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Breeding habitat selection in an obligate beach bird: a test of the food resource hypothesis
journal contribution
posted on 2015-01-01, 00:00 authored by Anna Cuttriss, G S Maguire, G Ehmke, Mike WestonMike WestonThe food resource hypothesis of breeding habitat selection in beach-nesting birds suggests that birds breed at sites with more prey to meet the increased energetic requirements associated with breeding. We compare prey resources using pitfall traps and core samples at breeding sites and absence sites of the eastern population of hooded plover, Thinornis rubricollis rubricollis, which, in this part of its range, is a threatened obligate beach bird. Breeding sites had higher abundances, equivalent species richness, and different assemblages of invertebrate prey compared with absence sites. Assemblages at breeding sites were characterised by more isopods, and fewer beetles of the family Phycosecidae. Breeding habitat selection by plovers appears to be associated with selection for sites with more food, and any process that degrades food resources at a site (e.g. kelp harvesting or marine pollution events) may reduce the likelihood of occupancy of that site by breeding birds.
History
Journal
Marine and freshwater researchVolume
66Issue
9Pagination
841 - 846Publisher
CSIRO PublishingLocation
Melbourne, Vic.Publisher DOI
ISSN
1323-1650eISSN
1448-6059Language
engPublication classification
C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2015, CSIRO PublishingUsage metrics
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