Local weather can influence the growth and development of young birds either indirectly, by modifying prey availability, or directly, by affecting energetic trade‐offs. Such effects can have lasting implications for life history traits, but the nature of these effets may vary with the developmental stage of the birds, and over timescales from days to weeks. We examined the interactive effects of temperature, rainfall and wind speed on the mass of nestling and fledgling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica both on the day of capture and averaging weather across the time since hatching. At the daily timescale, nestling mass was negatively correlated with temperature, but the strength of this association depended on the level of rainfall and wind speed; nestlings were typically heavier on dry or windy days, and the negative effect of temperature was strongest under calm or wet conditions. At the early lifetime timescale (i.e. from hatching to pre‐fledging), nestling mass was negatively correlated with temperature at low wind speed. Fledgling body mass was less sensitive to weather; the only weather effect evident was a negative correlation with temperature at the daily scale under high rainfall that became slightly positive under low rainfall. These changes are consistent with weather effects on the availability and distribution of insects within the landscape (e.g. causing high concentrations of flying insects) and with the effects of weather variation on nest microclimate. These results together demonstrate the impacts of weather on chick growth, over immediate (daily) and longer term (nestling/fledgling lifetime) timescales. This shows that sensitivity to local weather conditions varies across the early lifetime of young birds (nestling–fledgling stages) and illustrates the mechanisms by which larger scale (climate) variations influence the body condition of individuals.

中文翻译：

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刚孵出的雏鸟和雏燕子的Hirundo Rustica体重对当地天气状况的对比敏感性

当地的天气可以通过改变猎物的可利用性间接地影响幼鸽的生长和发育，或者通过影响精力充沛的权衡直接影响幼鸽的生长和发育。这种影响可能会对生命历史特征产生持久影响，但是这些效应的性质可能会随着鸟类的发育阶段以及从几天到几周的时间尺度而变化。我们检查了雏鸟和羽翼未丰的家燕的质量温度，降水和风速的互动效果家燕捕获当天和孵化以来整个时间的平均天气。在日常时间尺度上，雏鸟质量与温度呈负相关，但是这种关联的强度取决于降雨水平和风速。雏鸟在干燥或大风天通常较重，而温度的负面影响在平静或潮湿的条件下最为明显。在生命周期的早期（即从孵化到预孵化），雏鸟的质量与低风速下的温度呈负相关。刚出生的体重对天气不太敏感。唯一明显的天气影响是在高降雨量下与日尺度温度呈负相关，而在低降雨量下则呈正相关。这些变化与天气对景观中昆虫的可利用性和分布的影响（例如引起飞行昆虫的高浓度）以及天气变化对巢内小气候的影响是一致的。这些结果一起证明了在短期（每日）和长期（雏鸡/雏鸡寿命）时间尺度上天气对雏鸡生长的影响。这表明，在幼鸟的早期（筑巢－雏鸟阶段），对当地天气条件的敏感性会有所不同，并说明了较大规模（气候）变化影响个体身体状况的机制。超过近期（每天）和长期（嵌套/雏形寿命）的时间范围。这表明，在幼鸟的早期（筑巢－雏鸟阶段），对当地天气条件的敏感性会有所不同，并说明了较大规模（气候）变化影响个体身体状况的机制。超过近期（每天）和长期（嵌套/雏形寿命）的时间范围。这表明，在幼鸟的早期（筑巢－雏鸟阶段），对当地天气条件的敏感性会有所不同，并说明了较大规模（气候）变化影响个体身体状况的机制。