Are breeding activities risky for northern bobwhites? An assessment of survival costs of reproduction

Behaviors associated with breeding can increase mortality risk. This increased risk be thought of as a cost reproduction. Increased movements prior to are common individuals search for food and sites. These entail greater predation risks travel through unfamiliar areas but few studies have looked at how these prebreeding affect survival, especially fine temporal resolution. Costs reproduction may also occur during For birds, incubation brood-rearing because spend most their time nest sites or broods, which make them more easily detected captured by predators. Using time- individual-specific predictors I examined the relationship between movements, habitat use status northern bobwhites Colinus virginianus in Colorado, USA. found that ranges were larger breeders (29 ha) than non-breeders (18.7 daily movement distance was not different (163 m). Range size did survival; however, longer recent distances (within 10 days) resulted higher survival. Breeding affected laying experienced highest survival rates followed incubating, non-breeding individuals. Overall, there appears brood-rearing, no evidence results decreased