Effects of Time and Nest-Site Characteristics on Concealment of Songbird Nests

Burhans, Dirk E.; Thompson, Frank R.

doi:10.2307/1369747

Cited by 84 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Low nest concealment may facilitate adult escape from potential predators (Götmark et al 1995), and as these are long-lived birds, they may opt to escape and re-nest rather than risk than their own survival. The importance of nest concealment to predation is related to predator type and nest conspicuousness (Burhans and Frank 1998). Increased concealment has been shown to reduce nest predation in some species (Collias and Collias 1984;Martin and Roper 1988); however, concealment may only be effective against predator types that use visual cues such as birds, in contrast to olfactory predators such as small mammals (Skutch 1985;Colombelli-Négrel and Kleindorfer 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical analysis of avian re-nesting behavior: mean, across-individual, and intra-individual responses

Beckmann

Biro

Martin

2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Anti-predator behavior is a key aspect of life history evolution, usually studied at the population (mean), or across-individual levels. However individuals can also differ in their intra-individual (residual) variation, but to our knowledge, this has only been studied once before in free-living animals. Here we studied the distances moved and changes in nest height and concealment between successive nesting attempts of marked pairs of grey fantails (Rhipidura albiscapa) in relation to nest fate, across the breeding season. We predicted that females (gender that decides where the nest is placed) should on average show adaptive behavioral responses to the experience of prior predation risk such that after an unsuccessful nesting attempt, replacement nests should be further away, higher from the ground, and more concealed compared with replacement nests after successful nesting attempts. We found that, on average, females moved greater distances to re-nest after unsuccessful nesting attempts (abandoned or depredated) in contrast to after a successful attempt, suggesting that re-nesting decisions are sensitive to risk. We found no consistent across-individual differences in distances moved, heights, or concealment. However, females differed by 53-fold (or more) in their intra-individual variability (i.e., predictability) with respect to distances moved and changes in nest height between nesting attempts, indicating that either some systematic variation went unexplained and/or females have inherently different predictability. Ignoring these individual differences in residual variance in our models obscured the effect of nest fate on re-nesting decisions that were evident at the mean level.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical analysis of avian re-nesting behavior: mean, across-individual, and intra-individual responses

Beckmann

Biro

Martin

2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…At the mesohabitat scale, habitat variables were quantified as estimates of ground cover and vegetation cover, in addition to the combined mean height of the tree and shrub layer (Al-Hmoud et al 2007). At the microhabitat scale, the following set of variables was measured within 1 week of fledging or failure to minimize time effects on variables (Burhans and Thompson 1998): plant species, plant height, canopy diameter, height of nest above the ground, nest position index (calculated as the ratio of trunk/centre of shrub/tree to nest distance divided by the canopy radius at nest height; Mezquida 2004), and foliage density immediately surrounding the nest as a measure of nest concealment. Foliage density (nest concealment) was measured by a thin wooden rod with five marks (at 10-cm intervals) horizontally from the nest through the foliage in the four cardinal directions and also vertically over and under the nest (Mezquida 2004), and counting the number of intervals with contacts (''hits'') by leaves and branches.…”

Section: Field Methods and Data Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest placement and nesting success in two finch species colonizing a recently established plantation in an arid region

2008

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This study examines variations in nest placement and its effects on nesting success in the Desert Finch (Rhodospiza obsoleta) and the Linnet (Carduelis cannabina) which coexist in a recently established plantation (novel habitat) in a desert region in Jordan. A comparison with other habitats (old plantation in the desert and native, Mediterranean-type, habitat of the Linnet) showed that each species displayed similarity in nest placement patterns across habitats. Nest concealment predicted nesting outcome in the Linnet, whereas nest height predicted nesting outcome in the Desert Finch. Daily survival rates were significantly higher in Desert Finch nests compared to the Linnet's, perhaps because Desert Finches placed nests higher in the novel habitat, which lacked aerial nest predators. In accordance with predation theories of life history evolution, we provide evidence that variation in nest placement among the two species in a novel habitat resulted from previous exposure to different predation risks.

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“…To reduce nest predation rates, many bird species have evolved nests that are well camouflagedin the habitats in which they are placed or concealed (Collias & Collias 1984). Nest predation rates are generally lower for more-concealed nests because of reduced visibility or auditory cues to predators (Martin & Roper 1988, Martin 1992, 1993, but see Burhans & Thompson 1998) Nest morphology is known to vary markedly among even closely-related species. Martin (1998) showed that seven species of coexisting ground or shrub-nesting birds living in high elevation forests in Arizona had di#erent microhabitat preferences, and that the nest success of each species was higher in preferred than in non-preferred microhabitats, indicating that preferences were adaptive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest Form, Colour and Nesting Habitat Affect Predation Rates of Australasian Warblers (Gerygone spp.) in Tropical Mangroves

Sato¹,

Morimoto²,

Noske

et al. 2010

J. Yamashina Inst. Ornithol.

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Abstract. Nest predation is high in mangals (mangrove communities) of the Australian monsoon tropics. The Large-billed Gerygone Gerygone magnirostris and Mangrove Gerygone G. levigaster are warbler-like birds that build domed nests, which are very di#erent from each other in size, form and colour. Large-billed Gerygone forages and builds nests along tidal creeks where vegetation is tall and dense, whereas Mangrove Gerygone primarily nests in shrubs around the edges of bare salt flats and forages in both habitats. Using artificial nests that mimicked those of the two species, we tested whether di#erences in nest appearance, including form and colour, were adaptations to avoid nest predation. Artificial Mangrove Gerygone nests in their main nesting habitat were predated less frequently than those on tidal creeks, whereas predation rates on artificial Large-billed Gerygone nests did not di#er between habitats. Our results suggest that Mangrove Gerygone nests are built in the primary breeding habitat to avoid nest predators. In addition, we identified a nest predator, the Yellow Oriole Oriolus flavocinctus.

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Effects of Time and Nest-Site Characteristics on Concealment of Songbird Nests

Cited by 84 publications

References 35 publications

Hierarchical analysis of avian re-nesting behavior: mean, across-individual, and intra-individual responses

Hierarchical analysis of avian re-nesting behavior: mean, across-individual, and intra-individual responses

Nest placement and nesting success in two finch species colonizing a recently established plantation in an arid region

Nest Form, Colour and Nesting Habitat Affect Predation Rates of Australasian Warblers (Gerygone spp.) in Tropical Mangroves

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