Don’t count your eggs before they hatch: differential survival of artificial bird nests in an anthropogenically modified landscape in western Mexico

Native habitat conversion to urban and agricultural areas represents conservation concerns for habitat quality and the breeding success of birds. In tropical areas facing regular deforestation of at-risk habitats, changes may occur to bird and nest predator communities that influence contradictory trends in breeding success. To assess the value of working lands for birds, we placed 100 artificial nests in 5 habitat types of varying human footprint, including a tropical dry forest reserve, a biological research station, croplands, and 2 urban towns. We report a clear decline in survival from the forest to urban towns. Habitat type explained the variation in nest survival probabilities over nest height, elevation, or time of nest exposure. Reducing the structural and compositional contrast of habitat and landscape vegetation between tropical dry forest and working lands represent valuable conservation actions for increasing habitat quality for birds.