Predation by sparrowhawks favours early breeding and small broods in great tits

Götmark, Frank

doi:10.1007/s004420100769

Cited by 67 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The majority of the disappeared fledglings were assumed to be taken by predators. In another study on the fate of ringed great tit fledglings, rings were searched for in nests of sparrowhawks, Accipiter nisus, during the breeding season of great tits (Gö tmark 2002). Risk of predation also increased seasonally in this study.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The timing of birds' breeding seasons: a review of experiments that manipulated timing of breeding

Verhulst

Nilsson

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

469

486

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Reproductive success usually declines in the course of the season, which may be a direct effect of breeding time, an effect of quality (individuals with high phenotypic or environmental quality breeding early), or a combination of the two. Being able to distinguish between these possibilities is crucial when trying to understand individual variation in annual routines, for instance when to breed, moult and migrate. We review experiments with free-living birds performed to distinguish between the 'timing' and 'quality' hypothesis. 'Clean' manipulation of breeding time seems impossible, and we therefore discuss strong and weak points of different manipulation techniques. We find that the qualitative results were independent of manipulation technique (inducing replacement clutches versus cross-fostering early and late clutches). Given that the two techniques differ strongly in demands made on the birds, this suggests that potential experimental biases are limited. Overall, the evidence indicated that date and quality are both important, depending on fitness component and species, although evidence for the date hypothesis was found more frequently. We expected both effects to be prevalent, since only if date per se is important, does an incentive exist for high-quality birds to breed early. We discuss mechanisms mediating the seasonal decline in reproductive success, and distinguish between effects of absolute date and relative date, for instance timing relative to seasonal environmental fluctuations or conspecifics. The latter is important at least in some cases, suggesting that the optimal breeding time may be frequency dependent, but this has been little studied. A recurring pattern among cross-fostering studies was that delay experiments provided evidence for the quality hypothesis, while advance experiments provided evidence for the date hypothesis. This indicates that late pairs are constrained from producing a clutch earlier in the season, presumably by the fitness costs this would entail. This provides us with a paradox: evidence for the date hypothesis leads us to conclude that quality is important for the ability to breed early.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The timing of birds' breeding seasons: a review of experiments that manipulated timing of breeding

Verhulst

Nilsson

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

469

486

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“…It is a common prey of sparrowhawks (Tinbergen 1946;Geer 1978Geer , 1982Perrins and Geer 1980;Gray 1987;McCleery and Perrins 1991;Gosler 1993;Gosler et al 1995;reviews in Newton 1986reviews in Newton , 1993reviews in Newton , 1998. In our study area, the great tit was the most common species in prey remains of the hawks (Go¨tmark and Post 1996;Go¨tmark 2002). The breeding density of great tits varies considerably among hawk territories (see below), making this species suitable for study of density-dependent predation.…”

Section: Study Area and Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Great tit fledglings are fed and cared for by parents for about 10 days after they have left the nest, and they are especially vulnerable to predation at this time (e.g. Newton 1986;Go¨tmark 2002).…”

Section: Study Area and Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Götmark

Andersson

2004

Oecologia

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Predators may regulate prey populations if predation rate increases with prey density. Alternatively, if space-limited (e.g. territorial) predators become 'satiated' when prey exceed a certain density, increased prey abundance may lead to reduced predation rate. These alternatives have been difficult to test experimentally for mobile prey in the wild. We present such a test, manipulating the density of great tits (Parus major) by adding nest boxes in territories of sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus). Predation rate was measured for young tits after they left the nests. Although the great tit is an important prey, there was no evidence for regulation during the breeding season: the rate of hawk predation declined with increasing density of tits. This result was not confounded by changes in breeding density of alternative prey species (other songbirds). Hawk predation can therefore favour dense breeding in a territorial (solitary) bird, and conspecific attraction and aggregation reported in several territorial species may partly result from predation pressure. This result also has potential implications for conservation work.

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“…Great Tit fledglings thus appear to have a higher initial wing loading than their congener, perhaps placing them at increased risk from aerial predators; a major cause of mortality during the first few weeks post-fledging (Perrins 1979;Götmark 2002). But any such disadvantage is presumably offset by the competitive advantage gained through accelerated development.…”

Section: Breeding Failurementioning

confidence: 99%

Life history traits associated with low annual fecundity in a central African Parid: the Stripe-breasted Tit Parus fasciiventer

et al. 2015

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Most Parus species live in the tropics or sub-tropics, and are likely to show life history traits associated with relatively high survival and low fecundity. Based on a 15-year study we provide the first detailed account of the life history traits of an equatorial Parid, the Great Tits) and remained with their parents for up to three years. Helpers were recorded at 61% of Stripe-breasted Tit nests, and 76% of breeding adults had helpers during at least one breeding attempt. While latitudinal comparisons often focus on clutch size, much greater disparities were thus evident in other traits, including brood provisioning, the duration of postfledging care and the incidence of cooperative breeding.

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Predation by sparrowhawks favours early breeding and small broods in great tits

Cited by 67 publications

References 29 publications

The timing of birds' breeding seasons: a review of experiments that manipulated timing of breeding

The timing of birds' breeding seasons: a review of experiments that manipulated timing of breeding

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

Life history traits associated with low annual fecundity in a central African Parid: the Stripe-breasted Tit Parus fasciiventer

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