Journal
BIOTROPICA
Volume 40, Issue 5, Pages 615-622Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2008.00406.x
Keywords
forest edge; forest fragmentation; nest predation; nest success; tropical birds; tropical forest
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Funding
- Chiquita Brands Company
- George Storrer Foundation
- British Embassy in Costa Rica
- Tinker Foundation via the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies (Tulane University)
- the Society of Sigma Xi
- Organization for Tropical Studies Fellowship
- Tropical Biology via the Organization for Tropical Studies
- Louisiana Board of Regents Fellowship
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Although open-cup nesting birds generally face increased risk of nest depredation from forest edge predators and brood parasites in fragmented temperate landscapes, little information exists to assess such risks in tropical birds. We compared nesting success of real birds' nests in large and small forest fragments to a control site in Caribbean lowland wet forest of Costa Rica. Pooling across species, nesting success was significantly greater in unfragmented forest than in either small, isolated fragments or the La Selva Biological Reserve, which is at the tip of a forest 'peninsula' embedded in a largely deforested landscape. Nesting success in isolated fragments did not vary according to distance from edge, suggesting that predators in fragments act throughout these forest patches. The case for increased nest predation as a plausible mechanism to explain the documented decline of forest interior bird populations in this fragmented tropical landscape is enhanced by a simple demographic model that suggests nesting success is likely too low to maintain populations at La Selva and in the fragments. The fact that the large (> 1000 ha) La Selva forest reserve is experiencing nest predation rates similar to those in much smaller fragments is cause for concern. Our results make a strong case for additional studies to document the identities of nest predators in both fragmented and unfragmented forests in such tropical forest landscapes.
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