Nest Predation of European Blackbirds (Turdus merula) in urban and forested areas in Debrecen, Hungary

Dátum
Folyóirat címe
Folyóirat ISSN
Kötet címe (évfolyam száma)
Kiadó
Absztrakt

European Blackbirds (Turdus merula) are one of the most widespread and conspicuous songbird species in European cities, rapidly expanding their breeding grounds from woodlands to urbanized environments. We studied nest predation rates of blackbirds in urban environments compared to more natural sites using data collected from 2018 to 2020 in 2 urban and 2 forested areas of the city of Debrecen, Hungary. We also tested whether these rates were significantly affected by nest site and height. Predation rates differed between study sites, being greatest in forested areas (81%) and lowest in urban settings (65%). No differences in nest site selection and predation rate were observed, that is, blackbirds were not more likely to lose their nests to predators if they built it on artificial structures as compared to vegetation and vice versa. Height showed significant variations across study sites when it was correlated with nest success, but in our case only when the data are pooled across sites. Our results are consistent with those of previous studies and underline the importance of nest predation across gradients with different levels of urbanization.

Leírás
Kulcsszavak
European Blackbird, Nest Predation, Urbanization, Turdus merula
Forrás