scholarly journals Eggshell porosity covaries with egg size among female House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon), but is unrelated to incubation onset and egg-laying order within clutches

2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. 421-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.K. Bowers ◽  
A. White ◽  
A. Lang ◽  
L. Podgorski ◽  
C.F. Thompson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Troglodytes Aedon ◽  
Maternal Control ◽  
Incubation Behavior ◽  
House Wrens ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Asynchronous Hatching ◽  
Incubation Duration

In birds, the duration of egg incubation (the time from incubation onset to hatching) can affect multiple components of nest success, but what affects incubation duration? Previous studies suggest that incubation duration is affected by both parental behavior and components of the egg, which have yet to be determined. One egg component that may be related to incubation behavior and the time until hatching is eggshell porosity, which affects the exchange of metabolic gasses and water vapor across the shell and, thus, the speed of embryonic development and incubation duration. We tested whether eggshell porosity was associated with the timing of incubation onset by female House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon Vieillot, 1809), and whether porosity varied within clutches in a manner that might be associated with incubation periods and hatching patterns (i.e., synchronous vs. asynchronous hatching). Eggshell porosity was unrelated to the onset of maternal incubation and did not differ between early- and later-laid eggs within clutches, but differed significantly among females and covaried with egg size. We conclude that producing all eggshells of similar porosity within clutches, while adjusting incubation onset once most or all eggs are laid, provide facultative maternal control over variation in hatching patterns.

scholarly journals Sources of Egg-Size Variation in House Wrens (Troglodytes Aedon): Ontogenetic and Environmental Components

The Auk ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 800-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Styrsky ◽  
Robert C. Dobbs ◽  
Charles F. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
Female Size ◽  
Ontogenetic Variation ◽  
Troglodytes Aedon ◽  
House Wrens ◽  
Female Condition ◽  
Evolutionary Response ◽  
Central Illinois

Abstract Evolutionary theory predicts that heritability of fitness-related traits should be low. Egg size in birds is a fitness-related trait, but exhibits high heritability. One possible explanation for the apparent failure of natural selection to exhaust variability is that variation in egg size is mediated by female condition. In this study, we estimated repeatability of egg size within and between successive clutches in a wild, double-brooded population of House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) in central Illinois, and examined the relationship of egg size with female size and condition. Repeatability of egg volume and mass in individual birds was high within years and between successive years (>0.77), suggesting a substantial heritable component to variation in egg size. However, egg mass was also significantly correlated with female condition. We suggest that the high repeatability values largely reflect permanent but nongenetic (ontogenetic) variation in egg size among females, which is reflected in the positive correlation of egg size with female condition. If variation in egg size is attributable to a combination of nonheritable, ontogenetic variation and variation due to current environmental conditions among females, then selection may not produce an evolutionary response in egg size.

Sources of Egg-Size Variation in House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon): Ontogenetic and Environmental Components

The Auk ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 800-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Styrsky ◽  
Robert C. Dobbs ◽  
Charles F. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Troglodytes Aedon ◽  
House Wrens

scholarly journals Incubation Behavior Differences in Urban and Rural House Wrens, Troglodytes aedon

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer J. Heppner ◽  
Jenny Q. Ouyang
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Behavioral Ecology ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Troglodytes Aedon ◽  
Environmental Pressures ◽  
Incubation Behavior ◽  
House Wrens ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Land Surfaces

As global land surfaces are being converted to urban areas at an alarming rate, understanding how individuals respond to urbanization is a key focus for behavioral ecology. As a critical component of avian parental care, incubating adults face a tradeoff between maintaining an optimal thermal environment for the developing embryos while meeting their own energetic demands. Urban habitats are biotically and abiotically different from their rural counterparts, i.e., in food availability, predator compositions, and the thermal environment. Therefore, urban birds may face different incubation challenges than their natural counterparts. We measured incubation behavior of rural and urban house wrens, Troglodytes aedon, with temperature loggers throughout the 12-day period. We found that urban females had more incubation bouts of shorter duration and spent less total time incubating per day than rural females. Results could provide evidence of behavioral shifts of wrens in cities, which have implications for the evolution of parental care. Our findings contribute to our understanding of the behavioral traits needed for city life and possible environmental pressures driving urban adaptations.

SOURCES OF EGG-SIZE VARIATION IN HOUSE WRENS (TROGLODYTES AEDON): ONTOGENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMPONENTS

The Auk ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 800 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Styrsky ◽  
Robert C. Dobbs ◽  
Charles F. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Egg Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Troglodytes Aedon ◽  
House Wrens

scholarly journals Phenology of two interdependent traits in migratory birds in response to climate change

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1807) ◽  
pp. 20150288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadiah Pardede Kristensen ◽  
Jacob Johansson ◽  
Jörgen Ripa ◽  
Niclas Jonzén
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Hatching Date ◽  
Arrival Date ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Asynchronous Hatching

In migratory birds, arrival date and hatching date are two key phenological markers that have responded to global warming. A body of knowledge exists relating these traits to evolutionary pressures. In this study, we formalize this knowledge into general mathematical assumptions, and use them in an ecoevolutionary model. In contrast to previous models, this study novelty accounts for both traits—arrival date and hatching date—and the interdependence between them, revealing when one, the other or both will respond to climate. For all models sharing the assumptions, the following phenological responses will occur. First, if the nestling-prey peak is late enough, hatching is synchronous with, and arrival date evolves independently of, prey phenology. Second, when resource availability constrains the length of the pre-laying period, hatching is adaptively asynchronous with prey phenology. Predictions for both traits compare well with empirical observations. In response to advancing prey phenology, arrival date may advance, remain unchanged, or even become delayed; the latter occurring when egg-laying resources are only available relatively late in the season. The model shows that asynchronous hatching and unresponsive arrival date are not sufficient evidence that phenological adaptation is constrained. The work provides a framework for exploring microevolution of interdependent phenological traits.

scholarly journals Duration of colonial bird species egg incubation

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-64
Author(s):  
Yuri Gennadievich Lamekhov
Keyword(s):  
Ordinal Number ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Early Ontogeny ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Early Ontogenesis ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Egg Incubation ◽  
Colonial Bird ◽  
Incubation Duration ◽  
Colonial Settlement

The paper deals with one of the aspects of bird early ontogenesis biology - egg incubation duration, which was defined as the time interval between egg laying and hatching from it. The oomorphological parameters are determined taking into account the ordinal number of the laid eggs. Parameters of early ontogeny of birds are studied on the example of colonially nesting species: blackberry toadstool ( Podiceps nigricollis C.L. Brehm.) and lake gull ( Larus ridibundus L.). Within the colonial settlement of these species, the biological center and the periphery of the colony were isolated. When studying the parameters of early ontogeny of birds and oomorphological characteristics, the same number of eggs was taken into account. During field and laboratory studies it was found that the incubation of eggs lasts longer in eggs from the nests of the biological center of the colony. The first eggs are incubated longer. These features clearly manifested in the early ontogeny of the gull. The increase in the egg incubation duration occurs against the background of an increase in their mass and a decrease in the concentration of lysozyme in the protein shell of the egg. Egg incubation duration is one of the results of embryonalization as a way of evolution of ontogeny. The manifestation of the results of embryogenesis was revealed for the first eggs in the nests of the biological center of the colony. Embryonalization leads to an increase in egg incubation duration as well as to a decrease in the intensity of elimination in early ontogenesis, which affects the number of individuals breeding in the colony and, accordingly, the structure of the colonial settlement of birds.

Female Attraction To Male Song in House Wrens (Troglodytes Aedon)

Behaviour ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 357-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Searcy ◽  
L. Scott Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Empty Nest ◽  
Troglodytes Aedon ◽  
Nest Box ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Visit Rate ◽  
House Wrens ◽  
Female Attraction ◽  
Male House

AbstractThis study tested the hypothesis that the song of male birds can function to attract mates. At 11 different locations on our Wyoming study area, we broadcast the song of male house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) from a loudspeaker mounted next to an empty nest box in an unoccupied wren territory. The number of female wrens attracted to the 'speaker box' was compared to the number visiting a silent, control box on another, unoccupied territory nearby. Females visited speaker boxes at a significantly higher rate than they visited control boxes. Ten females visited speaker boxes in six different trials during periods when no male was associated with either the speaker or control box (total time = 45.5 h; visit rate = 0.22/h). In contrast, only one female visited a control box during these same periods (= 0.02 visits/h), and she did so after first visiting the speaker box. Two females visited the speaker box simultaneously in some trials and chasing or fighting always ensued. Many females showed signs of settling permanently at speaker boxes, remaining at speaker boxes from their arrival to the end of the trial (> 5 h in two cases), and most began constructing nests in boxes, despite the absence of a male. In summary, this study provides strong experimental evidence that the song of male house wrens can function to attract mates for breeding.

Do House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) add spider egg cases to their nests for heterospecific cleaning?

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-56
Author(s):  
C.L. Gable ◽  
T.J. Underwood ◽  
G.P. Setliff
Keyword(s):  
Dna Barcoding ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
The Body ◽  
Troglodytes Aedon ◽  
House Wren ◽  
Late Season ◽  
House Wrens ◽  
Significant Difference

House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon Vieillot, 1809) regularly add spider egg cases (Arachnida: Araneae) to their nests, which may be an example of heterospecific cleaning. This behavior involves one animal employing another to remove parasites from their nests. In House Wren nests, juvenile spiders hatching from egg cases may facilitate the reduction of mites that feed on nestlings. We tested this ectoparasite reduction hypothesis by monitoring House Wren nests for spider egg cases and by collecting completed nests to compare the number of spider egg cases and Dermanyssus hirundinis (Hermann, 1804) mites. No significant relationship was found between the number of spider egg cases and number of D. hirundinis mites in nests. We also found no significant relationship between the number of D. hirundinis mites in nests and the body condition of nestlings. Finally, no significant difference was found between the number of D. hirundinis mites in early versus late season nests, but significantly more spider egg cases were added to late season nests. Of a subsample of spider egg cases dissected, we found that 28% contained spider eggs or embryos. We also identified three species of juvenile spiders from House Wren nests using DNA barcoding. Overall, we found no evidence that spider egg cases reduce the number of D. hirundinis mites or engender better quality offspring in House Wren nests.

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