Some Aspects of Laying, Incubation and Hatching in the Great Reed-Warbler

During the breeding season of 1998, breeding ecology of the Great Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus orientalis) was studied at Yangsoo-ri and Yongdam-ri of the Yangpyung-gun, Kyunggi province, Korea. Egg-weight (CV: 6.25) was more variable than either length or breadth, and breadth was the least variable of the measures. Significant variations In overall egg-weight occurred between clutches, and that more of the total variation in egg-weight and shape are due to inter-clutch variation as to intra-clutch variation when the data were pooled. The last egg tends to be larger than the remaining eggs in the clutch of the Great Reed-Warbler, suggest- ing the Great Reed-Warbler may adopt the brood-survival strategy. When method 3 was used, the most common incubation period is 12 days. In the Great Reed-Warbler, the length of the incubation period was related to clutch-size when method 1 (r=0.485, p<0.05) and method 2 (r=0.621, p<0.01) were employed, but not related to egg weight. The average number of days of hatching asynchrony was 2.5, raging 0.5∼2.5. Asynchronous hatching was related to the clutch size (r=0.66, p<0.01). Hatching sequence was closely related to the laying sequence (r=0.93, p<0.001), suggesting Great Reed-Warblers incubate their eggs before clutch completion. The effect of egg weight on hatching asynchrony was found in Great Reed-Warblers (t-test, p<0.01).