Is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? Spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of American Golden-Plover nests
Predation is one of the main factors explaining nesting mortality in most bird species. Birds can avoid nest predation or reduce predation pressure by breeding at higher latitude, showing anti-predator behaviour, selecting nest sites protected from predators, and nesting in association with protecti...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4c5214e5c8304718bf7383bfe270764a 2024-01-07T09:41:52+01:00 Is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? Spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of American Golden-Plover nests Marie-Andrée Giroux Myriam Trottier-Paquet Joël Bêty Vincent Lamarre Nicolas Lecomte 2016-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2193 https://doaj.org/article/4c5214e5c8304718bf7383bfe270764a EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/2193.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/2193/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.2193 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/4c5214e5c8304718bf7383bfe270764a PeerJ, Vol 4, p e2193 (2016) Arctic Community Nest protection Predation Shorebirds Territory Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2193 2023-12-10T01:50:05Z Predation is one of the main factors explaining nesting mortality in most bird species. Birds can avoid nest predation or reduce predation pressure by breeding at higher latitude, showing anti-predator behaviour, selecting nest sites protected from predators, and nesting in association with protective species. American Golden-Plovers (Pluvialis dominica) defend their territory by using various warning and distraction behaviours displayed at varying levels of intensity (hereafter “conspicuous behaviour”), as well as more aggressive behaviours such as aerial attacks, but only in some populations. Such antipredator behaviour has the potential to repel predators and thus benefit the neighbouring nests by decreasing their predation risk. Yet, conspicuous behaviour could also attract predators by signalling the presence of a nest. To test for the existence of a protective effect associated with the conspicuous antipredator behaviour of American Golden-Plovers, we studied the influence of proximity to plover nests on predation risk of artificial nests on Igloolik Island (Nunavut, Canada) in July 2014. We predicted that the predation risk of artificial nests would decrease with proximity to and density of plover nests. We monitored 18 plover nests and set 35 artificial nests at 30, 50, 100, 200, and 500 m from seven of those plover nests. We found that the predation risk of artificial nests increases with the density of active plover nests. We also found a significant negative effect of the distance to the nearest active protector nest on predation risk of artificial nests. Understanding how the composition and structure of shorebird communities generate spatial patterns in predation risks represents a key step to better understand the importance of these species of conservation concern in tundra food webs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Igloolik Nunavut Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Canada Igloolik ENVELOPE(-81.800,-81.800,69.378,69.378) Nunavut Protector ENVELOPE(-66.217,-66.217,-66.717,-66.717) PeerJ 4 e2193 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic Community Nest protection Predation Shorebirds Territory Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic Community Nest protection Predation Shorebirds Territory Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Marie-Andrée Giroux Myriam Trottier-Paquet Joël Bêty Vincent Lamarre Nicolas Lecomte Is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? Spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of American Golden-Plover nests |
topic_facet |
Arctic Community Nest protection Predation Shorebirds Territory Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Predation is one of the main factors explaining nesting mortality in most bird species. Birds can avoid nest predation or reduce predation pressure by breeding at higher latitude, showing anti-predator behaviour, selecting nest sites protected from predators, and nesting in association with protective species. American Golden-Plovers (Pluvialis dominica) defend their territory by using various warning and distraction behaviours displayed at varying levels of intensity (hereafter “conspicuous behaviour”), as well as more aggressive behaviours such as aerial attacks, but only in some populations. Such antipredator behaviour has the potential to repel predators and thus benefit the neighbouring nests by decreasing their predation risk. Yet, conspicuous behaviour could also attract predators by signalling the presence of a nest. To test for the existence of a protective effect associated with the conspicuous antipredator behaviour of American Golden-Plovers, we studied the influence of proximity to plover nests on predation risk of artificial nests on Igloolik Island (Nunavut, Canada) in July 2014. We predicted that the predation risk of artificial nests would decrease with proximity to and density of plover nests. We monitored 18 plover nests and set 35 artificial nests at 30, 50, 100, 200, and 500 m from seven of those plover nests. We found that the predation risk of artificial nests increases with the density of active plover nests. We also found a significant negative effect of the distance to the nearest active protector nest on predation risk of artificial nests. Understanding how the composition and structure of shorebird communities generate spatial patterns in predation risks represents a key step to better understand the importance of these species of conservation concern in tundra food webs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Marie-Andrée Giroux Myriam Trottier-Paquet Joël Bêty Vincent Lamarre Nicolas Lecomte |
author_facet |
Marie-Andrée Giroux Myriam Trottier-Paquet Joël Bêty Vincent Lamarre Nicolas Lecomte |
author_sort |
Marie-Andrée Giroux |
title |
Is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? Spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of American Golden-Plover nests |
title_short |
Is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? Spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of American Golden-Plover nests |
title_full |
Is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? Spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of American Golden-Plover nests |
title_fullStr |
Is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? Spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of American Golden-Plover nests |
title_full_unstemmed |
Is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? Spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of American Golden-Plover nests |
title_sort |
is it safe to nest near conspicuous neighbours? spatial patterns in predation risk associated with the density of american golden-plover nests |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2193 https://doaj.org/article/4c5214e5c8304718bf7383bfe270764a |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-81.800,-81.800,69.378,69.378) ENVELOPE(-66.217,-66.217,-66.717,-66.717) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Igloolik Nunavut Protector |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Igloolik Nunavut Protector |
genre |
Arctic Igloolik Nunavut Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Igloolik Nunavut Tundra |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 4, p e2193 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/2193.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/2193/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.2193 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/4c5214e5c8304718bf7383bfe270764a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2193 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
container_volume |
4 |
container_start_page |
e2193 |
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1787422674304106496 |