Flash in the pan: how grassland renewal affects reproduction of Northern Lapwings Vanellus vanellus

Figures & data

Table 1. Chronosequence of changes in territory and nest densities (mean/10 ha ± se) of Lapwings in the Mittelradde-Niederung, Lower Saxony, Germany, due to reseeding of grassland. Different letters refer to statistical differences (P < 0.05) obtained for each series from a GLMM with year of reseeding chronosequence as fixed effect.

	Year before reseeding	Year of reseeding	One year after reseeding	Two years after reseeding	Three years after reseeding
Territory densities	2.16 ± 0.69^a	13.37 ± 2.45^b	1.4 ± 0.82^a	1.52 ± 0.62^a	3.23 ± 1.33^a
Nest densities	1.74 ± 0.75^a	16.3 ± 3.54^b	1.76 ± 1.08^a	1.57 ± 0.69^a	2.85 ± 1.45^a
Colony size	1.5 ± 0.27^a	3.94 ± 0.92^b	2.67 ± 1.2^a	1.67 ± 0.42^a	1.33 ± 0.24^a

Table 2. Percentages of successful Lapwing nests and nests failed due to a specific causes in different breeding habitats (tillage: n = 409 nests, permanent grassland: n = 191 nests, reseeded grassland: n = 70 nests) of the Mittelradde-Niederung, Lower Saxony, Germany.

	Reseeded grasslands	Permanent grasslands	Tillages	Total
Successful	61.43 (n = 43)	40.84 (n = 78)	51.10 (n = 209)	49.25 (n = 330)
Predation	32.86 (n = 23)	57.07 (n = 109)	39.61 (n = 162)	43.88 (n = 294)
Desertion	4.29 (n = 3)	2.09 (n = 4)	4.89 (n = 20)	4.03 (n = 27)
Farming operations	1.43 (n = 1)	0.00	4.40 (n = 18)	2.84 (n = 19)

Table 3. Habitat-specific differences in daily nest survival rates and nest failure rates (means, ± se) due to different causes of protected Lapwing nests in the Mittelradde-Niederung, Lower Saxony, Germany. Additionally, we analysed habitat-specific differences in colony size (mean, se) in a sample of 222 occupied plots. For further details see text.

	Reseeded grasslands	Permanent grasslands	Tillages
Nest survival rate	0.9744 ± 0.0048	0.9634 ± 0.0035	0.97 ± 0.0021
Nest predation risk	0.0216 ± 0.0045	0.037 ± 0.0035	0.025 ± 0.0019
Risk of nest desertion	0.0028 ± 0.0016	0.0014 ± 0.0007	0.0031 ± 0.0007
Nest failure by farming operations	0.0009 ± 0.0009	0	0.0028 ± 0.0007
Colony size	4.0 ± 0.91	2.07 ± 0.16	2.4 ± 0.19