Impact of introduced nest predators on insular endemic birds: the case of the Azores Woodpigeon ( Columba palumbus azori
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Impact of introduced nest predators on insular endemic birds: the case of the Azores Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus azorica) Lucas Lamelas-Lo´pez David Gonc¸alves
. Re´mi Fontaine
. Paulo A. V. Borges
.
Received: 4 February 2020 / Accepted: 13 August 2020 Ó Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Nest predation is the main cause of reproductive failure in many bird species. Identification of predators is crucial to understand and interpret the factors that affect nest predation. Although nest predation is a natural top-down regulator of bird populations, its effect is usually more dramatic when introduced predators are involved, particularly in oceanic islands. In the Azores archipelago, the endemic Azores Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus azorica) is believed to be under high predation Lucas Lamelas-Lo´pez and Re´mi Fontaine have contributed equally to this work.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02343-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. L. Lamelas-Lo´pez (&) P. A. V. Borges cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Universidade dos Ac¸ores, Angra do Heroı´smo, Azores, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] R. Fontaine D. Gonc¸alves CIBIO - Centro de Investigac¸a˜o em Biodiversidade e Recursos Gene´ticos, InBIO Laborato´rio Associado, Universidade do Porto, Vaira˜o, Portugal
pressure. We used motion-triggered cameras to monitor nests of the Azores Woodpigeon on two islands of the archipelago (Pico and Terceira) in order to identify nest predators, quantify their impact on this bird and better understand the determinants of predation rates. We sampled 56 nests, during 569 camera trap days, obtaining around 125,000 photographic records. Two introduced predators were identified, black rat (on both islands) and feral cat (only on Terceira), both depredating eggs and chicks. Breeding success, calculated using the Mayfield method, was estimated at 19% on Pico and only 9% on Terceira. Overall, predation was the main cause of breeding failure. General linear models showed that predation rates are positively correlated to fruit availability and negatively correlated to elevation, human population density and adult Woodpigeon attendance at the nest. Edge distance, nest height or cover of trees did not affect predation. Camera traps also provided additional and useful information on predator behaviour when approaching a nest and on daily activity patterns of both adult Woodpigeon and nest predators. Keywords Avian predation Camera-trapping Felis catus Oceanic islands Rattus rattus
D. Gonc¸alves Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Cieˆncias, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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L. Lamelas-Lo´pez et al.
Introduction Nest predation is the main cause of reproductive failure in many bird s
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