Forest edges negatively influence daily nest survival rates of a grassland tinamou, the Spotted Nothura (Nothura maculosa)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martín A. Colombo ◽  
Luciano Noel Segura
Keyword(s):  
Nest Survival ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Breeding Population ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Forest Edges ◽  
Habitat Features ◽  
Exotic Trees ◽  
Cause Of Failure ◽  
Daily Nest Survival ◽  
Ground Nesting

Grassland degradation and fragmentation produced by land use have globally impacted biodiversity. In the Neotropics, the Pampas Grasslands have been greatly altered by agriculture and the introduction of exotic trees. To evaluate the effects of changing habitat features on native grassland fauna, we studied a breeding population of a ground nesting bird, the Spotted Nothura Nothura maculosa (Temminck, 1985) in a natural grassland under cattle-grazing in central-east Argentina. We estimated daily nest survival rate (DSR) and modeled it as a function of habitat (distance to habitat edges, cattle density and nest concealment) and temporal factors. Of the 80 nests found, 64 (80 %) failed, predation being the principal cause of failure. DSR was 0.874, estimating a cumulative survival of only 6.8 % throughout egg laying and incubation. DSR increased with distance to continuous forests and decreased with nest age. Nests located near forest edges could have increased predation risk because they are potentially exposed to forest dwelling predators in addition to grassland dependent ones. Considering the low success found and the ongoing invasion of exotic trees in the region, we encourage governments to protect large areas of grassland that ensure adequate nest success for tinamous and other ground nesting birds.

scholarly journals Effects of storms, angling, and nest predation during angling on smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) nest success

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 2649-2660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey B Steinhart ◽  
Nancy J Leonard ◽  
Roy A Stein ◽  
Elizabeth A Marschall
Keyword(s):  
Nest Predation ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Nest Success ◽  
Nest Survival ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Round Goby ◽  
Smallmouth Bass ◽  
Micropterus Dolomieu ◽  
Daily Survival ◽  
Daily Nest Survival

We studied how storms, angling, and nest predation during angling affected smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) nest survival in the Bass Islands, Lake Erie, Ohio, USA. Increasing angler effort and introduction of an exotic nest predator, round goby (Neogobious melanostomus), have raised concerns about smallmouth bass recruitment in Lake Erie. We surveyed smallmouth bass nests and calculated daily survival rates for nests assigned to different angling treatments: control, angling without predation, or angling with predation treatments. Only 30% of control nests were successful compared with 11% of angling without predation and 14% of angling with predation treatments. We used the Mayfield method and maximum likelihood models in the program MARK to estimate the survival rates for nests of different treatments and exposed to different numbers of storms. Although nest predators consumed about 35% of broods during angling, daily nest survival rates of both angling treatments were similar. Angling reduced nest survival compared with controls by approximately 5%. Storms reduced both nest success and daily survival. The best model predicting daily nest survival included the added effects of angling treatment and number of storms. Thus, whereas storms and angling affected smallmouth bass nest survival, nest predation during angling did not.

scholarly journals Time-Specific Variation in Passerine Nest Survival: New Insights into Old Questions

The Auk ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 661-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd A. Grant ◽  
Terry L. Shaffer ◽  
Elizabeth M. Madden ◽  
Pamela J. Pietz
Keyword(s):  
Life Histories ◽  
Nest Survival ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Bird Conservation ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Brood Rearing ◽  
Time Specific

Abstract Understanding nest survival is critical to bird conservation and to studies of avian life history. Nest survival likely varies with nest age and date, but until recently researchers had only limited tools to efficiently address those sources of variability. Beginning with Mayfield (1961), many researchers have averaged survival rates within time-specific categories (e.g. egg and nestling stages; early and late nesting dates). However, Mayfield’s estimator assumes constant survival within categories, and violations of that assumption can lead to biased estimates. We used the logistic-exposure method to examine nest survival as a function of nest age and date in Clay-colored Sparrows (Spizella pallida) and Vesper Sparrows (Pooecetes gramineus) breeding in north-central North Dakota. Daily survival rates increased during egg laying, decreased during incubation to a low shortly after hatch, and then increased during brood rearing in both species. Variation in survival with nest age suggests that traditional categorical averaging using Mayfield’s or similar methods would have been inappropriate for this study; similar variation may bias results of other studies. Nest survival also varied with date. For both species, survival was high during the peak of nest initiations in late May and early June and declined throughout the remainder of the nesting season. On the basis of our results, we encourage researchers to consider models of nest survival that involve continuous time-specific explanatory variables (e.g. nest age or date). We also encourage researchers to document nest age as precisely as possible (e.g. by candling eggs) to facilitate age-specific analyses. Models of nest survival that incorporate time-specific information may provide insights that are unavailable from averaged data. Determining time-specific patterns in nest survival may improve our understanding of predator-prey interactions, evolution of avian life histories, and aspects of population dynamics that are critical to bird conservation.

scholarly journals Revisiting Effects of Hunting on Mourning Dove Nest Survival

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-110
Author(s):  
John H. Schulz ◽  
Xiaoming Gao ◽  
Peng Shao ◽  
Zhuoqiong He ◽  
Joshua J. Millspaugh
Keyword(s):  
Nest Survival ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Mourning Dove ◽  
Hunting Season ◽  
Basic Premise ◽  
Survival Estimate ◽  
Zenaida Macroura ◽  
Bayesian Hierarchical ◽  
Credible Intervals ◽  
Daily Nest Survival

Abstract We reconstructed a historical dataset from a national mourning dove Zenaida macroura nesting study evaluating the effects of hunting on nesting birds during the September portion of the hunting season using Bayesian hierarchical models; the reconstructed dataset contained 707 nests. The original nest survival estimate of 96.3% (nonhunted zones) fell within the range of our average daily nest survival rates and credible intervals (CI) of 97.2% (95% CI: 96.2–98.0%) for nonhunted, but the original nest survival estimate of 95.5% (hunted zones) was lower than our average daily nest survival rates of 96.9% (95% CI: 96.1–97.7%) for hunted zones. Similarly, overall nest survival for areas and years combined for hunted zones was 44.3% (95% CI: 35.3%, 53.9%) and 48.1% (95% CI: 36.9%, 59.8%) for nonhunted zones. The most parsimonious model contained the primary covariates of hunted or nonhunted status (hunted or paired hunted) or paired hunted or nonhunted nest searching plot (zone), and year. We observed lower nest survival for the hunted or delayed-hunt zones compared to the zones with hunted or nonhunted season structure. Regional differences may be explained by states with early and late hunting seasons separated by ≥ 21 d compared to other pairs where hunted and nonhunted areas occurred simultaneously. Our reanalysis provides managers additional assurance that the basic premise of limited or no effect of harvest on mourning dove populations is still valid but continued monitoring of population status is warranted.

scholarly journals Green-Tailed Towhee Response to Prescribed Fire in Montane Shrubland

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 634-646
Author(s):  
Gretchen Jehle ◽  
Julie A. Savidge ◽  
Natasha B. Kotliar
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
National Park ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Nest Survival ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Rocky Mountain National Park ◽  
Shrub Cover ◽  
Daily Nest Survival

Abstract Fire alters the structure and composition of shrublands and affects habitat quality for the associated avifauna. Because shrubland ecosystems have been greatly reduced from their original extent in western North America and fire is increasingly being used to manage these landscapes, a better understanding of how fire affects the associated vegetation and wildlife is imperative. We evaluated the response of Green-tailed Towhees (Pipilo chlorurus) to prescribed fire in the montane shrublands of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado during 2002 and 2003. Three to five years following prescribed burning, Green-tailed Towhee density and shrub cover were generally higher in unburned areas. Nests (n  =  179) were located in unburned vegetation; within burned sites, all nests were in remnant patches. Green-tailed Towhee nest survival was 57% (95% CI  =  49%–65%) across the two years of the study. More than half of the nests were in common juniper (Juniperus communis) shrubs, and nest survival was higher for nests in junipers than those in other shrub species. Daily nest survival rates were lower at the site with the highest density of towhees and declined over the breeding season. With regard to shrub cover, opposite trends were observed for nest-site selection and nest survival: nest plots had greater shrub cover than non-nest plots, but nest survival decreased with increasing shrub cover. Because shrub cover affects towhee density and nest survival in conflicting ways, fire management at Rocky Mountain National Park alters both habitat availability and suitability for Green-tailed Towhees.

scholarly journals Responses of Nesting Bobolinks (Dolichonyx Oryzivorus) to Habitat Edges

The Auk ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 121 (3) ◽  
pp. 767-776
Author(s):  
Eric K. Bollinger ◽  
Thomas A. Gavin
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Nest Survival ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Forest Edges ◽  
Edge Type ◽  
Dolichonyx Oryzivorus ◽  
Grass Land ◽  
Habitat Edge ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
One Year

Abstract Avoidance of habitat edges may be contributing to reduced densities of grass-land birds in small habitat patches. Nest densities for grassland-nesting Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) were much lower than expected within 25 m of forest edges at three sites in New York, and that pattern (“edge avoidance”) extended to 100 m at one site. Nests located within 50 m of forest or wooded hedgerow edges had lower daily survival rates, compared with nests ≥100 m from any habitat edge. Bobolinks tended to move away from forest edges when renesting after nest failure; that pattern was especially evident in females that placed their first nest within 50 m of a forest or wooded hedgerow edge. Second nests of all seven of those females were farther from that edge type than their first nests. However, nest placement in relation to wooded edges did not vary significantly between years for those philopatric females nesting at our study sites for more than one year. Bobolinks also avoided nesting near road edges, even though nest survival rates were not lower near that edge type. However, Bobolinks did not appear to avoid nesting near edges adjacent to old fields or pastures. Nest survival near those edge types was higher than near wooded edges and similar to or higher than survival of nests ≥100 m from any edge. Thus, responses of Bobolinks to habitat edges were inconsistent, and nest success was dependent on type of edge.

Daily nest survival rates of Gunnison Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus minimus): assessing local- and landscape-scale drivers

2015 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Stanley ◽  
Cameron L. Aldridge ◽  
D. Joanne Saher ◽  
Theresa M. Childers
Keyword(s):  
Nest Survival ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Sage Grouse ◽  
Centrocercus Minimus ◽  
Daily Nest Survival

scholarly journals Do Repugnant Scents Increase Survival of Ground Nests? A Test with Artificial and Natural Duck Nests

2007 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Vanessa B. Harriman ◽  
Justin A. Pitt ◽  
Serge Larivière
Keyword(s):  
Human Hair ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Artificial Nests ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Mammalian Predators ◽  
High Predation ◽  
Ground Nesting ◽  
Predation Rates

Ground-nesting birds typically experience high predation rates on their nests, often by mammalian predators. As such, researchers and wildlife managers have employed numerous techniques to mitigate nest predation. We investigated the use of scents as repellents to deter predators from both artificial and natural ground nests. Survival rates of artificial nests did not differ among six groups of substances (Wald ?2 df = 5 = 4.53, P < 0.48); however the chronology of predation among groups differed. A commercial Coyote urine based deterrent (DEER-D-TERTM), human hair, and Worcestershire sauce were depredated faster than the control (F4,5 = 40.3, P < 0.001). Nest survival of natural nests differed among those groups tested (Wald ?2 df = 2 = 11.8, P < 0.005); the eight mothball treatment decreased survival (Wald ?2 df = 1 = 11.5, P < 0.005), which indicated that novel smells may attract predators or result in duck nest abandonment when coupled with natural duck scent. Chronologies of predation events among treatment groups were not different for natural nests (F2,3 = 1.9, P = 0.22). These findings indicate an interaction between novel scents and predator olfactory cues.

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