I examined nest attendance patterns for 132 Gadwall (Anas strepera) females breeding in the prairie pothole region located in Towner County, North Dakota from May to July 2000 - 2001. Overall, Gadwall had a daily incubation constancy of 76.5 ± 10.8%, and daily recess frequency of 2.2 ± 1.1 with each recess lasting 179.8 ± 133.8 minutes. Unlike other waterfowl species, Gadwall increased incubation constancy and decreased recess frequency as daily high temperature increased and showed no change in constancy with precipitation. Gadwall incubation constancy did not fit the body-size hypothesis, as Gadwall have a lower incubation constancy compared to species smaller in size. This may be because Gadwall have the latest peak clutch initiation of all dabbling ducks, providing the advantage of dense nesting cover and warmer ambient temperature compared to earlier nesting species. Of the 132 females, 19 (14%) delayed nocturnal incubation resulting in a significant difference in incubation constancy (P= 0.001) and recess frequency (P = 0.001) from those that did not delay nocturnal incubation. However, components of the incubation rhythms, after the onset of nocturnal incubation were similar for both groups.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-01252005-122056 |
| Date | 25 January 2005 |
| Creators | Lorenz, Nicole F. |
| Contributors | Allen Rutherford, Mike Chamberlain, Frank Rohwer |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-01252005-122056/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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