Supplementary feeding of mealworms enhances reproductive success in garden nesting House Sparrows<i>Passer domesticus</i>

Peach, Will J.; Sheehan, Danaë K.; Kirby, Will B.

doi:10.1080/00063657.2014.918577

Cited by 30 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…), providing invertebrates or other protein‐rich bird foods during the breeding season may enhance reproductive success (Peach et al. ). Nevertheless, from an ecosystem perspective, we believe that management activities that aim to increase the abundance of phytophagous insects in the birds’ environment, rather than providing supplementary food during the breeding season, will be more effective.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of urbanization on abundance and phenology of caterpillars and consequences for breeding in an insectivorous bird

Seress

Hammer

Bókony

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

121

168

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Urbanization can have marked effects on plant and animal populations' phenology, population size, predator-prey, interactions and reproductive success. These aspects are rarely studied simultaneously in a single system, and some are rarely investigated, e.g., how insect phenology responds to urban development. Here, we study a tri-trophic system of trees, phytophagous insects (caterpillars), and insectivorous birds (Great Tits) to assess how urbanization influences (1) the phenology of each component of this system, (2) insect abundance, and (3) avian reproductive success. We use data from two urban and two forest sites in Hungary, central Europe, collected over four consecutive years. Despite a trend of earlier leaf emergence in urban sites, there is no evidence for an earlier peak in caterpillar abundance. Thus, contrary to the frequently stated prediction in the literature, the earlier breeding of urban bird populations is not associated with an earlier peak in caterpillar availability. Despite this the seasonal dynamics of caterpillar biomass exhibited striking differences between habitat types with a single clear peak in forests, and several much smaller peaks in urban sites. Caterpillar biomass was higher in forests than urban areas across the entire sampling period, and between 8.5 and 24 times higher during the first brood's chick-rearing period. This higher biomass was not associated with taller trees in forest sites, or with tree species identity, and occurred despite most of our focal trees being native to the study area. Urban Great Tits laid smaller clutches, experienced more frequent nestling mortality from starvation, reared fewer offspring to fledging age, and their fledglings had lower body mass. Our study strongly indicates that food limitation is responsible for lower avian reproductive success in cities, which is driven by reduced availability of the preferred nestling diet, i.e., caterpillars, rather than phenological shifts in the timing of peak food availability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of urbanization on abundance and phenology of caterpillars and consequences for breeding in an insectivorous bird

Seress

Hammer

Bókony

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

121

168

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“…However, as increased levels of urbanization and the proportion of exotic vegetation are often positively correlated, disentangle the effect of vegetation from other effects of increased habitat urbanization is not easy. For example, even activities, such as bird-feeding in suburban gardens which seem to be quite harmless at first glance, could indirectly reduce local avian biodiversity, if overabundant, larger and aggressive species profit unequally more from feeders, excluding smaller, subordinant ones from the surroundings of feeding stations (Parsons et al 2006). Species-specific responses were also highlighted by a a correlative study in the UK (Fuller et al 2008), report-ing positive relationships between the densities of bird feeders and certain urban-dweller species (e.g.…”

Section: Effects Of Urbanization On Avian Biodiversity and Species Comentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat urbanization and its effects on birds

Seress

Liker²

2015

Acta Zool Acad Sci H

183

135

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By transforming landscapes, human activity creates new types of habitats with altered environmental characteristics that never existed before. As the process of habitat urbanization bears impact on more and more natural habitats, it is essential for us to understand the changes we bring forth in the ecological forces shaping urban animal communities. Birds are perhaps the most frequently studied model organisms by urban ecologists. It is a well known general pattern that urban avian communities have typically reduced species richness, while the density of a few successful species is often higher in cities than in adjacent more natural habitats. But it is less understood which mechanisms generate and uphold these community-level changes. In this review we discuss the most important components of the urban environment influencing birds' physiology, behaviour or morphology, and compile several recent studies to illustrate their effects. To understand urban food webs we also review the results of bottom-up and top-down approach which suggest that altered food availability and predation may play key roles in forming recent urban bird communities. We encourage future research to focus more on experimental, manipulative studies, that would help us not just to realize general patterns but shed more light on the mechanisms, the underlying processes prompting changes in urban bird communities.

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“…We know of only two previous studies conducted in urban landscapes, both showing positive effects of feeding on reproduction (Dhindsa & Boag , Peach et al . ). Many studies have considered the effects of winter feeding on avian breeding densities (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…However, the same feeder counts (which over 1‐min periods averaged 82% of MCM c but only 24% of MCM cb ) and observations at identical feeders deployed in suburban Leicester (where 97% of mealworms were taken by Sparrows nesting within 26 m of feeders and the maximum distance at which provisioning adults collected mealworms for chicks was 165 m; Peach et al . ) suggest that the intensity of usage of mealworm feeders in London is likely to have declined strongly with distance of nests from feeders and therefore to have been much lower for pairs nesting in 200‐m surrounding buffers than for pairs nesting within core areas. Moreover, our mealworm provision was sufficient to cover most of the chick energy requirements of Sparrow pairs nesting within core areas and more than one‐third of the chick energy requirements of all pairs nesting within core‐plus‐200‐m buffers (Table ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent nestbox study confirmed the first of these predictions during a single breeding season, as mealworm provision enhanced clutch size, chick survival and fledgling production (Peach et al . ), but the study did not consider impacts on population growth. The present study was conducted at 66 sparrow colonies spread across Greater London, where House Sparrow abundance declined by 60% between 1994 and 2006 (Raven et al .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Invertebrate prey availability limits reproductive success but not breeding population size in suburban House Sparrows Passer domesticus

Peach

Mallord

Ockendon

et al. 2015

Ibis

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Factors affecting avian demography and abundance in urban landscapes are poorly understood and this hinders attempts to manage urban bird communities. Several recent studies indicate that lack of invertebrate prey in urban landscapes may constrain avian productivity and fitness relative to that in other habitats. House Sparrow Passer domesticus populations have undergone large declines in many European urban centres and inadequate reproductive success linked to invertebrate availability has been postulated as a potential cause of these declines. We conducted a replicated supplementary feeding experiment to test whether the availability of invertebrate prey limits the breeding success and adult abundance (colony size) of House Sparrows in suburban London, where House Sparrow populations declined by 60% during the decade preceding our study. Daily mealworm provision over two successive breeding seasons, sufficient to provide 82% of chick energy requirements of House Sparrow pairs nesting within 50 m of feeders, had a large positive impact on the abundance of recently fledged birds (+62%), but only a small positive impact, limited mainly to small colonies, on the overall abundance of territorial males. Colony growth was only weakly related to fledgling abundance in the previous year and did not appear to be constrained by nest‐site availability. Conservation interventions that enhance invertebrate availability for suburban House Sparrows may increase reproductive success but are unlikely, on their own, to lead to population growth or recovery.

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Supplementary feeding of mealworms enhances reproductive success in garden nesting House SparrowsPasser domesticus

Cited by 30 publications

References 20 publications

Impact of urbanization on abundance and phenology of caterpillars and consequences for breeding in an insectivorous bird

Impact of urbanization on abundance and phenology of caterpillars and consequences for breeding in an insectivorous bird

Habitat urbanization and its effects on birds

Invertebrate prey availability limits reproductive success but not breeding population size in suburban House Sparrows Passer domesticus

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