City Living: Nest-Site Selection Preferences in Urban Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This manuscript is well written and it constitutes an interesting contribution to knowledge the Nest-Site Selection Preferences in city-living gulls.

I think there is a problem associated with the presentation of the statistical results. Using AIC, it is necessary to show the parsimonious model (higher Akaike weight, Di=0) and if there were other competent models (Di<2). Even models with Di <7 might have some support (Burnham & Anderson, 1998. Model selection and inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer-Verlag. New York). Moreover, Yates, et al. 2021. Parsimonious model selection using information theory: a modified selection rule. Ecology, 102: 10.1002/ecy.3475 have proposed an useful criteria for the model selection. The authors should indicate how many models were generated, which was the best model and if there were other competing models.

Introduction

• Line 99. The specific name (ridibundus) must be lowercase

References

• References need attention. For example, Mainwaring et al. (2014) must be completed and scientific names must be in italics.

Author Response

***Author Responses

This manuscript is well written and it constitutes an interesting contribution to knowledge the Nest-Site Selection Preferences in city-living gulls.

***Thank you very much for your review and the positive words on the research. It is very much appreciated.

I think there is a problem associated with the presentation of the statistical results. Using AIC, it is necessary to show the parsimonious model (higher Akaike weight, Di=0) and if there were other competent models (Di<2). Even models with Di <7 might have some support (Burnham & Anderson, 1998. Model selection and inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer-Verlag. New York). Moreover, Yates, et al. 2021. Parsimonious model selection using information theory: a modified selection rule. Ecology, 102: 10.1002/ecy.3475 have proposed an useful criteria for the model selection. The authors should indicate how many models were generated, which was the best model and if there were other competing models.

***A good point, thanks for bringing our attention to this. We have now stated this procedure in the methods, and provided the requested information in the results, as well as providing all competent candidate models in the Supplementary Material. We build on these findings in the results, where we state in Lines 220-230 “In general, the stepAIC process generated between 9-15 candidate models for all hierarchical scales, with the exception of colony 2 at Skerries which reported 27 candidate models. Alternative candidate models that had a Δi of less than 2 when AIC was considered are reported in the Supplmentary Material. Across all scales, there were seldom more than three possible candidate models, with coefficient relationships largely similar. Additional variables that were added to models consisted of interactions, and there were only six instances where a coefficient inverted its relationship with habitat selection, out of a possible 164. Most inversions were identified in Skerries and are largely due to overfitting that occurred in that colony due lack of variability in the urban landscape (i.e., roof types). “

Introduction

• Line 99. The specific name (ridibundus) must be lowercase

*** Thanks for spotting. We have changed this

References

• References need attention. For example, Mainwaring et al. (2014) must be completed and scientific names must be in italics.

***Thanks for noticing. Yes, we were aware these might need some TLC after review. These have now been updated and formatted with journal, and all scientific names are in italics.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript “City-Living: Nest-Site Selection Preferences in Urban Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus” is dealing with very interesting and novel data. Habitat selection, nest site selection have been always important in ornithology and, as pointed out by the authors, number of studies in urban environments are scarce. The overall study is relatively straightforward, and the data and conclusions can help to understand the main factors that determine the nest site selection of the Hering Gull.
The introduction is well structured, the aims are clear. The literature cited is extensive and sufficient. 
The description of the study area (cities) could be more detailed.
The statistical methods are well-chosen: Generalized linear models are widely used for habitat selection of birds. The results definitely complement our knowledge on the Herring Gulls nest site selection in the “novel” urban ecosystem.
The last paragraph of the Discussion is more like a Conclusion (please consider).
The manuscript was written in good English. 
I recommend it for publication.      

Formal note: the quality of the images are not the best (but it might be because of the pdf compression, please check).

Author Response

***Author Responses

The manuscript “City-Living: Nest-Site Selection Preferences in Urban Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus” is dealing with very interesting and novel data. Habitat selection, nest site selection have been always important in ornithology and, as pointed out by the authors, number of studies in urban environments are scarce. The overall study is relatively straightforward, and the data and conclusions can help to understand the main factors that determine the nest site selection of the Hering Gull.
The introduction is well structured, the aims are clear. The literature cited is extensive and sufficient. 
The description of the study area (cities) could be more detailed.
The statistical methods are well-chosen: Generalized linear models are widely used for habitat selection of birds. The results definitely complement our knowledge on the Herring Gulls nest site selection in the “novel” urban ecosystem.
The last paragraph of the Discussion is more like a Conclusion (please consider).
The manuscript was written in good English. 
I recommend it for publication.      

Formal note: the quality of the images are not the best (but it might be because of the pdf compression, please check).

***Thank you for your review and for the positive words on this research. It is very much appreciated. Building on your three suggestions. Firstly, we have added descriptions to the supplementary information, which provides the lead author’s observations from the walking surveys, which should provide contextual information on the study areas. Secondly, we have made the final paragraph of the discussion our conclusion. Lastly, we have ensured that figures of suitable quality have been uploaded to the system to improve their quality for publication.