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. 2014 Sep;4(18):3583-95.
doi: 10.1002/ece3.1189. Epub 2014 Sep 2.

Variation in clutch size in relation to nest size in birds

Anders P Møller  1 , Frank Adriaensen  2 , Alexandr Artemyev  3 , Jerzy Bańbura  4 , Emilio Barba  5 , Clotilde Biard  6 , Jacques Blondel  7 , Zihad Bouslama  8 , Jean-Charles Bouvier  9 , Jordi Camprodon  10 , Francesco Cecere  11 , Anne Charmantier  12 , Motti Charter  13 , Mariusz Cichoń  14 , Camillo Cusimano  15 , Dorota Czeszczewik  16 , Virginie Demeyrier  12 , Blandine Doligez  17 , Claire Doutrelant  12 , Anna Dubiec  18 , Marcel Eens  19 , Tapio Eeva  20 , Bruno Faivre  21 , Peter N Ferns  22 , Jukka T Forsman  23 , Eduardo García-Del-Rey  24 , Aya Goldshtein  25 , Anne E Goodenough  26 , Andrew G Gosler  27 , Iga Góźdź  28 , Arnaud Grégoire  29 , Lars Gustafsson  30 , Ian R Hartley  31 , Philipp Heeb  32 , Shelley A Hinsley  33 , Paul Isenmann  12 , Staffan Jacob  34 , Antero Järvinen  35 , Rimvydas Juškaitis  36 , Erkki Korpimäki  37 , Indrikis Krams  38 , Toni Laaksonen  37 , Bernard Leclercq  39 , Esa Lehikoinen  37 , Olli Loukola  40 , Arne Lundberg  41 , Mark C Mainwaring  42 , Raivo Mänd  43 , Bruno Massa  15 , Tomasz D Mazgajski  44 , Santiago Merino  45 , Cezary Mitrus  46 , Mikko Mönkkönen  47 , Judith Morales-Fernaz  48 , Xavier Morin  49 , Ruedi G Nager  50 , Jan-Åke Nilsson  51 , Sven G Nilsson  52 , Ana C Norte  53 , Markku Orell  54 , Philippe Perret  12 , Carla S Pimentel  55 , Rianne Pinxten  56 , Ilze Priedniece  57 , Marie-Claude Quidoz  12 , Vladimir Remeš  58 , Heinz Richner  59 , Hugo Robles  60 , Seppo Rytkönen  61 , Juan Carlos Senar  62 , Janne T Seppänen  63 , Luís P da Silva  64 , Tore Slagsvold  65 , Tapio Solonen  66 , Alberto Sorace  67 , Martyn J Stenning  68 , János Török  69 , Piotr Tryjanowski  70 , Arie J van Noordwijk  71 , Mikael von Numers  72 , Wiesław Walankiewicz  73 , Marcel M Lambrechts  12
Affiliations

Variation in clutch size in relation to nest size in birds

Anders P Møller et al. Ecol Evol. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Nests are structures built to support and protect eggs and/or offspring from predators, parasites, and adverse weather conditions. Nests are mainly constructed prior to egg laying, meaning that parent birds must make decisions about nest site choice and nest building behavior before the start of egg-laying. Parent birds should be selected to choose nest sites and to build optimally sized nests, yet our current understanding of clutch size-nest size relationships is limited to small-scale studies performed over short time periods. Here, we quantified the relationship between clutch size and nest size, using an exhaustive database of 116 slope estimates based on 17,472 nests of 21 species of hole and non-hole-nesting birds. There was a significant, positive relationship between clutch size and the base area of the nest box or the nest, and this relationship did not differ significantly between open nesting and hole-nesting species. The slope of the relationship showed significant intraspecific and interspecific heterogeneity among four species of secondary hole-nesting species, but also among all 116 slope estimates. The estimated relationship between clutch size and nest box base area in study sites with more than a single size of nest box was not significantly different from the relationship using studies with only a single size of nest box. The slope of the relationship between clutch size and nest base area in different species of birds was significantly negatively related to minimum base area, and less so to maximum base area in a given study. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that bird species have a general reaction norm reflecting the relationship between nest size and clutch size. Further, they suggest that scientists may influence the clutch size decisions of hole-nesting birds through the provisioning of nest boxes of varying sizes.

Keywords: Hole nesting; natural holes; nest boxes; reaction norm.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Slopes of the relationship between nest base area and clutch size in different species of birds in each study population. The three open-nesting species are shown with an *. Note that symbol size is related to the number of nests.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Slopes of the relationship between nest base area and clutch size in relation to the minimum area (cm2) of nest box bases in different populations and species of birds. Note that symbol size is related to the number of nests.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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