scholarly journals The Role of Food, Nest Predation, and Climate in Timing of Wrentit Reproductive Activities

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 832-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine L. Preston ◽  
John T. Rotenberry

Abstract Abstract Timing of breeding activities by birds hasimportant fitness consequences, as deciding when tonest can affect nest success. For three breedingseasons, we provided supplemental food to Wrentits(Chamaeafasciata) inhabitingsemiarid shrublands. We tested the effects of foodsupplementation on timing of initial egg laying,number of nests attempted, timing of fledging, andlength of the breeding season. We also evaluatedwhether Wrentits timed nest initiation to avoidperiods of greatest predation risk. Our study wasconducted during a period of high interannualvariation in precipitation. Supplemental food didnot advance laying date in Wrentits. During adrought, even Wrentits given supplemental fooddelayed nesting, initiated fewer nesting attempts,fledged young earlier, and reduced the length ofthe breeding season. In a year of average rainfall,supplemental food allowed pairs to continuerenesting late into the summer, after repeated nestlosses from predation. Wrentits did not timenesting to avoid periods of greatest predationrisk. In timing initial breeding, Wrentits appearedto be responding to climatic conditions and toindirect cues that predicted environmentalconditions later in the breeding season rather thanto food availability at the time of egg laying.

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 1270-1274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley M. Hochachka ◽  
David A. Boag

Supplemental food was provided to a breeding population of Black-billed Magpies (Pica pica), starting before and after eggs were laid, to determine if and when natural food was limited. The production of fledgling magpies was increased only when supplemental feeding was begun before laying. Laying date was also advanced when supplemental feeding began before laying, but clutch and egg size were not significantly changed. Because the two feeding treatments were conducted in different years, we cannot conclude whether natural food was limiting before or after egg laying. However, out data suggest that the former may have been the case. An improved design for food supplementation experiments, which can be used to determine the time of food shortage, is suggested.


The Auk ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
J. Dylan Maddox ◽  
Patrick J. Weatherhead

AbstractWe determined whether nests that did not receive eggs was attributable to cryptic nest predation (i.e. predation of eggs laid between nest checks) or nest abandonment in Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula). Nest predation was extremely low (∼2%), whereas more than 44% of 427 nests found during nest building never received an egg; this indicates that nest abandonment accounted for most nests without eggs. Nest construction was completed for 32% of nests that were abandoned. Few nests known to have received eggs were abandoned. As the breeding season progressed, both nest abandonment and time from nest completion to first egg decreased. It has been proposed that the delay in egg laying early in the season allows females to optimize timing of egg laying. Nest abandonment may also serve this purpose, but seems an unnecessarily expensive mechanism. Alternatively, nest abandonment could be involved with mate switching. Understanding why nests are abandoned requires data on the associated ecological circumstances, in addition to accurate identification of instances of abandonment. The latter requires distinguishing abandonment from cryptic predation. Rates of nest abandonment can be estimated for populations by using rates of known nest predation during egg laying. For individual nests, however, distinguishing abandonment from cryptic predation requires detailed observation (e.g. video cameras), except in circumstances such as ours, where predation is extremely low.Nidos sin Huevos:?Abandono o Depredación Críptica?


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mireia Plaza ◽  
Alejandro Cantarero ◽  
Juan Moreno

Female mass in most altricial birds reaches its maximum during breeding at egg-laying, which coincides temporally with the fertile phase when extra-pair paternity (EPP) is determined. Higher mass at laying may have two different effects on EPP intensity. On the one hand, it would lead to increased wing loading (body mass/wing area), which may impair flight efficiency and thereby reduce female’s capacity to resist unwanted extra-pair male approaches (sexual conflict hypothesis). On the other hand, it would enhance female condition, favouring her capacity to evade mate-guarding and to search for extra-pair mates (female choice hypothesis). In both cases, higher female mass at laying may lead to enhanced EPP. To test this prediction, we reduced nest building effort by adding a completely constructed nest in an experimental group of female pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca). Our treatment caused an increase in mass and thereby wing loading and this was translated into a significantly higher EPP in the manipulated group compared with the control group as expected. There was also a significant negative relationship between EPP and laying date and the extent of the white wing patch, an index of female dominance. More body reserves at laying mean not only a higher potential fecundity but a higher level of EPP as well. This interaction had not previously received due attention but should be considered in future studies of avian breeding strategies.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen F. Wagner ◽  
Emeline Mourocq ◽  
Michael Griesser

Predation of offspring is the main cause of reproductive failure in many species, and the mere fear of offspring predation shapes reproductive strategies. Yet, natural predation risk is ubiquitously variable and can be unpredictable. Consequently, the perceived prospect of predation early in a reproductive cycle may not reflect the actual risk to ensuing offspring. An increased variance in investment across offspring has been linked to breeding in unpredictable environments in several taxa, but has so far been overlooked as a maternal response to temporal variation in predation risk. Here, we experimentally increased the perceived risk of nest predation prior to egg-laying in seven bird species. Species with prolonged parent-offspring associations increased their intra-brood variation in egg, and subsequently offspring, size. High risk to offspring early in a reproductive cycle can favour a risk-spreading strategy particularly in species with the greatest opportunity to even out offspring quality after fledging.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Cristina Mihaescu ◽  
Daniel Dunea ◽  
Adrian Gheorghe Bășa ◽  
Loredana Neagu Frasin

Phomopsis juglandina (Sacc.) Höhn., which is the conidial state of Diaporthe juglandina (Fuckel) Nitschke, and the main pathogen causing the dieback of branches and twigs of walnut was recently detected in many orchards from Romania. The symptomatological, morphological, ultrastructural, and cultural characteristics, as well as the pathogenicity of an isolate of this lignicolous fungus, were described and illustrated. The optimum periods for infection, under the conditions prevailing in Southern Romania, mainly occur in the spring (April) and autumn months (late September-beginning of October). Strong inverse correlations (p < 0.001) were found between potential evapotranspiration and lesion lengths on walnut branches in 2019. The pathogen forms two types of phialospores: alpha and beta; the role of beta phialospores is not well known in pathogenesis. In Vitro, the optimal growth temperature of mycelial hyphae was in the range of 22–26 °C, and the optimal pH is 4.4–7. This pathogen should be monitored continuously due to its potential for damaging infestations of intensive plantations.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 909-918
Author(s):  
Nathan B. Talbot

WHILE MEDICAL HISTORIANS cannot provide us with accurate statistics concerning the incidence of rickets and scurvy in centuries past, they leave little room for doubt about the high prevalence of these disorders prior to the advent of modern scientific medicine. Thus, Castiglione has written that in the sixteenth century scurvy raged throughout northern Europe, in Scandinavia, on the shores of the Baltic, and in the interior of Germany. It is interesting to note, however, that Jacques Cartier, whose sailors had been ravaged by scurvy, learned in 1536 from the Indians that the malady could be cured by juices of the almeda tree. This was 200 years before James Lind demonstrated the curative effects of lemon juice in his treatise on scurvy published in 1753 and almost 400 years before ascorbic acid, which was isolated by Szent-Gyorgi in 1928, was recognized to be vitamin C by Waugh and King in 1932. Rickets, likewise, was occurring in a large portion of children prior to the discovery of the existence of vitamin D by Hess, Steinbock, and Windaus in 1918, of its therapeutic value by Mellanby in 1919, of the equivalent role of sunlight by Hess in 1921, and of the chemical composition of the vitamins by Windaus in 1922. But 200 years earlier Friedrick Hoffman had the answer to the control of this disease almost in hand. He attached much importance to climatic conditions as a factor in rickets, noting that if anything is specially powerful in producing this affliction, it is a surrounding atmosphere of cold foggy air. He cited as striking evidence of this the famous emporium of England, London, which he found to be specially apt to produce and foster this disease.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-65
Author(s):  
P. N. Mikheev

The article discusses issues related to the impact of climate change on the objects of the oil and gas industry. The main trends in climate change on a global and regional (on the territory of Russian Federation) scale are outlined. Possible approaches to the identification and assessment of climate risks are discussed. The role of climatic risks as physical factors at various stages of development and implementation of oil and gas projects is shown. Based on the example of oil and gas facilities in the Tomsk region, a qualitative assessment of the level of potential risk from a weather and climatic perspective is given. Approaches to creating a risk management and adaptation system to climate change are presented.


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