Egg predation and egg predator diversity in forest and open habitat of the Monteverde region

As habitats continue to be destroyed and fragmentation decreases the number of large predators, intermediate predators are expected to thrive. To further investigate whether the intermediate predator hypothesis applies to open areas in addition to edges, the difference in the amount of egg predation and the egg predator diversity in the forest and open habitat of the Monteverde region was tested. Each night three clusters of eggs with three quail eggs and three fake plasticine eggs were placed in each habitat. Results showed a significant difference between the total number of real eggs removed from the two habitats, (Chi-squared test, 2 = 5.373, p = 0.0205, n = 2) but there was no difference between the number of eggs removed each night between the two habitats (Sign test, p \u3e 0.05). It is thought that fewer eggs are removed from the open area because other, more preferred food sources such as gardens and compost exist in the open area. Como los hábitats siguen siendo destruidos y la fragmentación disminuye el número de los depredadores grandes, se espera que los depredadores intermedios prosperen. Con el fin de investigar si la hipótesis de los depredadores intermedios es valida en áreas abiertas al igual que en los bordes, se examinó la diferencia entre la cantidad de depredación de huevos y la diversidad de depredadores de huevos en el bosque y en el hábitat abierto en la región de Monteverde.https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/tropical_ecology/1267/thumbnail.jp