Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture

Grassland-breeding shorebirds show widespread declines due to a reduction in breeding productivity following agricultural intensification. However, there is also concern that increasing predation causes further declines or precludes population recovery. Predation may itself be enhanced by agricultur...

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Published in:Journal of Ornithology
Main Authors: Schekkerman, H., Teunissen, W.A., Oosterveld, E.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pure.knaw.nl/portal/en/publications/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0328-4
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11755/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1
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spelling ftknawnlpublic:oai:pure.knaw.nl:publications/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1 2024-09-15T18:40:22+00:00 Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture Schekkerman, H. Teunissen, W.A. Oosterveld, E. 2009 https://pure.knaw.nl/portal/en/publications/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0328-4 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11755/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1 eng eng https://pure.knaw.nl/portal/en/publications/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Schekkerman , H , Teunissen , W A & Oosterveld , E 2009 , ' Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture ' , Journal of Ornithology , vol. 150 , no. 1 , pp. 133-145 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0328-4 article 2009 ftknawnlpublic https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0328-420.500.11755/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1 2024-07-22T23:43:54Z Grassland-breeding shorebirds show widespread declines due to a reduction in breeding productivity following agricultural intensification. However, there is also concern that increasing predation causes further declines or precludes population recovery. Predation may itself be enhanced by agriculture through changes in habitat or food availability, but little is known about the mortality of nidifugous shorebird chicks. We studied mortality by radio-tagging 662 chicks of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus in 15 farmland sites in the Netherlands. Tagging and handling had no effect on the condition and survival of godwit chicks, but body condition was reduced by 6-11% in lapwing chicks wearing a tag for longer than 3 days. Fledging success was 0 - 24% in both species. Mortality was highest in young chicks but remained considerable until after fledging. Losses were traced mostly to predators (70 - 85%; 15 species, predominantly birds), but a! t least 5 - 10% were due to mowing, and 10 - 20% were due to other causes, including entrapment in ditches and starvation. Chicks staying in fields that were cut before the next radio check were found much more often as mowing victims and somewhat more often as prey remains than chicks in fields not cut, indicating that predation includes a limited amount of scavenging. The predation hazard for godwit chicks was higher in recently cut or grazed fields than in the tall, uncut grasslands they preferred, while that for lapwing chicks was lowest in grazed fields. In godwit chicks, poor body condition increased mortality risk, not only from starvation but also from other causes. Predation on godwit chicks was thus enhanced by intensive farming through a decline in the availability of cover, augmented by a reduced body condition, possibly due to food availability problems. Changes in farming practice may therefore help reduce predation pressure, though the observed interactions e! xplained only part of the high predation rate in godwits and n! ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Vanellus vanellus black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Research Portal (KNAW) Journal of Ornithology 150 1
institution Open Polar
collection Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Research Portal (KNAW)
op_collection_id ftknawnlpublic
language English
description Grassland-breeding shorebirds show widespread declines due to a reduction in breeding productivity following agricultural intensification. However, there is also concern that increasing predation causes further declines or precludes population recovery. Predation may itself be enhanced by agriculture through changes in habitat or food availability, but little is known about the mortality of nidifugous shorebird chicks. We studied mortality by radio-tagging 662 chicks of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus in 15 farmland sites in the Netherlands. Tagging and handling had no effect on the condition and survival of godwit chicks, but body condition was reduced by 6-11% in lapwing chicks wearing a tag for longer than 3 days. Fledging success was 0 - 24% in both species. Mortality was highest in young chicks but remained considerable until after fledging. Losses were traced mostly to predators (70 - 85%; 15 species, predominantly birds), but a! t least 5 - 10% were due to mowing, and 10 - 20% were due to other causes, including entrapment in ditches and starvation. Chicks staying in fields that were cut before the next radio check were found much more often as mowing victims and somewhat more often as prey remains than chicks in fields not cut, indicating that predation includes a limited amount of scavenging. The predation hazard for godwit chicks was higher in recently cut or grazed fields than in the tall, uncut grasslands they preferred, while that for lapwing chicks was lowest in grazed fields. In godwit chicks, poor body condition increased mortality risk, not only from starvation but also from other causes. Predation on godwit chicks was thus enhanced by intensive farming through a decline in the availability of cover, augmented by a reduced body condition, possibly due to food availability problems. Changes in farming practice may therefore help reduce predation pressure, though the observed interactions e! xplained only part of the high predation rate in godwits and n! ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Schekkerman, H.
Teunissen, W.A.
Oosterveld, E.
spellingShingle Schekkerman, H.
Teunissen, W.A.
Oosterveld, E.
Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture
author_facet Schekkerman, H.
Teunissen, W.A.
Oosterveld, E.
author_sort Schekkerman, H.
title Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture
title_short Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture
title_full Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture
title_fullStr Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture
title_full_unstemmed Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture
title_sort mortality of black-tailed godwit limosa limosa and northern lapwing vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture
publishDate 2009
url https://pure.knaw.nl/portal/en/publications/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0328-4
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11755/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1
genre Vanellus vanellus
black-tailed godwit
Limosa limosa
genre_facet Vanellus vanellus
black-tailed godwit
Limosa limosa
op_source Schekkerman , H , Teunissen , W A & Oosterveld , E 2009 , ' Mortality of Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks in wet grasslands: influence of predation and agriculture ' , Journal of Ornithology , vol. 150 , no. 1 , pp. 133-145 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0328-4
op_relation https://pure.knaw.nl/portal/en/publications/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0328-420.500.11755/661e03c8-6546-4fc5-b658-7ddbad770ca1
container_title Journal of Ornithology
container_volume 150
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