Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
How does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus)?
Birds face many challenges from the process of urbanisation. Those species that are able to occupy urban areas offer opportunities to understand processes of acclimatisation to urban life and may help in the development of urban spaces for the benefit of wildlife. In many bird species, individuals t...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of Biological Sciences
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613320512536576 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Muller, Rebecca |
| author2 | Amar, Arjun |
| author_browse | Amar, Arjun Muller, Rebecca |
| author_facet | Amar, Arjun Muller, Rebecca |
| author_sort | Muller, Rebecca |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Birds face many challenges from the process of urbanisation. Those species that are able to occupy urban areas offer opportunities to understand processes of acclimatisation to urban life and may help in the development of urban spaces for the benefit of wildlife. In many bird species, individuals that occupy territories in more urban areas show lower productivity and lower body condition of nestlings, which is thought to be mediated by food availability. Most of the studies exploring this issue were done on passerines and carried out in the global north, with very few studies exploring this topic on non-passerines, and even fewer in Africa. Studies addressing urban productivity in apex predators with slow life histories that are often of conservation concern are largely missing. Here, we explore the breeding performance of the African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) across an urbanisation gradient in KwaZuluNatal, South Africa. Specifically, we explored the hypothesis that living in an urban environment allows this species, which is typically a biennial breeder, to breed annually more often (i.e. increased breeding rate), and whether this might increase the productivity of this species. We also explore whether there may be any hidden costs of such a breeding strategy by examining the condition of chicks for pairs which had successfully bred in the previous year. We found that Crowned Eagles breeding in more urban areas attempted to breed more often (i.e., higher breeding rate), but that these birds also suffered from lower breeding success. These two contrasting responses counteracted each other and meant that overall productivity (number of young produced per occupied territory) was not influenced by urbanisation. Breeding annually did not appear to have a negative cost on the chick condition, as offspring in the year following a successful breeding attempt did not have lowered body condition. This species appears to be well adjusted to breeding in an urban environment. Crowned Eagles are currently considered vulnerable in South Africa, and ensuring that an urban population of this species is able to persist can help secure the conservation status of this charismatic species. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/30892 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:14.045Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateRange | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/30892 How does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus)? Muller, Rebecca Amar, Arjun Sumasgutner, Petra McPherson, Shane Downs, Colleen apex predator urban green space Africa breeding frequency breeding success body condition urba Birds face many challenges from the process of urbanisation. Those species that are able to occupy urban areas offer opportunities to understand processes of acclimatisation to urban life and may help in the development of urban spaces for the benefit of wildlife. In many bird species, individuals that occupy territories in more urban areas show lower productivity and lower body condition of nestlings, which is thought to be mediated by food availability. Most of the studies exploring this issue were done on passerines and carried out in the global north, with very few studies exploring this topic on non-passerines, and even fewer in Africa. Studies addressing urban productivity in apex predators with slow life histories that are often of conservation concern are largely missing. Here, we explore the breeding performance of the African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) across an urbanisation gradient in KwaZuluNatal, South Africa. Specifically, we explored the hypothesis that living in an urban environment allows this species, which is typically a biennial breeder, to breed annually more often (i.e. increased breeding rate), and whether this might increase the productivity of this species. We also explore whether there may be any hidden costs of such a breeding strategy by examining the condition of chicks for pairs which had successfully bred in the previous year. We found that Crowned Eagles breeding in more urban areas attempted to breed more often (i.e., higher breeding rate), but that these birds also suffered from lower breeding success. These two contrasting responses counteracted each other and meant that overall productivity (number of young produced per occupied territory) was not influenced by urbanisation. Breeding annually did not appear to have a negative cost on the chick condition, as offspring in the year following a successful breeding attempt did not have lowered body condition. This species appears to be well adjusted to breeding in an urban environment. Crowned Eagles are currently considered vulnerable in South Africa, and ensuring that an urban population of this species is able to persist can help secure the conservation status of this charismatic species. 2020-02-06T13:14:24Z 2020-02-06T13:14:24Z 2019 2020-02-03T12:08:59Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30892 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science |
| spellingShingle | apex predator urban green space Africa breeding frequency breeding success body condition urba Muller, Rebecca How does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus)? |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | How does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus)? |
| title_full | How does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus)? |
| title_fullStr | How does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus)? |
| title_full_unstemmed | How does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus)? |
| title_short | How does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus)? |
| title_sort | how does urbanisation affect the breeding performance of african crowned eagles stephanoaetus coronatus |
| topic | apex predator urban green space Africa breeding frequency breeding success body condition urba |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30892 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mullerrebecca howdoesurbanisationaffectthebreedingperformanceofafricancrownedeaglesstephanoaetuscoronatus |