Brood Parasitism and Nest Takeover in Common Eiders

Waldeck, Peter; Andersson, Malte

doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.2005.01187.x

Cited by 36 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…To avoid increasing the risk of predation we always covered the clutch with debris or down after handling (Go¨tmark and Å hlund 1984), and so did most females when leaving the nest. Conspecific brood parasitism is common in this population, and an estimated 20-42% of the nests were parasitised in studies by Robertson (1998) and Waldeck and Andersson (2006). We identified parasitic eggs by protein fingerprinting and laying patterns (Andersson and Å hlund 2001); they are not included in clutch sizes here.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…We identified parasitic eggs by protein fingerprinting and laying patterns (Andersson and Å hlund 2001); they are not included in clutch sizes here. In 11 cases, after a female laid a first egg, the nest was taken over by another female who continued laying in it (Waldeck and Andersson 2006). All eggs from these nests are included in calculations of nest predation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reproductive tactics under severe egg predation: an eider’s dilemma

Andersson

Waldeck

2006

Oecologia

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Parental defence against predators may increase offspring survival but entail other costs. Egg predation is frequent early in the laying sequence of the common eider, which differs in this and in several other ways from most other waterfowl. We test the hypothesis that permanent presence at the nest from the second or third egg is an adaptation for reducing egg predation in eiders. Two other alternative hypotheses for lower predation at later nest stages are early predation loss of the most vulnerable nests and seasonal decrease in predation risk. Analyses of predation rates at the one-egg and later stages refute these two alternatives. Early nest attendance by eider females is estimated to increase clutch survival by about 20% in four-egg and 35% in five-egg clutches, albeit probably at a cost of smaller clutch size.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive tactics under severe egg predation: an eider’s dilemma

Andersson

Waldeck

2006

Oecologia

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“…Both nests from which eggs were taken were deserted 24 h later. Females repeatedly experiencing gull attacks also risk injury (see Waldeck and Andersson 2006), and may be more prone to desert after egg predation than females that simply miss an egg upon returning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is usually similar in size to the next two eggs in the clutch, whereas later eggs are progressively smaller (e.g. Swennen and Van der Meer 1992;Waldeck and Andersson 2006). Schamber et al (2008) tested several predictors of body fat reserves in Wve species of waterfowl and found that body mass alone is a suitable simple condition index.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indeterminate laying and flexible clutch size in a capital breeder, the common eider

2010

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Clutch size control in capital breeders such as large waterfowl has been much debated. Some studies have concluded that clutch size in ducks is determined before the start of laying and does not change in response to egg additions or removals. The response, however, may depend on the timing of tests, and experiments may have been too late for females to alter the number of eggs. We here study clutch size responses to predation of first and second eggs in the common eider, using protein fingerprinting of egg albumen to verify that the same female continues laying in the nest after predation. Sixty of 79 females with early egg predation (one or both of the two first eggs) deserted the nest. Among the 19 females that stayed and continued laying, the mean number of eggs produced was 4.4, significantly higher than the 3.7 in non-predated nests. The staying females had similar egg size and clutch initiation date as females that deserted, and their body mass and clutch initiation date was similar to that of females whose clutches were not predated. Even capital-breeding common eiders may therefore be indeterminate layers, as many females in which early eggs are removed lay more eggs than others. A previous study has shown that they can reduce their laying if eggs are added. Our results add to increasing evidence that ducks have more flexible egg production than previously thought.

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“…Females that strive to nest early may be those which wish to avoid parasitic egg laying (Waldeck and Andersson 2006) which is common at Rif, particularly in the rock island (Kristjánsson and Jónsson 2015). Interestingly, the rock island generally initiated nesting 4-11 days earlier but also had a higher occurrence of clutches with 7 eggs or higher (32.4-17.3 % in 2012, the authors, unpublished data).…”

Section: Which Individuals Are the First Nesters?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The early birds and the rest: do first nesters represent the entire colony?

Jónsson

Lúðvíksson²,

Kaller

2016

Polar Biol

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Climate change studies have detected earlier spring arrival of breeding birds. However, first nest dates (date first nests were found), which commonly provide the metric for earlier arrival, can be biased by population size or sampling effort. Our aims were to determine if: 1) first nest dates and median nest date (date when at least 50 % of all females have nested) were equivalent predictors for the spring arrival and 2) first nest date or median nest date were related to nest numbers. We recorded first and median nest dates and nest numbers at the common eider (Somateria mollissima) colony at Rif, Iceland, during 1992-2013. First nest date was advanced by 11 days during the study, but median nest date was advanced by only 4 days. First nest date and median nest date were correlated, but this relationship was only a small improvement over the null model (Nagelkerke R 2 = 30 %). We found a relationship with nest count for both first and median nest dates once the analysis had accounted for inter-annual variability. First nest date may not represent the colony as a whole but rather the physically fittest or the most determined individuals, which may be more prone to nest early than the general population. Nesting birds must decide how much to advance breeding based on nest numbers and other nontemporal cues which necessitate earlier breeding. We argue that nest numbers affect the birds in a biological sense and that the advancement was not explained solely by increased nest numbers.

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Brood Parasitism and Nest Takeover in Common Eiders

Cited by 36 publications

References 53 publications

Reproductive tactics under severe egg predation: an eider’s dilemma

Reproductive tactics under severe egg predation: an eider’s dilemma

Indeterminate laying and flexible clutch size in a capital breeder, the common eider

The early birds and the rest: do first nesters represent the entire colony?

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