The diversity and abundance of the arthropod nest fauna of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus (L.)) and Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot)) in southern Quebec were studied. Over 90,000 arthropods were extracted from the nests, including at least 71 species (50 families) of insects and at least 11 species (8 families) of mites. There were no significant differences in the species richness or diversity of nest arthropods from year to year (1997--1998), or from nest to nest within either host species. There was no significant difference in the overall species richness or diversity between House Sparrows and Tree Swallows. Cluster analyses of species richness and three diversity indices for all nests showed no clustering according to bird species. However, there were some significant differences in the abundance and diversity of particular arthropod taxa between the two bird species, with different ectoparasitic and non-ectoparasitic species dominant in the nests of each host species.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.31530 |
Date | January 2000 |
Creators | Riley, Cyrena. |
Contributors | Wheeler, Terry A. (advisor) |
Publisher | McGill University |
Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Format | application/pdf |
Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Natural Resource Sciences.) |
Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
Relation | alephsysno: 001809475, proquestno: MQ70492, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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