Intraspecific parasitism and nest-site competition in wood ducks

Family matters: Kin selection and the evolution of conspecific brood parasitism

“…ducks (Aix sponsa) have been shown to actively avoid parasitizing close kin (20), whereas our own studies of CPB in the Barrow's goldeneye (B. islandica) in British Columbia revealed no evidence of relatedness between hosts and parasites based on DNA fingerprinting analyses (J.McA.E. and R. Fernando, unpublished data).…”

“…1 and 2), in which CPB is known to occur in 76 of the 162 species (10). Moreover, whereas ducks, geese, and swans constitute only about 2% of avian species, at least 26% of known conspecific parasites are waterfowl (8,20). This pattern did not escape Andersson's attention (5), and he wondered whether it was related to the unusual pattern of philopatry in this group.…”

Variation in Size and Composition of Bufflehead (Bucephala Albeola) and Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala Islandica) Eggs

“…Recently, this behavior has received considerable attention in waterfowl (Anderson and Åhlund 2000, Semel and Sherman 2001, Roy Nielsen et al 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2008, Pöysä and Pesonen 2007. Studies of this behavior rely on numerous methods to detect parasitism, some of which can be fairly labor intensive and expensive.…”

“…Studies of this behavior rely on numerous methods to detect parasitism, some of which can be fairly labor intensive and expensive. Some of the more laborious methods include observing individual nests daily (Semel and Sherman 2001) and calculating the rate of egg deposition on the basis of the egg-laying rates of individual females (Jones and Leopold 1967, Clawson et al 1979, Semel and Sherman 1992. Microsatellite and fingerprinting techniques are accurate (MacWhirter 1989, Andersson and Åhlund 2000, Roy Nielsen et al 2006a but are also labor intensive and come with the additional drawback of being relatively expensive compared to other methods.…”

The Abundance of Tree Holes and Their Utilization by Hole-Nesting Birds in a Primeval Boreal Forest of Mongolia

“…Hole-nesting birds are considered as one of the most susceptible groups to such impacts due to their strong dependence on trees (Angelstam & Mikusiński 1994, Martin & Eadie 1999, Imbeau et al 1999. It has been suggested that the availability of nesting holes limits the population density of such birds in many managed forests (von Haartman 1957, Johnson 1994, Newton 1994, Semel & Sherman 2001, Twedt & Henne-Kerr 2001, Pöysa & Pöysa 2002. Since the 1990s, with the emergence of ecological forestry, there is an increasing need to improve our understanding of biodiversity and its maintenance in natural forests, so that such knowledge can be incorporated into management guidelines (Hansen et al 1991, Fujimori 2001.…”