Abstract
Interference competition has proved to be a factor of successful establishment of invasive species. This type of competition may have a stronger impact when native species have temporal niche overlap with the invasive species. The ring-necked parakeet Psittacula krameri has been successfully introduced in many countries and its interspecific agonistic behavior has already been reported. The purpose of this study is to analyze the territorial and preemptive interference competition between the ring-necked parakeet and native bird species in a recently colonized area. We used an empirical approach by recording video sequences in gardens equipped with bird feeders in winter. Our results showed that the ring-necked parakeet was the most frequent species at the feeders. Several native species showed temporal niche overlap with the ring-necked parakeet, the highest overlap being with the starling Sturnus vulgaris. The starling was also the species most impacted by interference competition with the parakeet. Our study suggests that, by being most frequently present at the feeders, by demonstrating the most agonistic behavior and by hindering access to food of the other species, the ring-necked parakeet is a superior competitor and may compete with native bird species.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10164-016-0474-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Several mechanisms can play a role in the success of establishment of introduced bird species: for example high propagule pressure (Cassey et al 2004), low brood value (Sol et al 2012), monochromatism, sedentarism, large body size (Blackburn et al 2009) and some behavioral traits
Nineteen bird species were recorded feeding at bird feeders: the ring-necked parakeet (Psittacula krameri), the great tit (Parus major), the Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), the coal tit (Periparus ater), the Eurasian collared-dove (Streptopelia decaocto), the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), the European greenfinch (Chloris chloris), the rock dove (Columba livia), the common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), the European robin (Erithacus rubecula), the common starling (Sturnus vulgaris), the Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus), the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica), the Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula), the long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus), the common blackbird (Turdus merula), the Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), the brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) and the European green woodpecker (Picus viridis)
We found no significant effect of the number of parakeets present on the feeder at the moment of the event on the number of preemptive interference competition events (PICE) caused by this species (GLM, v2 = 3.48, n = 95, p [ 0.05)
Summary
Several mechanisms can play a role in the success of establishment of introduced bird species: for example high propagule pressure (Cassey et al 2004), low brood value (Sol et al 2012), monochromatism, sedentarism, large body size (Blackburn et al 2009) and some behavioral traits. Species with behavioral flexibility, linked to a larger brain, have shown a higher probability of successful establishment (Sol et al 2002). Among these traits, agonistic behaviors [sensu Johnson (1972)—fighting between animals and competitive behavior that includes threats, offensive attacks and defensive fighting] may allow primary access to scarce resources (Wilson 1975) and induce interference competition. The intensity of interspecific competition may be increased by overlap in temporal activity pattern among species that share resources (Pianka 1973)
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