Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) Science Article 12
abstract
Poor breeding success often increases dispersal, but there is conflicting evidenceabout the putative adaptive benefi ts of dispersal behavior. Thus, observational and experimentaldata were analyzed to test whether breeding success (number of young fl edging) infl uencedbreeding and natal dispersal by Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), using information from1,302 nests over 12 years. Success was experimentally altered at 291 randomly selected nestboxes by adding or removing three eggs (representing