Nest predation pressure on Chinese Bulbuls decreases along the urbanization gradient in Hangzhou, China

Xingmin Chen; Qin Zhang; Sisi Lan; Shuihua Chen; Yanping Wang

doi:10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100049

Avian Research 2022, 13(3): 100049 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100049

Research Article |

Open Access | Issue | Published: 31 July 2022

Nest predation pressure on Chinese Bulbuls decreases along the urbanization gradient in Hangzhou, China

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Xingmin Chen^{^a}, Qin Zhang^{^b}, Sisi Lan^{^b}, Shuihua Chen^{^c}(

), Yanping Wang^{^a}(

)

Laboratory of Island Biogeography and Conservation Biology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China

College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, 321004, China

Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, Hangzhou, 310012, China

Keywords:

Urbanization, Nest predation, Artificial nest, Natural nest, Shrub height

Cite this article:

Chen X, Zhang Q, Lan S, et al. Nest predation pressure on Chinese Bulbuls decreases along the urbanization gradient in Hangzhou, China. Avian Research, 2022, 13(3): 100049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100049

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Abstract

Nest predation is an essential factor affecting bird population density, reproductive ecology and life cycle. However, there are still contradictory results about how nest predation pressure changes with urbanization. One of the reasons for the controversy is that previous studies often use artificial nests to investigate nest predation, but the result of artificial nests is often biased and contrary to that of natural nests. Therefore, it is important to perform nest predation experiments simultaneously with both natural and artificial nests. In this study, we examined the change of nest predation pressure on the Chinese Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) along the urbanization gradient in Hangzhou, China. We detected 148 natural nests of Chinese Bulbuls and continuously monitored them in two continuous breeding seasons from 2012 to 2013. After the breeding season, we placed artificial eggs in natural nests of Chinese Bulbuls to investigate the changes in nest predation pressure and used infrared cameras to record the predators. We then calculated the urbanization synthetic index (USI) as the measure of the degree of urbanization and examined its relationship with nest predation pressure. We found that no matter whether natural nests or artificial eggs were used, the nest predation pressure always decreased significantly with the degree of urbanization. The average height of shrubs within 10 m of the nest differed significantly between the predated and unpredated nests, which also affected the risk of nest predation. Our study highlights the importance of using natural and artificial nests simultaneously to conduct nest predation experiments, which can reduce the bias or errors caused by only using artificial nests. We also recommend the use of infrared cameras in future nest predation studies, which has obvious advantages in monitoring and identifying potential predators.

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Nest predation pressure on Chinese Bulbuls decreases along the urbanization gradient in Hangzhou, China

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Xingmin Chen^{^a}, Qin Zhang^{^b}, Sisi Lan^{^b}, Shuihua Chen^{^c}(

), Yanping Wang^{^a}(

)

Laboratory of Island Biogeography and Conservation Biology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China

College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, 321004, China

Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, Hangzhou, 310012, China

Abstract

Keywords: Urbanization, Nest predation, Artificial nest, Natural nest, Shrub height

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Publication history

Received: 01 May 2022

Revised: 04 July 2022

Accepted: 05 July 2022

Published: 31 July 2022

Issue date: September 2022

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Acknowledgements

We thank three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript. We are grateful for Qin Huang, Yiwei Lu, Tengda Zhu, Yafei Ma, Jianwei Zhou, Chao Chen, Xiang Yu, Wen Xu, Mingming Hu and Chenchen Zhu for their field assistance in finding and monitoring bird nests. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31971545, 31071908).

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