Seasonality modulates habitat cover effects on avian cross-boundary responses and spillover

Species cross-boundary response is a key mechanism affecting species spillover into agricultural fields. However, temporal changes in edge permeability, which may depend on the seasonal availability of resources in both matrix and native habitats, remain poorly understood. Here we tested how edge crossing behavior and the associated spillover of birds into sun coffee plantations respond to landscape structure and seasonality. We monitored the movement of six insectivorous understory bird species (four forest-specialists and two forest-generalists) using an automated telemetry system along a gradient of forest cover (7-60%) during two seasons (dry vs. wet) at nine sampling sites at the Brazilian Atlantic forest. We monitored 116 individuals and obtained a total of 15,129 bird detections across seasons. Bird resistance to crossing edges was strongly driven by an interaction between seasonality and forest cover in the surrounding landscape, with higher resistance to crossing edges along th...