Across and Within-Forest Effects on Breeding Success in Mediterranean Great Tits Parus major

[摘要] Foresttypeandhabitatstructurecanhaveprofoundeffectsondifferentaspectsofavianlifehistories.Theseeffectsmay,however,stronglydifferacrossandwithinforeststhatvaryinvegetationcompositionandstructure,especiallywhenanancientforesthasbeenreplacedbyanewforest.Totestforthesedifferencesineffect,westudiedGreatTitParusmajorlife-historytraits(280firstclutches)intwoMediterraneanevergreenforestsduring2005–07:anancientHolmOakQuercusilexandareforestedpineforest.AcomparisonbetweenforestsrevealedthatfemalesbreedingintheHolmOakforeststartedlayingoneweeklater,andproducedlargerclutchesandbroodsbothathatchingandatfledging.ChicksraisedintheHolmOakforestalsofledgedinbettercondition.Withinforests,however,thereproductivesuccesswasnothigherforpairsbreedinginnestboxessurroundedbyoakswithinthepineforest,andalsoreproductivesuccesswasnotlowerinnestboxessurroundedbypineswithinoakforest.Instead,vegetationmaturityaroundnestboxes,ratherthantreespeciescomposition,affectedhatchingsuccess.Surprisingly,hatchingsuccesswashigherinnestboxessurroundedbyimmaturevegetation.Wesuggestthatthismaybeduetoalowernestpredationrateinnestboxessurroundedbyimmaturevegetation,comparedtonestboxessurroundedbymaturevegetation.WesuggestthatdifferentfactorsappeartoaffectvariationinbreedingsuccessinMediterraneanGreatTitscomparingacrossforests(e.g.foodavailability)vs.withinaforest(e.g.nestpredation).

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] Territory Vegetation Maturity