Interspecific Competition in Birds
by Dhondt, Andre A.Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2012-01-13
Publisher(s): Oxford University Press
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Summary
In nature there exist three main types of biotic interactions between individuals of different species: competition, predation, and mutualism. All three exert powerful selection pressures, and all three shape communities. However, the question of how important interspecific competition in nature really is remains controversial and unresolved. This book provides a critical and exhaustive review of the topic. Although the examples are limited mostly to birds (interspecific competition and community structure have been exhaustively studied in this animal group, and a lot of experimental data are available), the conclusions reached have a far broader relevance to population ecologists in general. The book reasons that the coexistence of species is the result of both past and presently on-going interspecific competition. Furthermore, understanding the importance of interspecific competition in natural systems will be increasingly important when modelling the effects of climate change on populations.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| The study of biotic interactions in nature | p. 1 |
| Criticism as to the importance of interspecific competition | p. 2 |
| Tits to the rescue | p. 4 |
| The paradox of competition as illustrated by Kluijver and Lack | p. 8 |
| The conflict on the importance of interspecific competition in North America | p. 11 |
| Conclusions | p. 11 |
| Definitions, models, and how to measure the existence of interspecific competition | p. 13 |
| Definitions: effects on individuals or populations? | p. 13 |
| Models and equations: logistic, theta logistic, and Lotka-Volterra | p. 16 |
| Conclusions | p. 22 |
| The structure of the rest of the book | p. 24 |
| Space as a limiting resource | p. 25 |
| Introduction | p. 25 |
| The Buffer Hypothesis was developed from studies of tit populations and is probably generally important | p. 25 |
| Winter social organization determines when space is limiting | p. 28 |
| Interspecific territoriality | p. 34 |
| Conclusions | p. 37 |
| Food as a limiting resource | p. 39 |
| Introduction | p. 39 |
| The classical case of beech mast: correlation is not causation | p. 40 |
| Experimental evidence that food does actually influence winter survival or the size of the following breeding population | p. 42 |
| Behavioural responses to winter cold and predation risk: costs and benefits of flocking | p. 49 |
| Individual responses to managing body fat reserves in the context of food availability and predator presence | p. 50 |
| Pre-breeding food supplementation effects on reproduction | p. 55 |
| Food manipulations during the breeding season | p. 57 |
| Predation by birds and other taxa can reduce food availability and thus have indirect effects | p. 63 |
| Food supplementation experiments as a conservation tool | p. 65 |
| Conclusions | p. 66 |
| Nest sites as a limiting resource | p. 69 |
| Are nest sites limiting in cup-nesting species? | p. 69 |
| Are cavities limiting for cavity nesters? | p. 72 |
| Are cavities in natural forests superabundant? | p. 73 |
| Studies of nest web communities | p. 77 |
| Conclusions | p. 80 |
| The effect of intraspecific competition on population processes | p. 83 |
| Intraspecific competition seems to be generally important in birds | p. 83 |
| Case studies show variation in what processes are affected by density-dependence | p. 84 |
| Density-dependence in introduced populations | p. 91 |
| Mechanisms resulting in density-dependence: the importance of habitat heterogeneity | p. 92 |
| Density-dependence in titmice | p. 94 |
| Conclusion | p. 101 |
| Studies of foraging niches and food | p. 103 |
| The early studies of foraging behaviour emphasized differences between species | p. 104 |
| In the 1970s observational arguments were used to document the existence of interspecific competition. These arguments only convinced the believers | p. 105 |
| Field and cage experiments provided conclusive evidence as to the effect of interspecific interactions on the foraging niches used | p. 108 |
| Measures of fitness-related traits are needed, however, to prove the existence of interspecific competition | p. 109 |
| The story of the coal tit on Gotland: alternative explanations can be right | p. 111 |
| Altitudinal replacement of closely related species | p. 113 |
| Seasonal variation in niche overlap | p. 114 |
| Effects of migrants on residents | p. 115 |
| Conclusions | p. 116 |
| Field experiments to test the existence and effects of interspecific competition | p. 117 |
| Effect of manipulation of cavities available on reproductive or foraging success of presumed competitors (Table 8.1) | p. 119 |
| Effect of resource manipulation on population size of presumed competitors: effects on single species (Table 8.2) | p. 125 |
| Studies of communities of cavity nesters: experiments in which natural cavities were blocked or nest-boxes added generated a diversity of results (Table 8.3) | p. 128 |
| Interactions between cavity and open nesters: does adding nest-boxes influence the density of open-nesting species? (Table 8.4) | p. 135 |
| Effects of direct removals on habitat use and population size of subordinate species (Table 8.5) | p. 139 |
| Competitive interactions between birds and species of a different class | p. 145 |
| Competition between burrow-nesting seabirds can have a severe impact on numbers: application of our understanding of interspecific competition for conservation (Table 8.9) | p. 156 |
| Heterospecific aggression and interspecific territories | p. 158 |
| Heterospecific attraction | p. 160 |
| Conclusions | p. 168 |
| Long-term experiments on competition between great and blue tit | p. 171 |
| Interspecific competition in tits: the origin of the idea | p. 172 |
| Is winter competition between great and blue tit for roosting sites only, for food only, or for both resources? | p. 176 |
| Experimental manipulations to vary the intensity of intra- and of interspecific competition | p. 179 |
| Effects of intra- and interspecific competition on blue tit density and demographic variables | p. 182 |
| Effect of intra- and interspecific competition on great tit density and demographic variables | p. 190 |
| How similar are the results of experimental and correlational studies? | p. 192 |
| Density and dispersal | p. 193 |
| What have we learned about competition between blue and great tit? | p. 196 |
| Concluding comments | p. 200 |
| Evolutionary effects of interspecific competition | p. 203 |
| Ecological character release and the Niche Variation Hypothesis | p. 203 |
| Testing the criteria for ecological character release | p. 206 |
| How rapidly can interspecific competition cause evolutionary changes in morphology? Observational data | p. 211 |
| How rapidly can interspecific competition cause evolutionary changes in morphology? Experimental data on selection pressures and evolutionary change | p. 213 |
| Community composition and interspecific competition | p. 216 |
| Interspecific competition and life-history traits | p. 217 |
| Conclusions | p. 221 |
| Concluding thoughts | p. 225 |
| Common and scientific names of bird species mentioned in the text | p. 229 |
| Common and scientific names of other species mentioned in the text | p. 233 |
| Detailed results of analyses summarized in Chapter 9. All pertain to the Ghent and Antwerp study sites in Belgium | p. 234 |
| References | p. 245 |
| Index | p. 275 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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