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Nest platforms increase aggressive behavior in common loons

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Abstract

Artificial manipulations of habitat, such as those that incorporate adding nesting boxes or platforms for birds, often enhance the breeding success of threatened animals. However, such alterations are likely to have unintended behavioral and ecological effects that might negatively impact the target species or others in its community. We conducted a controlled study to investigate the effect of artificial nesting platforms on aggressive behavior and reproductive success of male common loons (Gavia immer). Males residing on territories to which platforms were added produced longer territorial “yodels” (reflecting willingness to escalate a contest), experienced increased levels of confrontation and aggression with territorial intruders, and experienced increased rates of territorial displacement by intruders. Surprisingly, males of treatment territories also experienced lower productivity. Therefore, in addition to providing novel empirical support of sequential assessment models of animal contests that predict contest escalation with increasing resource quality, this study is one of a few to show that tools used to mitigate habitat loss can negatively impact reproductive fitness in a threatened species.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was part of J. Mager’s dissertation that partially met the requirements of his Doctor of Philosophy degree at Cornell University. This research was conducted in agreement with conditions outlined by IACUC agreement no. 97-12-02 at Cornell University. Funding was graciously provided by Cornell University’s Kieckhefer Adirondack Fellowship, Edna Bailey Sussman Fellowship, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s Walter Benning Fellowship, Cornell University’s Department of Neurobiology and Behavior’s Student Research Grant, Cornell University’s local Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid-of-Research, and the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute’s Loon Research Award. We thank A. Dhondt, H.K. Reeve, and S. Vehrencamp for their constructive recommendations in research design, R. Haubrick, C. Weingart, E. Liebl, and the Biology Department at Denison University for logistic support, and D. Willey and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive insight. We thank A. Lindsay, M. Meyer and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the many field assistants for their tireless work. These include: N. Banfield, M. Gibbon, R. Hart, B. Lampey, M. Lewandowski, C. Mitchie, D. Reid, M. and J. Reiman, M. Schwabenlander, F. Spilker, and A. Webber. The experiments conducted within this study complied with the current laws of the USA.

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  1. John N. Mager III

    Present address: Department of Biological and Allied Health Sciences, Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH, 45810, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    John N. Mager III & Charles Walcott

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA, 92866, USA

    Walter H. Piper

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  1. John N. Mager III
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Correspondence to John N. Mager III.

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Mager III, J.N., Walcott, C. & Piper, W.H. Nest platforms increase aggressive behavior in common loons. Naturwissenschaften 95, 141–147 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0308-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0308-1

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