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Erkki Korpimaki - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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weather and biotic interactions as determinants of seasonal shifts in abundance measured through Nest Box occupancy in the siberian flying squirrel
Scientific Reports, 2020Co-Authors: Vesa Selonen, Kari Hongisto, Mikko Hanninen, Tytti Turkia, Erkki KorpimakiAbstract:It is much debated whether the direct effects of weather or biotic interactions determine species' responses to climate change. For example, an important biotic factor for herbivores in northern ecosystems is the availability of winter food. If the food availability changes because of the changing climate, it likely has major impact on the abundance of herbivores. To evaluate this, we need to know the relative roles of weather and biotic interactions, such as food availability and risk of predation, for the species. Here, we utilize long-term data on Nest-Box occupancy by Siberian flying squirrels (Pteromys volans) in Finland during 2002-2018. We built binary models with Nest-Box occupancy in different seasons as a response variable. Weather, winter food (tree mast), and predator presence (the Ural owl, Strix uralensis) modified seasonal Nest-Box occupancy patterns of the flying squirrel. However, the effect of weather was only important in the summer. The negative effect of predators was clear for adults but, surprisingly, not for overwinter survival of apparent juveniles. Considering the relative importance of different factors, winter food availability had a clear positive effect in each season. Our study supports the view that the effects of climate change mediate through multiple biotic interactions. In forest ecosystems, responses of masting trees to weather likely play an important role in species responses to climate change.
Vesa Selonen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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weather and biotic interactions as determinants of seasonal shifts in abundance measured through Nest Box occupancy in the siberian flying squirrel
Scientific Reports, 2020Co-Authors: Vesa Selonen, Kari Hongisto, Mikko Hanninen, Tytti Turkia, Erkki KorpimakiAbstract:It is much debated whether the direct effects of weather or biotic interactions determine species' responses to climate change. For example, an important biotic factor for herbivores in northern ecosystems is the availability of winter food. If the food availability changes because of the changing climate, it likely has major impact on the abundance of herbivores. To evaluate this, we need to know the relative roles of weather and biotic interactions, such as food availability and risk of predation, for the species. Here, we utilize long-term data on Nest-Box occupancy by Siberian flying squirrels (Pteromys volans) in Finland during 2002-2018. We built binary models with Nest-Box occupancy in different seasons as a response variable. Weather, winter food (tree mast), and predator presence (the Ural owl, Strix uralensis) modified seasonal Nest-Box occupancy patterns of the flying squirrel. However, the effect of weather was only important in the summer. The negative effect of predators was clear for adults but, surprisingly, not for overwinter survival of apparent juveniles. Considering the relative importance of different factors, winter food availability had a clear positive effect in each season. Our study supports the view that the effects of climate change mediate through multiple biotic interactions. In forest ecosystems, responses of masting trees to weather likely play an important role in species responses to climate change.
Clotilde Biard - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Nest-Box temperature affects clutch size, incubation initiation, and Nestling health in great tits
Behavioral Ecology, 2017Co-Authors: Josefa Bleu, Simon Agostini, Clotilde BiardAbstract:Prenatal maternal effects can be a source of phenotypic plasticity and may play a role in adaptation to climate change. However, we do not know how far temperature could influence such effects, if at all. We studied the influence of temperature during egg laying on maternal reproductive investment and on the phenotype of adult females, adult males, and Nestlings. We expected temperature to have an effect, as it influences maintenance costs for females, who can also use it as a cue of the advancement of the breeding season. We experimentally increased night-time Nest-Box temperatures by approximately 1 °C throughout the entire laying period in great tits (Parus major). Clutch size was negatively correlated with laying date in heated females. Heated females did not delay incubation after clutch completion as frequently as control females did. Finally, blood sedimentation rate, which is an indicator of acute infections and inflammatory diseases, was positively correlated with hatching date in control broods. This suggests that Nestlings were of lower quality in late-hatched broods than in early-hatched broods. This seasonal effect was not detected in heated Nests. Our results show that a small increase in temperature during laying can influence breeding strategy and Nestling characteristics. These results suggest that birds used temperature as a cue of seasonal advancement to adjust breeding phenology, with beneficial effects on Nestling health. To better understand the consequences of maternal adjustments during egg laying, it would be interesting to combine studies with heating treatment during different periods of the breeding cycle.
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clutch size variation in western palaearctic secondary hole Nesting passerine birds in relation to Nest Box design
Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2014Co-Authors: Anders Pape Møller, Frank Adriaensen, Alexandr Artemyev, Jerzy Banbura, Emilio Barba, Clotilde Biard, Jacques Blondel, Zihad Bouslama, Jean Charles Bouvier, Jordi CamprodonAbstract:Secondary hole-Nesting birds that do not construct Nest holes themselves and hence regularly breed in Nest Boxes constitute important model systems for field studies in many biological disciplines with hundreds of scientists and amateurs involved. Those research groups are spread over wide geographic areas that experience considerable variation in environmental conditions, and researchers provide Nest Boxes of varying designs that may inadvertently introduce spatial and temporal variation in reproductive parameters. We quantified the relationship between mean clutch size and Nest Box size and material after controlling for a range of environmental variables in four of the most widely used model species in the Western Palaearctic: great tit Parus major, blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus, pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca and collared flycatcher F.albicollis from 365 populations and 79610 clutches. Nest floor area and Nest Box material varied non-randomly across latitudes and longitudes, showing that scientists did not adopt a random Box design. Clutch size increased with Nest floor area in great tits, but not in blue tits and flycatchers. Clutch size of blue tits was larger in wooden than in concrete Nest Boxes. These findings demonstrate that the size of Nest Boxes and material used to construct Nest Boxes can differentially affect clutch size in different species. The findings also suggest that the Nest Box design may affect not only focal species, but also indirectly other species through the effects of Nest Box design on productivity and therefore potentially population density and hence interspecific competition.
Anne Charmantier - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Nest size is not closely related to breeding success in blue tits a long term Nest Box study in a mediterranean oak habitat
The Auk, 2016Co-Authors: Marcel M Lambrechts, Philippe Perret, Virginie Demeyrier, Pascal Marrot, Amelie Fargevieille, Pablo Giovannini, Annick Lucas, Afiwa Midamegbe, Arnaud Gregoire, Anne CharmantierAbstract:ABSTRACT Various components of breeding success are predicted to be related to avian Nest size because (1) some individuals are physically able to build larger Nests than other individuals or (2) larger Nests provide more protection in the absence of predation than smaller Nests. The results of an 18-yr correlative Nest-Box study in Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) show that Nest size is not closely related to components that reflect breeding performance, after controlling for other female characteristics (first-egg date, clutch size, and female age) assumed to influence breeding performance in long-term studies. Our results support those of most short-term field studies that have reported weak associations between Nest size and breeding performance in cavity-Nesting passerines. We suggest that the absence of an association between Nest size and breeding performance can be explained by the fact that the vast majority of Nest-Box studies have used small Nest chambers that imposed physical constraints on the...
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Manipulation of Nest-Box density affects extra-pair paternity in a population of blue tits (Parus caeruleus)
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2004Co-Authors: Anne Charmantier, Philippe PerretAbstract:We tested the effect of manipulation of breeding density on the occurrence of extra-pair paternity in a blue tit (Parus caeruleus) population during two consecutive years. In a homogeneous oak forest, Nest-Box manipulation provided a high density plot (plot A, 1.10 and 1.32 pairs/ha) and a low density plot (plot B, 0.43 and 0.46 pairs/ha). Microsatellite analysis on 91 broods revealed a higher proportion of extra-pair paternity in broods in plot A (mean of 17.2%) than in plot B (mean of 11.4%). A correlative approach showed that the proportion of extra-pair young in broods was affected by the number of breeding neighbours within 100 m around the Nest-Box, by the distance to the nearest breeding neighbour and by an additional plot effect. However, the nearest neighbours accounted for only 39.3% of extra-pair paternities and distance to extra-pair fathers was significantly higher than the nearest neighbour distance in both plots. This implies that the effect of density on the occurrence of extra-pair paternities is associated with active female choice to enhance the brood fitness. Although there were more extra-pair young in broods when density was high, the number of extra-pair fathers did not increase and stayed close to one. We suggest that density increases the cost of mate guarding by males, thereby increasing the possibility for females to solicit extra-pair paternities to the cuckolding male they have chosen. Finally, we discuss why correlatives approaches do not always show evidence for an effect of breeding density on extra-pair paternity occurrence.
Philippe Perret - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Nest size is not closely related to breeding success in blue tits a long term Nest Box study in a mediterranean oak habitat
The Auk, 2016Co-Authors: Marcel M Lambrechts, Philippe Perret, Virginie Demeyrier, Pascal Marrot, Amelie Fargevieille, Pablo Giovannini, Annick Lucas, Afiwa Midamegbe, Arnaud Gregoire, Anne CharmantierAbstract:ABSTRACT Various components of breeding success are predicted to be related to avian Nest size because (1) some individuals are physically able to build larger Nests than other individuals or (2) larger Nests provide more protection in the absence of predation than smaller Nests. The results of an 18-yr correlative Nest-Box study in Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) show that Nest size is not closely related to components that reflect breeding performance, after controlling for other female characteristics (first-egg date, clutch size, and female age) assumed to influence breeding performance in long-term studies. Our results support those of most short-term field studies that have reported weak associations between Nest size and breeding performance in cavity-Nesting passerines. We suggest that the absence of an association between Nest size and breeding performance can be explained by the fact that the vast majority of Nest-Box studies have used small Nest chambers that imposed physical constraints on the...
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Manipulation of Nest-Box density affects extra-pair paternity in a population of blue tits (Parus caeruleus)
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2004Co-Authors: Anne Charmantier, Philippe PerretAbstract:We tested the effect of manipulation of breeding density on the occurrence of extra-pair paternity in a blue tit (Parus caeruleus) population during two consecutive years. In a homogeneous oak forest, Nest-Box manipulation provided a high density plot (plot A, 1.10 and 1.32 pairs/ha) and a low density plot (plot B, 0.43 and 0.46 pairs/ha). Microsatellite analysis on 91 broods revealed a higher proportion of extra-pair paternity in broods in plot A (mean of 17.2%) than in plot B (mean of 11.4%). A correlative approach showed that the proportion of extra-pair young in broods was affected by the number of breeding neighbours within 100 m around the Nest-Box, by the distance to the nearest breeding neighbour and by an additional plot effect. However, the nearest neighbours accounted for only 39.3% of extra-pair paternities and distance to extra-pair fathers was significantly higher than the nearest neighbour distance in both plots. This implies that the effect of density on the occurrence of extra-pair paternities is associated with active female choice to enhance the brood fitness. Although there were more extra-pair young in broods when density was high, the number of extra-pair fathers did not increase and stayed close to one. We suggest that density increases the cost of mate guarding by males, thereby increasing the possibility for females to solicit extra-pair paternities to the cuckolding male they have chosen. Finally, we discuss why correlatives approaches do not always show evidence for an effect of breeding density on extra-pair paternity occurrence.