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Landscape Context Influences Nest Survival In A Midwest Grassland, Victoria L. Simonsen, Joseph J. Fontaine
Landscape Context Influences Nest Survival In A Midwest Grassland, Victoria L. Simonsen, Joseph J. Fontaine
Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications
Although the management and restoration of habitat is the key method to conserve species of interest, local habitat management often fails to elicit desired responses in populations. Landscape features beyond the local habitat scale affect the population dynamics of ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), but the mechanism behind this response is unknown. One possibility is that nest survival, which is primarily reduced by nest predation, is regulating pheasant responses to the landscape. We investigated the extent to which land use affected nest survival by studying 202 artificial nests on 12 Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields in Nebraska, USA with …
Nest Predation, Food, And Female Age Explain Seasonal Declines In Clutch Size, Karie L. Decker, Courtney J. Conway, Joseph J. Fontaine
Nest Predation, Food, And Female Age Explain Seasonal Declines In Clutch Size, Karie L. Decker, Courtney J. Conway, Joseph J. Fontaine
Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications
The selection pressures responsible for intra- and interspecific variation in avian clutch size have been debated for over half a century. Seasonal declines in clutch size represent one of the most robust patterns in avian systems, yet despite extensive research on the subject, the mechanisms underlying this pattern remain largely unknown. We tested a combination of experimental and observational predictions to evaluate ten hypotheses, representing both evolutionary and proximate mechanisms proposed to explain seasonal declines in avian clutch size. In line with long held life-history theory, we found strong support for both an evolved and proximate response to food availability …
Evaluating Food Availability And Nest Predation Risk As Sources Of Bias In Aural Bird Surveys, Bruce A. Robertson, Richard L. Hutto, Joseph J. Fontaine
Evaluating Food Availability And Nest Predation Risk As Sources Of Bias In Aural Bird Surveys, Bruce A. Robertson, Richard L. Hutto, Joseph J. Fontaine
Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications
The use of aural surveys to estimate population parameters is widespread in avian studies.Despite efforts to increase the efficacy of this method, the potential for ecological context to bias population estimates remains largely unexplored. For example, food availability and nest predation risk can influence singing activity independent of density and, therefore, may bias aural estimates where these ecological factors vary systematically among habitats or other categories of ecological interest. We used a natural fire event in a mixed-conifer forest that experienced variation in fire severity (low, intermediate, and high) to determine if aural surveys produce accurate density estimates of Dark-eyed …
Parent Birds Assess Nest Predation Risk And Adjust Their Reproductive Strategies, J. J. Fontaine, T. E. Martin
Parent Birds Assess Nest Predation Risk And Adjust Their Reproductive Strategies, J. J. Fontaine, T. E. Martin
Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications
Avian life history theory has long assumed that nest predation plays a minor role in shaping reproductive strategies. Yet, this assumption remains conspicuously untested by broad experiments that alter environmental risk of nest predation, despite the fact that nest predation is a major source of reproductive failure. Here, we examined whether parents can assess experimentally reduced nest predation risk and alter their reproductive strategies. We experimentally reduced nest predation risk and show that in safer environments parents increased investment in young through increased egg size, clutch mass, and the rate they fed nestlings. Parents also increased investment in female condition …
Life-History And Ecological Correlates Of Geographic Variation In Egg And Clutch Mass Among Passerine Species, Thomas E. Martin, R. D. Bassar, S. K. Bassar, J. J. Fontaine, P. Lloyd, H. A. Mathewson, A. M. Niklison, A. Chalfoun
Life-History And Ecological Correlates Of Geographic Variation In Egg And Clutch Mass Among Passerine Species, Thomas E. Martin, R. D. Bassar, S. K. Bassar, J. J. Fontaine, P. Lloyd, H. A. Mathewson, A. M. Niklison, A. Chalfoun
Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications
Broad geographic patterns in egg and clutch mass are poorly described, and potential causes of variation remain largely unexamined. We describe interspecific variation in avian egg and clutch mass within and among diverse geographic regions and explore hypotheses related to allometry, clutch size, nest predation, adult mortality, and parental care as correlates and possible explanations of variation. We studied 74 species of Passeriformes at four latitudes on three continents: the north temperate United States, tropical Venezuela, subtropical Argentina, and south temperate South Africa. Egg and clutch mass increased with adult body mass in all locations, but differed among locations for …
Habitat Selection Responses Of Parents To Offspring Predation Risk: An Experimental Test, J. J. Fontaine, T. E. Martin
Habitat Selection Responses Of Parents To Offspring Predation Risk: An Experimental Test, J. J. Fontaine, T. E. Martin
Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications
The ability of nest predation to influence habitat settlement decisions in birds is widely debated, despite its importance in limiting fitness. Here, we experimentally manipulated nest predation risk across a landscape and asked the question, do migratory birds assess and respond to variation in nest predation risk when choosing breeding habitats? We examined habitat preference by quantifying the density and settlement date of eight species of migratory passerines breeding in areas with and without intact nest predator communities. We found consistently more individuals nesting in areas with reduced nest predation than in areas with intact predator assemblages, although predation risk …