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Breeding near heterospecifics as a defence against brood parasites: can redstarts lower probability of cuckoo parasitism using neighbours? Oecologia 2022; 199:871-883. [PMID: 35978228 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-022-05242-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/07/2022] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
Breeding habitat choice based on the attraction to other species can provide valuable social information and protection benefits. In birds, species with overlapping resources can be a cue of good quality habitats; species with shared predators and/or brood parasites can increase joint vigilance or cooperative mobbing, while raptors may provide a protective umbrella against these threats. We tested whether the migratory common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) is attracted to breed near active nests of the great tit (Parus major), a keystone-information source for migrant passerine birds, or a top predator, the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis). This system is unique to test these questions because the redstart is a regular host for the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Therefore, we also evaluated other possible benefits coming from the heterospecific attraction, especially in terms of reducing brood parasitism risk. We monitored redstart occupancy rates, onset of breeding, reproductive investment, and followed nest outcomes in terms of brood parasitism, nest predation risk and overall reproductive success. Redstarts avoided breeding near goshawks, but showed neither attraction nor avoidance to breed next to great tits. Both neighbours neither reduced brood parasitism risk nor affected overall nesting success in redstarts. Redstarts may not use heterospecific attraction for settlement decisions, as associations with other species can only exist when some benefits are gained. Thus, environmental cues may be more important than social information for redstarts when breeding habitat choice. Other front-line defence strategies may have a better impact reducing breeding negative interactions, such brood parasitism.
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Krenhardt K, Markó G, Jablonszky M, Török J, Garamszegi LZ. Sex-dependent risk-taking behaviour towards different predatory stimuli in the collared flycatcher. Behav Processes 2021; 186:104360. [PMID: 33609633 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2020] [Revised: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Prey animals may react differently to predators, which can thus raise plasticity in risk-taking behaviour. We assessed the behavioural responses of nestling-feeding collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) parents towards different avian predator species (Eurasian sparrowhawk, long-eared owl) and a non-threatening songbird (song thrush) by measuring the latency to resume feeding activity. We found that the sexes differed in their responses towards the different stimuli, as males resumed nestling-provisioning sooner after the songbird than after the predator stimuli, while latency of females was not affected by the type of stimulus. Parents breeding later in the season took less risk than early breeders, and mean response also varied across the study years. We detected a considerable repeatability at the within-brood level across stimuli, and a correlation between the latency of parents attending the same nest, implying that they may adjust similarly their risk-taking behaviour to the brood value. Repeated measurements at the same brood suggested that risk-taking behaviour of flycatcher parents is a plastic trait, and sex-specific effects might be the result of sex-specific adjustments of behaviour to the perceived environmental challenge as exerted by different predators. Furthermore, the nest-specific effects highlighted that environmental effects can render consistently similar responses between the parents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katalin Krenhardt
- Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Alkotmány utca 2-4, 2163 Vácrátót, Hungary; Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Gábor Markó
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary; Department of Plant Pathology, Institute of Plant Protection, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ménesi út 44, 1118, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Mónika Jablonszky
- Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Alkotmány utca 2-4, 2163 Vácrátót, Hungary; Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary.
| | - János Török
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary; Ecology Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - László Zsolt Garamszegi
- Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Alkotmány utca 2-4, 2163 Vácrátót, Hungary; MTA-ELTE Theoretical Biology and Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A, 1117, Budapest, Hungary.
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Impact of continuous predator threat on telomere dynamics in parent and nestling pied flycatchers. Oecologia 2019; 191:757-766. [PMID: 31612326 PMCID: PMC6853860 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-019-04529-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 10/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
In addition to direct mortality, predators can have indirect effects on prey populations by affecting prey behaviour or physiology. For example, predator presence can increase stress hormone levels, which can have physiological costs. Stress exposure accelerates the shortening of telomeres (i.e. the protective caps of chromosomes) and shorter telomeres have been linked to increased mortality risk. However, the effect of perceived predation risk on telomeres is not known. We investigated the effects of continuous predator threat (nesting Eurasian pygmy owl Glaucidium passerinum) on telomere dynamics of both adult and partially cross-fostered nestling pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) in the wild. Females nesting at owl-inhabited sites showed impaired telomere maintenance between incubation and chick rearing compared to controls, and both males and females ended up with shorter telomeres at owl-inhabited sites in the end of chick rearing. On the contrary, both original and cross-fostered chicks reared in owl sites had consistently longer telomeres during growth than chicks reared at control sites. Thus, predation risk may cause a long-term cost in terms of telomeres for parents but not for their offspring. Predators may therefore affect telomere dynamics of their preys, which could have implications for their ageing rate and consequently for population dynamics.
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Amo L, Tomás G, López-García A. Role of chemical and visual cues of mammalian predators in nest defense in birds. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2281-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Habig B, Chiyo PI, Lahti DC. Male risk-taking is related to number of mates in a polygynous bird. Behav Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Møller AP, Kwiecinski Z, Tryjanowski P. Prey reduce risk-taking and abundance in the proximity of predators. Curr Zool 2016; 63:591-598. [PMID: 29492019 PMCID: PMC5804210 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zow114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2016] [Accepted: 12/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Prey have evolved anti-predator defences that reduce or eliminate the risk of predation. Predators often reproduce at specific sites over many years causing permanent threats to local prey species. Such prey may respond by moving elsewhere thereby reducing local population abundance, or they may stay put and adjust their behavior to the presence of predators. We tested these predictions by analyzing population abundance and anti-predator behavior within 100 m of and 500 m away from nests of sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus and goshawks A. gentilis for 80 species of birds. Population abundance of prey was reduced by 11% near goshawk nests and by 15% near sparrowhawk nests when compared with nearby control sites in similar habitats. Flight initiation distance (FID) of prey, estimated as the distance at which birds took flight when approached by a human, increased by 50% in the presence of hawk nests, providing evidence of adjustment of anti-predator behavior to prevailing risks of predation. Susceptibility to predation was estimated as log transformed abundance of the observed number of prey items obtained from prey remains collected around nests minus log transformed expected number of prey according to point counts of breeding birds. FID increased from 10 to 46 m with increasing susceptibility of prey species to predation by the goshawk and from 12 to 15 m with increasing susceptibility of prey species to predation by the sparrowhawk. These findings suggest that prey adjust their distribution and anti-predator behavior to the risk of predation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anders P Møller
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay Cedex F-91405, France
| | - Zbigniew Kwiecinski
- Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Science, Wojska Polskiego 71C, Poznań PL-60-625, Poland
| | - Piotr Tryjanowski
- Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Science, Wojska Polskiego 71C, Poznań PL-60-625, Poland
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Moks K, Tilgar V, Thomson RL, Calhim S, Järvistö PE, Schuett W, Velmala W, Laaksonen T. Predator encounters have spatially extensive impacts on parental behaviour in a breeding bird community. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:20160020. [PMID: 27030411 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2016] [Accepted: 02/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Predation risk has negative indirect effects on prey fitness, partly mediated through changes in behaviour. Evidence that individuals gather social information from other members of the population suggests that events in a community may impact the behaviour of distant individuals. However, spatially wide-ranging impacts on individual behaviour caused by a predator encounter elsewhere in a community have not been documented before. We investigated the effect of a predator encounter (hawk model presented at a focal nest) on the parental behaviour of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca), both at the focal nest and at nearby nests different distances from the predator encounter. We show that nest visitation of both focal pairs and nearby pairs were affected, up to 3 h and 1 h, respectively. Parents also appeared to compensate initial disrupted feeding by later increasing nest visitation rates. This is the first evidence showing that the behaviour of nearby pairs was affected away from an immediate source of risk. Our results indicate that the impacts of short-term predator encounters may immediately extend spatially to the broader community, affecting the behaviour of distant individuals. Information about predators is probably quickly spread by cues such as intra- and heterospecific alarm calls, in communities of different taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kadri Moks
- Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu 51014, Estonia
| | - Vallo Tilgar
- Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu 51014, Estonia
| | - Robert L Thomson
- Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | - Sara Calhim
- Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland
| | - Pauliina E Järvistö
- Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland
| | - Wiebke Schuett
- Zoological Institute, Biocenter Grindel, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, Hamburg 20146, Germany
| | - William Velmala
- Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland
| | - Toni Laaksonen
- Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland
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Vrublevska J, Krama T, Rantala MJ, Mierauskas P, Freeberg TM, Krams IA. Personality and density affect nest defence and nest survival in the great tit. Acta Ethol 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s10211-014-0191-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Fernández GJ, Corral MG, Llambías PE. Sexual differences in risk-taking behaviour of the Southern house wren during the nestling rearing stage. Acta Ethol 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s10211-013-0177-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Morosinotto C, Thomson RL, Korpimäki E. Plasticity in incubation behaviour under experimentally prolonged vulnerability to nest predation. BEHAVIOUR 2013. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-00003119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Nest predation is the main cause of nest failures in many bird species. To counter this, birds have evolved different behavioural strategies to decrease the visibility of their nests, thus reducing the probability of nest detection. We manipulated the long-term perception of nest predation risk in pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) by experimentally increasing the nest vulnerability to predators. We placed treatment and control nest-boxes for breeding pied flycatchers that appeared identical during the initial phase of breeding. But after the removal of a front panel, treatment boxes had an enlarged entrance hole, almost twice the initial diameter. This treatment increases actual predation risk and presumably parental perception of risk. Control boxes presented instead an entrance hole of the same size both before and after the manipulation. When breeding in enlarged entrance holes, females doubled the vigilance at the nest while males reduced the time spent at the nest, compared to pied flycatchers breeding in control boxes. Increased vulnerability of the nest site to predation risk, thus, induced pied flycatcher parents to increase nest vigilance while reducing their activity at the nest. These results highlight the existence of plasticity in incubation behaviours under long-term experimentally increased nest predation risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Morosinotto
- Department of Biology, Section of Ecology, University of Turku, FI-20014, Finland
| | - Robert L. Thomson
- Department of Biology, Section of Ecology, University of Turku, FI-20014, Finland
| | - Erkki Korpimäki
- Department of Biology, Section of Ecology, University of Turku, FI-20014, Finland
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Thomson RL, Tomás G, Forsman JT, Mönkkönen M. Manipulating individual decisions and environmental conditions reveal individual quality in decision-making and non-lethal costs of predation risk. PLoS One 2012; 7:e52226. [PMID: 23272226 PMCID: PMC3521717 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2012] [Accepted: 11/13/2012] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Habitat selection is a crucial decision for any organism. Selecting a high quality site will positively impact survival and reproductive output. Predation risk is an important component of habitat quality that is known to impact reproductive success and individual condition. However, separating the breeding consequences of decision-making of wild animals from individual quality is difficult. Individuals face reproductive decisions that often vary with quality such that low quality individuals invest less. This reduced reproductive performance could appear a cost of increased risk but may simply reflect lower quality. Thus, teasing apart the effects of individual quality and the effect of predation risk is vital to understand the physiological and reproductive costs of predation risk alone on breeding animals. In this study we alter the actual territory location decisions of pied flycatchers by moving active nests relative to breeding sparrowhawks, the main predators of adult flycatchers. We experimentally measure the non-lethal effects of predation on adults and offspring while controlling for effects of parental quality, individual territory choice and initiation of breeding. We found that chicks from high predation risk nests (<50 m of hawk) were significantly smaller than chicks from low risk nests (>200 m from hawk). However, in contrast to correlative results, females in manipulated high risk nests did not suffer decreased body condition or increased stress response (HSP60 and HSP70). Our results suggest that territory location decisions relative to breeding avian predators cause spatial gradients in individual quality. Small adjustments in territory location decisions have crucial consequences and our results confirm non-lethal costs of predation risk that were expressed in terms of smaller offspring produced. However, females did not show costs in physiological condition which suggests that part of the costs incurred by adults exposed to predation risk are quality determined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert L Thomson
- Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
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