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Effects of Nest Characteristics and Black Rat Rattus Rattus Predation on Daily Survival Rates of Great Egret Ardea Alba Nest

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Effects of Nest Characteristics and Black Rat Rattus Rattus Predation on Daily Survival Rates of Great Egret Ardea Alba Nest Effects of nest characteristics and black rat Rattus rattus predation on daily survival rates of great egret Ardea alba nests in mangrove forest in the Hara Biosphere Reserve, the Persian Gulf Authors: Elnaz Neinavaz, Ahmad Barati, Jessi L. Brown, Farzaneh Etezadifar, and Besat Emami Source: Wildlife Biology, 19(3) : 240-247 Published By: Nordic Board for Wildlife Research URL: https://doi.org/10.2981/12-087 BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Complete website, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/terms-of-use. Usage of BioOne Complete content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Wildlife-Biology on 04 Apr 2019 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use Wildl. Biol. 19: 240-247 (2013) Original article DOI: 10.2981/12-087 Ó Wildlife Biology, NKV www.wildlifebiology.com Effects of nest characteristics and black rat Rattus rattus predation on daily survival rates of great egret Ardea alba nests in mangrove forest in the Hara Biosphere Reserve, the Persian Gulf Elnaz Neinavaz, Ahmad Barati, Jessi L. Brown, Farzaneh Etezadifar & Besat Emami We estimated variations in breeding parameters and daily survival rates (DSR) of nests of the great egret Ardea alba during 2008-2009 in the Hara Biosphere Reserve, the Persian Gulf. We modelled and compared nesting success using an information-theoretic approach to assess effects of nest site and temporal covariates on DSR. The mean DSR was 0.9896 (95% CI: 0.9931-0.9842) and the overallP nest survival was 0.49 (0.35-0.63). Distance to black rat Rattus rattus nest sites was the most important covariate ( xi ¼ 0.96) affecting the survival of great egret nests whereas distance to other great egret and western reef heron Egretta gularis nests was less influential. Neither nest diameter nor nest age effectively explained variation in nesting success. We concluded that black rat predation is the most important factor affecting the breeding performance of great egrets in the Hara Biosphere Reserve, and control measures should be undertaken to reduce the negative effects of this invasive rodent on the heron colonies of mangrove forests in the Persian Gulf. Key words: Ardea alba, daily survival rate, great egret, nest survival model, Persian Gulf, Program MARK Elnaz Neinavaz, Farzaneh Etezadifar & Besat Emami, Department of Environment and Energy, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran - e-mail: [email protected] (Elnaz Neinavaz); f.etezadifar@myune. edu.au (Farzaneh Etezadifar); [email protected] (Besat Emami) Ahmad Barati, Behavioural and Physiological Ecology Research Centre, Zoology, University of New England, Australia - e-mail: [email protected] Jessi L. Brown, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, USA - e-mail: [email protected] Corresponding author: Elnaz Neinavaz Received 16 August 2012, accepted 13 March 2013 Associate Editor: Johnny Kahlert Nest-site selection and nest characteristics are known probability of the nest being flooded (Lauro & Burger to influence reproductive success of wild birds (Bur- 1989). Interactions between different nest-site selec- ger 1985, Burger & Gochfeld 1988). A suitable and tion criteria result in a horizontal and vertical strat- secure nesting habitat provides protection against ification in which vegetation type and structure have mammalian and avian predators, offers stability and been found to be very important in nest-site selection materials to support and construct the nest and is (McCrimmon 1978, Beaver et al. 1980). Hilaluddin et accessible to rich foraging areas within the foraging al. (2003) and Kazantzidis et al. (1997) reported that range (Fasola & Alieri 1992, Hafner 1997, Lamsiri & nest site selection critically affected breeding success Gale 2008). Heron species vary in their habitat in certain habitats. Etezadifar et al. (2010) found that preferences, diet and behaviour, but they have similar the height of nests from the ground was an important fundamental requirements for nesting (Hilaluddin et factor influencing breeding success of western reef al. 2006). The location of a nest may have important heron Egretta gularis in the Hara Biosphere Reserve, consequences for breeding success, potentially influ- the Persian Gulf. A study of grey heron Ardea cinerea encing predation risk (Regehr et al. 1998) or the breeding colonies identified significant relationships 240 Ó WILDLIFE BIOLOGY 19:3 (2013) Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Wildlife-Biology on 04 Apr 2019 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use between nesting success and both tree height and tree 2008). In our study area, black rats were found to species (Ayas 2008). Nest diameter also affects the reduce breeding success of western reef heron daily survival rate (DSR) of the nest of some species (Etezadifar et al. 2010, Ghadirian 2007). We exam- (Sperry 2006). Thus, different factors may drive ined the nest site and temporal factors related to the conflicting selection criteria so that nest-site selection daily survival rate of nests in a colony of great egrets becomes a compromise between the factors that most in southeastern Iran where the species nest in strongly influence DSR. association with western reef herons (Brown & Aside from Herring et al. (2010), who indicated Sandwith 2007, Gill & Wright 2006). Our primary that nest stage, region, Julian date, water depth and objective was to evaluate the influence of nest-site the quadratic form of water recession rate influenced variables on the nesting success of great egrets, with the DSR of great egret nests in Florida Everglades, particular interest paid to the potential negative USA, the influence of nest site variables on the DSR impact of black rat predation. There is some evidence of great egret nests has not been studied in detail. of advantages of nest height among Ardeidae (Fasola Until recently, the breeding range of this species in & Alieri 1992, Ashoori & Barati 2013). Nest diameter Iran spanned the southern provinces of Fars and is also reported to be influential in nesting success in Hormozgan (Scott 2007). However, the impacts of waterbirds (Childress & Bennun 2000, Barati & an ongoing drought (2006-present) and habitat Behrouzi-Rad 2010). However, since black rats can destruction have limited the breeding range of the easily climb to any of the nests in our study area, it great egret to the Hara Biosphere Reserve in the would be expected that nest height and diameter are Hormozgan Province, the Persian Gulf. The Hara poor predictors of nesting success. Biosphere Reserve colony is considered the largest The ability to distinguish between high- and low- breeding colony of great egrets in the Persian Gulf quality nest sites might allow the formulation of ef- (Porter et al.1996, Bird Life International 2007, Scott fective conservation measures and improved future 2007) with about 38 and 39 breeding pairs in 2008 management of heron nesting colonies. and 2009 breeding seasons, respectively. However, in this habitat invasive species are reported to affect breeding success of herons (Etezadifar et al. 2010). Material and methods The black rat Rattus rattus,aninvasivespecieswitha high impact on the reproduction of forest birds and The Hara Biosphere Reserve (situated at 26840’- breeding seabirds, is the only rodent species that 278N, 55821’-55852’E; Fig.1) is a protected area con- occurs in the mangrove forests of the Hara Biosphere sisting of mangrove Avicennia marina forests and is Reserve (King 2005, Pryde et al. 2005, Jones et al. located on the northern shores of the Persian Gulf Figure 1. Location of the study area of great egret nesting attempts in southern Iran, Per- sian Gulf. Ó WILDLIFE BIOLOGY 19:3 (2013) 241 Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Wildlife-Biology on 04 Apr 2019 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use (Neinavaz et al. 2010, Ghasemi et al. 2011). The Hara level was at its lowest point. In addition, we measured Biosphere Reserve includes the Khouran Strait, distances from the center of each nest to the center of which is situated between Qeshm Island and the nearest western reef heron, great egret and black rat mainland of Iran. It covers an area of about 85,000 nests. The black rats built their nests among the ha, making up 86% of the total area of mangrove mangrove forests of the Hara Biosphere Reserve forests in Iran. The whole region has been selected as using the foliage of mangrove trees. We could identify a wetland of international importance (Dehghani et black rat nests based on their shapes and the presence al. 2010, Ghasemi et al. 2012) and the mangrove of rats, eggshells and bird feathers (Etezadifar et al. forests host one of the largest breeding colonies of 2010). At the colony, we recognised seven rat nests. grey herons and great egrets in Iran and the Middle Because of the dense foliage and the canopy cover, we East (Evans 1994, Scott 1995). The plant cover in the could not determine the position of each nest by using region is composed of halophyte plant communities GPS, so we considered the center of the nest for our which extend to the high-tide zone and mangrove measurements. We were unable to use GPS to mark communities which are used as a nesting habitat by the position of each nest due to the density, canopy herons and egrets (Scott 1995, Etezadifar et al.
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