Farming shifts bird reproduction

摘要

Exposure to agricultural habitat early in life seems to speed up the reproductive schedule of a tropical bird species. Samantha Cartwright at the University of Reading, UK, and her colleagues looked at 23 years of life-history data for 79 female Mauritius kestrels (Falco punctatus; pictured), a threatened, forest-dwelling bird. The authors found that birds born in nests near agricultural areas had lower survival rates as young adults, but also bred earlier in life, compared with birds born in forested habitats.