Shorebirds: Nesting Behavior and Dispersion Patterns

What kind of dispersion might you expect in colonies of nesting terns?

a. clumped

b. evenly spaced

c. random

Final answer:

Answer:

Terns nesting in colonies with fixed minimum distances between nests would exhibit a uniform dispersion pattern, similar to territorial species like penguins.

Shorebirds, such as terns, exhibit interesting nesting behavior when they nest in large colonies. These birds maintain small territories surrounding their nests, with each nesting pair keeping a fixed minimum distance between its nest and those of other pairs. This behavior raises the question of what dispersion pattern we might expect to see in these nests.

The correct answer is a. evenly spaced. Terns nesting in colonies with fixed minimum distances between nests would exhibit a uniform dispersion pattern, where the nests are evenly spaced out across the nesting area.

Explanation: The nests of terns, which maintain fixed minimum distances between each other, are expected to exhibit a uniform dispersion pattern. This pattern arises because terns are territorial and establish personal space around their nest sites to reduce conflict over resources. This behavior results in a uniformly spaced distribution of nests, similar to what we observe with other territorial birds like penguins.

Uniform distribution is characterized by a more or less equal spacing between individuals in the population. This even spacing is a result of direct interactions among individuals in the population, such as territorial behavior or competition for resources, influencing where they can successfully establish their territory.