Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Within-season use of public and private information on predation risk in nest-site selection

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Ornithology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nest-site selection can be an important preemptive defense strategy for songbirds to reduce the risk of predation and is likely most effective when it incorporates both public and private information about predation. We examined the degree to which two songbirds, the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis, n = 160 pairs) and the Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens, n = 70 pairs), changed nest-site attributes (e.g., nest height, nest concealment, and vegetation density surrounding the nests) between subsequent within-season nesting attempts from 2006 to 2010 in Ohio. Specifically, we asked if birds adjusted nest-sites based upon information such as prior experience with nest predation, predator abundance, and predation risk. We predicted that, in cases where previous nests failed (private information) and/or sites had a greater risk of nest predation (public information), birds would make greater changes in nest characteristics such as nest height, concealment, and the vegetation density surrounding the nest to make presumably safer nest sites. Only cardinals, not flycatchers, showed evidence of using private and public information in changing nest-site attributes. There were greater changes in nest height when previous nests failed, and greater changes in nest concealment at riskier sites compared to those with low daily predation rates. These findings suggest that species differ in behavioral plasticity and use of information in ways that can both reflect and predict their ability to adapt to novel conditions.

Zusammenfassung

Verwendung von öffentlichen und nicht-öffentlichen Informationen zum Prädationsrisiko zur Nistplatzwahl innerhalb einer Brutsaison

Nistplatzwahl kann eine wichtige vorbeugende Strategie für Singvögel sein, um das Prädationsrisiko zu reduzieren und ist wahrscheinlich am effektivsten, wenn dazu sowohl öffentliche als auch nicht-öffentliche Informationen über Prädation berücksichtigt werden. Wir untersuchten, in welchem Maß zwei Singvogelarten, der Rotkardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis, n = 160 Paare) und der Buchentyrann (Empidonax virescens, n = 70 Paare), verschiedene Parameter in ihrer Nistplatzwahl (z. B. Nesthöhe, Sichtbarkeit des Nests und Vegetationsdichte im Umfeld des Nests) zwischen verschiedenen Brutversuchen innerhalb einer Saison zwischen 2006 und 2010 in Ohio änderten. Insbesondere untersuchten wir, ob die Vögel ihre Nistplätze anhand von Informationen wie frühere Erfahrung mit Prädation, Abundanz von Prädatoren und Prädationsrisiko anpassten. Wir sagten voraus, dass in Fällen, in denen eine Brut aufgrund von Prädation scheiterte (nicht-öffentliche Information) und/oder ein Ort ein größeres Prädationsrisiko hatte (öffentliche Information), die Vögel größere Änderungen in den Parametern ihrer Nistplätze zeigten, wie Nesthöhe, Sichtbarkeit des Nests und die Vegetationsdichte im Umfeld des Nests, um mutmaßlich sicherere Nistplätze zu erreichen. Nur der Rotkardinal, nicht aber der Buchentyrann, zeigte Hinweise auf die Verwendung von nicht-öffentlichen und öffentlichen Informationen für eine Veränderung der Parameter in der Nistplatzwahl. Es gab größere Änderungen in der Nesthöhe, wenn frühere Bruten misslangen und größere Änderungen in der Sichtbarkeit des Nests an risikoreicheren Orten im Vergleich mit solchen mit niedriger täglicher Prädationsrate. Diese Feststellungen deuten darauf hin, dass Arten sich in einer Art und Weise in der Plastizität ihres Verhaltens und dem Gebrauch von Informationen unterscheiden, die ihre Fähigkeit zur Anpassung an neue Bedingungen sowohl widerspiegeln als auch voraussagen kann.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bakermans MH, Rodewald AD (2006) Scale-dependent habitat use of Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens) in central Ohio. Auk 123:368–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Betts MG, Hadley AS, Rodenhouse N, Nocera JJ (2008) Social information trumps vegetation structure in breeding-site selection by a migrant songbird. Proc R Soc Lond B 275:2257–2263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bildstein KL, Meyer K (2000) Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipter striatus). The birds of North America, no. 482. In: Poole A, Gill F (eds) The birds of North America, Philadelphia

  • Burhans DE, Thompson FR (1998) Effects of time and nest-site characteristics on concealment of songbird nests. Condor 100:663–672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burhans DE, Dearborn D, Thompson FR, Faaborg J (2002) Factors affecting predation at songbird nests in old fields. J Wildl Manag 66:240–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Chalfoun AD, Martin TE (2007) Assessments of habitat preferences and quality depend on spatial scale and metrics of fitness. J Appl Ecol 44:983–992

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalfoun AD, Martin TE (2010a) Facultative nest patch shifts in response to nest predation risk in the Brewer’s sparrow: a “win-stay, lose-switch” strategy? Oecologia 163:885–892

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chalfoun AD, Martin TE (2010b) Parental investment decisions in response to ambient nest-predation risk versus actual predation on the prior nest. Condor 112:701–710

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapa-Vargas L, Robinson SK (2006) Nesting success of a songbird in a complex floodplain forest landscape in Illinois, USA: local fragmentation versus vegetation structure. Landsc Ecol 21:525–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen JN, Liu NF, Yan C, An B (2011) Plasticity in nest site selection of Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros): a response to human disturbance. J Ornithol 152:603–608

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiron F, Julliard R (2007) Responses of songbirds to magpie reduction in an urban habitat. J Wildl Manag 71:2624–2631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colombelli-Negrel D, Kleindorfer S (2009) Nest height, nest concealment, and predator type predict nest predation in superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus). Ecol Res 24:921–928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis SK (2005) Nest-site selection patterns and the influence of vegetation on nest survival of mixed-grass prairie passerines. Condor 107:605–616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doligez B, Danchin E, Clobert J (2002) Public information and breeding habitat selection in a wild bird population. Science 297:1168–1170

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eggers S, Griesser M, Nystrand M, Ekman J (2006) Predation risk induces changes in nest-site selection and clutch size in the Siberian jay. Proc R Soc Lond B 273:701–706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filliater TS, Breitwisch R, Nealen PM (1994) Predation on northern-cardinal nests—does choice of nest site matter. Condor 96:761–768

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fontaine JJ, Martin TE (2006) Habitat selection responses of parents to offspring predation risk: an experimental test. Am Nat 168:811–818

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forsman JT, Martin TE (2009) Habitat selection for parasite-free space by hosts of parasitic cowbirds. Oikos 118:464–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forstmeier W, Weiss I (2004) Adaptive plasticity in nest-site selection in response to changing predation risk. Oikos 104:487–499

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greig-Smith PW (1982) Dispersal between nest-sites by stonechats Saxicola torquata in relation to previous breeding success. Ornis Scand 13:232–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazler KR, Drumtra DEW, Marshall MR, Cooper RJ, Hamel PB (2004) Common, but commonly overlooked: red-bellied woodpeckers as songbird nest predators. Southeast Nat 3:467–474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazler KR, Amacher AJ, Lancia RA, Gerwin JA (2006) Factors influencing Acadian Flycatcher nesting success in an intensively managed forest landscape. J Wildl Manag 70:532–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoover JP (2003) Decision rules for site fidelity in a migratory bird, the prothonotary warbler. Ecology 84:416–430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoover JP, Brittingham MC (1998) Nest-site selection and nesting success of Wood Thrushes. Wilson Bull 110:375–383

    Google Scholar 

  • Houston CS, Smith DG, Rohner C (1998) Great-horned Owl (Bubo virginianus). The birds of North America, no. 372. In: Poole A, Gill F (eds) The Birds of North America, Philadelphia

  • Howlett JS, Stutchbury BJM (1997) Within-season dispersal, nest-site modification, and predation in renesting hooded warblers. Wilson Bull 109:643–649

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson MS (1997) The effect of age on nest concealment and its complimentary effect on production of Wood Thrush. Wilson Bull 109:68–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly JP (1993) The effect of nest predation on habitat selection by dusky flycatchers in limber pine-juniper woodland. Condor 95:83–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight RL, Fitzner RE (1985) Human disturbance and nest site placement in black-billed magpies. J Field Ornithol 56:153–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Leston LF, Rodewald AD (2006) Are urban forests ecological traps for understory birds? An examination using Northern Cardinals. Biol Cons 131:566–574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima SL (2009) Predators and the breeding bird: behavioral and reproductive flexibility under the risk of predation. Biol Rev 84:485–513

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maklakov AA, Simone I, Gonzalez-Voyer A, Ronn J, Kolm N (2011) Brains and the city: big-brained passerine birds succeed in urban environments. Biol Lett 7:730–732

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin TE (1993) Nest predation among vegetation layers and habitat types—revising the dogmas. Am Nat 141:897–913

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martin TE, Briskie JV (2009) Predation on dependent offspring: a review of the consequences for mean expression and phenotypic plasticity in avian life history traits. Ann NY Acad Sci 1168:201–217

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin TE, Roper JJ (1988) Nest predation and nest-site selection of a western population of the hermit thrush. Condor 90:51–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marzluff JM, Withey JC, Whittaker KA, Oleyar MD, Unfried TM, Rullman S, DeLap J (2007) Consequences of habitat utilization by nest predators and breeding songbirds across multiple scales in an urbanizing landscape. Condor 109:516–534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moller AP (2010) Interspecific variation in fear responses predicts urbanization in birds. Behav Ecol 21:365–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morosinotto C, Thomson RL, Korpimaki E (2010) Habitat selection as an antipredator behaviour in a multi-predator landscape: all enemies are not equal. J Anim Ecol 79:327–333

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nocera JJ, Forbes GJ, Giraldeau LA (2006) Inadvertent social information in breeding site selection of natal dispersing birds. Proc R Soc Lond B 273:349–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowak M, Sigmund K (1993) A strategy of win stay, lose shift that outperforms tit-for-tat in the prisoners-dilemma game. Nature 364:56–58

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parejo D, White J, Clobert J, Dreiss A, Danchin E (2007) Blue tits use fledgling quantity and quality as public information in breeding site choice. Ecology 88:2373–2382

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peluc SI, Sillett TS, Rotenberry JT, Ghalambor CK (2008) Adaptive phenotypic plasticity in an island songbird exposed to a novel predation risk. Behav Ecol 19:830–835

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rangen SA, Clark RG, Hobson KA (1999) Influence of nest-site vegetation and predator community on the success of artificial songbird nests. Can J Zool 77:1676–1681

    Google Scholar 

  • Remes V (2005) Birds and rodents destroy different nests: a study of Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla using the removal of nest concealment. Ibis 147:213–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricklefs RE (1969) An analysis of nesting mortality in birds. Smithson Contrib Zool 9:1–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald AD, Bakermans MJ (2006) What is the appropriate paradigm for riparian forest conservation? Biol Conserv 128:193–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald AD, Kearns LJ (2011) Shifts in dominant nest predators along a rural-to-urban landscape gradient. Condor 113:899–906

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald AD, Shustack DP (2008a) Consumer resource matching in urbanizing landscapes: are synanthropic species over-matching? Ecology 89:515–521

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald AD, Shustack DP (2008b) Urban flight: understanding individual and population-level responses of Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds to urbanization. J Anim Ecol 77:83–91

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald AD, Shustack DP, Hitchcock LE (2010) Exotic shrubs as ephemeral ecological traps for nesting birds. Biol Invas 12:33–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodewald AD, Kearns LJ, Shustack DP (2011) Anthropogenic resource subsidies decouple predator-prey relationships. Ecol Appl 21:936–943

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt KA (2001) Site fidelity in habitats with contrasting levels of nest predation and brood parasitism. Evol Ecol Res 3:633–648

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt KA (2004) Site fidelity in temporally correlated environments enhances population persistence. Ecol Lett 7:176–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt KA, Whelan CJ (1998) Predator-mediated interactions between and within guilds of nesting songbirds: experimental and observational evidence. Am Nat 152:393–402

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt KA, Whelan CJ (2010) Nesting in an uncertain world: information and sampling the future. Oikos 119:245–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt KA, Ostfeld RS, Smyth KN (2006) Spatial heterogeneity in predator activity, nest survivorship, and nest-site selection in two forest thrushes. Oecologia 148:22–29

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt KA, Dall SRX, van Gils JA (2010) The ecology of information: an overview on the ecological significance of making informed decisions. Oikos 119:304–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shackelford CE, Brown RE, Connor RN (2000) Red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus). The birds of North America, no. 500. In: Poole A, Gill F (eds) The birds of North America, Philadelphia

  • Shaffer TL (2004) A unified approach to analyzing nest success. Auk 121:526–540

    Google Scholar 

  • Shustack DP, Rodewald AD (2010) Attenuated nesting season of the Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens) in urban forests. Auk 127:421–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith-Castro JR, Rodewald AD (2010a) Behavioral responses of nesting birds to human disturbance along recreational trails. J Field Ornithol 81:130–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith-Castro JR, Rodewald AD (2010b) Effects of recreational trails on Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) in forested urban parks. Nat Areas Jnl 30:328–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sol D, Duncan RP, Blackburn TM, Cassey P, Lefebvre L (2005) Big brains, enhanced cognition, and response of birds to novel environments. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 102:5460–5465

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stracey CM (2011) Resolving the urban nest predator paradox: the role of alternative foods for nest predators. Biol Conserv 144:1545–1552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Via S, Lande R (1985) Genotype-environment interaction and the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Evolution 39:505–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner RH, Danchin E (2010) A taxonomy of biological information. Oikos 119:203–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weidinger K (2002) Interactive effects of concealment, parental behaviour and predators on the survival of open passerine nests. J Anim Ecol 71:424–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weidinger K (2009) Nest predators of woodland open-nesting songbirds in central Europe. Ibis 151:352–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead DR, Taylor T (2002) Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens). The birds of North America, no. 614. In: Poole A, Gill F (eds) The birds of North America, Philadelphia

  • Wilson RR, Cooper RJ (1998) Acadian Flycatcher nest placement: does placement influence reproductive success? Condor 100:673–679

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zanette L, Jenkins B (2000) Nesting success and nest predators in forest fragments: a study using real and artificial nests. Auk 117:445–454

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by NSF DEB-0340879 and DEB-0639429 to A. D. Rodewald, Ohio Division of Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the State Wildlife Grant program, and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. We are grateful for the dedication and hard work of I. Ausprey, T. Jones, D. Narango, S. Rose, D. Shustack, and J. Smith-Castro with this research. We also appreciate the work of many other students, field assistants, and volunteers that have contributed to this project. Franklin County Metro Parks, Columbus Recreation and Parks, Ohio Division of Wildlife, Gahanna Parks and Recreation, Kenneth and Rosemary Caldwell, and the Ohio Wesleyan University generously granted permission to use their lands as sites. We thank A. Janke, S. Matthews, C. Whelan, and one anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments and suggestions. This study was conducted using protocol approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Ohio State University and within the laws established by the United States of America.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH, 43202, USA

    Laura J. Kearns & Amanda D. Rodewald

Authors
  1. Laura J. Kearns
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Amanda D. Rodewald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura J. Kearns.

Additional information

Communicated by T. Gottschalk.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kearns, L.J., Rodewald, A.D. Within-season use of public and private information on predation risk in nest-site selection. J Ornithol 154, 163–172 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-012-0882-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-012-0882-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation