Cargando…

Introduced Mammalian Predators Induce Behavioural Changes in Parental Care in an Endemic New Zealand Bird

The introduction of predatory mammals to oceanic islands has led to the extinction of many endemic birds. Although introduced predators should favour changes that reduce predation risk in surviving bird species, the ability of island birds to respond to such novel changes remains unstudied. We teste...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Massaro, Melanie, Starling-Windhof, Amanda, Briskie, James V., Martin, Thomas E.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396284/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18523640
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002331
_version_ 1782155550458380288
author Massaro, Melanie
Starling-Windhof, Amanda
Briskie, James V.
Martin, Thomas E.
author_facet Massaro, Melanie
Starling-Windhof, Amanda
Briskie, James V.
Martin, Thomas E.
author_sort Massaro, Melanie
collection PubMed
description The introduction of predatory mammals to oceanic islands has led to the extinction of many endemic birds. Although introduced predators should favour changes that reduce predation risk in surviving bird species, the ability of island birds to respond to such novel changes remains unstudied. We tested whether novel predation risk imposed by introduced mammalian predators has altered the parental behaviour of the endemic New Zealand bellbird (Anthornis melanura). We examined parental behaviour of bellbirds at three woodland sites in New Zealand that differed in predation risk: 1) a mainland site with exotic predators present (high predation risk), 2) a mainland site with exotic predators experimentally removed (low risk recently) and, 3) an off-shore island where exotic predators were never introduced (low risk always). We also compared parental behaviour of bellbirds with two closely related Tasmanian honeyeaters (Phylidonyris spp.) that evolved with native nest predators (high risk always). Increased nest predation risk has been postulated to favour reduced parental activity, and we tested whether island bellbirds responded to variation in predation risk. We found that females spent more time on the nest per incubating bout with increased risk of predation, a strategy that minimised activity at the nest during incubation. Parental activity during the nestling period, measured as number of feeding visits/hr, also decreased with increasing nest predation risk across sites, and was lowest among the honeyeaters in Tasmania that evolved with native predators. These results demonstrate that some island birds are able to respond to increased risk of predation by novel predators in ways that appear adaptive. We suggest that conservation efforts may be more effective if they take advantage of the ability of island birds to respond to novel predators, especially when the elimination of exotic predators is not possible.
format Text
id pubmed-2396284
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2008
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-23962842008-06-04 Introduced Mammalian Predators Induce Behavioural Changes in Parental Care in an Endemic New Zealand Bird Massaro, Melanie Starling-Windhof, Amanda Briskie, James V. Martin, Thomas E. PLoS One Research Article The introduction of predatory mammals to oceanic islands has led to the extinction of many endemic birds. Although introduced predators should favour changes that reduce predation risk in surviving bird species, the ability of island birds to respond to such novel changes remains unstudied. We tested whether novel predation risk imposed by introduced mammalian predators has altered the parental behaviour of the endemic New Zealand bellbird (Anthornis melanura). We examined parental behaviour of bellbirds at three woodland sites in New Zealand that differed in predation risk: 1) a mainland site with exotic predators present (high predation risk), 2) a mainland site with exotic predators experimentally removed (low risk recently) and, 3) an off-shore island where exotic predators were never introduced (low risk always). We also compared parental behaviour of bellbirds with two closely related Tasmanian honeyeaters (Phylidonyris spp.) that evolved with native nest predators (high risk always). Increased nest predation risk has been postulated to favour reduced parental activity, and we tested whether island bellbirds responded to variation in predation risk. We found that females spent more time on the nest per incubating bout with increased risk of predation, a strategy that minimised activity at the nest during incubation. Parental activity during the nestling period, measured as number of feeding visits/hr, also decreased with increasing nest predation risk across sites, and was lowest among the honeyeaters in Tasmania that evolved with native predators. These results demonstrate that some island birds are able to respond to increased risk of predation by novel predators in ways that appear adaptive. We suggest that conservation efforts may be more effective if they take advantage of the ability of island birds to respond to novel predators, especially when the elimination of exotic predators is not possible. Public Library of Science 2008-06-04 /pmc/articles/PMC2396284/ /pubmed/18523640 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002331 Text en This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.
spellingShingle Research Article
Massaro, Melanie
Starling-Windhof, Amanda
Briskie, James V.
Martin, Thomas E.
Introduced Mammalian Predators Induce Behavioural Changes in Parental Care in an Endemic New Zealand Bird
title Introduced Mammalian Predators Induce Behavioural Changes in Parental Care in an Endemic New Zealand Bird
title_full Introduced Mammalian Predators Induce Behavioural Changes in Parental Care in an Endemic New Zealand Bird
title_fullStr Introduced Mammalian Predators Induce Behavioural Changes in Parental Care in an Endemic New Zealand Bird
title_full_unstemmed Introduced Mammalian Predators Induce Behavioural Changes in Parental Care in an Endemic New Zealand Bird
title_short Introduced Mammalian Predators Induce Behavioural Changes in Parental Care in an Endemic New Zealand Bird
title_sort introduced mammalian predators induce behavioural changes in parental care in an endemic new zealand bird
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396284/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18523640
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002331
work_keys_str_mv AT massaromelanie introducedmammalianpredatorsinducebehaviouralchangesinparentalcareinanendemicnewzealandbird
AT starlingwindhofamanda introducedmammalianpredatorsinducebehaviouralchangesinparentalcareinanendemicnewzealandbird
AT briskiejamesv introducedmammalianpredatorsinducebehaviouralchangesinparentalcareinanendemicnewzealandbird
AT martinthomase introducedmammalianpredatorsinducebehaviouralchangesinparentalcareinanendemicnewzealandbird