Individual study: The effects of enhancing a rooftop nesting site through substrate addition and provision of anti-predator shelters on breeding success of little terns Sterna albifrons at the Morigasaki Water Reclamation Center, Tokyo, Kanto Region, Japan
Hayashi E., Hayakawa M., Satou T. & Masuda N. (2002) Attraction of little terns to artificial roof-top breeding sites and their breeding success. Strix, 23, 143-148
This study is summarised as evidence for the intervention(s) shown on the right. The icon shows which synopsis it is relevant to.
Physically protect nests with individual exclosures/barriers or provide shelters for chicks of ground nesting seabirds
A before-and-after study in 2001-2002 in Tokyo, Japan (Hayashi et al. 2002) found that the provision of 200 chick shelters on the roof of a sewage plant in 2002, combined with the provision of nesting substrate, appeared to increase the fledging rate of a little tern Sterna albifrons colony, compared with 2001 when birds were first observed and before habitat alterations (23% of 2,665 eggs fledged in 2002 vs. 1.5 – 2.1% of 335 eggs in 2001). The nesting substrate consisted of fine-grained (2-3 mm) ‘dried sludge’ spread over 2 ha, with 30 tonnes of shell fragments, while 38% of the rooftop was painted white. Chick shelters consisted of a sheet of wire mesh spread across two bricks.
Provide artificial nesting sites for ground and tree-nesting seabirds
A before-and-after study in 2001-2 in Tokyo, Japan (Hayashi et al. 2002) found that the fledging rates in a little tern Sterna albifrons colony was higher following the provision of nesting substrate and chick shelters. This study is discussed in ‘Physically protect nests with individual exclosures/barriers or provide shelters for chicks’.