Local guilds define groups of species that share common resources and coexist in space and time. Local guilds have historically been a major focus of community ecology; however, studies of local guilds rarely measure consequences of coexistence for fitness-related traits or test predictions of alternative hypotheses for how species may interact. We studied consequences of coexistence for Orange...

Avian nests are frequently concealed or camouflaged, but a number of species builds noticeable nests or use conspicuous materials for nest decoration. In most cases, nest decoration has a role in mate choice or provides thermoregulatory or antiparasitic benefits. In territorial species however, decorations may serve additional or complementary functions, such as extended phenotypic signaling of...

Using natural nests of eight bird species, we provide one of the first multispecies tests for edge effects on reproductive success in a forested landscape. Our primary objective was to assess whether distance to the edge of recent clearcuts was related to nesting success in intact northern hardwood forests. Estimated nest success was generally lower for the two ground-nesting species than for t...

Context. Nest-site selection can influence nesting success, and thus population dynamics, of many species of groundnesting birds. Despite the economic importance as a game species, populations of northern bobwhites have been declining throughout the southernUnited States. This paper reports the nesting ecology of northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) on Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area,...

Conditions experienced early in life can influence phenotypes in ecologically important ways, as exemplified by organisms with environmental sex determination. For organisms with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), variation in nest temperatures induces phenotypic variation that could impact population growth rates. In environments that vary over space and time, how does this variati...

This study aimed to comprehensively compare the general characteristics, lifestyles, serum parameters, ultrasonic cardiogram (UCG) parameters, depression, quality of life, and various comorbidities between empty nest and non-empty nest elderly among rural populations in northeast China. This analysis was based on our previous study which was conducted from January 2012 to August 2013, using a m...

We examined the hypotheses that the empty combs of Polybia occidentalis Olivier (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) nest insulate the inside of the nest. To examine this hypotheses, two kinds of temperature measurements were carried out: 1) with the outer comb of the nest intact (Control) and 2) removed (Treatment), using a large and a small nest. In the large nest, the daily nest temperatures (outer part,...

Avian incubation attentiveness has important fitness consequences through its influence on the number and quality of hatched young and energetic costs imposed on parents. Nest attentiveness is highly variable across species and geographic regions. We reviewed the literature and show a worldwide pattern that nest attentiveness is generally lower in southern compared with northem-latitude passeri...

This paper reports on the design of a nest box consisting of two compartments for the breeding in cages of wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The first compartment was a chamber measuring on the inside 17 × 23 × 20 cm (base and height), conforming to the small body size of the wild rabbit and similar to its breeding burrows. A plastic tray was placed inside the chamber, in which the doe coul...

During colony relocation, the selection of a new nest involves exploration and assessment of potential sites followed by colony movement on the basis of a collective decision making process. Hygiene and pathogen load of the potential nest sites are factors worker scouts might evaluate, given the high risk of epidemics in group-living animals. Choosing nest sites free of pathogens is hypothesize...