NDLI: Landscape context and selection for forest edge by breeding Brown-headed Cowbirds

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Howell, Christine A. Dijak, William D. Thompson, Frank R.
Copyright Year	2006
Abstract	We evaluated support for four alternate hypotheses explaining the distribution of breeding Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) in forests at varying distances from the forest edge in three Midwestern USA landscapes with varying amounts of forest fragmentation (core forest area ranged from 5 to 70%). We focused on breeding cowbirds’ use of forest because of the risk of nest parasitism to forest-dwelling hosts and to identify factors affecting breeding cowbird habitat selection. We compared distances of cowbird locations in the forest from the forest edge (“edge distances”) to distances of random forest locations in the entire landscape or within individual cowbird home ranges. We analyzed 1322 locations of 84 cowbirds across three landscapes. We found support for the landscape context hypothesis that breeding cowbird preference for forest edge varied with landscape context. Ninety percent of cowbird locations were within 150–350 m of forest edge, despite the overall availability of forest at greater distances from edge (as far as 500–1450 m) both within cowbird home ranges and the entire forested landscape. Cowbird preference for edge varied by landscape context largely due to differences in the availability of forest edge. In a highly fragmented forest cowbirds utilized the entire forest and likely viewed it as “all edge.” In less fragmented forests, cowbirds preferred edge. We consider how variation in cowbird edge preference might relate to patterns in host abundance, host diversity, and host quality because cowbird movements indicate they are capable of using forest farther from edges.
Starting Page	273
Ending Page	284
Page Count	12
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09212973
Journal	Landscape Ecology
Volume Number	22
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	15729761
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2006-10-19
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Brown-headed Cowbird Edge effects Forest fragmentation Habitat selection Home range Illinois Landscape context Missouri Molothrus ater Neotropical migrant bird Plant Sciences Ecology Forestry Forestry Management Plant Ecology Landscape Ecology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Geography, Planning and Development Ecology Nature and Landscape Conservation

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in