Reduced Nest Predation of Cavity-Nesting Wood Ducks During Flooding in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest

The Condor ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 210-215
Author(s):  
Charlotte L. Roy Nielsen ◽  
Robert J. Gates
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Nest Success ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood Forest ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood ◽  
Aix Sponsa ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood Forests ◽  
Wood Ducks ◽  
Cavity Nesting ◽  
Bottomland Forests

Abstract Abstract The importance of flooding to birds that nest in bottomland hardwood forests is poorly understood, in part because floods are difficult to predict. A large flood occurred in 2002, during our study of cavity-nesting Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) in the Mississippi River floodplain. Nests were depredated prior to and after, but not during, the four-week flood. This observation prompted a retrospective analysis of flooding, nest predation, and nest success for our three-year study period of 2000–2002 and with a dataset extending back to 1995. Nest predation was lower and nest success was higher in the floodplain during floods. Flood conditions did not significantly affect nest success or nest predation rates in the adjacent upland, but nest success in upland forest was higher than in the floodplain during dry periods. Historically, spring flooding of riparian areas may to some extent have mitigated nest predation in bottomland forests.

Interannual Consistency of Gross Energy in Red Oak Acorns

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-306
Author(s):  
Alan G. Leach ◽  
Richard M. Kaminski ◽  
Jacob N. Straub ◽  
Andrew W. Ezell ◽  
Tracy S. Hawkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carrying Capacity ◽  
Annual Variation ◽  
Hardwood Forests ◽  
Metabolizable Energy ◽  
Red Oak ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood ◽  
Aix Sponsa ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood Forests ◽  
Wood Ducks ◽  
Gross Energy

Abstract Red oak Quercus spp., Subgenus Erythrobalanus acorns are forage for mallards Anas platyrhyncos, wood ducks Aix sponsa, and other wildlife that use bottomland hardwood forests in the southeastern United States. However, annual variation in true metabolizable energy from acorns would affect carrying-capacity estimates of bottomland hardwood forests for wintering ducks. Because gross energy and true metabolizable energy are strongly positively correlated and gross energy is easier to measure than true metabolizable energy, we used gross energy as a surrogate for true metabolizable energy. We measured gross energy of six species of red oak acorns in autumns 2008 and 2009. Within species, mean gross energy of these acorns varied less than 2% between years. The small interannual variation in gross energy of red oak acorns found in this study would have negligible effect on estimates of carrying capacity of bottomland hardwood forests for wintering ducks and other wildlife.

scholarly journals Diversity or Redundancy in Leaf Physiological and Anatomical Parameters in a Species Diverse, Bottomland Hardwood Forest?

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 519
Author(s):  
Zeima Kassahun ◽  
Justin N. Yow ◽  
Heidi J. Renninger
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen ◽  
Hardwood Forests ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood Forest ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood ◽  
Green Ash ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood Forests ◽  
Shagbark Hickory ◽  
Species Variability ◽  
Anatomical Parameters

Research Highlights: Bottomland hardwood forests exhibit seasonal flooding, are species diverse, and provide numerous ecosystem services including floodwater storage, wildlife habitat and nutrient mitigation. However, data are needed to adequately predict the potential of individual species to achieve these services. Background and Objectives: In bottomland hardwood forests, increasing tree species richness may increase functional diversity unless species exhibit an overlap in physiological functioning. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to (1) compare physiological and anatomical leaf parameters across species, (2) determine if leaf anatomical and nutrient properties were correlated with physiological functioning, (3) determine intra-species variability in leaf stomatal properties and determine how whole crown metrics compare with leaves measured for gas exchange and (4) measure soil nitrogen for evidence of denitrification during inundation periods. Materials and Methods: We measured gas exchange, leaf nutrients and anatomical properties in eight bottomland hardwood species including Carya ovata, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Quercus michauxii, Quercus nigra, Quercus pagoda, Quercus phellos, Ulmus alata and Ulmus americana. Additionally, we quantified soil ammonium and nitrate content during winter inundated conditions to compare with non-inundation periods. Results: We found that leaf-level water use parameters displayed greater variability and diversity across species than photosynthesis and leaf nitrogen parameters, but green ash and shagbark hickory exhibited generally high leaf N concentrations and similar physiological functioning. Elms and oaks displayed larger variability in leaf physiological functioning. Stomatal density was significantly correlated with photosynthetic capacity and tree-level water use and exhibited high intra-species variability. Conclusions: This bottomland hardwood forest contains more diversity in terms of water use strategies compared with nitrogen uptake, suggesting that differences in species composition will affect the hydrology of the system. Green ash and shagbark hickory exhibit higher leaf nitrogen concentrations and potential for nutrient mitigation. Finally, leaf anatomical parameters show some promise in terms of correlating with leaf physiological parameters across species.

scholarly journals Patterns of Nest Attendance in Female Wood Ducks

The Condor ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad A. Manlove ◽  
Gary R. Hepp
Keyword(s):  
Incubation Period ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Nest Attendance ◽  
Aix Sponsa ◽  
Wood Ducks ◽  
Cavity Nesting ◽  
Data Loggers ◽  
Incubation Periods ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Period Data

AbstractWe examined sources of variation in incubation patterns among female Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa), and investigated the effect of female nest attentiveness on incubation period. Data were collected from 44 females (n = 911 days) using temperature data loggers to monitor nest attendance throughout incubation. Mean (± SE) incubation constancy was 86.9 ± 0.6% and incubation period averaged 30.9 ± 0.2 days. Females took an average of two bimodally-distributed recesses per day. Duration of recesses averaged 98.6 ± 3.4 min, but were shorter in the morning than in mid-day or late afternoon. Body mass of incubating females declined 0.68 ± 0.2 g day−1, but there was no relationship between constancy and early incubation body mass or weight change of females. Incubation constancy was not correlated with length of the incubation period. For most females, incubation constancy and recess frequency did not change as incubation progressed. The fact that incubating females only lost an average of 3% of body mass, and constancy was not related to either body mass or length of the incubation period, suggests that females were not constrained energetically. Finally, we propose that the combination of reduced predation risk and the need of neonates to be more functionally mature at hatching has selected for longer incubation periods in Wood Ducks and other cavity-nesting waterfowl.

scholarly journals Nest parasitism, promiscuity, and relatedness among wood ducks

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0257105
Author(s):  
Kayla Harvey ◽  
Philip Lavretsky ◽  
Justyn Foth ◽  
Christopher K. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Case ◽  
Mitochondrial Control Region ◽  
Aix Sponsa ◽  
Nest Parasitism ◽  
Wood Ducks ◽  
Cavity Nesting ◽  
Nuclear Loci ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Wood Duck ◽  
Do So

Nest parasitism is a common reproductive strategy used by many species of cavity nesting birds. Among these, the wood duck (Aix sponsa) is known to have evolved very specific strategies of when and whom to parasitize that is often based on population and/or environmental queues. Here, we investigated the genetic relationship of two female wood ducks competing over an artificial nesting box in Delaware, including the continued incubation of one female despite the death and body remains of the other female throughout the incubation process. We test whether such an extreme case of nest parasitism can be explained by relatedness, egg lineage composition, or a combination of other factors. To do so, we extracted genomic DNA from blood and tissue of the females, as well as chorioallantoic membranes of all viable and inviable eggs. Subsequently, we assessed relatedness among females and eggs based on hundreds of nuclear loci and the mitochondrial control region. We concluded that (1) the two incubating females were entirely unrelated, (2) the single clutch is in fact represented by a minimum of four unrelated females, and (3) a single female can lay eggs sired by different males. The latter finding is the first direct evidence for successful extra-pair copulation in wood ducks. With decreasing costs and increasing effectiveness, genomic methods have the potential to provide important insights into more complex ecological and evolutionary tactics of such populations.

Habitat associations of Rafinesque’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) and their lepidopteran prey in bottomland hardwood forests

2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.S. Johnson ◽  
M.J. Lacki
Keyword(s):  
Forested Wetlands ◽  
Habitat Associations ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood Forest ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood ◽  
Corynorhinus Rafinesquii ◽  
Bottomland Hardwood Forests ◽  
Reproductive Females ◽  
Effective Conservation

Effective conservation of forest bats requires knowledge of daytime and nocturnal habitat use. Although many bat species use different habitats during the daytime and nighttime hours, these data are rarely collected simultaneously. We radio-tagged 48 adult Rafinesque’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii (Lesson, 1827)) in a bottomland hardwood forest in Kentucky from 2009 to 2011. We tracked bats to 64 day roosts over 549 bat-days and found bats roosted almost exclusively in trees located in forested wetlands (n = 59; 92%), and that reproductive females established their home ranges closest to these habitats (P < 0.0001). Although few (n = 4; 6%) roosts were located in deciduous forests on drier soils, these forests were important foraging habitats for pregnant females, which foraged closest to these habitats within their home ranges (P = 0.04). Abundance of Lepidoptera differed among habitats (P = 0.03), with higher abundance in deciduous forests and along forest–field edges. Deciduous forests were the only habitat preferentially selected by any lepidopteran family (Notodontidae), and the only habitat not avoided by any family. These data confirm the importance of forested wetlands to the ecology of Rafinesque’s big-eared bat and demonstrate the benefit of proximally located deciduous forests that provide habitat for their moth prey.

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