| 1. |
- Arzel, Céline, et al.
(författare)
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Time use, foraging behavior and microhabitat use in a temporary guild of spring-staging dabbling ducks (Anas spp.)
- 2004
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Ingår i: Ornis Fennica. - 0030-5685. - 0030-5685 ; 81:4, s. 157-168
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dabbling ducks were studied on a eutrophic mid-flyway staging site in spring. Six species made up a temporary guild, in order of decreasing abundance they were: Teal (Anas crecca), Shoveler (A. clypeata), Mallard (A. platyrhynchos), Wigeon (A. penelope), Pintail (A. acuta), and Garganey (A. querquedula). Species richness and total abundance peaked around 20 April, whereas guild evenness was highest after the staging peak. Time use during the staging peak differed between the sexes in Mallard, but not in the other species. Mallard spent the least time foraging, whereas Shoveler and Teal foraged the most. Foraging behavior differed among species; i.e. Wigeon was mainly on land, Shoveler mainly fed from the water surface, whilst Mallard and Teal were more generalist. For the guild as a whole, shallow inshore areas were overused compared to offshore habitats. Microhabitat use of foraging birds differed among species; Pintail and Shoveler mainly fed in the offshore end of the habitat gradient, whereas Teal, Garganey, female Mallard, and especially Wigeon used shallow microhabitats. Teal and female Mallard had the highest overlap in microhabitat use, Shoveler and Wigeon had the least. Abundance of invertebrate prey was low during the staging peak, but increased sharply thereafter. This study indicates that eutrophic mid-flyway sites may offer less food to staging birds than do breeding lakes to which many of them are headed.
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| 2. |
- Elmberg, Johan, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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Abundance-distribution relationships on interacting trophic levels : the case of lake-nesting waterfowl and dytiscid water beetles
- 2000
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Ingår i: Journal of Biogeography. - 0305-0270 .- 1365-2699. - 0305-0270 ; 27:4, s. 821-827
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim To compare patterns in local abundance, regional distribution and body size in waterfowl and dytiscid beetles sampled from the same lakes. Location Thirty Swedish lakes, 56-63 degrees N. Methods Birds were censused repeatedly, at which time submerged activity traps were placed on the littoral to catch invertebrates. Avian patterns were analysed separately for four different selections of species, each motivated on functional or phylogenetical grounds. Patterns in dytiscid beetles have been described earlier in Nilsson, Elmberg & Sjoberg (1994). Results Although there were large differences between individual lakes, there was no significant latitudinal gradient at the lake level in either species richness or abundance in any of the bird groupings. Lakes which were rich in species and numbers of dytiscid beetles were also rich in species and numbers of all four waterfowl groups. Three of the four bird groups conform with the general pattern of widely distributed species being more abundant locally, as do dytiscid beetles in the same lakes. Body mass and local abundance were correlated in one of the four birds groups only, i.e. dabbling ducks, (Anas spp.). Main conclusions We find evidence for a similar and positive local abundance-distribution relationship in dytiscid beetles and waterfowl breeding in the same lakes, but no common general pattern in local abundance vs. body size.
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| 3. |
- Elmberg, Johan, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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Breeding success of sympatric dabbling ducks in relation to population density and food resources
- 2003
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Ingår i: Oikos. - 0030-1299 .- 1600-0706. - 0030-1299 ; 100:2, s. 333-341
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Breeding success in sympatric mallard Anas platyrhynchos, teal A. crecca and wigeon A. penelope in a boreal watershed in Finland was studied for 12 years. Benthic and surface-emerging prey animals were trapped to obtain annual indices of food abundance. Mallard and teal were equally abundant over the years, being roughly twice as numerous as wigeon. Pair density, brood:pair ratio and duckling:pair ratio were used to test the hypothesis that per capita breeding success decreases in a density-dependent fashion as either pair density or the number of nesting pairs per available food unit increases. In mallard we found no density-dependent patterns at all. In teal per capita brood production decreased as prey animals became relatively scarcer, but this interpretation may not be robust. In wigeon, however, there were two independent significant patterns of direct density-dependence in a temporal succession, i.e. between pair density and per capita brood production in the early part of the breeding season, and then between per capita abundance of surface-emerging insect prey and the number of ducklings per pair. Despite wide dietary overlap and frequent co-occurrence on single lakes among species in the guild, we found no evidence for interspecific density-dependent effects. We hypothesize that there is no or infrequent food limitation for breeding dabblers in this system, and that behavior may be the process behind the pattern of density-dependence in wigeon.
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| 4. |
- Elmberg, Johan, 1960-
(författare)
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Density-dependent breeding success in mallards Anas platyrhynchos on a eutrophic lake
- 2003
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Ingår i: Wildlife Biology. - 0909-6396 .- 1903-220X. - 0909-6396 ; 9:1, s. 67-73
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Census data from a eutrophic lake collected in 1987-1999 were used to study nesting and breeding success in mallards Anas platyrhynchos. In each year there were 6-19 pair counts and 13-34 brood counts. The maximum combined count of single males and pairs (i.e. on any day in any of three census periods in May) provided the best fit with subsequent estimates of breeding success. Nesting success (average brood:pair ratio = 0.52), brood size of older ducklings (mean = 5.7) as well as fledgling success (2.86 juveniles per nesting pair) were higher than in many previous mallard studies. Per capita brood production as well as per capita fledgling production was negatively density dependent, but the latter was not statistically independent of the former. There was no correlation between per capita fledgling success and duckling mortality on a year-by-year basis, hence the density-dependent pattern in breeding success appears to be mediated through variation in nesting success. The number of paired females at the start of the breeding season correlated positively with the production of fledged juveniles the year before.
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| 5. |
- Gunnarsson, Gunnar, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Why are there so many empty lakes? : food limits survival of mallard ducklings
- 2004
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Ingår i: Canadian Journal of Zoology. - 0008-4301 .- 1480-3283. ; 82:11, s. 1698-1703
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Food is an important factor affecting survival in many bird species, but this relationship has rarely been explored experimentally with respect to reproductive output of precocial birds. In a field experiment we tested the hypothesis that food abundance limits reproductive output in breeding dabbling ducks. Onto 10 oligotrophic lakes in northern Sweden we introduced one wing-clipped female mallard (Anas platyrhynchos L., 1758) and a brood of 10 newly hatched ducklings, and survival was monitored for 24 days. Food was added ad libitum at five of the lakes, but not at the other five. Duckling survival was best modelled to include a treatment effect, with higher survival on lakes with food added, and a negative effect of harsh weather. As expected, duckling survival increased nonlinearly with age. Only one female remained on control lakes after 24 days, whereas four remained on lakes with food added. This is the first experimental demonstration that food may limit survival and reproductive output in breeding precocial birds. We argue that food limitation may be one reason why duckling mortality is high and why many lakes throughout the Holarctic have no breeding dabbling ducks.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Nummi, Petri, et al.
(författare)
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Individual foraging behaviour indicates resource limitation : an experiment with mallard ducklings
- 2000
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Ingår i: Canadian Journal of Zoology. - 0008-4301 .- 1480-3283. - 0008-4301 ; 78:11, s. 1891-1895
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The linkage between individual behaviour and population processes has recently been emphasized. Within this framework we studied the effect of resource limitation on the behaviour of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) ducklings in boreal lakes. One group of 12 human-imprinted ducklings (4-16 days old) were taken to 11 "rich" lakes, i.e., with a relatively high concentration of total phosphorus in the water, and the other group of 12 ducklings to 11 "poor" lakes to forage for a period of 6 h. During this, a time budget study lasting 5 min was done of each of the 12 ducklings. In the rich lakes, ducklings fed significantly more and moved less than in the poor ones. This difference was particularly striking in above-surface feeding. Variation in foraging performance was associated with change in body mass of the ducklings: the less distance the ducklings moved and the more they fed above water, the more they gained mass. Earlier results had suggested that at least some of the boreal wetlands that lack duck broods year after year (70% of the total in one study) do so because they do not harbour enough food. Hence, it is possible that mallard populations are resource-limited at the brood stage during the breeding season.
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| 8. |
- Pöysä, Hannu, et al.
(författare)
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Nesting mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) forecast brood-stage food limitation when selecting habitat : experimental evidence
- 2000
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Ingår i: Oecologia. - 0029-8549 .- 1432-1939. - 0029-8549 ; 122:4, s. 582-586
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- By combining and reanalysing data from two independent field experiments we explore whether food limitation at the brood stage affects habitat selection in nesting mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). In an introduction experiment we found that, independent of treatment, some study lakes remained empty of wild mallard pairs ("empty lakes"), whereas on other lakes introduced birds attracted wild mallards ("attractive lakes"). In the other experiment we used mallard ducklings to address brood-stage food limitation by studying mass change of ducklings, We found that ducklings foraging on lakes that did not attract wild mallard pairs in the introduction experiment gained much less mass than those foraging on attractive lakes. In most cases ducklings even lost mass in the empty-lake foraging trials, providing strong evidence for food limitation. Therefore. lakes that remained empty of wild mallard pairs in the introduction experiment proved to be inferior brood habitats, particularly in terms of food. Our results give insight into the mechanisms underlying the general habitat selection hypotheses, specifically the ideal preemptive and conspecific attraction rules. The results further support our earlier conclusion that mallards do not use the ideal preemptive rule when selecting nesting lakes. However, conspecific attraction may not be generally applicable either, because. independent of the presence of introduced conspecifics, wild mallards somehow anticipated the low quality of the empty lakes as brood-rearing habitats and made their habitat-selection decision accordingly.
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| 9. |
- Pöysä, Hannu, et al.
(författare)
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Pair formation among experimentally introduced mallards Anas platyrhynchos reflects habitat quality
- 2001
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Ingår i: Annales Zoologici Fennici. - 0003-455X .- 1797-2450. - 0003-455X ; 38:2, s. 179-184
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using data from two independent field experiments, we address whether pair formation in introduced mallards Anas platyrhynchos is associated with habitat quality, specifically food limitation at the brood stage. Based on the concentration of total phosphorous in the water, the study lakes were divided into two groups, 'poor' and 'rich'. In one of the experiments we used mallard ducklings imprinted on humans to study mass change of ducklings in poor and rich lakes, respectively. It turned out that ducklings foraging on poor lakes gained less mass than ducklings foraging on rich lakes, the division of lakes thus reflecting habitat quality at the brood stage. Introduced mallards formed heterosexual pairs on lakes that were, in a relative sense, high-quality brood habitats, whereas they did not on lakes of low-quality brood habitat. Pair formation thus seemed to reflect the suitability of habitat for breeding.
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| 10. |
- Sjöberg, Kjell, et al.
(författare)
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Response of Mallard ducklings to variation in habitat quality : an experiment of food limitation
- 2000
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Ingår i: Ecology. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. - 0012-9658 ; 81:2, s. 329-335
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Occurrence of Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) pairs and broods was studied on 86 boreal lakes in two areas in south Finland during 1988-1997 (35 lakes) and 1989-1996 (51 lakes), and field experiments were conducted to determine whether food limitation is an important factor regulating population densities. In general, pairs and broods used and avoided the same lakes, but in both study areas, the proportion of lakes that were unoccupied every year was higher for broods (71% and 69%) than for pairs (26% and 31%). We hypothesized that lakes without breeding Mallards, and especially broods, were too poor to raise young in, and we tested that in field experiments on 22 lakes in boreal Sweden. Based on concentration of total phosphorus in the water, these lakes were divided into two groups: 11 "poor" lakes and 11 "rich" lakes. Mallard ducklings imprinted on humans were used to address brood-stage food limitation by studying mass change. Thirty-one individually marked ducklings were divided into three experimental groups: 12 ducklings were used in poor lakes, 12 ducklings in rich lakes, and 7 ducklings were used as controls receiving no experimental treatment in the field. Each group was studied in 11 daytime trials on 11 different lakes, except the control group which was kept in a pen with free access to food. Ducklings of all groups spent nights together as a big 31-individual group in the same pen and with free access to food. Ducklings foraging on poor lakes gained significantly less body mass than those feeding on rich lakes. At night, when ducklings of both groups had equal and free access to food, ducklings that had been feeding in a poor lake that day gained more mass than those that had been feeding in a rich lake. Overall, similar to 95% of daily mass gain was accounted for by daytime gain in the control group, the corresponding percentage was 35% in the rich-lake experimental group and 11% in the poor-lake experimental group. Thus, we have observational, as well as experimental, evidence to conclude that many boreal lakes are inferior breeding habitat for Mallards, especially during the brood stage. Our results suggest (1) that it is important to recognize at what stage of the yearly reproductive cycle food limitation may occur, (2) that brood stage may be more important than nesting stage for possible population limitation and regulation in breeding Mallards, and (3) that the reason why so many lakes in the boreal region lack breeding Mallards may be food limitation.
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