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Dynamic risk assessment: does a nearby breeding nest predator affect nest defence of its potential victim?

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Abstract

There is growing evidence that birds are able to discriminate different types of nest intruders and adjust their nest defence behaviour according to intruder dangerousness and distance from the nest (the dynamic risk assessment hypothesis). Here, we tested whether birds’ decisions about nest defence may additionally be affected by an increasing familiarity with a particular nest predator. We tested nest defence responses of great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus to a nest predator, the little bittern Ixobrychus minutus. Great reed warbler nests located close (≤7 m) to synchronously breeding little bitterns were “neighbour”, other nests were “solitary”. Great reed warbler specific aggression towards a little bittern dummy was much lower (~5-times) at neighbour than solitary nests. In contrast, generalised responses to a control innocuous intruder (the turtle dove, Streptopelia turtur) were statistically identical at neighbour and solitary nests. These patterns are in line with dynamic risk assessment hypothesis. We hypothesise that decreased great reed warbler aggression at neighbour nests also represents a specific behavioural adaptation to nesting in association with the little bittern. Little bitterns breeding closer to great reed warblers showed decreased risks of failure due to predation. However, further research is needed to experimentally test the causal links behind these patterns.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to D. Campobello, P. Samaš and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on this work. P. Samaš also helped with statistical analyses. When writing the draft, T.G. was supported by Human Frontier Science Program award (RGY83/12).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Trnava, Priemyselná 4, 918 43, Trnava, Slovakia

    Alfréd Trnka

  2. Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Palacký University, 17. listopadu 50, 771 46, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Grim

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  1. Alfréd Trnka
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  2. Tomáš Grim
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Correspondence to Alfréd Trnka.

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Trnka, A., Grim, T. Dynamic risk assessment: does a nearby breeding nest predator affect nest defence of its potential victim?. J Ethol 32, 103–110 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-014-0400-x

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