Nesting Success of a Songbird in a Complex Floodplain Forest Landscape in llinois, USA: Local Fragmentation vs. Vegetation Structure |
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Authors: | Leonardo Chapa-Vargas Scott K Robinson |
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Institution: | (1) Division of Environmental Engineering and Natural Resources Management, Potosine Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Camino a la Presa San José 2055 Lomas 4a Sección, CP, 78231 San Luis Potosí SLP, Mexico;(2) Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Museum Road, P.O. Box 117800, Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA |
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Abstract: | Measuring edge effects in complex landscapes is often confounded by the presence of different kinds of natural and anthropogenic
edges, each of which may act differently on organisms inhabiting habitat patches. In such landscapes, proportions of different
habitats surrounding nests within patches often vary and may affect nesting success independently of distance to edges. We
developed methods to measure and study the effects of multiple edges and varying habitat composition around nests on the breeding
success of the Acadian flycatcher (Empidonax virescens), an understory, open-cup nesting songbird. The Kaskaskia River in Southwestern Illinois was our study area and consists
of wide (>1000-m) floodplain corridors embedded in an agricultural matrix with a variety of natural (wide rivers, backwater
swamps, and oxbow lakes) and anthropogenic (internal openings, and agricultural) habitats. We also measured vegetation structure
around each nest. Nest survival increased with increasing nest concealment, and probabilities of brood parasitism increased
with increasing distances from anthropogenic and natural water-related openings surrounding nests. The magnitude of these
effects was small, probably because the landscape is saturated with nest predators and brood parasites. These results illustrate
the importance of considering both larger landscape context and details of natural and anthropogenic disturbances when studying
the effects of habitat fragmentation on wildlife. |
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Keywords: | Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax virescens Habitat fragmentation Illinois Kaskaskia River Bottoms Landscape composition Multiple scale edge effects |
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