Nest Lining and Fledging Success in the Piping Plover are Related to Nest Site Characteristics

Greenwald, Katherine R.

doi:10.1675/063.032.0314

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…5 Effect of nest lining material availability on nest lining size in 206 nests from 2014 and 2015. Line with shaded area indicate model prediction with 95% credible intervals based on the joint posterior distribution of 5 000 simulated values based on model outputs (Table 2) and generated by the "sim" function in R (Gelman et al 2016) nest was located on shelly, rocky, or coarse-sanded beaches (Greenwald 2009). Generally, bird nest lining composition often reflects the nest lining material (quality and quantity) available during nest building (Deeming and Mainwaring 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great variability in nest lining size: support for thermoregulation but not for anti-predatory adaptation hypothesis

2019

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Nest lining is a key component in nests of many bird species. Among ground-nesting birds with open nests, it usually consists of dry sticks and stalks creating a thermoregulatory insulating layer for the eggs. However, a bigger nest lining can attract predators and increase nest mortality. The factors influencing behavioural plasticity in birds facing the trade-off between nest lining thermoregulation and conspicuousness for predators have remained poorly understood. The Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus, a visibly incubating shorebird with an active nest defence against potential predators, demonstrates great variability in the size of nest lining and, at the same time, is subject to a high frequency of nest predation. We analysed the variability of nest-lining size across time and space in 915 measurements of 601 lapwing nests in South Bohemia, Czech Republic, during 2010-2015. We show that lapwing nests placed closer to small water pools with generally cooler microclimates had bigger nest lining. The size of nest linings also reflected the availability of nest lining material in the vicinity of the nest. On the other hand, there was no effect of nest position within the breeding association and distance to the nearest perch as a possible stand for predators on nest lining size. Furthermore, nest lining size did not predict nest predation rate. Our findings suggest that lapwings adjust the size of their nest lining to local microclimate conditions rather than potential predation risk which is in concordance with the thermoregulation hypothesis of the nest size in birds. Keywords Ground-nesting bird • Microclimate • Nest predation • Nest site moisture • Northern lapwing • Shorebirds • Vanellus vanellus Zusammenfassung Hohe Variabilität im Ausmaß der Nestauspolsterung: Belege sprechen für die Thermoregulations-, nicht aber für die Feindvermeidungshypothese. Die Nestpolsterung ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Nester vieler Vogelarten. Bei Bodenbrütern mit offenen Nestern besteht diese normalerweise aus trockenen Stöckchen und Halmen, welche eine thermoregulatorische Isolationsschicht für die Eier bilden. Eine stärkere Nestpolsterung kann jedoch Prädatoren anlocken und somit die Nestlingsmortalität erhöhen. Die Faktoren, welche die Verhaltensplastizität bei Vögeln im Konflikt zwischen thermoregulatorischer Nestpolsterung und der Auffälligkeit für Prädatoren beeinflussen, sind bisher kaum erforscht. Der Kiebitz Vanellus vanellus, eine offen brütende Limikolenart, welche ihre Nester aktiv gegen Prädatoren verteidigt, weist eine starke Variabilität bezüglich des Ausmaßes der Nestpolsterung auf und unterliegt zugleich einer hohen Nestprädationsrate. Wir untersuchten die zeitliche Communicated by F. Bairlein.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great variability in nest lining size: support for thermoregulation but not for anti-predatory adaptation hypothesis

2019

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“…It is also important to remember that factors other than genetics can cause egg failure and low hatching success. The availability of calcium (Bidwell & Dawson 2005), the proximity of conspecific nests (Underwood & Bunce 2004), the presence of soil microbes (Wyneken et al 1988) and the quality of nest substrate (Greenwald 2009) have all been shown to impact hatching success, with the latter two factors being particularly pertinent for a ground-nesting species such as LSK. In the course of this study, it was not possible to test for all environmental differences between Long Island and Zealandia that might have led to the disparity in hatching success seen between the two sites.…”

Section: Conclusion and Limitations: Is There Evidence Of Inbreeding Depression In Lsk?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting inbreeding depression in a severely bottlenecked, recovering species: The little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii)

Taylor¹

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<p>Population bottlenecks reduce genetic variation and population size. Small populations are at greater risk of inbreeding, which further erodes genetic diversity and can lead to inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression is known to increase extinction risk. Thus, detecting inbreeding depression is important for population viability assessment and conservation management. However, identifying inbreeding depression in wild populations is challenging due to the difficulty of obtaining long-term measures of fitness and error-free measures of individual inbreeding coefficients. I investigated inbreeding depression and our power to detect it in species that have very low genetic variation, using little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii) (LSK) as a case study. This endemic New Zealand ratite experienced a bottleneck of, at most, five individuals ~100 years ago and has since been subjected to secondary bottlenecks as a result of introductions to new predator-free locations. There is no behavioural pedigree data available for any LSK population and the status of the species is monitored almost exclusively via population growth. I conducted two seasons of field work to determine hatching success in the two LSK populations with the highest and lowest numbers of founders; Zealandia Sanctuary (40 founders) and Long Island (two founders). I also used simulation-based modelling to assess the feasibility of reconstructing pedigrees based on individual genotypes from LSK populations to calculate pedigree inbreeding coefficients. Finally, I used microsatellite genotypes to measure the genetic erosion in successive filial groupings of Long Island and Zealandia LSK as a result of their respective bottlenecks, and tested for inbreeding depression on Long Island. Hatching success was significantly lower on Long Island than in Zealandia in both years of the study despite significantly higher reproductive effort on Long Island. Although this was suggestive of inbreeding depression on Long Island, simulation results showed that constructing a pedigree for any LSK population based on the genetic markers and samples currently available would lead to inaccurate pedigrees and invalid estimates of individual inbreeding coefficients. Thus, an alternative method of detecting inbreeding and inbreeding depression was required. Microsatellite data showed continued loss of heterozygosity in both populations, but loss of allelic diversity on Long Island only. Individual genotypes indicated that the majority (74%) of the adult Long Island population is comprised of the founding pair (F) and their direct offspring (F1) rather than birds from subsequent generations (F2+). This is not what would be expected if survival was equal between these two filial classes. I suggest that the high levels of inbreeding (≥0.25) in F2+ birds is impacting on their survival, creating a demographic skew in the population and resulting in lower hatching success on average on Long Island when compared to the relatively outbred Zealandia birds. This inbreeding depression appears to have been masked, thus far, by positive population growth on Long Island resulting from the long life span of LSK (27-83 years) and continued reproductive success of the founding pair. Thus, it is likely that the Long Island population will go into decline when the founding pair cease to reproduce. This study highlights the challenges of measuring inbreeding depression in species with very low genetic variation and the importance of assessing the statistical power and reliability of the genetic tools available for those species. It also demonstrates that basic genetic techniques can offer valuable insight when more advanced tools prove error-prone. Monitoring vital rates such as hatching success in conjunction with genetic data is important for assessing the success of conservation translocations and detecting potentially cryptic genetic threats such as inbreeding depression. My results suggest that LSK are being affected by inbreeding depression and that careful genetic management will be required to ensure the long-term viability of this species.</p>

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Nest Lining and Fledging Success in the Piping Plover are Related to Nest Site Characteristics

Cited by 2 publications

References 10 publications

Great variability in nest lining size: support for thermoregulation but not for anti-predatory adaptation hypothesis

Great variability in nest lining size: support for thermoregulation but not for anti-predatory adaptation hypothesis

Detecting inbreeding depression in a severely bottlenecked, recovering species: The little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii)

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