Dataset Information

Nesting season, nest age, and disturbance, but not habitat characteristics, affect nest survival of Chinese grouse.

ABSTRACT: Nest survival is a vital component of breeding success, and affects population dynamics, as the loss of nests is the main cause of reproductive failure in birds. To identify key factors for the conservation of Chinese grouse Tetrastes sewerzowi, we tested the effects of nest concealment, nest age, nesting season, and habitat edge on nest daily survival rate (DSR) of Chinese grouse using 54 nests found at Lianhuashan Nature Reserve, Gansu, China, 2009-2012. Moreover, we controlled for the effect of research activity by testing the effect of nest checks on DSR. Overall, mammal predation caused 93% of nest failures. DSR was 0.986?±?0.0038 in the constant model and the probability of a nest with a full clutch of 6 eggs surviving the entire 40-day nesting period was 0.526?±?0.090. DSR decreased with nest age and nesting season (from 19 May to 3 July). Mammals instead of avian predators being responsible for most nest failures suggest that nest sites might be selected to avoid visual avian predators, but not olfactory mammalian predators, and the decreasing trend of DSR with nest age and nesting season could attribute to an additive exposure effect. Moreover, nest checks conducted by investigators significantly lowered nest DSR, especially during the late period of nesting season and for older nests. Mammalian predators might locate the nest site by following the investigator's odor. Based on our results, we suggest that the late incubation stage is a particularly vulnerable period for nest survival of Chinese grouse and those researchers should adjust their activities around nests to balance the need of acquiring accurate data and decreasing nest predation risk.

SUBMITTER: Zhao JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7245005 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Nesting season, nest age, and disturbance, but not habitat characteristics, affect nest survival of Chinese grouse.

Zhao Jin-Ming JM Yang Chen C Lou Ying-Qiang YQ Shi Mei M Fang Yun Y Sun Yue-Hua YH

Current zoology 20190517 1

Nest survival is a vital component of breeding success, and affects population dynamics, as the loss of nests is the main cause of reproductive failure in birds. To identify key factors for the conservation of Chinese grouse <i>Tetrastes sewerzowi</i>, we tested the effects of nest concealment, nest age, nesting season, and habitat edge on nest daily survival rate (DSR) of Chinese grouse using 54 nests found at Lianhuashan Nature Reserve, Gansu, China, 2009-2012. Moreover, we controlled for the ...[more]

PMID: 32467702

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Project description:BackgroundBalancing animal conservation and human use of the landscape is an ongoing scientific and practical challenge throughout the world. We investigated reproductive success in female greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) relative to seasonal patterns of resource selection, with the larger goal of developing a spatially-explicit framework for managing human activity and sage-grouse conservation at the landscape level.Methodology/principal findingsWe integrated field-observation, Global Positioning Systems telemetry, and statistical modeling to quantify the spatial pattern of occurrence and risk during nesting and brood-rearing. We linked occurrence and risk models to provide spatially-explicit indices of habitat-performance relationships. As part of the analysis, we offer novel biological information on resource selection during egg-laying, incubation, and night. The spatial pattern of occurrence during all reproductive phases was driven largely by selection or avoidance of terrain features and vegetation, with little variation explained by anthropogenic features. Specifically, sage-grouse consistently avoided rough terrain, selected for moderate shrub cover at the patch level (within 90 m(2)), and selected for mesic habitat in mid and late brood-rearing phases. In contrast, risk of nest and brood failure was structured by proximity to anthropogenic features including natural gas wells and human-created mesic areas, as well as vegetation features such as shrub cover.Conclusions/significanceRisk in this and perhaps other human-modified landscapes is a top-down (i.e., human-mediated) process that would most effectively be minimized by developing a better understanding of specific mechanisms (e.g., predator subsidization) driving observed patterns, and using habitat-performance indices such as those developed herein for spatially-explicit guidance of conservation intervention. Working under the hypothesis that industrial activity structures risk by enhancing predator abundance or effectiveness, we offer specific recommendations for maintaining high-performance habitat and reducing low-performance habitat, particularly relative to the nesting phase, by managing key high-risk anthropogenic features such as industrial infrastructure and water developments.

Dataset Information

Nesting season, nest age, and disturbance, but not habitat characteristics, affect nest survival of Chinese grouse.

Publications

Nesting season, nest age, and disturbance, but not habitat characteristics, affect nest survival of Chinese grouse.

Similar Datasets

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