Search results for "Parus"
showing 10 items of 134 documents
Impacts of ambient temperature and clutch size on incubation behaviour onset in a female-only incubator songbird
2021
Ambient temperature is assumed to be the major cue used by passerines to synchronize their laying and hatching dates to the expected peak of prey availability. While laying eggs, females are still able to fine-tune their hatching date following increasing or decreasing patterns of ambient temperature, mostly via changes in incubation onse t. The onset of incubation behaviour in relation to the laying sequence could have later conse- quences for the duration of the incubation period and the extent of hatching asynchrony. Clutch size is also known to affect incubation patterns and might therefore condition potential responses to changing temperatures. In this study we assessed the association…
Nesting habitat requirements and nestling diet in the Mediterranean populations of Crested Tits <I>Lophophanes cristatus</I>
2009
Most bird species show specific habitat requirements for breeding and feeding. We studied the pattern of habitat occupation, nestling diet and breeding performance of Crested Tits Lophophanes cristatus in a "typical" (conifer- ous) and an "atypical" (Holm Oak Quercus ilex) forest in eastern Spain during 2005-2007. We aimed to determine which microhabitat characteristics in the Holm Oak forest could account for the presence of Crested Tits, and checked whether the nestling diet in the Holm Oak forest resembled that obtained in the pine forest. Vegetation maps were produced using GIS from observations made in the field (tree species, tree and shrub cover). Nestling diet was recorded through v…
Variation in Great Tit Nest Mass and Composition and Its Breeding Consequences: A Comparative Study in four Mediterranean Habitats
2013
Bird nests are structures whose properties affect breeding performance. Thus, the vast majority of bird species build their own characteristic nests, selecting appropriate materials to do so. However, in habitats where the availability of "ideal" materials is low, some ability to use alternative ones would be necessary, even at the cost of having breeding success reduced. The Great Tit (Parus major) breeds under widely different environmental conditions. Its nests are althought to be composed mainly of moss, although very few studies have quantified nest composition. Our target here was describing Great Tit nest mass and composition in four different Mediterranean habitats, and exploring th…
Incubation and hatching periods in a Mediterranean Great Tit Parus major population
2014
Capsule The onset of incubation relative to clutch completion is highly variable in Great Tits Parus major, and has important consequences for the duration of the incubation and hatching periods.Aim To investigate when incubation starts relative to clutch completion, its effects on the length of the incubation and hatching periods, and which proximate factors affect all of these traits.Methods We used data from a Great Tit population in Eastern Spain collected over 15 years. Periodic visits to the nests (daily at some stages) allowed the determination of breeding parameters of interest. General linear models were used for analyses.Results On average, incubation started the day of laying of …
Across and Within-Forest Effects on Breeding Success in Mediterranean Great TitsParus major
2010
Forest type and habitat structure can have profound effects on different aspects of avian life histories. These effects may, however, strongly differ across and within forests that vary in vegetation composition and structure, especially when an ancient forest has been replaced by a new forest. To test for these differences in effect, we studied Great Tit Parus major life-history traits (280 first clutches) in two Mediterranean evergreen forests during 2005–07: an ancient Holm Oak Quercus ilex and a reforested pine forest. A comparison between forests revealed that females breeding in the Holm Oak forest started laying one week later, and produced larger clutches and broods both at hatching…
Laying date and clutch size of Great Tits(Parus major) in the Mediterranean region: a comparison of four habitat types
1998
Laying data and clutch size of Great Tits were studied in four different habitats in eastern Spain: two holm oak(Quercus ilex) forests, at 500 and 900–950 m a.s.l., a zeen oak(Quercus faginea) forest, at 900–1100 m a.s.l., a pine(Pinus sylvestris) forest, at 1000–1050 m a.s.l., and orange(Citrus aurantium) plantations, at 30 m a.s.l. All sites were placed at about the same latitude (39–41°N), and all were studied during the same years (1992–95). Our results show that (1) laying date did not differ between the natural habitats at the same altitude (range of the means of yearly means 4–8 May); (2) within the same habitat type (holm oak forest) laying date was earlier at low altitude (30 April…
Learning what (not) to do: testing rejection and copying of simulated heterospecific behavioural traits
2011
Animals can copy behaviour of heterospecifics (interspecific social learning), but it is not known whether social-learning strategies postulated for conspecific contexts, such as selectively copying individuals (or behaviours) that are more successful or common than the observer, apply here. A recent study found evidence for biased interspecific acquisition of nest site feature preference depending on observed fitness of the demonstrator (clutch size). We experimentally tested whether migratory pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca, females, given a choice between two novel alternative behavioural traits of nest site feature choice, copy or reject the experimentally induced choice exhibited b…
Interaction of climate change with effects of conspecific and heterospecific density on reproduction
2020
We studied the relationship between temperature and the coexistence of great tit Parus major and blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus, breeding in 75 study plots across Europe and North Africa. We expected an advance in laying date and a reduction in clutch size during warmer springs as a general response to climate warming and a delay in laying date and a reduction in clutch size during warmer winters due to density-dependent effects. As expected, as spring temperature increases laying date advances and as winter temperature increases clutch size is reduced in both species. Density of great tit affected the relationship between winter temperature and laying date in great and blue tit. Specifically…
Variation in clutch size in relation to nest size in birds
2014
© 2014 The Authors. Nests are structures built to support and protect eggs and/or offspring from predators, parasites, and adverse weather conditions. Nests are mainly constructed prior to egg laying, meaning that parent birds must make decisions about nest site choice and nest building behavior before the start of egg-laying. Parent birds should be selected to choose nest sites and to build optimally sized nests, yet our current understanding of clutch size-nest size relationships is limited to small-scale studies performed over short time periods. Here, we quantified the relationship between clutch size and nest size, using an exhaustive database of 116 slope estimates based on 17,472 nes…
The effect of experimental lead pollution on DNA methylation in a wild bird population
2021
Anthropogenic pollution is known to negatively influence an organism’s physiology, behaviour, and fitness. Epigenetic regulation, such as DNA methylation, has been hypothesized as a potential mechanism to mediate such effects, yet studies in wild species are lacking. We first investigated the effects of early-life exposure to the heavy metal lead (Pb) on DNA methylation levels in a wild population of great tits (Parus major), by experimentally exposing nestlings to Pb at environmentally relevant levels. Secondly, we compared nestling DNA methylation from a population exposed to long-term heavy metal pollution (close to a copper smelter), where birds suffer from pollution-related decrease in…