• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1519-1524
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• 2015

It is well known that prepartum sows have an innate motivation to build a nest before parturition. Under commercial conditions, however, the farrowing crate, which is widely used in modern pig husbandry, inhibits this innate behaviour through the lack of space, materials, or both. Thus, restriction of nest-building behaviour could generate increased stress, resulting in a decrease in maternal endogenous hormones. Hence, it could lead to detrimental effects on farrowing and lactating performance. Here we review interactions between prepartum nest-building behaviour, stress and maternal endogenous hormone levels, and discuss their effects on parturition, lactation, and welfare of sows and offspring.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.289-294
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• 2012

This study was conducted from April 2012 to June 2012 to analyze breeding status of Black woodpeckers (Dryocopus martius) in the Gayasan National Park. Nest height, tree diameter which a nest built and altitude at the nest site of Black woodpeckers were 17.4 m, 63.8 cm and 587 m, respectively. A pair of Black woodpeckers completed a clutch in 4 eggs on 7 May and 3 of eggs hatched on 24 May 2012. Both female and male incubated eggs and never left eggs without one of parents. A male more contributed to build a nest than a female. Incubation duration was higher in a male than in a female. Nestlings made a begging call in a nest during the growing period. Begging frequency of nestlings increased from 11 days up to 20 days after hatching. After then, nestlings reduced begging and fledged a nest 24 days after hatching. This study provided information of breeding ecology to protect and manage population of Black woodpeckers which are endangered species in South Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.94 no.5 s.162
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• pp.338-341
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• 2005

This study was conducted to describe the differences in artificial nest boxes use of tits between deciduous and coniferous forests at 2nd campus of Chung-Ang University ($37^{\circ}00^{\prime}04^{{\prime}{\prime}}N$, $127^{\circ}13^{\prime}96^{{\prime}{\prime}}E$), Ansung, Korea from January to August 2005. Tree species richness, tree species diversity index (H') and total basal areas were higher in deciduous forest than in coniferous forest. High, middle, low and understory canopy layers were more developed in deciduous forest, except the coverage of bush-ground layer. Varied tit Parus varius, marsh tit P. palustris and great tit P. major used the artificial nest boxes in this study. Number of breeding pairs of tits used artificial nest boxes, clutch size, and weight and size of eggs were higher in deciduous forest than in coniferous forest. The differences in habitat structure between study sites are very likely to have influenced how breeding birds used the available habitat. Artificial nest boxes could be used as management and conservation tool for birds, particularly in areas, where the availability of natural cavities and coverage of higher layer are limited.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.152-162
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• 2021

Background: Recent declines in bee populations, along with increasing demand for pollination services in urban, agricultural, and natural environments, have led to strategies to attract wild bees to these areas. One of these strategies is installing artificial nests adjacent to urban gardens and agricultural farms. Bee hotels and nest boxes are among the artificial nests used by gardeners and farmers to attract pollinators. In this paper, we reviewed 50 studies that reported the efficiency of nest boxes and bee hotels in attracting bees. We considered the maximum occupation rate (percentage) as the main index to evaluate the efficiency of artificial nests. Results: The maximum occupation rate of bee hotels was higher in farms (averaged 44.1%) than in forests (averaged 30.3%) and urban (averaged 38.3%) environments. In the case of nest boxes, most studies reported efficiencies of less than 20%, with an occupation rate of 16% and 5.5% on average in forest and urban environments respectively. However, our meta-analysis results showed that there was no significant relationship between the occupation rate of the nests and their installation place. Regression analysis also showed that the structural features of bee hotels (length and diameter) and nest boxes (volume and entrance size) did not affect their efficiency in attracting bees. Conclusion: Our data showed that the strategy of installing artificial nests to attract pollinators is successful only concerning bee hotels, and the use of nest boxes has not been very successful.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.282-288
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• 2019

We investigated the changes in the population size and inter-specific space usage for breeding in mixed breeding sites of the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), grey heron (Ardea cinerea), great egret (Ardea alba modesta) and intermediate egret (Egretta intermedia) in Gammul-myeon, Goesan-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea, in 2016-2017. These species bred in two adjacent habitats (site A and site B). The number of breeding pairs of all species and the size of the breeding area at site B increased in 2017. In 2017, great cormorants at site B occupied the breeding sites previously occupied by the other species in 2016, while the grey heron and great egret occupied the sites around the great cormorant breeding site. The heights of nest trees and nests of great cormorant and grey heron did not differ temporally, but these heights in site B were significantly higher than those in site A for great cormorants. For great egrets, these greatly decreased in site B in 2017. Thus, the great cormorant either moved to favourable nest sites for breeding success or selected nest sites used by the herons in the previous year. Further studies of these two possibilities are necessary.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.415-424
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• 2015

This research was conducted to reveal the characteristics of breeding ecology of oriental scops owl (Otus sunia stictonotus) inhabiting in South Korea according to the nest types during the breeding season from march to October for two years (2011 and 2012). Oriental scops owl nested in woodpecker's nest holes (46.1%), natural tree holes (38.5%), and artificial wood boxes (15.4%). These nests were located on following trees: Zelkova serrata, Paulownia coreana, Celtis sinensis, Salix chaenomeloides, Salix babylonica, Fraxinus rhynchophylla, Robinia pseudoacacia and Platanus occidentalis. The hatching success was 91.4%, fledging success was 83.0%, and breeding success was 75.9%. The factors of the breeding failure were falling (57.1%), abandonment (28.6%), hatching failure (7.1%), and others with unknown cause of death (7.1%). According to nest types, the fledging success (69.2%) of woodpecker's nest holes were low and the hatching success (79.2%) of natural tree holes were also low due to hatching failure and abandonment. However, hatching success, fledging success, breeding success were high in the artificial nests as all the eggs hatched and succeeded in fledging. Therefore, we suggested that artificial nests can cover the weaknesses of natural nests as well as increasing the breeding success. However, long-term research on installation place, height, and hole sizes of the artificial nest are required in order to clearly reveal the effects on the breeding success of oriental scops owl.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.345-350
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• 2010

In the Vinous-throated Parrotbill Paradoxornis webbianus, potential intraspecific nest parasitism was observed in four nests (0.38%, n=1,062) during twelve breeding seasons between 1988 and 2007. At first, a nest involved 9 white eggs was found in Puyong-ri, Yangpyong-gun, Kyonggi Province in 1995. This nest would be parasitized by the same species, given that this is out of range of normal clutch size (5 eggs) in Vinous-throated Parrotbills. The second and third cases were recorded in 2001 and 2005 in Sa-dong, Ansan City, Kyonggi Province, respectively. In these nests, two eggs were added to the clutch in a single day. The final observation was made in Puyong-ri in 2007, in which one white egg was laid in the nest at the pre-laying stage. The color of the egg was different from that of the original clutch (blue). The above four things suggest that intraspecific nest parasitism can occur in Vinous-throated Parrotbills although it is an uncommon phenomenon in their life history.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.89-95
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• 2020

Our study was conducted to examine the nest attendance of the Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) from 2015 to 2018 at two Islets located in Incheon, South Korea. We visited study sites in March-April and set up the remote sensor cameras at two breeding sites (Mae-do, Guji-do) to observe chick-rearing behavior. Mean nest bout length at Mae-do (female: 4.2 ± 0.1 hr, male: 4.0 ± 0.1 hr) was shorter than at Guji-do (female: 5.3 ± 0.2, male: 6.0 ± 0.3 hr), and trip duration at Mae-do (female: 4.4 ± 0.1 hr, male: 4.0 ± 0.1) was also shorter than at Guji-do (female: 7.0 ± 0.2 hr, male: 7.0 ± 0.3). Mean nest bout length and trip duration at both study sites decreased as chick rearing progressed. Males attended their nests during the daytime, and females attended their nests during the nighttime. Our results showed that females and males' duties were divided by the diel cycle, but the pattern of nest attendance could change depending on the environment of their breeding sites during the chick-rearing period.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2017

This study was conducted to identify the reproductive behavior of the barn swallow. The study was carried out in Gwangju, Korea during the 2013 breeding season. In the morning, the nest-building frequency was 14.2~31.0 trips/h (10.2~19.8 trips/h by male and 4.0~11.4 trips/h by female). The nest-building activity took 7.6~15.9 min/h (4.8~8.1 min/h by male and 2.8~8.0 min/h by female). The nest-building time by female ($40.0{\pm}27.9sec/trip$) was about 1.5 times longer than the nest-building time by male ($26.1{\pm}15.5sec/trip$). Only the female incubated the eggs. The Incubation time was $50.6{\pm}17.5min/h$ (84%) at 6h, 24.5 min/h (40.8%) at 7h and 15.6 min/h (26.0%) thereafter. During daytime, the female incubation time showed a highly significant difference (p<0.001), and the incubation time at 6h was higher than that at other times. There was a significantly negative correlation between female incubation time and the mean air temperature(p<0.05). The frequency of feeding was $385.2{\pm}66.9trips/nest$ in the daytime ($219.2{\pm}37.1trips/nest$ by male and $166.0{\pm}30.8trips/nest$ by female). The frequency of feeding per hour was $32.1{\pm}12.3trips/h$ ($18.3{\pm}7.8trips/h$ by male and $14.3{\pm}4.5trips/h$ by female). The frequency of feeding per hour showed a significant difference in the range of 10h(p<0.05) and 15h(p<0.01) by sex. The time of feeding by female ($40.9{\pm}83.3sec/trip$) was longer than the time of feeding by male ($12.3{\pm}31.0sec/trip$). The juvenile defecation frequency was $45.6{\pm}8.4times/nest$ per day and showed a positive correlation with feeding frequency (p<0.05). The results of this study will be helpful in understanding the reproductive behaviors of the swallow adapted to the environment in Korea.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.41-45
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• 2009

For last 150 years, blackbirds have moved from their ancestral habitat, the woodland edge, to man-made habitats such as farmland, parks and gardens. These alternative habitats have become one of main blackbird habitats. I compared density of nests and blackbirds in parks, woodland and campus of University of East Anglia to investigate habitat preference. Blackbirds preferred the area covered by $10\sim50%$ of tree or bush patches for their foraging and nesting sites. Blackbirds were more frequently found near buildings rather than far from buildings. Nest characteristics did not affect predation rate and nest preference. This study suggests that man-made habitats may be important for avoiding predation.