Nest concealment is associated with reproductive traits across sympatric bird species.

Jinlong Liu,Guopan Li,Han Yan,Shaobin Li

doi:10.1002/ece3.8117

Jinlong Liu, Guopan Li + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8117

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Abstract

Nest‐site characteristics are thought to play an important role in reproductive performance in birds (e.g., influencing reproductive success and predation risk). Nest‐site characteristics such as concealment may be particularly critical at high elevation where nests are exposed to challenging environmental conditions. In this study, we conducted both conventional and phylogenetically controlled analyses to investigate whether nest concealment affected several reproductive traits across 21 sympatric bird species living on Tibet Plateau (3,400 m altitude). Qualitatively equivalent results were reached in analyses, regardless of phylogenetic controls. We found that clutch size, incubation period, nestling period, and nest success were strongly and positively associated with nest concealment across species. Our study addressed such a high‐elevation bird community that is lacking in the previous studies. This study adds to theory that while there are a few exceptions, overall evidence supports a positive effect of nest concealment on reproductive performance across coexisting alpine species.

Highlights

Nest predation is the primary cause of nest failure across a wide diversity of bird species and habitats, so nest concealment can be important for birds to enhance their reproductive performance (Martin, 1993; Ricklefs, 1969; Roff, 2002; Signorell et al, 2010)
We investigated the relationship between nest concealment and four reproductive traits across sympatric species using both phylogenetically informed and conventional analyses
Equivalent results were yielded by both approaches: All the reproductive traits were strongly and positively correlated with nest concealment across 21 bird species

Summary

Introduction

Nest predation is the primary cause of nest failure across a wide diversity of bird species and habitats, so nest concealment (including nest characteristics such as location and appearance) can be important for birds to enhance their reproductive performance (Martin, 1993; Ricklefs, 1969; Roff, 2002; Signorell et al, 2010). Some studies found positive effects of nest concealment on reproductive performance (Grendelmeier et al, 2015; Martin, 1992; Martin et al, 2000; Remeš, 2005; Weidinger, 2002), whereas others found no effects (Burhans et al, 2002; Howlett & Stutchbury, 1997; Hu et al, 2017; Li, Qin, et al, 2018; Smith et al, 2018) This difference can be attributed to factors such as predator type (olfactory vs visual).

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