Nest-Site Tenacity and Dispersal Patterns of Vespa crabro Colonies Located in Bird Nest-Boxes

摘要

There are numerous studies describing nest-boxes as breeding places for birds, and sometimes for mammals. However, our results show that in urban conditions nest-boxes are also important nesting places for Hornets {Vespa crabro). The proportion of nest-boxes occupied by V crabro in this study was between 8 and 20% and varied significantly from year to year. We did not find any relationship between birds' presence in nest-boxes in winter, as well as in spring, and nest-box occupancy by Hornets. We found high nest-site tenacity, defined as a preference to re-use the same nest-box during the study period. However, this tenacity did not persist in the last season when new boxes were added. The high occupancy level of nest-boxes we have observed might increase human-hornet conflicts. Therefore, when placing bird nest-boxes in urbanized areas it must be borne in mind that a substantial proportion may become occupied by this particular insect.