<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<article xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="1.1" xml:lang="en">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id>authorea</journal-id>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Authorea</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.22541/au.160830984.40300334/v1</article-id>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>The effects of forest edge and nest height on nest&amp;#xA0;predation in a U.K.
deciduous forest fragment</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name>
            <surname>Atkin</surname>
            <given-names>Noah</given-names>
          </name>
          <address>
            <institution>Imperial College London</institution>
          </address>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name>
            <surname>Banks-Leite</surname>
            <given-names>Cris</given-names>
          </name>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <pub-date date-type="preprint" publication-format="electronic">
        <day>18</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2020</year>
      </pub-date>
      <self-uri xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.22541/au.160830984.40300334/v1">This preprint is available at https://doi.org/10.22541/au.160830984.40300334/v1</self-uri>
      <abstract abstract-type="abstract">
        <p>It has been previously hypothesised that nest predation is higher at
forest edges. This has important conservation implications for the
increasingly fragmented U.K. climax community. I aimed to test the
generality of this edge effect in a mixed deciduous forest fragment
which borders open grassland. Artificial nests containing a combination
of quail and plasticine eggs were used, at ground and arboreal levels. I
found an overall edge effect on nest predation rates, however this
effect was not specifically seen in ground nests. Ground nests
experienced significantly higher levels of predation than arboreal
nests. I suggest this edge effect is due in part to the steep
productivity gradient over the ecotone.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group kwd-group-type="author-created">
        <kwd>artificialnest</kwd>
        <kwd>edge effect</kwd>
        <kwd>predation</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
