Parent-absent calls are related to nestling reaction time and parental food allocation in the spotless starling

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (10) ◽  
pp. 1413-1431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca Jimeno ◽  
Diego Gil
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Interaction Networks ◽  
Sibling Interactions ◽  
Sturnus Unicolor ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Experimental Feeding ◽  
Spotless Starling ◽  
Nestling Feeding

Absent repeat calls (ARC) are produced by nestlings of some bird species when parents are not at the nest, and play a role in sibling interactions and parental investment. We explored if individual traits influencing begging also determine ARC in the spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor), and whether this behaviour explains nestling feeding success. We video-taped natural broods and examined the effects of experimental feeding in this behaviour. Experimentally fed chicks stopped calling and received fewer feedings. Among un-fed chicks, absence calls were more frequent in smaller nestlings. We found a positive relationship between nestling reaction time to parental arrival and food acquisition: chicks that reacted first received more feedings that slower chicks. ARC performance was also positively related to reaction time: chicks that produced more calls also reacted first to parents. These results suggest that ARC may have important effects on resource allocation and family interaction networks.

Experimental feeding affects the relationship between hematocrit and body mass in Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor) nestlings

2010 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
José J. Cuervo ◽  
Juan J. Soler ◽  
Jesús M. Avilés ◽  
Tomás Pérez-Contreras ◽  
Carlos Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Sturnus Unicolor ◽  
Experimental Feeding ◽  
Spotless Starling ◽  
The Relationship

Nest intrusions in relation to breeding status in the spotless starling

Behaviour ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 150 (13) ◽  
pp. 1553-1566 ◽  
Author(s):  
José P. Veiga ◽  
Vicente Polo ◽  
Marta Arenas ◽  
Sara Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Personal Information ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
Sturnus Unicolor ◽  
Nesting Site ◽  
Nesting Sites ◽  
Spotless Starling ◽  
Nestling Feeding ◽  
Breeding Status

Nest intruders are common in many avian species. In the spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor), a passerine closely related to the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), it has been recently shown that visits to alien nests were in most cases related to get familiarity and personal information about prospected nest boxes and that collecting public information seems also to be involved in the intruding behaviour. In the present study we investigate whether nest intrusions are related to breeding status in both males and females. Individuals that had bred previously in the colony were detected as frequently as those without previous breeding experience intruding nests and the proportion of intruders that were owners and those that had not a nesting site during the current year was balanced. Males that were actively breeding and those that were not breeding intruded with similar frequencies in alien nests, while most females were not actively breeding when they were observed intruding a nest box. The nests more frequented by male intruders were those showing the highest female nestling feeding rates, but the frequency of female intrusions was not similarly affected by female owner feeding rates. The results suggest that some of the intrusions by males are related to nest acquisition although in general males seem to intrude to obtain other breeding resources, presumably extra-pair matings. Female intruders with a nesting territory but not currently breeding could be sampling alternative nesting sites while female floaters that intruded nests could be searching for nesting sites or attempting to lay parasitic eggs. Birds behaving as intruders at some moment of their stay in the breeding colony raised more fledglings that birds never observed performing this behaviour.

Erythropoiesis in the thymus of the spotless starling, Sturnus unicolor

1983 ◽  
Vol 232 (2) ◽  
pp. 445-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Fonfria ◽  
M. G. Barrutia ◽  
E. Garrido ◽  
C. F. Ardavin ◽  
A. Zapata
Keyword(s):  
Sturnus Unicolor ◽  
Spotless Starling

Molecular characterization of avian malaria in the spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor)

2018 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 919-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Muriel ◽  
Jeff A. Graves ◽  
Diego Gil ◽  
S. Magallanes ◽  
Concepción Salaberria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Characterization ◽  
Avian Malaria ◽  
Sturnus Unicolor ◽  
Spotless Starling

Egg pigmentation reflects female and egg quality in the spotless starling Sturnus unicolor

2008 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 1877-1884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel López-Rull ◽  
Ivan Miksik ◽  
Diego Gil
Keyword(s):  
Egg Quality ◽  
Sturnus Unicolor ◽  
Spotless Starling

scholarly journals Studi Variasi Tingkat Keanekaragaman Jenis Burung pada Berbagai Tipe Habitat di Areal Konservasi Perkebunan Sawit PT.MSM, Wilmar Plantation, Kalteng

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Belinda Hastaril ◽  
Muhammad Arief Soendjoto
Keyword(s):  
Palm Oil ◽  
Oil Palm ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Conservation Value ◽  
Lowland Forest ◽  
Central Kalimantan ◽  
High Conservation ◽  
Heath Forest ◽  
Heterogeneous Vegetation

High Conservation Value Areas (HCVA) in palm oil plantation is one of the efforts to reduce the negative impoct of oil palm plantations on biodiversity. The purpose of this study was to to identify bird species in dffirent types of habitats in the conserration area of oil palm plantations, calculate and compare the diversity of bird species and how is the relations with vegetation as habitat componen\ the study location at PT. MSM, Wilmar Plantation Central Kalimantan. The results showed the diversity value of birds and vegetation hos a positive relationship. Forested habitat v,ith heterogeneous vegetation presenting a higher value of diversity bird species than homogeneous vegetation hobitat. The highest diversity of bird species is the habitot of swampforests (H'3,70) lowland forest (H'3,69), heath forest (H'3,59) and the lowest is the habitat of palm plantatioru (H' 2,60).

scholarly journals Asymmetric effects of environmental filtering on the assembly of tropical bird communities along a moisture gradient

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Gomez ◽  
Scott Robinson ◽  
Jose Miguel Ponciano
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Bird Communities ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Dry Forests ◽  
Rainfall Gradient ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Wet Forests

AbstractThe species-sorting hypothesis (SSH) states that environmental factors influence local community assembly of metacommunities by selecting for species that are well adapted to the specific conditions of each site. Along environmental gradients, the strength of selection against individuals that are marginally adapted to the local conditions increases towards the extremes of the environment where the climate becomes harsh. In rainfall gradients, the strength of selection by the environment has been proposed to decrease with rainfall. Under this scenario SSH would predict that immigration of individuals from the metacommunity should be restricted into the dry end of the gradient creating a positive relationship between immigration and rainfall. However, if the selection is strong in both ends of the gradient, the restriction should be expected to be in both directions such that the ends behave as independent metacommunities even in the absence of geographical barriers. In this study we used models based on neutral theory to evaluate if SSH can explain the distribution of bird species along a steep rainfall gradient in Colombia. We found a strong positive relationship between immigration rates and precipitation suggesting that the dry forests impose stronger challenges for marginally adapted bird populations. However, a two-metacommunity model separating dry and wet forests was a better fit to the observed data, suggesting that both extremes impose strong selection against immigrants. The switch from the dry forest to the wet forest metacommunities occurred abruptly over a short geographic distance in the absence of any apparent geographic barrier; this apparent threshold occurs where the forest becomes mostly evergreen. The relative number of rare species in dry forest was lower than in wet forests suggesting that the selection against marginally adapted populations is stronger in the dry forests. Overall, our analyses are consistent with SSH at the regional scales, but the rarity analysis suggests that the mechanisms at the local scales are substantially different. Based on these results, we hypothesize that abiotic (climatic) factors limit immigration into dry forest communities and whereas biotic factors such as competition and predation may limit immigration into bird communities in the wet forest.

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