Search

We present the EU LIFE PonDerat project, which is aimed at restoring the natural ecosystems of the Pontine Archipelago, a group of islands located off the western coast of Italy. The spread of inva...

Capsule Clutches of hole-nesting passerines suffer less predation if nestboxes are moved by 800–3000 m. Aims To see if Pine Marten predation upon clutches of insectivorous birds increases with the age of nestboxes and to see if predation is affected by the distance nestboxes are relocated from the plots where predation occurred the previous year. Methods The study was undertaken in two habitats of central Italy (deciduous and Holm Oak wood). In each habitat, nestboxes were placed and relocated in order to have plots with: new (first year of placement) or old (second year of placement) nestboxes; short (100 m) or long-distance (800–3000 m) relocated nestboxes following previous predation. Results After controlling for habitat, hole-nester density, competition with snakes and nestbox age, the plots with nestboxes replaced at a short distance from the original location suffered higher predation pressure. Pine Marten predation was higher in plots with older nestboxes. A high predation rate was observed in nes...

In hole nesting birds and especially in tits Parus mixed clutches, laid by two or more species in the same nest, are often observed (Merilä 1994). In this paper we report four mixed clutches of Parus caeruleus and P. major in nest boxes in the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano (41°44’N, 12°24'E), where populations of these two species, studied since 1991 (Bellavita & Sorace 1994, Sorace et al. 1994, Petrassi et al. 1997), reach very high density, superior to those in other areas of Central Italy (Bellavita & Sorace 1994).