Relationship between Blood Haemoglobin and Glucose Concentrations in Adult Great Tits (Parus Major) and Blue Tits (Cyanistes Caeruleus)

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Kaliñski ◽  
Mirostawa Bańbura ◽  
Michat Glądalski ◽  
Marcin Markowski ◽  
Joanna Skwarska ◽  
...  

Haematological and blood chemistry variables are widely used in ecophysiological research as physiological indices of body condition in various vertebrate taxa. In this study, we analysed relationships between blood glucose and blood haemoglobin concentrations of adult birds in wild populations of Blue Tits ( Cyanistes caeruleus) and Great Tits ( Parus major) during the breeding season in central Poland. We found that blood glucose and blood haemoglobin concentrations are negatively correlated. We also show that individual Blue Tits have higher mean haemoglobin levels adjusted for the common value of glucose concentration than individual Great Tits and that females of both species have higher mean haemoglobin concentrations than males. Our results suggest that haematological as well as biochemical variables may be used in tune as complementary indices of body condition in wild bird populations.

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Kaliński ◽  
Jarosław Wawrzyniak ◽  
Mirosława Bańbura ◽  
Joanna Skwarska ◽  
Piotr Zieliński ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Marta Szulkin ◽  
Colin J. Garroway ◽  
Michela Corsini ◽  
Andrzej Z. Kotarba ◽  
Davide Dominoni

Environmental variation was quantified at nestboxes monitored as part of a prospectively long-term project on the ecology and evolution of great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus in Warsaw, Poland. Nine axes of environmental variation were investigated across 9 different urban sites, for a total of 565 specific locations (here: nestboxes). Data was collected on the ground, with the use of GIS and remote sensing using the following methodology:...


2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1807) ◽  
pp. 20141958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Chr. Stenseth ◽  
Joël M. Durant ◽  
Mike S. Fowler ◽  
Erik Matthysen ◽  
Frank Adriaensen ◽  
...  

Climate change is expected to have profound ecological effects, yet shifts in competitive abilities among species are rarely studied in this context. Blue tits ( Cyanistes caeruleus ) and great tits ( Parus major ) compete for food and roosting sites, yet coexist across much of their range. Climate change might thus change the competitive relationships and coexistence between these two species. Analysing four of the highest-quality, long-term datasets available on these species across Europe, we extend the textbook example of coexistence between competing species to include the dynamic effects of long-term climate variation. Using threshold time-series statistical modelling, we demonstrate that long-term climate variation affects species demography through different influences on density-dependent and density-independent processes. The competitive interaction between blue tits and great tits has shifted in one of the studied sites, creating conditions that alter the relative equilibrium densities between the two species, potentially disrupting long-term coexistence. Our analyses show that long-term climate change can, but does not always, generate local differences in the equilibrium conditions of spatially structured species assemblages. We demonstrate how long-term data can be used to better understand whether (and how), for instance, climate change might change the relationships between coexisting species. However, the studied populations are rather robust against competitive exclusion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarosław K. Nowakowski ◽  
Jacek Chruściel ◽  
Krzysztof Muś

AbstractNowakowski J.K., Chruściel J., Muś K.: Does mist-netting provide reliable data to determine the sex and age ratios of migrating birds? A case study involving the Great Tit (Parus major) and the Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). Ekologia (Bratislava), Vol. 32, No. 2, p. 173-185 , 2013.Ringing results of tits caught at two stations on the Polish Baltic coast were used to check if mistnetting could be successfully used to analyse the composition of sex and age classes of migrating birds. Four hypotheses are discussed, describing the distribution of age and sex classes during migration, and the consequences these distributions might have for the catching results. We analysed records of 59 000 Blue Tits and more than 84 000 Great Tits that were caught and we found a similarity in the results of catches at stations 188 km apart, and a higher similarity among catching sites 0.5-16 km apart. These results proved that mist-netting provides reliable data on the sex and age structure of migrating flocks, and that these data can generally be interpreted as representative for at least the area in a radius of more than 10 km. The results also showed a migratory divide through the central part of the Polish Baltic coastline between irruptive Blue Tits in the west and regular partial migrants in the east. Great Tits showed no tendency for irruptions anywhere in the study area. A high correspondence in the age and sex ratio was found for Great Tits and Blue Tits, in particular where both species are regular migrants. We found that the ratios of females and immatures did not differ by more than 1% over many years of study in these areas.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Szymon Marian Drobniak ◽  
Magdalena Zagalska-Neubauer ◽  
Mariusz Cichoń

Microbiome constitutes and important axis of individual variation, affecting physiology and body condition via a number of pathways. Consequently, microbiome may be involved in ecological feedbacks, manifesting themselves as associations between microbiome characteristics and ecological factors experienced by individuals. In this study we report on the diversity and habitat dependence of microbiomes in a wild population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Our results indicate, that birds nesting in different habitats (full-grown deciduous forest vs. open forest hay meadows) have microbiomes of different composition and microbial diversity, with birds nesting in dens forests having higher diversity of microbial species.


Ethology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 122 (6) ◽  
pp. 492-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel M. Lambrechts ◽  
Jacques Blondel ◽  
Cyril Bernard ◽  
Samuel P. Caro ◽  
Anne Charmantier ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1521-1530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Kaliński ◽  
Mirosława Bańbura ◽  
Michał Glądalski ◽  
Marcin Markowski ◽  
Joanna Skwarska ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 178 ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.W. Redhead ◽  
R.F. Pywell ◽  
P.E. Bellamy ◽  
R.K. Broughton ◽  
R.A. Hill ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1567) ◽  
pp. 969-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tore Slagsvold ◽  
Karen L. Wiebe

We briefly review the literature on social learning in birds, concluding that strong evidence exists mainly for predator recognition, song, mate choice and foraging. The mechanism of local enhancement may be more important than imitation for birds learning to forage, but the former mechanism may be sufficient for faithful transmission depending on the ecological circumstances. To date, most insights have been gained from birds in captivity. We present a study of social learning of foraging in two passerine birds in the wild, where we cross-fostered eggs between nests of blue tits, Cyanistes caeruleus and great tits, Parus major . Early learning causes a shift in the foraging sites used by the tits in the direction of the foster species. The shift in foraging niches was consistent across seasons, as showed by an analysis of prey items, and the effect lasted for life. The fact that young birds learn from their foster parents, and use this experience later when subsequently feeding their own offspring, suggests that foraging behaviour can be culturally transmitted over generations in the wild. It may therefore have both ecological and evolutionary consequences, some of which are discussed.


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