Abstract:

In this paper, a complex morphological comparison of four Common Nightingale groups (Luscinia megarhynchos) is demonstrated. In total, 121 territorial nightingales were mist-netted and measured individually on four study areas called ‘Bódva’, ‘Felső-Tisza’, ‘Szatmár-Bereg’ and ‘Bátorliget’ in the North-Eastern part of Hungary in 2006–2013. To distinguish groups by morphology, Classification and Regression Trees (CART), Random Forest (RF) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) methods were used. Comparison of the four stu­died Common Nightingale groups shows substantial morphological differences in the length of the second, the third and the fourth primaries (P₂, P₃, P₄), in bill length (BL) and bill width (BW), while other characteristics showed greater similarities. Based on the results of all the applied classification methods, birds originated from Szatmár-Bereg were clearly distinguishable from the others. The differences in morphology can be explained by interspecific competition or phenotypic plasticity resulting from the change of ecological, environmental para­me­ters. Our case study highlights the advantageous differences of the classification methods to distinguish groups with simi­lar morphology and to choose important variables for classification. In conclusion, broad application of the classification methods RF and CART is highly recommended in comparative ecological studies.