0000000000405342
AUTHOR
Magdalena Witek
Interspecific attraction between ground-nesting songbirds and ants: the role of nest-site selection
Abstract Background Interspecific interactions within ecological networks can influence animal fitness and behaviour, including nest-site selection of birds and ants. Previous studies revealed that nesting birds and ants may benefit from cohabitation, with interspecific attraction through their nest-site choice, but mutual interactions have not yet been tested. We explored a previously undescribed ecological link between ground-nesting birds and ants raising their own broods (larvae and pupae) within the birds’ nests in a temperate primeval forest of lowland Europe. We tested whether the occurrence of ant broods within bird nests resulted from a mutual or one-sided interspecific attraction …
Additional file 1 of Interspecific attraction between ground-nesting songbirds and ants: the role of nest-site selection
Additional file 1: Table S1. The number of ant colonies on sample plots (3 × 3 m) that were centred on Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix nests and controls in 2018-2020. Shown are the total number of sample plots on which ant colonies were searched for, and the percentage of sample plots on which a minimum of one ant colony was found. An ant colony was defined as a group of ants (workers and/or a queen with larvae or pupae) occupying a nest structure other than bird nest. Table S2. The mean daily ambient temperature (5-day average) and daily sum of rainfall (5-day sum) preceding Wood Warbler nest failure or chicks’ fledging, and the delay of bird nest collection from the field in 2018-20…