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Clutch-size variation in Western Palaearctic secondary hole-nesting passerine birds in relation to nest box design.

Anders Pape Møller ^{1, *} Frank Adriaensen ² Alexandr V. Artemyev ³ Jerzy Bańbura ⁴ Emilio Barba ⁵ Clotilde Biard ⁶ Jacques Blondel ⁷ Zihad Bouslama ⁸ Jean-Charles Bouvier ⁹ Jordi Camprodon ¹⁰ Francesco Cecere Alexis Chaine ¹¹ Anne Charmantier ⁷ Motti Charter ^{12, 13} Mariusz Cichoń ¹⁴ Camillo Cusimano ¹⁵ Dorota Czeszczewik ¹⁶ Blandine Doligez ¹⁷ Claire Doutrelant ⁷ Anna Dubiec ¹⁸ Marcel Eens ¹⁹ Tapio Eeva ²⁰ Bruno Faivre ²¹ Peter N. Ferns ²² Jukka T. Forsman ²³ Eduardo García-Del-Rey ²⁴ Aya Goldshtein ²⁵ Anne E. Goodenough ²⁶ Andrew G. Gosler ²⁷ Iga Góźdź ¹⁸ Arnaud Grégoire ⁷ Lars Gustafsson ²⁸ Ian R. Hartley ²⁹ Philipp Heeb ³⁰ Shelley A. Hinsley ³¹ Paul Isenmann ⁷ Staffan Jacob ³⁰ Antero Järvinen ³² Rimvydas Juškaitis ³³ Wojciech Kania ³⁴ Erkki Korpimäki ²⁰ Indrikis Krams ³⁵ Toni Laaksonen ²⁰ Bernard Leclercq Esa Lehikoinen ²⁰ Olli Loukola ²³ Arne Lundberg ²⁸ Mark C. Mainwaring ²⁹ Raivo Mänd ³⁵ Bruno Massa ¹⁵ Tomasz D. Mazgajski ¹⁸ Santiago Merino ³⁶ Cezary Mitrus ³⁷ Mikko Mönkkönen ^{7, 38} Judith Morales-Fernaz ³⁶ Juan Moreno ³⁶ Xavier Morin ⁷ Ruedi G. Nager ³⁹ Sven G. Nilsson ⁴⁰ Ana C. Norte ⁴¹ Markku Orell ²³ Philippe Perret ⁷ Christopher M. Perrins ²⁷ Carla S. Pimentel ⁴² Rianne Pinxten ¹⁹ Ilze Priedniece ⁴³ Marie-Claude Quidoz ⁷ Vladimir Remeš ⁴⁴ Heinz Richner ⁴⁵ Hugo Robles ² Andrew Russell ¹¹ Seppo Rytkönen ²³ Juan Carlos Senar ⁴⁶ Janne T. Seppänen ²³ Luis Pascoal da Silva ⁴¹ Tore Slagsvold ⁴⁷ Tapio Solonen ⁴⁸ Alberto Sorace ⁴⁹ Martyn J. Stenning ⁵⁰ János Török ⁵¹ Piotr Tryjanowski ⁵² Arie J. van Noordwijk ⁵³ Mikael von Numers ⁵⁴ Wiesaw Walankiewicz ¹⁶ Marcel M. Lambrechts ⁷

* Corresponding author

1 ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution

2 Evolutionary Ecology Group

3 Institute of Biology

4 Department of Experimental Zoology & Evolutionary Biology

5 Terrestrial Vertebrates Research Unit "Cavanilles"

6 Laboratoire Ecologie et évolution

7 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive

8 Research Laboratory "Ecology of Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems"

9 PSH - Unité de recherche Plantes et Systèmes de Culture Horticoles

10 Biodiversity Department

11 SEEM - Station d’Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis

12 University of Haifa [Haifa]

13 Society for the Protection of Nature

14 Institute of Environmental Sciences

15 Stazione Inanellamento c/o Dipartimento SEN-FIMIZO

16 Department of Zoology

17 Evolution, adaptation et comportement

Département écologie évolutive [LBBE]

18 Museum and Institute of Zoology

19 Department of Biology (Ethology)

20 Section of Ecology

21 BGS - Biogéosciences [UMR 6282] [Dijon]

22 School of Biosciences [Cardiff]

23 Department of Biology

24 Departamento de Ecología

25 Tel Aviv University [Tel Aviv]

26 Department of Natural and Social Sciences

27 Department of Zoology

28 Evolutionary Biology Centre

29 Lancaster Environment Centre

30 EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique

31 The Lodge

32 Kilpisjarvi Biological Station

33 Institute of Ecology of Nature Research Centre

34 Ornithological Station

35 Institute of Ecology & Earth Sciences

36 Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva

37 Department of Zoology

38 JYU - Department of Biological and Environmental Science [Jyväskylä Univ]

39 Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine

40 Animal Ecology

41 Department of Life Sciences

42 Centro de Estudos Florestais

43 Latvian Fund for Nature

44 Laboratory of Ornithology

45 IEE - Institute of Ecology & Evolution

46 Unidad Asociada CSIC de Ecología Evolutiva y de la Conducta

47 Department of Biosciences [Oslo]

48 Luontotutkimus Solonen Oy

49 SROPU

50 School of Life Sciences

51 Behavioral Ecology Group

52 Institute of Zoology

53 Netherlands Institute of Ecology

54 Environmental and Marine Biology

Abstract : Secondary hole-nesting birds that do not construct nest holes themselves and hence regularly breed in nest boxes constitute important model systems for field studies in many biological disciplines with hundreds of scientists and amateurs involved. Those research groups are spread over wide geographic areas that experience considerable variation in environmental conditions, and researchers provide nest boxes of varying designs that may inadvertently introduce spatial and temporal variation in reproductive parameters. We quantified the relationship between mean clutch size and nest box size and material after controlling for a range of environmental variables in four of the most widely used model species in the Western Palaearctic: great tit Parus major, blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus, pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca and collared flycatcher F.albicollis from 365 populations and 79610 clutches. Nest floor area and nest box material varied non-randomly across latitudes and longitudes, showing that scientists did not adopt a random box design. Clutch size increased with nest floor area in great tits, but not in blue tits and flycatchers. Clutch size of blue tits was larger in wooden than in concrete nest boxes. These findings demonstrate that the size of nest boxes and material used to construct nest boxes can differentially affect clutch size in different species. The findings also suggest that the nest box design may affect not only focal species, but also indirectly other species through the effects of nest box design on productivity and therefore potentially population density and hence interspecific competition.

Keywords : latitude longitude nest box floor area habitat geographic location nest box material

Document type :

Journal articles

Domain :

Life Sciences [q-bio] / Ecology, environment

Environmental Sciences / Biodiversity and Ecology

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https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00994449
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Submitted on : Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - 2:56:19 PM
Last modification on : Monday, July 4, 2022 - 10:15:41 AM