Ecological responses to variation in resource availability: The effects of prey distribution on belted kingfishers (Ceryle alcyon)

摘要: I supplementally fed pairs of Belted Kingfishers (Ceryle alcyon) and measured the effect of this increase in prey availability on reproduction. Belted Kingfishers that received supplemental food nested earlier than control birds. Birds that nested relatively early in the breeding season visited their nests more frequently, had heavier nestlings, and were more likely to renest in the event of nest failure. Although these results demonstrate that food availability affects the timing of reproduction, experimental designs commonly used in food supplementation studies limit our ability to distinguish among the possible mechanisms that underlie these results.