Can changes in provisioning by parent birds account for seasonally declining patterns of offspring recruitment?

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (10) ◽  
pp. 921-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.E. Bortolotti ◽  
V.B. Harriman ◽  
R.G. Clark ◽  
R.D. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Food Abundance ◽  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Tree Swallows ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Provisioning Rate ◽  
Parental Provisioning ◽  
Seasonal Decline

Declining reproductive success among individuals that breed later in the season occurs in numerous taxa and is particularly well-documented in birds. Principal ideas advanced to explain this pattern, the date and parental quality hypotheses, consider the ultimate causes of this phenomenon and have received much attention; however, proximate mechanisms have not been clearly elucidated. Parental provisioning could mediate a seasonal decline in nestling fitness. We delayed hatch dates and manipulated brood sizes of Tree Swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot, 1808)) to assess the ability of parents to compensate for deteriorating environmental conditions and increased demands of more chicks. We measured provisioning rates using audio recordings of nestlings begging. Brood size was the best predictor of provisioning frequency, with parents feeding larger broods more frequently than smaller ones. Delayed hatching did not reduce provisioning rate despite declining food abundance. Date and food abundance were unrelated to provisioning rate, suggesting no seasonal change in the quantity of food nestlings receive. However, provisioning frequency was informative about life-history strategies of Tree Swallows, showing that late breeders incurred the costs of deteriorating environmental conditions rather than passing these costs on to their offspring.

Food abundance and clutch size of Tree Swallows Tachycineta bicolor

Ibis ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 129 ◽  
pp. 243-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID J. T. HUSSELL ◽  
T. E. QUINNEY
Keyword(s):  
Clutch Size ◽  
Food Abundance ◽  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Tree Swallows

scholarly journals Effects of Food Abundance, Weather, and Female Condition on Reproduction in Tree Swallows (Tachycineta Bicolor)

The Auk ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 1225-1238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline K. Nooker ◽  
Peter O. Dunn ◽  
Linda A. Whittingham
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Food Abundance ◽  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Laying Date ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Tree Swallows ◽  
Female Condition ◽  
Incubation Periods ◽  
Feather Clipping

AbstractFood abundance, weather, and female body condition are believed to influence the timing of breeding and reproductive performance of birds. We simultaneously studied the effects of weather and food abundance on reproduction in Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) while experimentally reducing female condition and foraging efficiency by clipping some flight feathers prior to egg laying. Control females laid larger clutches earlier in the season, had longer incubation periods, and raised heavier nestlings than experimental females. Fledging success did not differ after controlling for laying date and brood size. Greater insect abundance was associated with laying earlier in the season, heavier eggs, and shorter incubation periods. Most likely, feather-clipping affected clutch size through reduced foraging efficiency, which delayed the date of laying, rather than through loss of body condition. This outcome is consistent with the idea that Tree Swallows are “income” breeders that base their timing of reproduction on short-term rates of food intake near the time of breeding. Contrary to studies of other species, Tree Swallows do not appear to time their laying so that hatching will coincide with seasonal peaks in food supply. Rather, they appear to breed when temperature and food abundance are sufficient to allow females of a given body condition to initiate egg laying.Efectos de la Abundancia de Alimento, del Clima y de la Condición de las Hembras sobre la Reproducción en Tachycineta bicolor

scholarly journals Differences in size between first and replacement clutches match the seasonal decline in single clutches in Tree Swallows Tachycineta bicolor

Ibis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 158 (3) ◽  
pp. 607-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Karagicheva ◽  
Matthew Liebers ◽  
Eldar Rakhimberdiev ◽  
Kelly K. Hallinger ◽  
Anatoly Saveliev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Tree Swallows ◽  
Seasonal Decline

Weather matters: begging calls are temperature- and size-dependent signals of offspring state

Behaviour ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 153 (8) ◽  
pp. 871-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roslyn Dakin ◽  
Jenny Q. Ouyang ◽  
Ádám Z. Lendvai ◽  
Mark F. Haussmann ◽  
Ignacio T. Moore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Tree Swallows ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Call Production ◽  
The Relationship

Begging calls provide a way for parents to gauge offspring state. Although temperature is known to affect call production, previous studies have not examined the influence of ambient temperature at the nest. We recorded ambient temperature and begging calls of 3 day-old tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Our results indicate that typical daily temperature flux can dramatically alter a brood’s begging calls, depending on body size. Broods with small (low body mass) nestlings decreased the rate and length of their calls at colder temperatures, consistent with a biophysical constraint. In contrast, broods with large (high body mass) nestlings increased the rate of their calls at colder temperatures. Parents responded in a context-dependent manner, returning more rapidly after smaller nestlings gave longer begging calls. Our results suggest that the function of offspring begging calls is highly dynamic, with environmental conditions altering the relationship between begging calls and offspring state.

Counter culture: Causes, extent and solutions of systematic bias in the analysis of behavioural counts

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel L Pick ◽  
Nyil Khwaja ◽  
Michael A. Spence ◽  
Malika Ihle ◽  
Shinichi Nakagawa
Keyword(s):  
Recent Literature ◽  
Null Model ◽  
Mechanistic Explanation ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Systematic Bias ◽  
Intra Class Correlation ◽  
Counter Culture ◽  
Provisioning Rate ◽  
Parental Provisioning ◽  
Observation Period

We often quantify a behaviour by counting the number of times it occurs within a specific, short observation period. Measuring behaviour in such a way is typically unavoidable but induces error. This error acts to systematically reduce effect sizes, including metrics of particular interest to behavioural and evolutionary ecologists such as R2, repeatability (intra-class correlation, ICC) and heritability. Through introducing a null model, the Poisson process, for modelling the frequency of behaviour, we give a mechanistic explanation of how this problem arises and demonstrate how it makes comparisons between studies and species problematic, because the magnitude of the error depends on how frequently the behaviour has been observed (e.g. as a function of the observation period) as well as how biologically variable the behaviour is. Importantly, the degree of error is predictable and so can be corrected for. Using the example of parental provisioning rate in birds, we assess the applicability of our null model for modelling the frequency of behaviour. We then review recent literature and demonstrate that the error is rarely accounted for in current analyses. We highlight the problems that arise from this and provide solutions. We further discuss the biological implications of deviations from our null model, and highlight the new avenues of research that they may provide. Adopting our recommendations into analyses of behavioural counts will improve the accuracy of estimated effect sizes and allow meaningful comparisons to be made between studies.

The costs of reproduction in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor)

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 2540-2547 ◽  
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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