Dorsey Sharon S, Catlin Daniel H, Ritter Shannon J, Wails Christy N, Robinson Samantha G, Oliver Katie W, Bellman Henrietta A, Karpanty Sarah M, Fraser James D
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Feb 20;20(2):e0319021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319021. eCollection 2025.
Birds and their nests are vulnerable to predation during the breeding season. Many birds have evolved nest placement strategies that minimize risk such as concealing nests in vegetation, or nesting in inaccessible cavities or on cliffs. Some ground-nesting species choose open areas where vegetative concealment or physical protection is minimal. These species may benefit from the ability to visually detect predators approaching the nest, affording them more time to perform evasive or distracting behaviors. We studied the nesting behavior of piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) on Fire Island, New York from 2015-2020 to determine if the area visible from the nest (i.e., 'viewshed') affected nest site selection. We calculated viewsheds at nests and random points and evaluated nest site selection using logistic regression modelling. Piping plovers selected nest sites with a greater view of predators than would be expected if nest site selection was random relative to viewshed. The inclusion of viewshed improved the predictive ability of a previous nest site selection model that was based on habitat characteristics present on the landscape in 2015, but its influence weakened as ecological succession progressed. Topographic variation was the predominant visual obstruction source at plover nest sites compared to vegetation height. Viewshed may play a role in nest site selection in other ground-nesting birds, and thus is an important factor to consider in the development of habitat management strategies and in understanding the evolution of behavior.
在繁殖季节，鸟类及其巢穴很容易受到捕食。许多鸟类已经进化出巢穴放置策略，以将风险降至最低，比如将巢穴隐藏在植被中，或在难以接近的洞穴或悬崖上筑巢。一些地面筑巢的物种会选择开阔区域，那里的植被隐蔽或物理保护最少。这些物种可能受益于能够视觉检测到接近巢穴的捕食者，从而有更多时间采取规避或分散注意力的行为。我们研究了2015年至2020年纽约火岛上笛鸻（Charadrius melodus）的筑巢行为，以确定从巢穴可见的区域（即“视域”）是否会影响巢穴选址。我们计算了巢穴和随机点的视域，并使用逻辑回归模型评估巢穴选址。与视域随机的情况下预期的相比，笛鸻选择的巢穴地点对捕食者的视野更开阔。视域的纳入提高了之前基于2015年景观中存在的栖息地特征的巢穴选址模型的预测能力，但随着生态演替的推进，其影响减弱。与植被高度相比，地形变化是笛鸻巢穴地点主要的视觉障碍来源。视域可能在其他地面筑巢鸟类的巢穴选址中发挥作用，因此是栖息地管理策略制定和理解行为进化时需要考虑的重要因素。
