Predation by sparrowhawks decreases with increased breeding density in a songbird, the great tit

Götmark, Frank; Andersson, Malte

doi:10.1007/s00442-004-1715-z

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…As a control, we used stuffed models of the song thrush ( Turdus philomelos ) (C). Sparrowhawks are among the main predators of fledgling and adult great tits [ 25 ], while short-tailed weasels are important natural nest predators, active both during the night and during the day [ 26 ], able to enter nest boxes and representing a risk for incubating females, eggs and nestlings [ 12 , 27 ]. Song thrushes are not a threat or competitors for great tits.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator-Specific Effects on Incubation Behaviour and Offspring Growth in Great Tits

Basso

Richner

2015

PLoS ONE

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In birds, different types of predators may target adults or offspring differentially and at different times of the reproductive cycle. Hence they may also differentially influence incubation behaviour and thus embryonic development and offspring phenotype. This is poorly understood, and we therefore performed a study to assess the effects of the presence of either a nest predator or a predator targeting adults and offspring after fledging on female incubation behaviour in great tits (Parus major), and the subsequent effects on offspring morphological traits. We manipulated perceived predation risk during incubation using taxidermic models of two predators: the short-tailed weasel posing a risk to incubating females and nestlings, and the sparrowhawk posing a risk to adults and offspring after fledging. To disentangle treatment effects induced during incubation from potential carry-over effects of parental behaviour after hatching, we cross-fostered whole broods from manipulated nests with broods from unmanipulated nests. Both predator treatments lead to a reduced on- and off-bout frequency, to a slower decline in on-bout temperature as incubation advanced and showed a negative effect on nestling body mass gain. At the current state of knowledge on predator-induced variation in incubation patterns alternative hypotheses are feasible, and the findings of this study will be useful for guiding future research.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator-Specific Effects on Incubation Behaviour and Offspring Growth in Great Tits

Basso

Richner

2015

PLoS ONE

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“…The house sparrow Passer domesticus is of particular concern as it has decreased by approximately 60% over the past 40 years (Robinson et al, 2005). Previous work by Götmark and Andersson (2005) suggests that house sparrows may be at particular risk from sparrowhawk predation due to their decreasing population (Chamberlain et al, 2009), and hence we concentrate particularly on these species in this paper.…”

Section: The Motivating Garden Bird Feeding Survey Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

A Spatiotemporal Multispecies Model of a Semicontinuous Response

Jones‐Todd

Swallow

Illian

et al. 2017

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C: Applied Statistics

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Summary As accessible and potentially vulnerable species high up in the food chain, birds are often used as indicator species to highlight changes in ecosystems. This study focuses on multiple spatially dependent relationships between a raptor (sparrowhawk), a potential prey species (house sparrow) and a sympatric species (collared doves) in space and time. We construct a complex spatiotemporal latent Gaussian model to incorporate both predator–prey and sympatric relationships, which is novel in two ways. First, different types of species interactions are represented by a shared spatiotemporal random effect, which extends existing approaches to multivariate spatial modelling through the use of a joint latent modelling approach. Second, we use a delta–gamma model to capture the semicontinuous nature of the data to model the binary and continuous sections of the response jointly. The results indicate that sparrowhawks have a localized effect on the presence of house sparrows, which could indicate that house sparrows avoid sites where sparrowhawks are present.

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“…Furthermore, there are certain species, in particular House Sparrow and Starling, which are showing significant population declines in many urbanised areas of Europe. Götmark and Post (1996) found that species such as these that commonly forage on the ground were especially susceptible to Sparrowhawk attack, and negative densitydependent predation rates observed in declining species suggest that House Sparrow and Starling may be especially at risk (Götmark and Andersson 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus presence and winter bird abundance

2008

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The decline and subsequent re-colonisation of the Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus in the UK has allowed an examination of its potential impacts on passerine abundance through analysis of long-term garden bird monitoring data. Weekly counts in gardens in winter have been collected annually since the early 1970s, a period when Sparrowhawks were initially rare but recolonised to a point in the 1990s when they were recorded in the majority of gardens. Change in bird count from year-to-year for 10 common prey species from up to 483 survey sites were analysed in relation to Sparrowhawk re-colonisation, the number of feeding units per site (e.g. bird tables, hanging bird feeders) and, for a subset of the data, minimum temperature. Year-to-year change increased with Sparrowhawk re-colonisation in Great Tit Parus major, Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus and Collared Dove Stretopelia decaocto, but decreased in Starling Sturnus vulgaris, Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs and Greenfinch Carduelis chloris. Positive associations may suggest a behavioural response to predators, or an attraction of predators to increased prey caused by confounding effects of improvement in site quality. The significant negative effects detected suggest that there is a temporal matching between increased predation pressure and decreases in bird abundance for certain species. However, there was no strong evidence that Sparrowhawk re-colonisation was linked to long-term declines in population size.

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Predation by sparrowhawks decreases with increased breeding density in a songbird, the great tit

Cited by 13 publications

References 32 publications

Predator-Specific Effects on Incubation Behaviour and Offspring Growth in Great Tits

Predator-Specific Effects on Incubation Behaviour and Offspring Growth in Great Tits

A Spatiotemporal Multispecies Model of a Semicontinuous Response

Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus presence and winter bird abundance

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