Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator
Understanding how habitat structure relates to reproductive performance of species can help identify what habitats are of the highest quality for a given species and thereby guide effective management. Here, we compared the influence of prey abundance and the amount of shelter area on the relationsh...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03060 https://doaj.org/article/647f8996788444959694b625f3ff5a40 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:647f8996788444959694b625f3ff5a40 2023-05-15T13:00:29+02:00 Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator Salvador Rebollo Lorenzo Pérez‐Camacho Sara Martínez‐Hesterkamp Luis Tapia José M. Fernández‐Pereira Ignacio Morales‐Castilla 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03060 https://doaj.org/article/647f8996788444959694b625f3ff5a40 EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03060 https://doaj.org/toc/0908-8857 https://doaj.org/toc/1600-048X 1600-048X 0908-8857 doi:10.1111/jav.03060 https://doaj.org/article/647f8996788444959694b625f3ff5a40 Journal of Avian Biology, Vol 2023, Iss 3-4, Pp n/a-n/a (2023) Accipiter gentilis biotic disturbances breeding success corvids feeding ecology hunting efficiency Biology (General) QH301-705.5 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03060 2023-04-09T00:35:03Z Understanding how habitat structure relates to reproductive performance of species can help identify what habitats are of the highest quality for a given species and thereby guide effective management. Here, we compared the influence of prey abundance and the amount of shelter area on the relationship between habitat and breeding performance. We focused on the forest‐dwelling northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis in an agroforestry system. Using structural equation modelling, we tested the associations between reproductive performance and three explanatory factors: habitat structure, abundance of food resources or levels of mobbing disturbance, and prey supply to the nest. Our results suggest that habitat structure influences reproductive performance through shelter rather than through prey abundance. During the study period, forested habitats in the breeding territories provided shelter to the goshawk, reducing disturbance by carrion crows Corvus corone, which acted as large, aggressive, social mobbers. Decreased disturbance increased prey supply to the nest, probably because it favored food accessibility and male goshawk foraging efficiency. Habitat was not significantly associated with quality of the breeders, both in terms of body size and seniority in the territories. Our findings suggest that reproductive performance, and therefore habitat quality, may depend more on sheltered access to food resources than on the amount of food available. Our observation that mobbers decrease predator foraging efficiency highlights the possibility of designing effective, socially acceptable predator management strategies to protect sensitive domestic prey. Article in Journal/Newspaper Accipiter gentilis Northern Goshawk Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Journal of Avian Biology 2023 3-4 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Accipiter gentilis biotic disturbances breeding success corvids feeding ecology hunting efficiency Biology (General) QH301-705.5 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
Accipiter gentilis biotic disturbances breeding success corvids feeding ecology hunting efficiency Biology (General) QH301-705.5 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Salvador Rebollo Lorenzo Pérez‐Camacho Sara Martínez‐Hesterkamp Luis Tapia José M. Fernández‐Pereira Ignacio Morales‐Castilla Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator |
topic_facet |
Accipiter gentilis biotic disturbances breeding success corvids feeding ecology hunting efficiency Biology (General) QH301-705.5 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Understanding how habitat structure relates to reproductive performance of species can help identify what habitats are of the highest quality for a given species and thereby guide effective management. Here, we compared the influence of prey abundance and the amount of shelter area on the relationship between habitat and breeding performance. We focused on the forest‐dwelling northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis in an agroforestry system. Using structural equation modelling, we tested the associations between reproductive performance and three explanatory factors: habitat structure, abundance of food resources or levels of mobbing disturbance, and prey supply to the nest. Our results suggest that habitat structure influences reproductive performance through shelter rather than through prey abundance. During the study period, forested habitats in the breeding territories provided shelter to the goshawk, reducing disturbance by carrion crows Corvus corone, which acted as large, aggressive, social mobbers. Decreased disturbance increased prey supply to the nest, probably because it favored food accessibility and male goshawk foraging efficiency. Habitat was not significantly associated with quality of the breeders, both in terms of body size and seniority in the territories. Our findings suggest that reproductive performance, and therefore habitat quality, may depend more on sheltered access to food resources than on the amount of food available. Our observation that mobbers decrease predator foraging efficiency highlights the possibility of designing effective, socially acceptable predator management strategies to protect sensitive domestic prey. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Salvador Rebollo Lorenzo Pérez‐Camacho Sara Martínez‐Hesterkamp Luis Tapia José M. Fernández‐Pereira Ignacio Morales‐Castilla |
author_facet |
Salvador Rebollo Lorenzo Pérez‐Camacho Sara Martínez‐Hesterkamp Luis Tapia José M. Fernández‐Pereira Ignacio Morales‐Castilla |
author_sort |
Salvador Rebollo |
title |
Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator |
title_short |
Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator |
title_full |
Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator |
title_fullStr |
Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator |
title_full_unstemmed |
Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator |
title_sort |
anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03060 https://doaj.org/article/647f8996788444959694b625f3ff5a40 |
genre |
Accipiter gentilis Northern Goshawk |
genre_facet |
Accipiter gentilis Northern Goshawk |
op_source |
Journal of Avian Biology, Vol 2023, Iss 3-4, Pp n/a-n/a (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03060 https://doaj.org/toc/0908-8857 https://doaj.org/toc/1600-048X 1600-048X 0908-8857 doi:10.1111/jav.03060 https://doaj.org/article/647f8996788444959694b625f3ff5a40 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03060 |
container_title |
Journal of Avian Biology |
container_volume |
2023 |
container_issue |
3-4 |
_version_ |
1766251894942990336 |