Robert W. Storer's research while affiliated with University of Michigan and other places

... Double-brooding (which could invalidate nest success data obtained in this manner ) is very rare in large grebes. For example, only very low frequencies of re-nesting or double-brooding have been reported for Red-necked Grebes (Podiceps grisigena; Kloskowski 2001) and Aechmophorus grebes (Storer and Nuechterlein 1992). Elbert (1996) and Elbert and Anderson (1998) provide further details on our survey methods and sampling strategies. ...

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Mercury residues and productivity in Osprey and grebes from a mine-dominated ecosystem

... The Western Grebe and Clark's Grebe are socially monogamous species (Storer and Nuechterlein 1992) that nest together and occasionally hybridize in mixed colonies at Clear Lake and its associated wetlands (Feerer and Garrett 1977, Robison et al. 2015, Hayes and Turner 2017, Hayes et al. 2018. The grebes build floating nests of aquatic vegetation, which are attached to emergent vegetation along the shore or submerged vegetation in open water up to 1 km from shore, along the margins of the lake and its associated wetlands where the water is shallow. ...

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Egg destruction by males in the Western Grebe and Clark’s Grebe

... Among them, response facilitation is inferred when the observation of a demonstrator performing a behavior (often resulting in a reward) temporarily increases the probability that the observer will initiate the same behavior (Hoppitt et al., 2007). This process (sometimes referred to as "behavioral contagion", "behavioral synchronization", or "the neighbor effect") enhances the diffusion of specific actions that are either involuntary, reflexive and unlearned (e.g., contagious yawning, self-scratching, predator evasion, contact calls; Amici et al., 2014;Nakayama, 2004;Palagi et al., 2014;Videan et al., 2005), or voluntary, more elaborate, and learned (e.g., synchronous feeding, extractive foraging, self-medication, grooming, courtship displays; Fragaszy et al., 2017;Hoppitt et al., 2007;Leca et al., 2007a;Meunier et al., 2008;Nuechterlein and Storer, 1982;Tolman, 1964). Because the mirror neuron system is likely involved in this social process (Ferrari et al., 2005), response facilitation is characterized by a transient effect (i.e. a response being generally triggered within a few minutes after exposure), even though a more precise timeframe is difficult to establish (Hoppitt et al., 2007). ...

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Dyadic response facilitation of object play in Balinese long-tailed macaques

... Second, the patterns revealed by the maps often reflect the documented biology of the species. For example, eared grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) stop at hypersaline lakes (primarily Mono Lake, California, and Great Salt Lake, Utah), where the majority of them undergo a complete molt after the breeding season (Cullen et al., 2020;Jehl & Henry, 2010;Storer & Jehl, 1985). Subsequently, they depart for wintering areas in southern California and Mexico. ...

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The geographic extent of bird populations affected by renewable-energy development

... (2) comfort: preening, bathing, wing-flapping; (3) sleeping (or loafing); (4) resting (staying); (5) nest building; (6) agonistic interactions, including overt threats, fights, chases, ritualized displays against conspecifics or other waterbird species (mainly great crested grebes Podiceps cristatus); all these interactions were associated with territory/nest defence and were given equal weighting; (7) mountings (male-female and reverse, i.e., femalemale mountings); we recorded position of the mates (active/passive) during mounting (cf., Nuechterlein & Storer, 1989b). Other categories recordedswimming not associated with foraging, resting, or aggression; out-of-sight behaviours; and behaviours during disturbance events -were not included in the analyses. ...

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The role of male nest building in post-mating sexual selection in the monogamous red-necked grebe

... Western and Clark's grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis and A. clarkii, respectively; hereafter, grebes) nest colonially on large freshwater lakes that contain extensive areas of open water bordered by wetland vegetation (LaPorte et al. 2013). Their nest platforms are low profile, are constructed of and anchored to wetland vegetation, and float on the water surface (Allen et al. 2008b;La-Porte et al. 2013). ...

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Landscape-Level Habitat Variables Influence Reproductive Output of Aechmophorus Grebes

... Our cameras documented 4 incidents of intentional egg destruction (eggs smashed or expelled from nest) by Western Grebes and 3 by Clark's Grebes. All incidents were perpetrated by males, based on their notably longer and stouter bills (Ratti and McCabe 1983, Storer and Nuechterlein 1985, Hartman et al. 2016. Five incidents occurred at 3 recently vacated nests in which the previous eggs had been destroyed by mammalian predators. ...

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Historical and Recent Breeding of the Western Grebe and Clark's Grebe in a Severely Impaired Ecosystem at Clear Lake, California

... Is it possible that Feerer (1977) transposed his percentages for Western Grebe and Clark's Grebe? Storer and Nuechterlein (1985) and Livezey and Storer (1992) analyzed plumage and morphological characters in 111 adult grebes collected by Steven Herman from Clear Lake during 1967-1979 but did not provide the number of each species collected during the breeding season. An examination of the online catalog for their specimens in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (portal.vertnet.org) ...

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Historical and Recent Breeding of the Western Grebe and Clark's Grebe in a Severely Impaired Ecosystem at Clear Lake, California

... We expected that this interannual variation in plant communities would potentially be reflected in differences in breeding site selection, as indicated by avian occupancy. Breeding site fidelity of American Bitterns is relatively low (21% of 105 marked bitterns showed site fidelity; Shaffer et al., 2019), but has not been well studied in Pied-billed Grebes (Muller & Storer, 2020) or Soras (Zimmerman et al., 2002), whereas Virginia Rails may return to the same location in successive years if habitat conditions remain stable (Conway, 2020). Tozer et al. (2020) also found annual differences in which 100-m-radius circular plots were occupied by each of these species in Great Lakes coastal and inland wetlands throughout southern Ontario (n = 180 plots). ...

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Application of habitat association models across regions: Useful explanatory power retained in wetland bird case study

... occipitalis), Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis), and Clark's Grebe (A. clarkii). The Western Grebe and Clark's Grebe are large, morphologically similar, and occasionally hybridizing species of piscivorous birds that breed on floating nests in mixed-species colonies in lacustrine ecosystems in western North America (Storer and Nuechterlein 1992; http://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/ species/wesgre; http://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/ clagre). Up to six eggs are typically laid by a mated pair in a nest (Storer and Nuechterlein 1992;LaPorte et al. 2014, http://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/ wesgre). ...

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Brood parasitism and communal egg dumping in the Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and Clark's Grebe (A. clarkii)