Parent birds assess nest predation risk: influence of cavity condition and avian nest predator activity

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 691-699
Author(s):  
Jongmin Yoon ◽  
Jung-Shim Jung ◽  
Eun-Jin Joo ◽  
Byung-Su Kim ◽  
Shi-Ryong Park
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Avian Nest ◽  
Nest Predator

scholarly journals Experimentally induced antipredator responses are mediated by social and environmental factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 986-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Groenewoud ◽  
Sjouke A Kingma ◽  
Kat Bebbington ◽  
David S Richardson ◽  
Jan Komdeur
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Antipredator Defense ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Female Investment ◽  
Predator Model ◽  
Nest Predator

AbstractNest predation is a common cause of reproductive failure for many bird species, and various antipredator defense behaviors have evolved to reduce the risk of nest predation. However, trade-offs between current reproductive duties and future reproduction often limit the parent’s ability to respond to nest predation risk. Individual responses to experimentally increased nest predation risk can give insights into these trade-offs. Here, we investigate whether social and ecological factors affect individual responses to predation risk by experimentally manipulating the risk of nest predation using taxidermic mounts in the cooperative breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis). Our results show that dominant females, but not males, alarm called more often when they confront a nest predator model alone than when they do so with a partner, and that individuals that confront a predator together attacked more than those that did so alone. Dominant males increased their antipredator defense by spending more time nest guarding after a presentation with a nest predator, compared with a nonpredator control, but no such effect was found for females, who did not increase the time spent incubating. In contrast to incubation by females, nest guarding responses by dominant males depended on the presence of other group members and food availability. These results suggest that while female investment in incubation is always high and not dependent on social and ecological conditions, males have a lower initial investment, which allows them to respond to sudden changes in nest predation risk.

Effects of habitat fragmentation on avian nest predation risk in Thou-sand Island Lake, Zhejiang Province

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 528-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun Jiji ◽  
Wang Siyu ◽  
Wang Yanping ◽  
Shao Deyu ◽  
Ding Ping
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Fragmentation ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Zhejiang Province ◽  
Avian Nest

scholarly journals Plasticity of parental care under the risk of predation: how much should parents reduce care?

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 20130154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron K. Ghalambor ◽  
Susana I. Peluc ◽  
Thomas E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Parental Provisioning ◽  
Nest Predator

Predation can be an important agent of natural selection shaping parental care behaviours, and can also favour behavioural plasticity. Parent birds often decrease the rate that they visit the nest to provision offspring when perceived risk is high. Yet, the plasticity of such responses may differ among species as a function of either their relative risk of predation, or the mean rate of provisioning. Here, we report parental provisioning responses to experimental increases in the perceived risk of predation. We tested responses of 10 species of bird in north temperate Arizona and subtropical Argentina that differed in their ambient risk of predation. All species decreased provisioning rates in response to the nest predator but not to a control. However, provisioning rates decreased more in species that had greater ambient risk of predation on natural nests. These results support theoretical predictions that the extent of plasticity of a trait that is sensitive to nest predation risk should vary among species in accordance with predation risk.

scholarly journals Nesting Success and Nest Predators in Forest Fragments: A Study Using Real and Artificial Nests

The Auk ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 445-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liana Zanette ◽  
Bert Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Nest Predation ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Fragment Size ◽  
Nesting Success ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Artificial Nests ◽  
Area Sensitivity ◽  
Avian Nest ◽  
Nest Predator ◽  
Nest Predators

Abstract Area sensitivity in songbirds is commonly attributed to increased nest predation in forest fragments. In 1995 and 1996, we tested whether the nest predators and nesting success of an area-sensitive forest bird, the Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis), varied with fragment size, and we also conducted an artificial nest experiment. The study occurred in two small (55 ha) and two large (>400 ha) forest fragments in a matrix of agricultural land in New South Wales, Australia. Predation accounted for 95% of all failures of 282 robin nests, and the survival of robin nests was negatively correlated with how frequently we observed avian nest predators near nests (i.e. nest-predator activity). Of 461 artificial nests, 84% were depredated, nearly all (99%) by birds. Thus, birds were important predators of nests. The abundance, species richness, and activity of avian nest predators were not related to fragment size. Survival of robin nests averaged 19%; nests in small fragments had a 22% chance of producing at least one fledgling compared with 15% in large fragments, but the difference was not significant. Survival of artificial nests averaged 12% in both small and large fragments. Nest-predator activity accounted for the most variation (68%) in the fate of robin nests, followed by the cumulative density of open-cup nesters (16%). The placement of robin nests had no influence on nest fate. We conclude that nest predation was not area dependent and propose food supply as an alternative hypothesis to explain area sensitivity. We suggest that, rather than being related to fragment size, nest predation increases with decreasing forest cover in a landscape. Increased nest predation in fragmented compared with contiguous landscapes may lower the population viability of songbirds in a region, and hence regional numbers. Therefore, the spatial scale at which fragmentation influences nest predation and songbird populations must be considered carefully.

Lack of relationship between forest edge proximity and nest predator activity in an eastern Canadian boreal forest

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Ibarzabal ◽  
André Desrochers
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
Predation Rate ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Forest Edges ◽  
Nest Predator ◽  
Discovery Rates

Nest predation risk often increases near forest edges in agricultural landscapes, but this pattern has rarely been found in forested landscapes. Whether this lack of relationship is general remains unclear, especially because no assessment of statistical power has been published. To (1) assess whether and how far nest predation risk is associated with forest edges and (2) avoid confounding effects of the surrounding landscape, we measured nest predator activity by placing baits at five distances (0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 m) from sharp, rectilinear forest edges that run along extensive tracts of forest. No association was found between distance to forest edges and bait discovery rates (P = 0.7). The lack of edge effect was unlikely to be caused by a lack of statistical power (1 - β > 0.8). However, bait discovery rates were significantly heterogeneous throughout the study area, and ground baits were taken at a greater rate than arboreal baits. Mice, voles, and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus (Erxleben)), all nest predators, were the main users of bait. Red squirrel occurrence, as estimated by playbacks, was higher in black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) than in balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) stands but was not associated with a high bait predation rate. Our results strengthen support to the hypothesis that nests near open areas in managed boreal forests are not more at risk than forest-interior nests.

Elevated nest predation risk promotes offspring size variation in birds with prolonged parental care.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen F. Wagner ◽  
Emeline Mourocq ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Reproductive Cycle ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Natural Predation ◽  
Risk Spreading

Predation of offspring is the main cause of reproductive failure in many species, and the mere fear of offspring predation shapes reproductive strategies. Yet, natural predation risk is ubiquitously variable and can be unpredictable. Consequently, the perceived prospect of predation early in a reproductive cycle may not reflect the actual risk to ensuing offspring. An increased variance in investment across offspring has been linked to breeding in unpredictable environments in several taxa, but has so far been overlooked as a maternal response to temporal variation in predation risk. Here, we experimentally increased the perceived risk of nest predation prior to egg-laying in seven bird species. Species with prolonged parent-offspring associations increased their intra-brood variation in egg, and subsequently offspring, size. High risk to offspring early in a reproductive cycle can favour a risk-spreading strategy particularly in species with the greatest opportunity to even out offspring quality after fledging.

scholarly journals Glucocorticoids, state-dependent reproductive investment and success in the face of danger in a long-lived bird

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Noreikienė ◽  
Kim Jaatinen ◽  
Benjamin B. Steele ◽  
Markus Öst
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Relative Telomere Length ◽  
Future Reproduction

AbstractGlucocorticoid hormones may mediate trade-offs between current and future reproduction. However, understanding their role is complicated by predation risk, which simultaneously affects the value of the current reproductive investment and elevates glucocorticoid levels. Here, we shed light on these issues in long-lived female Eiders (Somateria mollissima) by investigating how current reproductive investment (clutch size) and hatching success relate to faecal glucocorticoid metabolite [fGCM] level and residual reproductive value (minimum years of breeding experience, body condition, relative telomere length) under spatially variable predation risk. Our results showed a positive relationship between colony-specific predation risk and mean colony-specific fGCM levels. Clutch size and female fGCM were negatively correlated only under high nest predation and in females in good body condition, previously shown to have a longer life expectancy. We also found that younger females with longer telomeres had smaller clutches. The drop in hatching success with increasing fGCM levels was least pronounced under high nest predation risk, suggesting that elevated fGCM levels may allow females to ensure some reproductive success under such conditions. Hatching success was positively associated with female body condition, with relative telomere length, particularly in younger females, and with female minimum age, particularly under low predation risk, showing the utility of these metrics as indicators of individual quality. In line with a trade-off between current and future reproduction, our results show that high potential for future breeding prospects and increased predation risk shift the balance toward investment in future reproduction, with glucocorticoids playing a role in the resolution of this trade-off.

Interactive effects of habitat attributes and predator identity explain avian nest predation patterns

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
M. Soledad Vazquez ◽  
Lucía B. Zamora-Nasca ◽  
Mariano A. Rodriguez-Cabal ◽  
Guillermo C. Amico
Keyword(s):  
Nest Predation ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Predator Identity ◽  
Avian Nest
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