Abstract
In ground nesting upland birds, reproductive activities contribute to elevated predation risk, so females presumably use multiple strategies to ensure nest success. Identification of drivers reducing predation risk has primarily focused on evaluating vegetative conditions at nest sites, but behavioral decisions manifested through movements during incubation may be additional drivers of nest survival. However, our understanding of how movements during incubation impact nest survival is limited for most ground nesting birds. Using GPS data collected from female Eastern Wild Turkeys (n = 206), we evaluated nest survival as it relates to movement behaviors during incubation, including recess frequency, distance traveled during recesses, and habitat selection during recess movements. We identified 9,361 movements off nests and 6,529 recess events based on approximately 62,065 hr of incubation data, and estimated mean nest attentiveness of 84.0%. The numbers of recesses taken daily were variable across females (range: 1‒7). Nest survival modeling indicated that increased cumulative distance moved during recesses each day was the primary driver of positive daily nest survival. Our results suggest behavioral decisions are influencing trade‐offs between nest survival and adult female survival during incubation to reduce predation risk, specifically through adjustments to distances traveled during recesses.
Highlights
Annual reproduction is the primary driver of avian population dynamics across a wide variety of species and systems (Martin, 1995)
We found that failed nests (64% pine) were associated with greater percentages of pine than successful nests (56%) in the 99% utilization distributions (UD) (t = 1.981, df = 114.73, p = .050; Table 7) greater percentages of pine within the 50% UD were associated with reduced nest success
Our results indicated that the average number of days a female wild turkey incubated a nest was 9 days, and 75% of nesting attempts failed by day 14
Summary
Annual reproduction is the primary driver of avian population dynamics across a wide variety of species and systems (Martin, 1995). Reproductive activities are known to be expensive to avian species, resulting in periods of high predation risk, reduced energy acquisition and impacts to embryonic development (Deeming & Reynolds, 2015; Fontaine & Martin, 2006; Skutch, 1962). Birds use a wide array of behavioral strategies during incubation to ensure nest success in dynamic landscapes (Deeming, 2002). Evaluations of likely drivers of reproductive success have regularly focused on vegetative conditions at the nest site (Batary & Baldi, 2004; Ghalambor & Martin, 2002; Martin, 1993), as vegetation is thought to mitigate predation risk and influence nest-site selection (Orians & Wittenberger, 1991). Behavioral activities undertaken during incubation may mitigate risk of nest loss (Deeming, 2002; Martin, 1993)
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