Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators.
The nests of ground-nesting birds rely heavily on camouflage for their survival, and predation pressures, often linked to human activity, are a major source of mortality. Numerous ground-nesting bird populations are in decline, so understanding the effects of camouflage on their nesting behaviour is...
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Authorea, Inc.
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.22541/au.168978475.53445460/v1 |
id |
crwinnower:10.22541/au.168978475.53445460/v1 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwinnower:10.22541/au.168978475.53445460/v1 2024-06-02T08:15:42+00:00 Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators. Hancock, George Grayshon, Lizzie Burrell, Ryan Hoodless, Andrew Cuthill, Innes Troscianko, Jolyon 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.22541/au.168978475.53445460/v1 unknown Authorea, Inc. posted-content 2023 crwinnower https://doi.org/10.22541/au.168978475.53445460/v1 2024-05-07T14:19:21Z The nests of ground-nesting birds rely heavily on camouflage for their survival, and predation pressures, often linked to human activity, are a major source of mortality. Numerous ground-nesting bird populations are in decline, so understanding the effects of camouflage on their nesting behaviour is of relevance to their conservation concern. Habitat three-dimensional (3D) geometry together with predator visual abilities, viewing distance, and viewing angle determine whether a nest is either visible, occluded or too far away to detect. While this link is intuitive, few studies have investigated how fine-scale geometry is likely to help defend nests from different predator guilds. We quantified nest visibility based on 3D occlusion, camouflage, and predator visual modelling in northern lapwing, Vanellus Vanellus, on different land management regimes. Lapwings selected local backgrounds that had a higher 3D complexity at a spatial scale greater than their entire clutches compared to nearby control sites. Importantly, our findings show that habitat geometry – rather than predator visual acuity restricts nest visibility to terrestrial predators, and that an open field would actually be perceived as a closed habitat to a terrestrial predator searching for nests on the ground. Taken together with lapwings’ careful nest site selection, our findings highlight the importance of considering habitat geometry for understanding the evolutionary ecology and management of conservation sites for ground-nesting birds. Other/Unknown Material Vanellus vanellus The Winnower |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Winnower |
op_collection_id |
crwinnower |
language |
unknown |
description |
The nests of ground-nesting birds rely heavily on camouflage for their survival, and predation pressures, often linked to human activity, are a major source of mortality. Numerous ground-nesting bird populations are in decline, so understanding the effects of camouflage on their nesting behaviour is of relevance to their conservation concern. Habitat three-dimensional (3D) geometry together with predator visual abilities, viewing distance, and viewing angle determine whether a nest is either visible, occluded or too far away to detect. While this link is intuitive, few studies have investigated how fine-scale geometry is likely to help defend nests from different predator guilds. We quantified nest visibility based on 3D occlusion, camouflage, and predator visual modelling in northern lapwing, Vanellus Vanellus, on different land management regimes. Lapwings selected local backgrounds that had a higher 3D complexity at a spatial scale greater than their entire clutches compared to nearby control sites. Importantly, our findings show that habitat geometry – rather than predator visual acuity restricts nest visibility to terrestrial predators, and that an open field would actually be perceived as a closed habitat to a terrestrial predator searching for nests on the ground. Taken together with lapwings’ careful nest site selection, our findings highlight the importance of considering habitat geometry for understanding the evolutionary ecology and management of conservation sites for ground-nesting birds. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Hancock, George Grayshon, Lizzie Burrell, Ryan Hoodless, Andrew Cuthill, Innes Troscianko, Jolyon |
spellingShingle |
Hancock, George Grayshon, Lizzie Burrell, Ryan Hoodless, Andrew Cuthill, Innes Troscianko, Jolyon Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators. |
author_facet |
Hancock, George Grayshon, Lizzie Burrell, Ryan Hoodless, Andrew Cuthill, Innes Troscianko, Jolyon |
author_sort |
Hancock, George |
title |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators. |
title_short |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators. |
title_full |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators. |
title_fullStr |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators. |
title_sort |
habitat geometry rather than visual acuity limits the visibility of a ground-nesting bird's clutch to terrestrial predators. |
publisher |
Authorea, Inc. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.22541/au.168978475.53445460/v1 |
genre |
Vanellus vanellus |
genre_facet |
Vanellus vanellus |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.22541/au.168978475.53445460/v1 |
_version_ |
1800739973471666176 |