Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US

Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) were extirpated from most of the continental United States by widespread use of the pesticide DDT in the 1960s. Populations have rebounded with banning of the pesticide and successful implementation of captive breeding and hacking programs. An essentially new pop...

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Published in:PLOS ONE
Main Authors: Caballero, Isabel C., Bates, John M., Hennen, Mary, Ashley, Mary V.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4946791/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27420915
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159054
id ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4946791
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spelling ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4946791 2023-05-15T16:10:00+02:00 Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US Caballero, Isabel C. Bates, John M. Hennen, Mary Ashley, Mary V. 2016-07-15 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4946791/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27420915 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159054 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4946791/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27420915 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159054 © 2016 Caballero et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2016 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159054 2016-08-14T00:04:27Z Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) were extirpated from most of the continental United States by widespread use of the pesticide DDT in the 1960s. Populations have rebounded with banning of the pesticide and successful implementation of captive breeding and hacking programs. An essentially new population of Midwestern peregrines now exists that is comprised almost entirely of urban-nesting birds. The new population is considered to be of mixed ancestry, occurs at relatively high densities, and has nest sites in close proximity, factors that could influence breeding behaviors including mate fidelity, nest-site fidelity, extra-pair paternity, and natal dispersal. We investigated these behaviors using a combination of field observations and DNA microsatellite genotyping. Data for eleven microsatellite DNA markers, including eight newly developed for the species, were analyzed from a total of 350 birds from nine Midwestern cities, representing 149 broods collected at 20 nest sites. To document breeding behavior, parentage was inferred by likelihood techniques when both parents were sampled and by parental genotype reconstruction when only one parent was sampled. In cases where neither parent was sampled, a sibship reconstruction approach was used. We found high mate fidelity and nest-site fidelity in urban peregrines; in 122 nesting attempts made by long-term breeders, only 12 (9.8%) mate changes and six (4.9%) nest-site changes occurred. Only one brood (of 35 tested) revealed extra-pair paternity and involved a male tending two offspring of a recently acquired mate. Natal dispersal patterns indicated that female peregrines dispersed on average 226 km, almost twice the distance of males (average 124 km). Despite the novel environment of cities, our results suggest that monogamous breeding, nest fidelity, and female natal dispersal are high in urban peregrines, not unlike other raptors living in non-urban habitats. Text Falco peregrinus PubMed Central (PMC) PLOS ONE 11 7 e0159054
institution Open Polar
collection PubMed Central (PMC)
op_collection_id ftpubmed
language English
topic Research Article
spellingShingle Research Article
Caballero, Isabel C.
Bates, John M.
Hennen, Mary
Ashley, Mary V.
Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US
topic_facet Research Article
description Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) were extirpated from most of the continental United States by widespread use of the pesticide DDT in the 1960s. Populations have rebounded with banning of the pesticide and successful implementation of captive breeding and hacking programs. An essentially new population of Midwestern peregrines now exists that is comprised almost entirely of urban-nesting birds. The new population is considered to be of mixed ancestry, occurs at relatively high densities, and has nest sites in close proximity, factors that could influence breeding behaviors including mate fidelity, nest-site fidelity, extra-pair paternity, and natal dispersal. We investigated these behaviors using a combination of field observations and DNA microsatellite genotyping. Data for eleven microsatellite DNA markers, including eight newly developed for the species, were analyzed from a total of 350 birds from nine Midwestern cities, representing 149 broods collected at 20 nest sites. To document breeding behavior, parentage was inferred by likelihood techniques when both parents were sampled and by parental genotype reconstruction when only one parent was sampled. In cases where neither parent was sampled, a sibship reconstruction approach was used. We found high mate fidelity and nest-site fidelity in urban peregrines; in 122 nesting attempts made by long-term breeders, only 12 (9.8%) mate changes and six (4.9%) nest-site changes occurred. Only one brood (of 35 tested) revealed extra-pair paternity and involved a male tending two offspring of a recently acquired mate. Natal dispersal patterns indicated that female peregrines dispersed on average 226 km, almost twice the distance of males (average 124 km). Despite the novel environment of cities, our results suggest that monogamous breeding, nest fidelity, and female natal dispersal are high in urban peregrines, not unlike other raptors living in non-urban habitats.
format Text
author Caballero, Isabel C.
Bates, John M.
Hennen, Mary
Ashley, Mary V.
author_facet Caballero, Isabel C.
Bates, John M.
Hennen, Mary
Ashley, Mary V.
author_sort Caballero, Isabel C.
title Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US
title_short Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US
title_full Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US
title_fullStr Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US
title_full_unstemmed Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US
title_sort sex in the city: breeding behavior of urban peregrine falcons in the midwestern us
publisher Public Library of Science
publishDate 2016
url http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4946791/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27420915
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159054
genre Falco peregrinus
genre_facet Falco peregrinus
op_relation http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4946791/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27420915
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159054
op_rights © 2016 Caballero et al
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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