Author(s):
1. Jin-Ming Zhao:
Normal University, Huaibei, Peoples Republic of China; Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
2. Yun Fang:
Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
3. Yue-Hua Sun:
Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Abstract:
With a decreasing population trend, the endemic Chinese grouse (Tetrastes sewerzowi) is categorized as class I national protected animal species in China. Lower breeding performance has been suggested as a main factor influencing the population viability of Chinese grouse. Nest predation, which might be time-varied, is a main contributor to the nest failures of Chinese grouse. Therefore, it is urgent to estimate nest age of Chinese grouse accurately before taking appropriate conservation actions. In this study, we estimated the nest age of Chinese grouse using the weight loss method, which has been found to be easily been conducted and also has a high accuracy compared with other methods, such as egg candling and lfoating. Our results confirmed the conveniency and accuracy of the weight loss method in estimating nest ages of Chinese grouse. We further discussed some cautions when applying the weight loss method. We recommended investigators to use the weight loss method rather than the candling or egg floating methods to determine avian nest ages in future field studies.
Page(s):
803-808
Published:
Journal: Pakistan Journal of Zoology, Volume: 55, Issue: 2, Year: 2023
Keywords:
incubation period
,
Tetrates sewerzowi
,
Fresh egg weight
,
Nest age
,
Weight loss method
References:
References are not available for this document.
Citations
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