| Titre : | Reed die-back affects breeding biology of the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) at Lake Dummer (Lower Saxony, Germany) |
| Auteurs : | U. Marxmeier, Auteur ; H. Duttmann, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Journal of Ornithology (143(1) JAN 2002) |
| Article en page(s) : | 15-32 |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Résumé : | In the beginning of the 90s the breeding population of the Great Crested Grebe on the hypertrophic shallow Lake Dimmer decreased from almost 400 pairs to about 40-120 pairs. We addressed the question of whether this decrease was due to changes in prey availability or to changes in nesting sites. Fishing catches by gillnet and electrical fishing gear throughout the breeding season indicated that prey availability was not a limiting factor. In particular, lake whitefish were found to occur in high densities. In the pre-laying period the whitefish stock consisted of individuals with 17.1 cm total length on average. In the following periods of hatching and rearing the young, the fish stock was dominated by juveniles of small size. Observations of breeding pairs and parents feeding their young support the hypothesis that prey availability was high: (1) We found no evidence that nowadays clutches are smaller than in the 80s. In 1998 clutch size did not decrease with laying date and first clutches were not significantly larger than second clutches. (2) In hunting for prey fishes for their chicks, adults grebes were very successful. The mode time interval between two feedings did not exceed |



