The abundance of small mammals is positively linked to survival from nest depredation but negatively linked to local recruitment of a ground nesting precocial bird,Ecology and Evolution

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The abundance of small mammals is positively linked to survival from nest depredation but negatively linked to local recruitment of a ground nesting precocial bird
Ecology and Evolution ( IF 2.3 ) Pub Date : 2022-09-11 , DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9292
Veli-Matti Pakanen ₁ , Risto Tornberg ₁ , Eveliina Airaksinen ₁ , Nelli Rönkä ₁ , Kari Koivula ₁

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Generalist predators using small mammals as their primary prey are suggested to shift hunting alternative prey such as bird nests, when small mammals are in short supply (the alternative prey hypothesis, APH). Nest survival and survival of young individuals should be positively linked to small mammal abundance and negatively linked to predator abundance, but little information exists from survival of chicks, especially until recruitment. We test these predictions of the APH using 13 years (2002–2014) of life history data from a ground nesting shorebird breeding on coastal meadows. We use small mammal abundance in the previous autumn as a proxy for spring predator abundance, mainly of mammalian predators. We examine whether small mammal abundance in the spring and previous autumn explain annual variation in nest survival from depredation and local recruitment of the southern dunlin Calidris alpina schinzii. As predicted by the APH, survival from nest predation was positively linked to spring small mammal abundance and negatively linked to autumn small mammal abundance. Importantly, local recruitment showed opposite responses. This counterintuitive result may be explained by density-dependent survival. When nest depredation rates are low, predators may show stronger numerical and functional responses to high shorebird chick abundance on coastal meadows, whereas in years of high nest depredation, few hatching chicks lure fewer predators. The opposite effects on nest and local recruitment demonstrate the diverse mechanisms by which population size variation in primary prey can affect dynamics of alternative prey populations.

中文翻译：

小型哺乳动物的丰富度与巢穴掠夺的生存呈正相关，但与地面筑巢早成鸟的本地招募呈负相关

当小型哺乳动物供应短缺时，使用小型哺乳动物作为主要猎物的通才捕食者被建议转移狩猎替代猎物，例如鸟巢（替代猎物假说，APH）。巢穴的生存和幼年个体的生存应该与小型哺乳动物的丰度呈正相关，与捕食者的丰度呈负相关，但有关雏鸟生存的信息很少，尤其是在招募之前。我们使用沿海草地上繁殖的地面筑巢滨鸟 13 年（2002-2014）的生活史数据来测试 APH 的预测。我们使用去年秋天的小型哺乳动物丰度作为春季捕食者丰度的代表，主要是哺乳动物捕食者。我们研究了春季和去年秋季小型哺乳动物的丰度是否可以解释由于南部黑腹滨鹬的掠夺和本地招募而造成的巢穴存活率的年度变化。正如 APH 预测的那样，巢穴捕食的存活率与春季小型哺乳动物的丰度呈正相关，与秋季小型哺乳动物的丰度呈负相关。重要的是，当地招聘却表现出相反的反应。这种违反直觉的结果可以用密度依赖性生存来解释。当巢穴掠夺率较低时，捕食者可能会对沿海草地上大量滨鸟雏鸟表现出更强的数量和功能反应，而在巢穴掠夺率较高的年份，很少有孵化的雏鸟会吸引较少的掠食者。对巢穴和局部补充的相反影响表明，主要猎物的种群规模变化可以影响替代猎物种群的动态。

更新日期：2022-09-13

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