Lesser Prairie-chicken incubation behavior and nest success most influenced by nest vegetation structure.

ABSTRACT: Incubation breaks are necessary for any nesting bird but can increase the mortality risk of the nest or attending parent. How intrinsic and extrinsic variables affect nest attentiveness-the proportion of time a female is on nest during incubation- and subsequent survival of the nest remains unclear for uniparental species. We related female nest attentiveness to nest survival and tested the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic variables on nest attentiveness by female Lesser Prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) using GPS locations of 87 females at 109 nest sites in 3 study areas in Kansas during 2013-2015. Daily nest survival increased by 39% when nest attentiveness increased from 21% to 98%. Female Lesser Prairie-chickens were 18% less attentive as body mass increased from 6

SUBMITTER: Gehrt JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10483095 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature