We provide detailed breeding parameters for the population of monk parakeets, Myiopsitta monachus, in Barcelona, Spain, based on data collected for 651 nests over five breeding seasons. This invasive population has a high reproductive capacity compared to the native range: fledging success was double, the percentage of pairs attempting second broods three times higher, and 55% of one-year old birds bred compared to almost zero in South America.
Field and experimental studies were undertaken in four European countries on
clawed lobster (Homarus gammarus) ecology and
recruitment. The aims were to assess: (a) abundance of early benthic phase
(EBP) lobsters and other benthic species at cobble sites, (b) the effect of
these species on EBP growth and survival, and (c) influence of these factors
on recruitment and/or viability of restocking. Suction sampling of cobble
sites revealed a wide diversity and abundance of potential competitors but no
EBP lobsters. Hatchery-produced EBPs were therefore used for small-scale
mesocosm experiments. In nature, predation on EBP was rapid without shelter,
whereas in-vitro mortality, growth, and behaviour
experiments showed that cover potentially increases survival. Scarcity
per se may not completely explain the apparently absence
of EBP, given that not a single EBP lobster was located either during this
study or during any other of the extensive benthic investigations. The present
paper discusses the implications of their apparent absence and whether it
arises because EBPs are very scarce, cannot be captured by suction sampling,
are not within lobster habitat, or occupy a specialized niche within adult
habitat outside the range of current sampling methods.
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