Individual quality and food availability determine yolk and egg mass and egg composition in tree swallows Tachycineta bicolor

Abstract In many avian species, including Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), females that lay eggs earlier in the season have higher fitness. It has been hypothesized that nonheritable variation in individual quality could explain how variation in laying date persists in the face of this apparently directional selection. Previous experimental work on Tree Swallows has suggested that natural variation in flight ability enables early-laying females to attain feeding rates high enough to support egg production on earlier, sparser food than later-laying females. We tested that hypothesis with standardized flights through a 9.75-m flight-performance test tunnel. One group of female swallows was tested at the height of the breeding season on 28 May regardless of their nesting phenology; another group was tested on the 11th day of incubation. Average acceleration in the tunnel was negatively correlated with clutch initiation date for the females tested on 28 May. Daily variation in ambient environmental conditions had strong effects on swallow flight performance in the tunnel, and no relationship was observed in the day-11 birds. Because natural variation in foraging performance is correlated with variation in female Tree Swallows' clutch initiation dates, flight ability appears to be a key element of individual quality in this species.

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Influence of intraclutch egg-mass variation and hatching asynchrony on relative offspring performance within broods of an altricial bird

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z06-179 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 84 (12) ◽

pp. 1721-1726 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Pierre-Paul Bitton ◽

Russell D. Dawson ◽

Erin L. O’Brien

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Tachycineta Bicolor ◽

Hatching Asynchrony ◽

Egg Mass ◽

Passerine Birds ◽

Tree Swallows ◽

Mass Variation ◽

Offspring Performance ◽

Asynchronous Hatching ◽

Rates Of Growth

Rates of growth and size of nestlings at fledging have important consequences for future survival and reproductive success in many passerine birds. Within broods of altricial species, these characteristics are often influenced by size hierarchies established early in the nesting period due to hatching asynchrony and within-clutch variation in egg mass, but the concurrent effect of these factors is poorly understood. We investigated the relative influence of these variables on nestling performance within broods of tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot, 1808). Nestlings that hatched earlier within nests were heavier and larger than their later-hatched siblings at 4 days of age. Similarly, earlier-hatched nestlings grew their ninth primary flight feathers faster and had longer ninth primaries just prior to fledging than did later-hatched siblings. Differences in egg mass of siblings also contributed to mass and size hierarchies at 4 days of age, but did not affect any other difference in sibling performance. We conclude that within-clutch variation in performance of offspring is determined primarily by size hierarchies resulting from asynchronous hatching. Intraclutch egg-mass variation appears to have little effect on performance of siblings and may be best explained by proximate constraints on females.

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The trade-off between clutch size and egg mass in tree swallows Tachycineta bicolor is modulated by female body mass

Journal of Avian Biology ◽

10.1111/jav.00725 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 47 (4) ◽

pp. 500-507 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Stéphanie Pellerin ◽

Sébastien Rioux Paquette ◽

Fanie Pelletier ◽

Dany Garant ◽

Marc Bélisle

Keyword(s):

Clutch Size ◽

Body Mass ◽

Female Body ◽

Tachycineta Bicolor ◽

Egg Mass ◽

Tree Swallows ◽

Trade Off ◽

Female Body Mass

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Achromatic plumage brightness predicts stress resilience and social interactions in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor)

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/arz010 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 733-745 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Conor C Taff ◽

Cedric Zimmer ◽

Maren N Vitousek

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Social Stress ◽

Direct Costs ◽

Tachycineta Bicolor ◽

Individual Quality ◽

Tree Swallows ◽

Stress Resilience ◽

Signal Honesty ◽

Signal Changes ◽

Differential Costs

Abstract Theory suggests that signal honesty may be maintained by differential costs for high and low quality individuals. For signals that mediate social interactions, costs can arise from the way that a signal changes the subsequent social environment via receiver responses. These receiver-dependent costs may be linked with individual quality through variation in resilience to environmental and social stress. Here, we imposed stressful conditions on female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) by attaching groups of feathers during incubation to decrease flight efficiency and maneuverability. We simultaneously monitored social interactions using an RFID network that allowed us to track the identity of every individual that visited each nest for the entire season. Before treatments, plumage coloration was correlated with baseline and stress-induced corticosterone. Relative to controls, experimentally challenged females were more likely to abandon their nest during incubation. Overall, females with brighter white breasts were less likely to abandon, but this pattern was only significant under stressful conditions. In addition to being more resilient, brighter females received more unique visitors at their nest-box and tended to make more visits to other active nests. In contrast, dorsal coloration did not reliably predict abandonment or social interactions. Taken together, our results suggest that females differ in their resilience to stress and that these differences are signaled by plumage brightness, which is in turn correlated with the frequency of social interactions. While we do not document direct costs of social interaction, our results are consistent with models of signal honesty based on receiver-dependent costs.

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Sources of Variation in Egg Mass of Tree Swallows Tachycineta bicolor

Ornis Scandinavica ◽

10.2307/3676812 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 157 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

David A. Wiggins

Keyword(s):

Tachycineta Bicolor ◽

Egg Mass ◽

Tree Swallows ◽

Sources Of Variation

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Begging calls and parental feeding decisions in tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor )

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology ◽

10.1007/s002650000290 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 49 (2-3) ◽

pp. 170-175 ◽

Cited By ~ 75

Author(s):

M. L. Leonard ◽

Andrew G. Horn

Keyword(s):

Tachycineta Bicolor ◽

Tree Swallows ◽

Parental Feeding

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The costs of reproduction in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor)

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z91-358 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 69 (10) ◽

pp. 2540-2547 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Nathaniel T. Wheelwright ◽

Joanna Leary ◽

Caragh Fitzgerald

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Clutch Size ◽

Brood Size ◽

Life History Theory ◽

Tachycineta Bicolor ◽

Laying Date ◽

Tree Swallows ◽

Costs Of Reproduction ◽

Return Rates ◽

Trade Offs

We investigated the effect of brood size on nestling growth and survival, parental survival, and future fecundity in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) over a 4-year period (1987–1990) in an effort to understand whether reproductive trade-offs limit clutch size in birds. In addition to examining naturally varying brood sizes in a population on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada, we experimentally modified brood sizes, increasing or decreasing the reproductive burdens of females by two offspring. Unlike previous studies, broods of the same females were enlarged or reduced in up to 3 successive years in a search for evidence of cumulative costs of reproduction that might go undetected by a single brood manipulation. Neither observation nor experiment supported the existence of a trade-off between offspring quality and quantity, in contrast with the predictions of life-history theory. Nestling wing length, mass, and tarsus length were unrelated to brood size. Although differences between means were in the direction predicted, few differences were statistically significant, despite large sample sizes. Nestlings from small broods were no more likely to return as breeding adults than nestlings from large broods, but return rates of both groups were very low. Parental return rates were also independent of brood size, and there was no evidence of a negative effect of brood size on future fecundity (laying date, clutch size). Reproductive success, nestling size, and survival did not differ between treatments for females whose broods were manipulated in successive years. Within the range of brood sizes observed in this study, the life-history costs of feeding one or two additional nestlings in tree swallows appear to be slight and cannot explain observed clutch sizes. Costs not measured in this study, such as the production of eggs or postfledging parental care, may be more important in limiting clutch size in birds.

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