Use of nest-boxes by the Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata): implications for reproductive success and research
Simon C. Griffith A B , Sarah R. Pryke A and Mylene Mariette AA Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: simon.griffith@mq.edu.au
Emu 108(4) 311-319 https://doi.org/10.1071/MU08033
Submitted: 10 July 2008 Accepted: 10 October 2008 Published: 27 November 2008
Abstract
Nest-boxes have been used widely and for many decades in Europe and North America to increase avian reproductive success in species management and conservation programs and to increase the amenability and efficiency with which a species can be studied. Here we describe the establishment of a breeding population of Zebra Finches using nest-boxes in semi-arid, far-western New South Wales, over three breeding seasons (2005–07). The nest-boxes were used readily by Zebra Finches, with a total of 572 breeding attempts recorded in this study. After the introduction of nest-boxes, nearly all breeding attempts were made in these artificial cavities. Zebra Finches breeding in natural nests are prone to high levels of nest predation (>60% in previous studies), but such predation was almost completely eliminated with nest-boxes, with <2% of nests being depredated. Not surprisingly, the reproductive success of pairs breeding in nest-boxes (58% of nests successfully fledged at least one young) was significantly higher than in the natural nests monitored at the same sites in a previous year, and by comparison with previous studies of the same species in other localities across Australia. Our study of the Zebra Finch, a laboratory model used throughout the world, shows the effectiveness of artificial nest-boxes at decreasing levels of predation in the wild and increasing the capacity for research.
Additional keywords: artificial cavity, cavity nest, reproductive ecology.
Acknowledgements
We thank David Croft and Zane Turner for hospitality and logistical support at the University of New South Wales Arid Zone Research Station, at Fowlers Gap; and James Brazill-Boast, Gareth Davies, Richard Merrill, Emma Pariser, Ian Stewart, Ingrid Stirnemann, Nina Svedin, and Megan Taylor for assistance in the field. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for useful comments on a previous draft of this paper. The work was conducted under approval by the University of New South Wales Animal Care & Ethics Committee (No. 04/63); the New South Wales National Parks & Wildlife Service (No. s11374); and the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (Project No. 422). The work was funded through an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant to S. C. Griffith.
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