Long-term Investigation of Territorial Behavior and Population Dynamics in the Common Loon, 1993-2009

Abstract

The Loon Project research focuses on two main issues: 1) how young animals acquire a territory, which they must have to breed, and 2) how older, established breeders hold onto their territories for as long as possible. In the course of exploring these two central issues, we have probed other areas, such as the impact of nesting platforms on reproductive success of loons, genetic parentage of loon chicks, changes in the territorial yodels of males, and local movements of breeding and non-breeding loons. More information can be found on the project website (http://www1.chapman.edu/~wpiper/index.html) including techniques (http://www1.chapman.edu/~wpiper/technique.html), and findings (http://www1.chapman.edu/~wpiper/findings.html).