Predators and the breeding bird: behavioral and reproductive flexibility under the risk of predation

• Published in: Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society Vol. 84; no. 3; pp. 485 - 513
• Main Author: Lima, Steven L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2009
• Subjects: Animal breeding; Animal reproduction; Animals; anti-predator behaviour; Aves; Birds; Birds - physiology; body mass regulation; breeding season sociality; Breeding seasons; Ecosystem; Eggs; habitat selection; lekking; life-history flexibility; Microhabitats; nest predation; nest site selection; Nesting; Nesting Behavior - physiology; Offspring; Parasitism; Predation; predation risk; Predators; Predatory Behavior - physiology; Protected species; Reproduction - physiology; Risk assessment; Risk taking; Seasons; singing; Social protection; Zoology

ABSTRACT A growing body of work suggests that breeding birds have a significant capacity to assess and respond, over ecological time, to changes in the risk of predation to both themselves and their eggs or nestlings. This review investigates the nature of this flexibility in the face of predation f...