Abstract
Suitability of degraded areas as breeding habitats can be tested through assessment of nest predation rates. In this study we estimated nest success in relation to several potential predictors of nest survival in the Stripe-tailed Yellow-finch (Sicalis citrina) breeding in abandoned mining pits at Brasília National Park. We monitored 73 nests during the 2007-breeding season. Predation was the main cause of nest failure (n = 48, 66%); while six nests were abandoned (8%) and 19 nests produced young (26%). Mayfield's daily survival rates and nest success were 0.94 and 23%, respectively. Our results from nest survival models on program MARK indicated that daily survival rates increase linearly towards the end of the breeding season and decrease as nests aged. None of the nest individual covariates we tested - nest height, nest size, nest substrate, and edge effect - were important predictors of nest survival; however, nests placed on the most common plant tended to have higher survival probabilities. Also, there was no observer effect on daily survival rates. Our study suggests that abandoned mining pits may be suitable alternative breeding habitats for Striped-tailed Yellow-finches since nest survival rates were similar to other studies in the central cerrado region.
Highlights
The migrant Stripe-tailed Yellow-finch (Sicalis citrina Pelzeln, 1870) inhabits rocky mountain slopes and open cerrados, and has a widespread distribution in SouthAmerica (Hilty and Brown, 1986; Ridgely and Tudor 1989; Sick 1997)
We provide Mayfield’s estimates of daily survival rates (DSR), nest survival probability, and confidence intervals based on the output of the null model of the analysis in program MARK
(βlinear = 0.02, success were 0.94 (SE) = 0.007, confidence interval (CI) = 0.003, 0.03) and nest age covariate. These results indicate that nests are more likely to be successful towards the end of the nesting season and that the risk of nest predation increases towards fledging date
Summary
The migrant Stripe-tailed Yellow-finch (Sicalis citrina Pelzeln, 1870) inhabits rocky mountain slopes and open cerrados, and has a widespread distribution in SouthAmerica (Hilty and Brown, 1986; Ridgely and Tudor 1989; Sick 1997). The migrant Stripe-tailed Yellow-finch (Sicalis citrina Pelzeln, 1870) inhabits rocky mountain slopes and open cerrados, and has a widespread distribution in South. In central Brazilian cerrado the species is commonly found in degraded areas Pits) during the breeding season (Dec-May; Gressler and Marini, 2011). Artificial habitats may be important for conservation and management as they provide breeding habitat diversity and may be the only option when natural habitats have been destroyed or converted due to human land use (Catry et al, 2004). Habitats chosen by birds for nesting must exhibit features that lead to congruence between habitat preference and reproductive success (Chalfoun and Schmidt, 2012), of which nest survival is an important component (Martin, 1993a)
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Schedule a callMore From: Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia
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