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Wiggins DA, Møller AP, Sørensen MF, et al. Island biogeography and the reproductive ecology of great tits Parus major. Oecologia. 1998;115(4):478-482doi: 10.1007/s004420050544.
Wiggins, D. A., Møller, A. P., Sørensen, M. F., & Brand, L. A. (1998). Island biogeography and the reproductive ecology of great tits Parus major. Oecologia, 115(4), 478-482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004420050544
Wiggins, David A, et al. "Island biogeography and the reproductive ecology of great tits Parus major." Oecologia vol. 115,4 (1998): 478-482. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004420050544
Wiggins DA, Møller AP, Sørensen MF, Brand LA. Island biogeography and the reproductive ecology of great tits Parus major. Oecologia. 1998 Jul;115(4):478-482. doi: 10.1007/s004420050544. PMID: 28308267.
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Oecologia. 1998 Jul;115(4):478-482. doi: 10.1007/s004420050544.

Island biogeography and the reproductive ecology of great tits Parus major.

Oecologia

David A Wiggins, Anders Pape Møller, Martin Fyhn Lykke Sørensen, L Arriana Brand

Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 9, S-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden Fax: +46 18 55 98 88; e-mail: [email protected], , , , , , SE.
  2. Laboratoire d' Ecologie, CNRS URA 258, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai St. Bernard, Case 237, F-752 52 Paris Cedex 05, France, , , , , , FR.
  3. Department of Population Biology, Copenhagen University, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark, , , , , , DK.
  4. Department of Wildlife Biology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, USA, , , , , , US.

PMID: 28308267 DOI: 10.1007/s004420050544

Abstract

Island biogeography theory has contributed greatly to both theoretical and applied studies of conservation biology (e.g., design of nature reserves, minimum viable population sizes, extinction risk) and community composition. However, little theoretical and empirical work has addressed how island isolation and size affect reproductive ecology. We investigated the reproductive ecology of great tits (Parus major) on one offshore and one nearshore island, as well as on the Danish mainland. Tits breeding on the offshore island bred later, laid smaller clutches, and laid larger eggs than those on the nearshore island and mainland. In addition, the level of ectoparasite infestation in nests was highest on the offshore island, intermediate on the nearshore island, and lowest on the mainland. These insular effects may occur due to lower food abundance on islands, to density-dependent effects, or to effects related to low genetic diversity within island populations. Whatever the cause, the results emphasize that future studies of forest fragmentation/population isolation should consider not only gross measures of reproductive success, but also fine-scale measures such as clutch size, timing of breeding, and parasite prevalence.

Keywords: Clutch size; Ectoparasites; Key words Island biogeography; Parus; Reproduction

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