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Hybridization constrains the evolution of mimicry complexes in woodpeckers J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Jente Ottenburghs, Michaël P. J. Nicolaï
The evolution of interspecific mimicry does not always result in perfect resemblance between mimics and models. Differences between members of a mimicry complex can be explained by genetic or developmental constraints. Alternatively, imperfect mimicry might be the outcome of a tradeoff between multiple selective pressures. In this study, we explored the evolutionary conflict between mimicry and hybridization
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Structural and socioeconomic features of cities predict migratory bird species richness J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-13 Riikka P. Kinnunen, Kevin C. Fraser, Chloé Schmidt, Colin J. Garroway
Cities are aggregates of human activities where our decisions shape the environment creating heterogeneity across urban centers that can have significant ecological effects on wildlife. Many bird species are found in cities during the breeding season, which implies they find sufficient resources in cities to support them during this energetically costly time. As populations of many migratory bird species
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Extra-pair paternity enhances the reproductive fitness of urban Chinese blackbird J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-23 Xueli Zhang, Zhen Zhang, Wenjing Lu, Yao Sheng, Fang Ming, Long Ma, Chaoying Zhu, Mingwang Chen, Xinqi Lu, Yuancheng Liu, Guanglong Sun, Luzhang Ruan
Urbanization is a human-induced process of rapid habitat change that can affect the reproductive success of animals. The occurrence of extra-pair paternity (EPP) may be sensitive to changes in urban ecological conditions. In this study, the Chinese blackbird Turdus mandarinus, a common breeding bird in southern Chinese cities, was selected as the focus species to explore the EPP patterns of monogamous
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Function of juvenile plumage in the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis): aggressive mimicry hypothesis J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Jan Špička, Petr Veselý, Roman Fuchs
Multiple raptors show juvenile plumage that is substantially different from that of their parents. Here, we test the prediction that the colouration of the juvenile northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis resembling the colouration of the common buzzard Buteo buteo acts as a form of aggressive mimicry. The goshawk specialises in hunting larger birds and mammals up to the size of geese or hares, while the
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Moult terminology: envisioning an evolutionary approach J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Peter Pyle, Steve N. G. Howell, Danny I. Rogers, Chris Corben
The study of avian moult has been inhibited not only by its complexity but by convoluted and often conflicting terminologies that have combined to cloud the subject. Over time, two nomenclatures have emerged with differing bases of definition. The ‘life-cycle' system is used widely in the European literature (Cramp 1988, Jenni and Winkler 2020) and defines moult terms based on timing relative to current-day
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The effect of ambient temperature on bird embryonic development: a comparison between uniparental incubating silver-throated tits and biparental incubating black-throated tits J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-15 Qian Hu, Yue Wang, Gaoyang Yu, Lei Lv, Pengcheng Wang, Ye Wen, Jiliang Xu, Yong Wang, Zhengwang Zhang, Jianqiang Li
The temperature experienced by avian embryos during development has important impacts on their growth and post-hatching phenotypes. Ambient temperature can directly affect avian nest temperature and indirectly affect it through its impact on parental incubation behaviours. Because the nests of uniparental incubators are usually left unattended more frequently than the nests of biparental incubators
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The Nanling Mountains of southern China played a variable role as a barrier and refuge for birds depending upon landscape structure and timing of events J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-11 Zhengzhen Wang, Min Zhang, Xuebing Zhao, Jiami Xie, Yougui Peng, Frederick H. Sheldon, Fasheng Zou
The Nanling Mountains, an important mountain range and watershed in south China, harbor a wealth of relictual plant species, and are considered a ‘museum' of subtropical biodiversity. With respect to birds, however, the roles of the Nanling Mountains in impeding the dispersal of the subtropical birds and, as a result, shaping their population and community structures have received little consideration
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Climatic variation influences annual survival of an island-breeding tropical shorebird J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-05 Noémie Engel, Brett K. Sandercock, András Kosztolányi, Andreia Adrião, Alex Tavares, Romy Rice, Tamás Székely
Global biodiversity loss is a major environmental concern. The wildlife on islands are particularly vulnerable to threats posed by alien predators, habitat loss and overexploitation. Effective conservation management of vulnerable species requires reliable information on vital population rates for all life stages and an understanding of key environmental drivers. However, demographic data are often
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Calls of Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus contain individual signatures J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-21 Yuheng Sun, Jamie Dunning, Tony Taylor, Julia Schroeder, Sue Anne Zollinger
Vocalisations are widely used to signal behavioural intention in animal communication, but may also carry acoustic signatures unique to the calling individual. Here, we used acoustic analysis to confirm that Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus calls carry individual signatures, and discerned which features made the calls individual. Manx shearwater are nocturnal seabirds that breed in dense colonies
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Blood- and muscle-O2 storage capacity in North American diving ducks J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-21 Elizabeth R. Schell, Jeff White, Kevin G. McCracken
Breath-hold diving presents air-breathing vertebrates with the challenge of maintaining aerobic respiration while exercising underwater. Adaptive increases in the oxygen (O2) storage capacity in the lungs, blood, or muscle tissues can enhance these reserves and greatly extend aerobic foraging time underwater. Here, we report blood- and muscle-O2 storage parameters (blood hemoglobin concentration ([Hb])
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Partial migration in Magellanic penguins J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-21 Melina Barrionuevo, Esteban Frere
We studied the migration of Magellanic penguins near the southern tip of the breeding distribution, and for the first time found evidence of partial migration for this species within the same colony. Forty-three percent of the penguins studied stayed within ~ 290 km of the colony (residents), while others went northwards as far as 2000 km. All penguins spent the same amount of time at sea and traveled
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Comparison of manual, machine learning, and hybrid methods for video annotation to extract parental care data J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-14 Alex Hoi Hang Chan, Jingqi Liu, Terry Burke, William D. Pearse, Julia Schroeder
Measuring parental care behaviour in the wild is central to the study of animal ecology and evolution, but it is often labour- and time-intensive. Efficient open-source tools have recently emerged that allow animal behaviour to be quantified from videos using machine learning and computer vision techniques, but there is limited appraisal of how these tools perform compared to traditional methods. To
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Effect sizes of divergence in urban noise and song minimum frequency of grey-cheeked fulvettas Alcippe morrisonia morrisonia J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-05 Bao-Sen Shieh, Shih-Hsiung Liang, Chia-Hung Jen
Noise pollution, one of the most prominent features of urbanization, is an important factor influencing the vocal behavior of urban wildlife. Studies have reported that many songbirds raise their song minimum frequencies in response to urban noise. It has been proposed that this increased minimum frequency (IMF) of songs is an adaptation that allows urban populations to cope with the masking effect
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Landscape configuration alters movement behavior and space-use of a Hawaiian forest bird community J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Kristina L. Paxton, Jennifer R. Smetzer, Patrick J. Hart, Marti J. Anderson, Eben H. Paxton
Habitat loss and fragmentation are considered the greatest threats to ecosystems worldwide. Movement reveals how individuals meet their habitat requirements and respond to environmental heterogeneity, and thus can provide a powerful tool for investigating how animals respond to changes in landscape configuration. In our study, we examined the effects of landscape configuration on the space use and
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Divorce is linked with extra-pair paternity in a monogamous passerine J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-11-17 Jamie Dunning, Terry Burke, Julia Schroeder
The question of why socially monogamous females engage in extra-pair behaviour is long-standing in evolutionary biology. Due to a lack of empirical support among passerine birds, recent work has moved away from the indirect-benefits hypothesis to explain extra-pair mating behaviour by females, instead favouring the hypothesis that this is the result of a pleiotropic effect. That is, a trait under strong
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Itinerant lifestyle and congregation of lesser kestrels in West Africa J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-11-01 Lina Lopez-Ricaurte, Wouter M. G. Vansteelant, Jesús Hernández-Pliego, Daniel García-Silveira, Susana Casado, Fernando Garcés-Toledano, Juan Martínez-Dalmau, Alfredo Ortega, Beatriz Rodríguez-Moreno, Javier Bustamante
Trans-Saharan migrants often spend a large proportion of their annual cycle wintering in the Sahel. Advances in fieldwork and tracking technology have greatly enhanced our ability to study their ecology in these areas. Using GPS-tracking we aimed to investigate the little known non-breeding movements of the lesser kestrel Falco naumanni in sub-Saharan Africa. We segment non-breeding tracks (n = 79
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The impact of diet on sperm length in the long-tailed finch (Poephila acuticauda) J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-10-19 Kumkum Dubey, Callum S. McDiarmid, Simon C. Griffith
Sperm traits are important in determining fertilisation success and are metabolically expensive to produce. There is little known about how energy acquisition and allocation affect sperm traits in avian taxa. This study assesses the impact of experimentally manipulated diet on long-tailed finch sperm by comparing the length of sperm components (head, midpiece, flagellum and total sperm) between the
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Post-colony swimming migration in the genus Uria J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-10-12 Benjamin Merkel, Hallvard Strøm
Seabirds within the Alcini subfamily have a unique breeding strategy, with their offspring leaving the colony flightless, at only a quarter of adult body size, accompanied by the father and fledge (become independent) out at sea. In this study we test several hypotheses about this elusive second part of the breeding season, termed swimming migration, for common guillemots Uria aalge and Brünnich's
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Hot stops: timing, pathways, and habitat selection of migrating eastern whip-poor-wills J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-10-10 Marja H. Bakermans, Andrew C. Vitz
Although miniaturized data loggers allow new insights into avian migration, incomplete knowledge of basic patterns persists, especially for nightjars. Using GPS data loggers, this study examined migration ecology of the eastern whip-poor-will Antrostomus vociferus, across three migration strategies: flyover, short-stay, and long-stay. We documented migration movements, conducted hotspot analyses, quantified
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Drivers of partial migration in the reddish egret Egretta rufescens J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-09-06 Lianne M. Koczur, Bart M. Ballard
The reddish egret Egretta rufescens is North America's rarest Ardeidae and is listed as ‘Near Threatened' by the IUCN, as endangered in Mexico, and as a species of conservation concern throughout much of its range in the United States. Little is known about the migratory behavior of the reddish egret. Individuals that were banded during the breeding season in Texas, USA, have been resighted away from
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Reduced parental brood visit rate in wild zebra finches Taeniopygia castanotis is correlated with high maximum daily ambient temperature J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-08-23 Madeleine Wheeler, Riccardo Ton, Hanja B. Brandl, Wiebke Schuett, Simon C. Griffith
As a result of a warming global climate, understanding how organisms adjust their behaviour to environmental thermal conditions has become an increasingly important question in animal biology. Temperature-driven adjustments in parental care are potentially important given the repercussions on offspring size, quality and survival. In 2015 and 2016 we monitored parental care for 83 zebra finch Taeniopygia
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Coevolutionary maintenance of forked tails and song in hirundines (Aves: Hirundininae) J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-08-23 Masaru Hasegawa
Both conspicuous plumage ornamentation and song are well-known examples of sexually selected traits, but their interrelationship is not well known, perhaps in part because of confounding factors, including interspecific variation in ecology, habitat, morphology, and type of ornamentation. Here, using a phylogenetic comparative approach and the 69 species with available information (i.e. 96% of all
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Hanging out in the outback: the use of social hotspots by wild zebra finches J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-08-16 Hugo Loning, Rita Fragueira, Marc Naguib, Simon C. Griffith
The social and spatial organisation of avian societies is often complex and dynamic with individuals socialising with others in a local population. Although social interactions can readily be described in colonial breeders through the location of nests, social interactions regularly take place in other contexts that are often not considered. Social behaviour in the colonially breeding zebra finch,
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Nestling growth rate and food consumption increases under experimentally prolonged daylength in a New World sparrow J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-08-16 Allison J. Byrd, Colleen S. Mullins, Daniel J. Becker, Adam M. Fudickar
When evaluating avian reproduction, life history theory examines the trade-offs between parental effort, the number and size of offspring, and the rate of nestling development. The growth rates and body sizes of developing birds vary geographically and can diverge with both latitude and migratory strategy. In terms of offspring size, growth rate can deviate in nestlings of the same or similar species
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Phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of the ancient genus Onychorhynchus (Aves: Onychorhynchidae) suggest cryptic Amazonian diversity J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-08-16 Pamela Reyes, John M. Bates, Luciano N. Naka, Matthew J. Miller, Isabel Caballero, Catalina Gonzalez-Quevedo, Juan L. Parra, Hector F. Rivera-Gutierrez, Elisa Bonaccorso, José G. Tello
We examined phylogeographic patterns and cryptic diversity within the royal flycatcher, Onychorhynchus coronatus (Aves: Onychorhynchidae), a widespread Neotropical lowland forest tyrant flycatcher. A phylogeny of the six recognized subspecies was constructed from mtDNA sequence data of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit two gene, using Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood methods. Phylogenetic analyses
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Correction to Multiple stressors: negative effects of nest predation on the viability of a threatened gull in different environmental conditions J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-08-09
Bårdsen, B.-J. and Bustnes, J.O. (2022), Multiple stressors: negative effects of nest predation on the viability of a threatened gull in different environmental conditions. J Avian Biol, 2022: e02953. https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02953
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Competition is a major limiting factor of refueling in migratory passerines during stopover J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-07-25 Sean V. Zimin, Anna Zimin, Darren J. Burns, Rony Livne, Rafi Paz, Yoram Zvik, Eyal Shochat, Ofer Ovadia
For an avian migrant, refueling capacity attainable during stopovers governs the entire migration schedule and, ultimately, its fitness. Specifically, timely replenishing energy stores is critical when migration involves crossing ecological barriers, within which refueling may be limited. Here, we tested the hypothesis that fuel deposition rates (FDRs) of migratory passerines within barrier-edge stopover
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First demographic insights reveal high extinction risk of an endemic raptor species: the Reunion harrier J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-07-20 Rémi Fay, Pierrick Ferret, Damien Chiron, Michael Schaub, Steve Augiron
Gathering demographic information on rare species is critical to understanding their population dynamics and implementing efficient conservation measures. Using integrated models, we jointly analyzed multiple data sets, including capture–recapture, GPS tracking and nest monitoring data collected over the last 10 years, to provide the first demographic insights for one of the world's rarest raptors
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No evidence of a hybrid origin of the ashy-throated parrotbill Sinosuthora alphonsiana J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-07-10 Martin Päckert
This mini-review is dedicated to a critical re-appraisal of the putative hybrid origin of the grey-cheeked populations of the ashy-throated parrotbill Sinosuthora alphonsiana that was postulated based on the results of a clustering analysis using a set of five nuclear loci. However, the number of genetically admixed individuals is lower than 10% in the proposed hybrid form and largely restricted to
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Multiparasitism and repeated parasitism by the great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius on its main host, the magpie Pica pica: effects on reproductive success, nest desertion and nest predation J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-07-10 Manuel Soler, Tomás Pérez-Contreras, Francisco Ruiz-Raya
Brood parasites are expected to lay only one egg per parasitized nest, as the existence of several parasitic nestlings in a brood increases competition and can lead the starvation of some of them. However, multiparasitism (laying of two or more eggs by one or more parasitic females in a single host nest) is surprisingly frequent. Here, we study multiparasitism by different females or by the same female
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Admixture and introgression obscure evolutionary patterns in lesser whitethroat complex (Curruca curruca; Passeriformes; Aves) J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-06-30 Raziyeh Abdilzadeh, Stefan Prost, Mansour Aliabadian, Arya Shafaeipour, Fumin Lei, Aleem Ahmed Khan, Urban Olsson
Determining the limits of species is still a major area of contention, particularly when diagnostic differentiating characters are subtle and there is a contradiction between morphological and genetic data. The lesser whitethroat (LWT) complex Curruca curruca represents an interesting study system to address this issue. Here, we use phylogeny-, admixture- and principal component analysis- (PCA-) based
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Evidence for cross transmission of pathogens between wild hooded cranes and domestic geese J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-06-15 Xingjia Xiang, Yuannuo Wu, Feng Zhang, Yanyun Kuang, Chunlin Li, Ruibo Sun, Cang Hui
Driven by habitat loss from anthropogenic activities, wintering migratory birds forage together with poultry in paddy fields, and thus impose risks of cross transmitting pathogens. To date, there is little evidence for such risks of pathogen transmission between wild birds and poultry. Using the high-throughput sequencing, we report on detected potential pathogens of both wild hooded cranes Grus monacha
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Genetic diversity and sperm characteristics are not associated in two bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) populations J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-06-09 Arild Johnsen, Kristine Wold-Dobbe, Camilla Lo Cascio Sætre, Marie-Christine Eybert, Matthieu Marquet, Patrick Bonnet, Emily R. A. Cramer
Individual heterozygosity may influence the expression of fitness-related traits, via genome-wide or local genetic effects. Earlier studies have shown negative relationships between heterozygosity and sperm variation, predominantly in captive, highly inbred populations. Little is known about the possible influence of variation in heterozygosity on sperm traits in wild, outbred populations. We studied
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Trailing the heat: Eurasian teal Anas crecca schedule their spring migration basing on the increase in soil temperatures along the route J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-06-09 Giulia Cerritelli, Lorenzo Vanni, Natale Emilio Baldaccini, Alfonso Lenzoni, Michele Sorrenti, Dimitri Giunchi
Migratory behaviour allows individuals to inhabit areas with optimal environmental conditions throughout the year. To reduce energy expenditure and the risk of mortality while migrating, birds may schedule their departures basing on environmental cues that provide seasonal and/or local information. In this study, we aimed to identify the possible effect of environmental factors on the spring migration
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The relationships of breeding stage to daytime singing behaviour and song perch height in Bermuda white-eyed vireos Vireo griseus bermudianus J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-05-30 Miguel A. Mejías, David R. Wilson
Bird song is crucial for attracting mates and defending territories, but different types of song or different singing behaviours may be involved in acquiring or maintaining each resource. Furthermore, male songbirds may adjust when and where they sing throughout the breeding season, depending on their breeding stage. However, such relationships remain untested in several avian taxa. Here, we studied
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Tissue- and diet-dependent stable carbon and nitrogen isotope discrimination: a calibration study in a captive shorebird species J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-05-24 Tim Oortwijn, Luc G. G. de Monte, Daniel P. Varley, Marcel T. J. van der Meer, Jan A. van Gils
In ecology, stable-isotope ratios are widely used to determine diets of organisms and reconstruct food webs. This is usually done by analyzing the stable-isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ15N), which increase with increasing trophic level, and those of carbon (δ13C), which correlate with the δ13C value of food source(s) and generally differ between terrestrial and marine food sources. Assimilation of food
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A trans-African migrant shows repeatable route choice in males and repeatable timing in females J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-05-23 Wouter M. G. Vansteelant, Laura Gangoso, Duarte S. Viana, Judy Z. Shamoun-Baranes, Jordi Figuerola
Migrant bird populations often show substantial variation in route choice and timing. Determining whether this population-level variation is driven by between-individual differences and/or flexibility within individuals is key to identifying drivers of migration patterns. ‘Repeatability' (R, the proportion of population-level variation attributable to between-individual variation) has become a central
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The delayed effect of climatic conditions on pre-fledging nestling haematocrit in a suboscine species in Patagonia J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-05-23 Joseph E. Churchill, Martje L. M. Birker, Maaike Versteegh, Tomás A. Altamirano, Rodrigo A. Vásquez, Jan Komdeur
Haematocrit, the proportion of blood comprising erythrocytes, is often used as a proxy of individual condition. Nestling haematocrit is influenced by several factors but ambient temperature is generally agreed as a key driver. It is unclear which day(s) in embryonic or nestling development are most influential in determining pre-fledgling haematocrit. This is important, because if we are able to identify
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Using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to characterize nest site selection in wild Japanese tits Parus minor J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-05-17 Xudong Li, Jiangping Yu, Dake Yin, Longru Jin, Keqin Zhang, Haitao Wang
Selecting a suitable nest site is critical to the survival and reproduction of birds. Prospecting allows individuals to gather information on the local quality of potential future breeding sites, which may help them make the best nest site selection decision. However, few studies have focused on the direct links between the prospecting activity of breeders and subsequent nest site selection. In this
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Are breeding activities risky for northern bobwhites? An assessment of survival costs of reproduction J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-04-27 Adam C. Behney
Behaviors associated with breeding can increase mortality risk. This increased risk can be thought of as a cost of reproduction. Increased movements prior to breeding are common as individuals search for food and breeding sites. These increased movements are thought to entail greater predation risks as individuals travel through unfamiliar areas but few studies have looked at how these prebreeding
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Nowhere to escape: the cross-age avian haemosporidian exposure of migrants in northeast China J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-04-27 Guocheng Yang, Yangyang Peng, Haitao Wang, Xi Huang, Lu Dong
Pathogen infection has been progressively recognized as a potential driver of animal migration, and the infection pattern in a certain host may be related to its migration status. Nestling viability can be a crucial life stage in the evolution of the migration cycle but have been irregularly studied to date. In this study, we tested the ‘migratory exposure' hypothesis by comparing the prevalence and
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Timing of departure from natal areas by golden eagles is not constrained by acquisition of flight skills J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-04-27 Arzhela Hemery, Lucas Mugnier-Lavorel, Christian Itty, Olivier Duriez, Aurélien Besnard
The post-fledging dependence period (PFDP), which extends from a fledgling's first flight out of the nest to its departure from the parents' territory, is crucial in the lifecycle of birds. During this period, juveniles develop their flight and foraging skills to become fully independent. Despite the importance of this life stage in basic bird ecology and conservation, it remains largely overlooked
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Disentangling relationships between physiology, morphology, diet, and gut microbial diversity in American kestrel nestlings J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-04-24 Jennifer L. Houtz, Mercy Melo, Jean-François Therrien, Allison Cornell
Gut microbiota are increasingly recognized as important drivers of host health and fitness across vertebrate taxa. Given that gut microbial composition is directly influenced by the environment, gut microbiota may also serve as an eco-physiological mechanism connecting host ecology, such as diet, and physiology. Although gut microbiota have been well-studied in mammalian systems, little is known about
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Intra- and interspecific variation in trace element concentrations in feathers of north European trans-African migrants J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-04-24 Nicolas Ordax Sommer, Arto Luttinen, Aleksi Lehikoinen
The knowledge of migratory connectivity is important for understanding the potential drivers of populations and it is thus important for conservation implications. Migratory connectivity of species can be studied using exogenous, such as rings and transmitters, or endogenous markers, such as stable isotopes and trace elements. The use of trace elements has been much less frequently studied compared
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Patterns in avian reproduction in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska, 2003–2019 J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-04-21 Rebecca L. McGuire, Martin Robards, Joseph R. Liebezeit
The Arctic Coastal Plain is one of the most important avian breeding grounds in the world; however, many species are in decline. Arctic-breeding birds contend with short breeding seasons, harsh climatic conditions, and now, rapidly changing, variable, and unpredictable environmental conditions caused by climate change. Additionally, those breeding in industrial areas may be impacted by human activities
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Consistent apparent adult survival and nest-site fidelity of whimbrel Numenius phaeopus near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada over a 40 year period J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-03-29 Anne N. M. A. Ausems, Johanna Perz, Andrew Johnson, Nathan Senner, Margaret Skeel, Erica Nol
Reliable estimates of adult survival for many shorebird species are lacking. We used Cormack–Jolly–Seber (CJS) methods to provide an estimate of apparent, or local, survival (φ) of a population of whimbrels, Numenius phaeopus, breeding in the subarctic Churchill, Manitoba region. We used data collected in two time-periods: 1973–1976 and 2010–2014. We also quantified nest-site fidelity in 2010–2014
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Dietary fat supplements influence weight gain and egg production, but not offspring sex ratios in Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-03-03 James Curry, Woo Yun Kim, Mary T. Mendonça, Kristen J. Navara
Sex ratio theory suggests that females should bias offspring sex ratios based on maternal condition and the availability of critical food resources. Work in birds indicates that females do, indeed, bias sex ratios according to maternal condition and food quality and quantity. Yet it is unknown whether these sex ratio skews occur due to fluctuations in particular micro- or macro-nutrients, caloric content
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Egg size effects on nestling mass in jackdaws Corvus monedula: a cross-foster experiment J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-03-03 Mirjam J. Borger, Christina Bauch, Jelle J. Boonekamp, Simon Verhulst
Variation in developmental conditions is known to affect fitness in later life, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain elusive. We previously found in jackdaws Corvus monedula that larger eggs resulted in larger nestlings up to fledging. Through a cross-foster experiment of complete clutches we tested whether this association can be attributed to egg size per se, or to more proficient
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Genetic differentiation between two subspecies of Emberiza schoeniclus and open forest bunting's evolution inferred from mitogenomes J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-02-21 Iván Alambiaga, Roberto González, Pablo Vera, Juan S. Monrós, Ferran Palero
The reed bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus (Linnaeus 1758), is the only member of the genus adapted to Mediterranean wetlands, where some subspecies are critically endangered. The first complete mitogenome of the eastern Iberian reed bunting (E. s. witherbyi) is presented here and compared with an unpublished mitogenome obtained in northeast Asia (most likely E. s. pyrrhulina). Genetic distance analyses
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Energetic synchrony throughout the non-breeding season in common guillemots from four colonies J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-02-14 Lila Buckingham, Francis Daunt, Maria I. Bogdanova, Robert W. Furness, Sophie Bennett, James Duckworth, Ruth E. Dunn, Sarah Wanless, Michael P. Harris, David C. Jardine, Mark A. Newell, Robin M. Ward, Ewan D. Weston, Jonathan A. Green
The non-breeding season presents significant energetic challenges to birds that breed in temperate or polar regions, with clear implications for population dynamics. In seabirds, the environmental conditions at non-breeding sites drive food availability and the energetic cost of regulatory processes, resulting in variation in diet, behaviour and energetics; however, very few studies have attempted
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Migration strategies, performance and annual activity budget in a short-distance migrant, the common starling Sturnus vulgaris J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-29 Viesturs Vīgants, Oskars Keišs, Ivo Dinsbergs, Valts Jaunzemis, Elza Marija Zacmane, Ance Priedniece, Martins Briedis
Migratory birds typically separate energetically demanding parts of the annual cycle like breeding, moult and migration with some species engaging in so-called moult-migration. Moult-migration is known to occur in starlings from the northern breeding populations, however, little is known about the dynamics of this phenomenon and the costs and benefits for the involved individuals. Here, using state-of-the
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Shifting environmental predictors of phenotypes under climate change: a case study of growth in high latitude seabirds J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-29 Drew Sauve, Vicki L. Friesen, Scott A. Hatch, Kyle H. Elliott, Anne Charmantier
Climate change is altering species' traits across the globe. To predict future trait changes and understand the consequences of those changes, we need to know the environmental drivers of phenotypic change. In the present study, we use multi-decadal long datasets to determine periods of within-year environmental variation that predict growth of three seabird species. We evaluate whether these periods
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Evolution of female song and duetting in the chaffinch (Fringilla) species complex J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-24 Joseph E. J. Cooper, Eduardo Garcia-del-Rey, Robert F. Lachlan
Female song is ancestral to songbirds and shows considerable phylogenetic signal, but its presence also appears to be labile and correlated with life-history and ecology. While previous studies have examined the evolution of female song across species-rich families, here we studied female song in island populations of a recently diverged species-complex, the chaffinches (genus Fringilla). We show this
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Local weather and endogenous factors affect the initiation of migration in short- and medium-distance songbird migrants J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-20 Theodore J. Zenzal, Darren Johnson, Frank R. Moore, Zoltán Németh
Migratory birds employ a variety of mechanisms to ensure appropriate timing of migration based on integration of endogenous and exogenous information. The cues to fatten and depart from the non-breeding area are often linked to exogenous cues such as temperature or precipitation and the endogenous program. Shorter distance migrants should rely heavily on environmental information when initiating migration
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Low-temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-20 Chen-Yang Liu, Juha Merilä, Yang Liu, Lei Lv
Global climate change has posed widespread challenges to the ecological process critical to the fitness of many wild organisms, such as reproductive phenology. Many bird species have advanced their reproductive phenology in response to the increases in spring temperatures. However, the mechanism of how climate influences the timing of breeding is still often unclear in many species. We explored the
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Gut microbiome composition associated with Plasmodium infection in the Eurasian tree sparrow J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-20 Sage D. Rohrer, Briana Q. Robertson, Lon M. Chubiz, Patricia G. Parker
Recent expansion of microbiome research has uncovered connections between resident microbial communities and blood parasite risk, establishing the potential for microbial disease treatments such as probiotics in the future. However, this field has largely focused on humans and model organisms, leaving much unknown about how microbial communities might directly or indirectly impact parasite infection
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Egg shape variation across the distribution of the partially migratory fork-tailed flycatcher Tyrannus savana J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-19 Valentina Gómez-Bahamón, Elizabeth R. Chen, Diego T. Tuero, María de las Nieves Sabio, Kevin Tkach, Marcelo Assis, Neander M. Heming, Miguel Â. Marini, John M. Bates
The evolution of egg shape across birds has been associated with breeding ecology, body shape constraints and nest microclimate, among other factors. We model the effects of migratory status, climate, clutch size and egg volume on egg shape variation over the distribution of fork-tailed flycatchers Tyrannus savana. Although migratory status and climatic variables appear to be influencing intraspecific
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Nest orientation and proximity to snow patches are important for nest site selection of a cavity breeder at high elevation J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-13 Carole A. Niffenegger, Christian Schano, Raphaël Arlettaz, Fränzi Korner-Nievergelt
Timing and location of reproduction are central to reproductive success across taxa. Among birds, many species have evolved specific strategies to cope with environmental variability including shifts in timing of reproduction to track resource availability or selecting suitable nest location. In mountain ecosystems, complex topography and pronounced seasonality result in particularly high spatiotemporal
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Wind effects on the long-distance migration of GPS-tracked adult ospreys Pandion haliaetus from Germany J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2023-01-13 Bernd-Ulrich Meyburg, Daniel Holte
Birds that repeatedly visit distinct places along their migratory routes in consecutive years must be able to navigate to these places and respond appropriately to unfavourable wind conditions. This study analysed the migratory routes, repeatedly-visited areas and responses to sidewinds of 15 GPS-tracked adult ospreys Pandion haliaetus from northeast Germany migrating to their wintering sites in Africa
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Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top-level avian predator J. Avian Biol. (IF 1.7) Pub Date : 2022-12-29 Salvador Rebollo, Lorenzo Pérez-Camacho, Sara Martínez-Hesterkamp, Luis Tapia, José M. Fernández-Pereira, Ignacio Morales-Castilla
Understanding how habitat structure relates to reproductive performance of species can help identify what habitats are of the highest quality for a given species and thereby guide effective management. Here, we compared the influence of prey abundance and the amount of shelter area on the relationship between habitat and breeding performance. We focused on the forest-dwelling northern goshawk Accipiter