Experimental enlargement of nest size does not increase risk of predation or brood parasitism in the Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus

0442107 - ÚBO 2016 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Jelínek, Václav - Procházka, Petr - Honza, Marcel
Experimental enlargement of nest size does not increase risk of predation or brood parasitism in the Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus.
Ibis. Roč. 157, č. 2 (2015), s. 396-400. ISSN 0019-1019. E-ISSN 1474-919X
R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA600930903; GA ČR(CZ) GAP506/12/2404
Institutional support: RVO:68081766
Keywords : Common Cuckoo * nest survival * predation
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 1.804, year: 2015

We assessed whether nest size affects the probability of nest loss using dyads of large and small (large being twice the size of small) inactive Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus nests placed at similar sites in Great Reed Warbler territories. Large nests were not predated significantly more frequently than small nests. Experimentally enlarged active Great Reed Warbler nests suffered non-significantly higher predation compared with non-manipulated control nests. Our experiments did not support the nest-size hypothesis and suggested that nest size does not appear to be a factor affecting the risk of nest predation in this species. The probability of brood parasitism by the Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus was also unaffected by experimental nest enlargement, supporting the commonly accepted hypothesis that the Common Cuckoo searches for suitable host nests by host activity during nest building rather than nest size.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0244996