TY - JOUR
T1 - Does bird photography affect nest predation and feeding frequency?
AU - Tan, Xiaocai
AU - Liu, Shilong
AU - Goodale, Eben
AU - Jiang, Aiwu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Bird photography is a popular and growing form of ecotourism that contributes to the economic growth of local communities, but its disturbance to bird reproduction remains understudied. We worked in a tropical forest of southern China, which has experienced a sharp increase in the number of photographers in recent years. We compared nests that were photographed and those that were not, in their nest predation and parental feeding rates. Including nests of 42 species, the results demonstrate that the predation rate of nests that were not photographed (incubation stage: 43.3% of 194 nests; nestling stage: 34.5% of 110 nests) was significantly higher than that of photographed ones (incubation: 2.4% of 83 nests; nestling: 11.1% of 81 nests). Among different nest types, open cup nests in shrub and trees were most affected by photography, in both incubation and nestling stages. Of five factors investigated, including three natural factors (nest stage, structure and position), and two anthropogenic factors (photography and distance to forest edge), only photographic disturbance and nest structure had significant effects (open nests had higher predation). The feeding frequency at nests when photographers were present was not strongly different from when they were not present. Human activity therefore had no negative effects on the birds, but showed a positive effect on their nesting success, in terms of reducing nest predation rates. However, there needs to be further assessment of other aspects of nesting (e.g., clutch size, duration of nestlings in nests), and other kinds of stress responses (e.g., hormonal changes), before the total effect of bird photography can be understood.
AB - Bird photography is a popular and growing form of ecotourism that contributes to the economic growth of local communities, but its disturbance to bird reproduction remains understudied. We worked in a tropical forest of southern China, which has experienced a sharp increase in the number of photographers in recent years. We compared nests that were photographed and those that were not, in their nest predation and parental feeding rates. Including nests of 42 species, the results demonstrate that the predation rate of nests that were not photographed (incubation stage: 43.3% of 194 nests; nestling stage: 34.5% of 110 nests) was significantly higher than that of photographed ones (incubation: 2.4% of 83 nests; nestling: 11.1% of 81 nests). Among different nest types, open cup nests in shrub and trees were most affected by photography, in both incubation and nestling stages. Of five factors investigated, including three natural factors (nest stage, structure and position), and two anthropogenic factors (photography and distance to forest edge), only photographic disturbance and nest structure had significant effects (open nests had higher predation). The feeding frequency at nests when photographers were present was not strongly different from when they were not present. Human activity therefore had no negative effects on the birds, but showed a positive effect on their nesting success, in terms of reducing nest predation rates. However, there needs to be further assessment of other aspects of nesting (e.g., clutch size, duration of nestlings in nests), and other kinds of stress responses (e.g., hormonal changes), before the total effect of bird photography can be understood.
KW - Bird photography
KW - Bird reproduction
KW - Ecotourism
KW - Human disturbance
KW - Nest predation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130868857&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100036
DO - 10.1016/j.avrs.2022.100036
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130868857
SN - 2053-7166
VL - 13
JO - Avian Research
JF - Avian Research
M1 - 100036
ER -