Attracting endangered species to ‘safe’ habitats: responses of fairy terns to decoys

Jeffries, Darryl; Brunton, Dianne H.

doi:10.1017/s1367943001001354

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…As a result, birds were attracted and founded new colonies. This technique has been used successfully on a number of colonial bird species (Podolsky 1990; Podolsky & Kress 1992; Blokpoel et al 1997; Jeffries & Brunton 2001; Martinez‐Abrain et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conspecific Attraction and the Conservation of Territorial Songbirds

Ward¹,

Schlossberg²

2004

Conservation Biology

208

209

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Conspecific attraction, the tendency for individuals of a species to settle near one another, is well described in colonial species, especially birds. Although this behavior may occur in territorial birds, evidence has been lacking. If territorial birds do exhibit this behavior, it would have major conservation implications. Birds could potentially be attracted to specific sites with artificial stimuli, making conservation of those species more efficient. In 2001 and 2002, we tested whether conspecific attraction occurs in an endangered, territorial songbird, the Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapilla) by playing vireo vocalizations in unoccupied habitats at Fort Hood, Texas. We were successful in attracting 73 birds to five experimental sites in 2001 and 75 birds to seven experimental sites in 2002. No birds settled on comparable control sites. Many birds attracted to the vocalizations paired and bred. At most research sites the primary threat to the species, the brood-parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater), was controlled, allowing vireos to achieve high nesting success relative to a nearby, unmanipulated population. Second-year birds were more responsive to conspecific vocalizations than older birds, as they were more common on experimental sites than in the established population. In 2002 birds recolonized experimental sites from 2001 where vocalizations were not played in 2002, indicating that 1 year of playbacks may be sufficient to establish a population. Our results provide the first experimental evidence that territorial songbirds use the presence of conspecifics when deciding where to settle and suggest that conspecific attraction may provide a valuable conservation tool. Resumen: La atracción conespecífica, tendencia de los individuos de una especie a establecerse cerca de otro de la misma especie, está bien descrita en especies coloniales, especialmente aves. Aunque este comportamiento puede ocurrir en aves territoriales, se carece de evidencia. Si aves territoriales muestran este comportamiento, tendría implicaciones mayores en la conservación. Las aves potencialmente serían atraídas a sitios específicos mediante estímulos artificiales, haciendo más eficiente la conservación de esas especies. En 2001 y 2002, probamos si ocurre la atracción conespecífica en una especie de ave canora territorial, en peligro, Vireo atricapilla, con la reproducción de vocalizaciones de vireo en hábitats desocupados en Fort Hood, Texas. Tuvimoś exito al atraer a 73 aves a cinco sitios experimentales en 2001 y 75 aves a siete sitios experimentales en 2002. No se establecieron aves en sitios controles comparables. Muchas de las aves atraídas a las vocalizaciones formaron pareja y se reprodujeron. En la mayoría de los sitios, la principal amenaza para la especie, el parásito Molothrus ater, fue controlada, lo que permitió un elevadoéxito de anidación a los vireos en comparación con una población no manipulada cercana. Las aves de dos años tuvieron mayor respuesta a las vocalizaciones conespecíficas que las aves más v...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conspecific Attraction and the Conservation of Territorial Songbirds

Ward¹,

Schlossberg²

2004

Conservation Biology

208

209

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“…This mechanism is expected to operate broadly in breeding habitat patch choice of social animals such as colonial birds (Shields et al 1988, Forbes and Kaiser 1994, Sarrazin et al 1996. In fact, the use of decoys and taped vocalizations have been used successfully in seabirds to attract individuals and create new colonies in previously vacant areas (e.g., Kotliar and Burguer 1984, Kress and Nettleship 1988, Podolsky 1990, Jeffries and Brunton 2001. Recently, it was suggested that individuals could use the local reproductive success of conspecifics in the past as an index of patch quality (''performance-based attraction hypothesis,' ' Danchin and Wagner 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal and Social Attraction Affect Colony Selection and Dynamics of Lesser Kestrels

Serrano

Forero

Donázar

et al. 2004

Ecology

110

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We studied the mechanisms that regulate colony dynamics in a Spanish population of Lesser Kestrels, using eight years of data from banded individuals in 494 colony-years. Colony growth was positively related to breeding success at the colony the year before. However, individuals of all dispersal statuses, i.e., adult and first-breeding philopatric and immigrant birds, significantly contributed to changes in colony size, indicating an important effect of dispersal on colony dynamics via colony quality. Given that there is strong evidence that Lesser Kestrels base their settlement decisions on conspecifics, we tested whether immigrants used the number of previously settled residents in year t (social or conspecific attraction hypothesis) and/or the breeding performance of conspecifics in year t Ϫ 1 (performance-based attraction hypothesis) to select their breeding colony. Breeding success of colonies varied both in space and time and was autocorrelated from one year to the next. Moreover, lifetime reproductive success of Lesser Kestrels was positively associated with colony size, and individuals can predict final colony size early in the breeding season, so assumptions of both hypotheses were fulfilled. Our results support the social attraction hypothesis, since immigration was positively related to the number of philopatric adults, but not to conspecific breeding success the year before. Given that departure decisions of adults were based on personal information about breeding success and colony size is related to fitness prospects, previously settled individuals provide easy and reliable information about colony quality, and social attraction could be seen as a particular case of public information in Lesser Kestrels. Consistently, absolute numbers of both philopatric adults and immigrants increased with colony size the year before, although immigrants increased only up to a threshold beyond which this trend disappeared. Therefore, immigrants seem to be prevented from settling in the largest colonies, which could explain why all individuals do not concentrate in a few big colonies, but some settle in suboptimal colonies or colonize unoccupied sites. This opposing effect of conspecifics, together with the low levels of temporal autocorrelation in colony quality between time lags Ն2 yr, could promote colony size variability and facultative coloniality in this species.

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“…We found evidence of UV reflectance of skin but not plumage that was not detectable by humans, and this may need to be taken into account when attempting to replicate seabird colorations, e.g. when building model decoys for attracting seabirds to newly restored nesting sites (Jeffries & Brunton ). Although studies on UV perception are rare in seabirds, a few studies have identified UV‐sensitive vision in the Chardriiformes (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Feather colours of live birds and museum specimens look similar when viewed by seabirds

Brunton-Martin

Gaskett

Friesen

2017

Ibis

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Bird plumage and skin colour can be assessed from museum specimens. To determine whether these accurately represent the colours of live birds when viewed by birds themselves, we analysed the spectral reflectances of live and up to 100-year-old museum specimens of five seabird species (White-faced Petrel Pelagodroma marina, Common Diving Petrel Pelecanoides urinatrix, Grey-faced Petrel Pterodroma gouldi, Little Shearwater Puffinus assimilis and Fluttering Shearwater Puffinus gavia). Live birds had brighter colours than museum specimens, but there were no significant differences in the wavelengths reflected. Modelling indicated that seabirds would be able to detect colour changes in the skin, but not the feathers, of museum specimens, but only for species with blue or pink feet (Pelecanoides urinatrix and Puffinus assimilis). For seabirds, museum specimens are adequate proxies for feather colour but not for skin colour.

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Attracting endangered species to ‘safe’ habitats: responses of fairy terns to decoys

Cited by 30 publications

References 9 publications

Conspecific Attraction and the Conservation of Territorial Songbirds

Conspecific Attraction and the Conservation of Territorial Songbirds

Dispersal and Social Attraction Affect Colony Selection and Dynamics of Lesser Kestrels

Feather colours of live birds and museum specimens look similar when viewed by seabirds

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