Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

The Wilson Journal of Ornithology

Volume

134

Issue

2

Publisher

Taylor & Francis Inc.

Publication Date

4-9-2022

First Page

182

Last Page

192

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Abstract

Habitat patch size is sometimes negatively associated with nest predation rates, but there remains considerable variation in its effect size. The area, shape, amount of edge, and quality of vegetation associated with a patch all correlate with patch size, and each can alter nest predation rates independently; however, the picture is further complicated because the patch itself is part of a larger landscape that may influence processes within the patch. To separate the effect of patch size from other ecological correlates of nest predation, we used artificial nests within a full factorial design where treatments included small and large habitat patch sizes and low and high artificial nest densities. We incorporated treatments, measurements of vegetation structure surrounding nests, and habitat availability within the landscape into a survival analysis of 617 artificial nests across 12 study sites and 2 replicate trials. We modeled daily survival of nests and found that it was similar across patch size treatment groups. Our results suggest that the availability of additional nesting habitat in the landscape beyond fields directly bordering the nesting habitat may have diminished the effect of our patch size and nest density treatments, creating a system where large and small patches have similar predicted nest survival.

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