increasing our knowledge of factors affecting age‐specific survival rates is necessary to improve our understanding of population dynamics and ultimately life‐history variation.     

Radio‐transmitters do not affect seasonal productivity of female Golden‐winged Warblers

Investigating the potential effects of handling and marking techniques on study animals is important for correct interpretation of research results and to effect progress in data‐collection methods. Few investigators have compared the reproductive output of radio‐tagged and non‐radio‐tagged songbirds, and no one to date has examined the possible effect of radio‐tagging adult songbirds on the survival of their fledglings. In 2011 and 2012, we compared several parameters of reproductive output of two groups of female Golden‐winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) breeding in Minnesota, including 45 females with radio‐transmitters and 73 females we did not capture, handle, or mark. We found no difference between groups in clutch sizes, hatching success, brood sizes, length of incubation and nestling stages, fledging success, number of fledglings, or survival of fledglings to independence. Thus, radio‐tags had no measurable impact on the productivity of female Golden‐winged Warblers. Our results build upon previous studies where investigators have reported no effects of radio‐tagging on the breeding parameters of songbirds by also demonstrating no effect of radio‐tagging through the post‐fledging period and, therefore, the entire breeding season.     

Contrasting patterns of density‐dependent selection at different life stages can create more than one fast–slow axis of life‐history variation

There has been much recent research interest in the existence of a major axis of life‐history variation along a fast–slow continuum within almost all major taxonomic groups. Eco‐evolutionary models of density‐dependent selection provide a general explanation for such observations of interspecific variation in the "pace of life." One issue, however, is that some large‐bodied long‐lived “slow” species (e.g., trees and large fish) often show an explosive “fast” type of reproduction with many small offspring, and species with “fast” adult life stages can have comparatively “slow” offspring life stages (e.g., mayflies). We attempt to explain such life‐history evolution using the same eco‐evolutionary modeling approach but with two life stages, separating adult reproductive strategies from offspring survival strategies. When the population dynamics in the two life stages are closely linked and affect each other, density‐dependent selection occurs in parallel on both reproduction and survival, producing the usual one‐dimensional fast–slow continuum (e.g., houseflies to blue whales). However, strong density dependence at either the adult reproduction or offspring survival life stage creates quasi‐independent population dynamics, allowing fast‐type reproduction alongside slow‐type survival (e.g., trees and large fish), or the perhaps rarer slow‐type reproduction alongside fast‐type survival (e.g., mayflies—short‐lived adults producing few long‐lived offspring). Therefore, most types of species life histories in nature can potentially be explained via the eco‐evolutionary consequences of density‐dependent selection given the possible separation of demographic effects at different life stages.     

Post‐fire recovery of revegetated woodland communities in south‐eastern Australia

The primary goal of restoration is to create self‐sustaining ecological communities that are resilient to periodic disturbance. Currently, little is known about how restored communities respond to disturbance events such as fire and how this response compares to remnant vegetation. Following the 2003 fires in south‐eastern Australia we examined the post‐fire response of revegetation plantings and compared this to remnant vegetation. Ten burnt and 10 unburnt (control) sites were assessed for each of three types of vegetation (direct seeding revegetation, revegetation using nursery seedlings (tubestock) and remnant woodland). Sixty sampling sites were surveyed 6 months after fire to quantify the initial survival of mid‐ and overstorey plant species in each type of vegetation. Three and 5 years after fire all sites were resurveyed to assess vegetation structure, species diversity and vigour, as well as indicators of soil function. Overall, revegetation showed high (>60%) post‐fire survival, but this varied among species depending on regeneration strategy (obligate seeder or resprouter). The native ground cover, mid‐ and overstorey in both types of plantings showed rapid recovery of vegetation structure and cover within 3 years of fire. This recovery was similar to the burnt remnant woodlands. Non‐native (exotic) ground cover initially increased after fire, but was no different in burnt and unburnt sites 5 years after fire. Fire had no effect on species richness, but burnt direct seeding sites had reduced species diversity (Simpson's Diversity Index) while diversity was higher in burnt remnant woodlands. Indices of soil function in all types of vegetation had recovered to levels found in unburnt sites 5 years after fire. These results indicate that even young revegetation (stands <10 years old) showed substantial recovery from disturbance by fire. This suggests that revegetation can provide an important basis for restoring woodland communities in the fire‐prone Australian environment.     

Effects of water discharge on fledging time,growth, and survival of piping plovers on the Missouri River

River flow management and modification is a global issue, and its effects on river-dependent organisms are pervasive. Flow modification can directly affect avian species through mortality or habitat loss, but less is known about indirect and sublethal effects of flow modification on reproductive output in these species. Young birds are more vulnerable to predation between hatching and fledging than after flight is achieved, but tradeoffs must be made to balance growth and survival. Predation pressure appears to be a significant factor affecting the time to fledging in altricial birds, but less is known about this threat for precocial birds. Birds reaching fledging earlier should have greater rates of survival to migration because their predator escape repertoire includes flight at an earlier age. We evaluated the effect of varying outflows from the Gavins Point Dam on the growth, age at fledging, and survival of piping plover (Charadrius melodus) chicks on the Missouri River (2006–2009). The study was characterized by 2 relatively high flow years (2006 and 2009) and 2 relatively low flow years (2007 and 2008). We used success rate in recapturing chicks in capture–mark–recapture models as an index for fledging. We attempted to recapture all chicks (n = 1,099) by hand every 3–4 days throughout the season to acquire morphological measurements. Models indicated that as flows from the dam increased, age at fledging increased. We also found that increasing flows were associated with decreasing daily survival rates (β_flow = −2.401, 95% CI: −4.351 to −0.452). Flow was also negatively related to chick mass gain, but we found less evidence for an effect on wing-chord length. Increased flows covered wet-substrate foraging habitat, and likely affected plover reproductive output directly through chick survival and indirectly through decreased growth and increased fledging times. © The Wildlife Society, 2013     

Adult survival and reproductive rate are linked to habitat preference in territorial,year‐round resident Song Sparrows Melospiza melodia

Individual animal fitness can be strongly influenced by the ability to recognize habitat features which may be beneficial. Many studies focus on the effects of habitat on annual reproductive rate, even though adult survival is typically a greater influence on fitness and population growth in vertebrate species with intermediate to long lifespans. Understanding the effects of preferred habitat on individuals over the annual cycle is therefore necessary to predict its influences on individual fitness. This is particularly true in species that are resident and territorial year‐round in the temperate zone, which may face potential trade‐offs between habitat that maximizes reproduction and that which maximizes non‐breeding season (‘over‐winter’) survival. We used a 37‐year study of Song Sparrows Melospiza melodia residing territorially year‐round on a small island to examine what habitat features influenced adult over‐winter survival, how site‐specific variation in adult survival vs. annual reproductive rate influenced long‐term habitat preference, and if preferred sites on average conferred higher individual fitness. Habitat features such as area of shrub cover and exposure to intertidal coastline predicted adult over‐winter survival independent of individual age or sex, population size, or winter weather. Long‐term habitat preference (measured as occupation rate) was better predicted by site‐specific annual reproductive rate than by expected over‐winter survival, but preferred sites maximized fitness on average over the entire annual cycle,. Although adult over‐winter survival had a greater influence on population growth (λ) than did reproductive rate, the influence of reproductive rate on λ increased in preferred sites because site‐specific variation in reproductive rate was higher than variation in expected over‐winter survival. Because preferred habitats tended to have higher mean site‐specific reproductive and adult survival rates, territorial birds in this population do not appear to experience seasonal trade‐offs in preferred habitat but are predicted to incur substantial fitness costs of settling in less‐preferred sites.     

Eco‐oncology: Applying ecological principles to understand and manage cancer

Cancer is a disease of single cells that expresses itself at the population level. The striking similarities between initiation and growth of tumors and dynamics of biological populations, and between metastasis and ecological invasion and community dynamics suggest that oncology can benefit from an ecological perspective to improve our understanding of cancer biology. Tumors can be viewed as complex, adaptive, and evolving systems as they are spatially and temporally heterogeneous, continually interacting with each other and with the microenvironment and evolving to increase the fitness of the cancer cells. We argue that an eco‐evolutionary perspective is essential to understand cancer biology better. Furthermore, we suggest that ecologically informed therapeutic approaches that combine standard of care treatments with strategies aimed at decreasing the evolutionary potential and fitness of neoplastic cells, such as disrupting cell‐to‐cell communication and cooperation, and preventing successful colonization of distant organs by migrating cancer cells, may be effective in managing cancer as a chronic condition.     

Egg size and offspring quality: a meta‐analysis in birds

Parents affect offspring fitness by propagule size and quality, selection of oviposition site, quality of incubation, feeding of dependent young, and their defence against predators and parasites. Despite many case studies on each of these topics, this knowledge has not been rigorously integrated into individual parental care traits for any taxon. Consequently, we lack a comprehensive, quantitative assessment of how parental care modifies offspring phenotypes. This meta‐analysis of 283 studies with 1805 correlations between egg size and offspring quality in birds is intended to fill this gap. The large sample size enabled testing of how the magnitude of the relationship between egg size and offspring quality depends on a number of variables. Egg size was positively related to nearly all studied offspring traits across all stages of the offspring life cycle. Not surprisingly, the relationship was strongest at hatching but persisted until the post‐fledging stage. Morphological traits were the most closely related to egg size but significant relationships were also found with hatching success, chick survival, and growth rate. Non‐significant effect sizes were found for egg fertility, chick immunity, behaviour, and life‐history or sexual traits. Effect size did not depend on whether chicks were raised by their natural parents or were cross‐fostered to other territories. Effect size did not depend on species‐specific traits such as developmental mode, clutch size, and relative size of the egg, but was larger if tested in captive compared to wild populations and between rather than within broods. In sum, published studies support the view that egg size affects juvenile survival. There are very few studies that tested the relationship between egg size and the fecundity component of offspring fitness, and no studies on offspring survival as adults or on global fitness. More data are also needed for the relationships between egg size and offspring behavioural and physiological traits. It remains to be established whether the relationship between egg size and offspring performance depends on the quality of the offspring environment. Positive effect sizes found in this study are likely to be driven by a causal effect of egg size on offspring quality. However, more studies that control for potential confounding effects of parental post‐hatching care, genes, and egg composition are needed to establish firmly this causal link.     

Disentangling genetic and epigenetic determinants of ultrafast adaptation

A major rationale for the advocacy of epigenetically mediated adaptive responses is that they facilitate faster adaptation to environmental challenges. This motivated us to develop a theoretical–experimental framework for disclosing the presence of such adaptation‐speeding mechanisms in an experimental evolution setting circumventing the need for pursuing costly mutation–accumulation experiments. To this end, we exposed clonal populations of budding yeast to a whole range of stressors. By growth phenotyping, we found that almost complete adaptation to arsenic emerged after a few mitotic cell divisions without involving any phenotypic plasticity. Causative mutations were identified by deep sequencing of the arsenic‐adapted populations and reconstructed for validation. Mutation effects on growth phenotypes, and the associated mutational target sizes were quantified and embedded in data‐driven individual‐based evolutionary population models. We found that the experimentally observed homogeneity of adaptation speed and heterogeneity of molecular solutions could only be accounted for if the mutation rate had been near estimates of the basal mutation rate. The ultrafast adaptation could be fully explained by extensive positive pleiotropy such that all beneficial mutations dramatically enhanced multiple fitness components in concert. As our approach can be exploited across a range of model organisms exposed to a variety of environmental challenges, it may be used for determining the importance of epigenetic adaptation‐speeding mechanisms in general.     

Variations in age‐ and sex‐specific survival rates help explain population trend in a discrete marine mammal population

Understanding the drivers underlying fluctuations in the size of animal populations is central to ecology, conservation biology, and wildlife management. Reliable estimates of survival probabilities are key to population viability assessments, and patterns of variation in survival can help inferring the causal factors behind detected changes in population size. We investigated whether variation in age‐ and sex‐specific survival probabilities could help explain the increasing trend in population size detected in a small, discrete population of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus off the east coast of Scotland. To estimate annual survival probabilities, we applied capture–recapture models to photoidentification data collected from 1989 to 2015. We used robust design models accounting for temporary emigration to estimate juvenile and adult survival, multistate models to estimate sex‐specific survival, and age models to estimate calf survival. We found strong support for an increase in juvenile/adult annual survival from 93.1% to 96.0% over the study period, most likely caused by a change in juvenile survival. Examination of sex‐specific variation showed weaker support for this trend being a result of increasing female survival, which was overall higher than for males and animals of unknown sex. Calf survival was lower in the first than second year; a bias in estimating third‐year survival will likely exist in similar studies. There was some support first‐born calf survival being lower than for calves born subsequently. Coastal marine mammal populations are subject to the impacts of environmental change, increasing anthropogenic disturbance and the effects of management measures. Survival estimates are essential to improve our understanding of population dynamics and help predict how future pressures may impact populations, but obtaining robust information on the life history of long‐lived species is challenging. Our study illustrates how knowledge of survival can be increased by applying a robust analytical framework to photoidentification data.     

Growth and demography of a re‐introduced population of White‐tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla

White‐tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla became extinct in Britain in 1918 following prolonged persecution. Intensive conservation efforts since the 1970s have included the re‐introduction of the species to Britain through two phases of release of Norwegian fledglings in western Scotland in 1975–85 and 1993–98. Population growth and breeding success have been monitored closely to the present day, aided by the use of patagial tags to individually mark most released birds as well as a high proportion of wild‐bred nestlings. This study reviews the growth and demography of this re‐introduced population, and makes comparisons with other European populations. For the first time, we compare the demographic rates of released and wild‐bred birds in the Scottish population. Breeding success in the Scottish population has increased over time as the average age and experience of individuals in the population have increased, and success tends to be higher where one or both adults are wild‐bred. Current levels of breeding success remain low compared with some other populations in Europe, but similar to those in Norway where weather conditions and food availability are likely to be most similar. Survival rates in Scotland are similar to those recorded elsewhere, but survival rates of released birds are lower than those of wild‐bred birds, especially during the first 3 years of life. Despite the effect of lower survival rates of released birds in limiting overall population growth rate, the recent rate of growth of the Scottish population remains high relative to other recovering populations across Europe. Differences in demographic rates of wild‐bred and released birds suggest that in future re‐introduction programmes, steps to maximize the success and output of the earliest breeding attempts would help ensure the most rapid shift to a population composed largely of wild‐bred birds, which should then have a higher rate of increase.     

Male‐mimicking females increase male‐male interactions,and decrease male survival and condition in a female‐polymorphic damselfly

Biologists are still discovering diverse and powerful ways sexual conflicts shape biodiversity. The present study examines how the proportion of females in a population that exhibit male mimicry, a mating resistance trait, influences conspecific males’ behavior, condition, and survival. Like most female‐polymorphic damselflies, Ischnura ramburii harbors both “andromorph” females, which closely resemble males, and sexually dimorphic “gynomorph” counterparts. There is evidence that male mimicry helps andromorphs evade detection and harassment, but males can also learn to target locally prevalent morph(s) via prior mate encounters. I hypothesized that the presence of male mimics could therefore predispose males to mate recognition errors, and thereby increase rates of costly male‐male interactions. Consistent with this hypothesis, male‐male interaction rates were highest in mesocosms containing more andromorph (vs. gynomorph) females. Males in andromorph‐biased mesocosms also had lower final body mass and higher mortality than males assigned to gynomorph‐majority treatments. Male survival and body mass were each negatively affected by mesocosm density, and mortality data revealed a marginally significant interaction between andromorph frequency and population density. These findings suggest that, under sufficiently crowded conditions, female mating resistance traits such as male mimicry could have pronounced indirect effects on male behavior, condition, and survival.     

Equal nonbreeding period survival in adults and juveniles of a long‐distant migrant bird

In migrant birds, survival estimates for the different life‐history stages between fledging and first breeding are scarce. First‐year survival is shown to be strongly reduced compared with annual survival of adult birds. However, it remains unclear whether the main bottleneck in juvenile long‐distant migrants occurs in the postfledging period within the breeding ranges or en route. Quantifying survival rates during different life‐history stages and during different periods of the migration cycle is crucial to understand forces driving the evolution of optimal life histories in migrant birds. Here, we estimate survival rates of adult and juvenile barn swallows (Hirundo rustica L.) in the breeding and nonbreeding areas using a population model integrating survival estimates in the breeding ranges based on a large radio‐telemetry data set and published estimates of demographic parameters from large‐scale population‐monitoring projects across Switzerland. Input parameters included the country‐wide population trend, annual productivity estimates of the double‐brooded species, and year‐to‐year survival corrected for breeding dispersal. Juvenile survival in the 3‐week postfledging period was low (S = 0.32; SE = 0.05), whereas in the rest of the annual cycle survival estimates of adults and juveniles were similarly high (S > 0.957). Thus, the postfledging period was the main survival bottleneck, revealing the striking result that nonbreeding period mortality (including migration) is not higher for juveniles than for adult birds. Therefore, focusing future research on sources of variation in postfledging mortality can provide new insights into determinants of population dynamics and life‐history evolution of migrant birds.     

Coupled land use and ecological models reveal emergence and feedbacks in socio‐ecological systems

Understanding the dynamics of socio‐ecological systems is crucial to the development of environmentally sustainable practices. Models of social or ecological sub‐systems have greatly enhanced such understanding, but at the risk of obscuring important feedbacks and emergent effects. Integrated modelling approaches have the potential to address this shortcoming by explicitly representing linked socio‐ecological dynamics. We developed a socio‐ecological system model by coupling an existing agent‐based model of land‐use dynamics and an individual‐based model of demography and dispersal. A hypothetical case‐study was established to simulate the interaction of crops and their pollinators in a changing agricultural landscape, initialised from a spatially random distribution of natural assets. The bi‐directional coupled model predicted larger changes in crop yield and pollinator populations than a unidirectional uncoupled version. The spatial properties of the system also differed, the coupled version revealing the emergence of spatial land‐use clusters that neither supported nor required pollinators. These findings suggest that important dynamics may be missed by uncoupled modelling approaches, but that these can be captured through the combination of currently‐available, compatible model frameworks. Such model integrations are required to further fundamental understanding of socio‐ecological dynamics and thus improve management of socio‐ecological systems.