Estimating nest-switching in free-ranging wild birds: an assessment of the most common methodologies, illustrated in the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Sondra Turjeman*, Ute Eggers, Shay Rotics, Wolfgang Fiedler, Alejandro Centeno-Cuadros, Michael Kaatz, Damaris Zurell, Florian Jeltsch, Martin Wikelski, Ran Nathan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Reliable estimates of nest-switching are required to study avian mating systems and manage wild populations, yet different estimation methods have rarely been integrated or assessed. Through a literature review and case study, we reveal that three common methods for assessing nest-switching blend different components, producing a wide range of estimates. Careful component definition and reporting are essential to properly estimate this behaviour.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)1110-1119
Number of pages10
JournalIbis
Volume163
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was funded by DIP grants (DFG) NA 846/1-1 and WI3576/1-1 to R.N., F.J. and M.W. S.T. was supported by a doctoral scholarship from the Clore Israel Foundation. We also acknowledge financial support from the Adelina and Massimo Della Pergola Chair of Life Sciences and the Minerva Center for Movement Ecology to R.N. and support of DFG-GRK grant 2118/1 in the framework of the BioMove Research Training Group to F.J. We would like to acknowledge the contribution of all volunteers and ringers who assisting in sample collection, including Michael Arens, Joerg Dummer, Mario Firla, Thomas Könning, Thoralf Schaffer, Falk Schulz, Bernd Weisbach, Alexandra Hinz, Roxana Grohnert, Jan Philipp Wevers, Simon, Jens Lehmann, Karin Spaeth, Anne Schindhelm, Merlin Schaefer, Robert Sieg, Dete Krüger and Esther Bazant. We would also like to express our gratitude to Meira Shlepakov of the Hebrew University Center for Genomic Technologies for her genotyping work, Ron Efrat for help with data processing, and Nadav Ganot with Sasha Pekarsky for help with map-generation and QGIS.

Funding Information:
This research was funded by DIP grants (DFG) NA 846/1‐1 and WI3576/1‐1 to R.N., F.J. and M.W. S.T. was supported by a doctoral scholarship from the Clore Israel Foundation. We also acknowledge financial support from the Adelina and Massimo Della Pergola Chair of Life Sciences and the Minerva Center for Movement Ecology to R.N. and support of DFG‐GRK grant 2118/1 in the framework of the BioMove Research Training Group to F.J.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 British Ornithologists' Union

Keywords

  • GPS tracking
  • breeding dispersal
  • genetic kinship analysis
  • multi-method comparison
  • nest fidelity
  • ring resighting
  • standardized methodologies

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