Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-by-4.0Apr 2017View details →

Figure 3 in Dermanyssus gallinae (Acari, Mesostigmata) in the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) nests in Urmia suburb, North West of Iran

Figure 3. Dermanyssus gallinae after clearing in lactophenol, anus (black arrow) is located on posterior part of anal plate (magnification: 100×).

Fig. 6 in The Migratory Fattening Of The Barn Swallow Hirundo Rustica In Hungary

Fig. 6. Map of recoveries south from Hungary in Europe during autumn (July–November, circles) and spring (March–May, squares)

Fig. 5 in Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in Peninsular Malaysia: urban winter roost counts after 50 years, and dietary segregation from house-farmed swiftlets Aerodramus sp.

Fig. 5. Diet distribution of swallows and house-farmed swiftlets at Bentong identified by NGS molecular analysis.

Fig. 1 in Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in Peninsular Malaysia: urban winter roost counts after 50 years, and dietary segregation from house-farmed swiftlets Aerodramus sp.

Fig. 1. (Left) Map of Peninsular Malaysia, with an enlarged plan of Pahang State; the circle indicates the study area, Bentong District. (Right) Google view of Bentong municipality, showing old town centre (red) and suburbs where house-farmed swiftlet colonies (blue) were counted.

Fig. 2 in Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in Peninsular Malaysia: urban winter roost counts after 50 years, and dietary segregation from house-farmed swiftlets Aerodramus sp.

Fig. 2. Swallows roosting on utility wires along streets of the Bentong town centre. Pacific Swallows, recognisable from below by the grey belly, were present in very low numbers during the passage and wintering period.

Fig. 4 in Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in Peninsular Malaysia: urban winter roost counts after 50 years, and dietary segregation from house-farmed swiftlets Aerodramus sp.

Fig. 4. Comparative diets of swallows and house-farmed swiftlets in Bentong, identified by morphological analysis.

Fig. 3 in Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in Peninsular Malaysia: urban winter roost counts after 50 years, and dietary segregation from house-farmed swiftlets Aerodramus sp.

Fig. 3. Number of Barn Swallows in the urban roost in Bentong town, Pahang, in 2015–16 and averaged for 1966–68.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

dryad40/100

Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) in East Asia show strong tolerance against nest mites

Hosts defend against parasites through two main strategies: resistance and tolerance. These two strategies have different influences on the parasite load of the host and so have variable effects on the fitness of parasites. In this study, we investigated the strategy used by the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) to defend against a haematophagous mite (Dermanyssus hirundinis) in East Asia. For the first time, we found Barn Swallows were parasitized by D. hirundinis in Asia and, in north-eastern China, over 60% of broods were parasitized. We examined whether swallows with better body condition or the males with more extravagant sexually selected traits (longer tail streamers or redder ventral plumage) showed stronger resistance or tolerance to these parasites. The results showed that males with more extravagant sexual ornaments had weaker resistance (heavier brood mite load) than males with less extravagant traits; however, the heavier mite load was likely to be a by-product of larger brood size. Moreover, the Barn Swallow population showed strong tolerance against the parasite, i.e., the brood mite load did not affect brood size or nestling body mass. It is worth noting that male swallows with redder breast plumage showed weaker tolerance (lower seasonal reproductive success) than other males. Further, we conducted experimental ectoparasite manipulations in 46 Barn Swallow nests to verify the potential effect of these parasites on the body condition of nestlings. Neither the body mass nor the hemoglobin concentration differed between the designed groups; however, the hemoglobin concentration of nestlings decreased with mite load. We concluded that the Barn Swallow population in East Asia used the tolerance strategy, rather than resistance to defend against nest mites, and the ectoparasitic mite did not appear to be a strong selective factor for reproductive success owing to the strong tolerance of the studied Barn Swallow population.

dryad40/100

Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) in East Asia show strong tolerance against nest mites

Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.

publicJan 2023View details →

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →

Data from: Selection on multiple sexual signals in two Central- and Eastern-European populations of the barn swallow

Variation in intensity and targets of sexual selection on multiple traits has been suggested to play a major role in promoting phenotypic differentiation between populations, although the divergence in selection may depend on year, local conditions or age. In this study, we quantified sexual selection for two putative sexual signals across two Central- and East-European barn swallow (Hirundo rustica rustica) populations from Czech Republic and Romania over multiple years. We then related these differences in selection to variation in sexual characters among barn swallow populations. Our results show that tail length and ventral colouration vary between populations, sexes and age classes (first-time breeders vs. experienced birds). We found that selection on tail length was stronger in first-time breeders than in experienced birds and in males than in females in the Romanian population, while these differences between age groups and sexes were weak in Czech birds. We suggest that the populational difference in selection on tail length might be related to the differences in breeding conditions. Our results show that ventral colouration is darker (i.e. has lower brightness) in the Romanian than in the Czech population, and in experienced birds and males compared with first-time breeders and females, respectively. The sexual difference in ventral colouration may suggest sexual selection on this trait, which is supported by the significant directional selection of ventral colouration in first-time breeding males on laying date. However, after controlling for the confounding effect of wing length and tarsus length, the partial directional selection gradient on this trait turned non-significant, suggesting that the advantage of dark ventral colouration in early breeding birds is determined by the correlated traits of body size. These findings show that ventral colouration may be advantageous over the breeding season, but the underlying mechanism of this relationship is not clarified.

opencc-zeroFeb 2020View details →

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) fledglings use crop habitat more frequently in relation to its availability than pasture and other habitat types

Populations of birds that forage on aerial insects have been declining across North America for several decades, but the main causes of and reasons for geographical variation in these declines remains unclear. We examined the habitat use and survival of post-fledging Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica), near Vancouver, BC, Canada using VHF radio telemetry. We predicted that fledgling Barn Swallows hatched in higher quality natal habitat (pasture) would fledge at higher quality, stay closest to the nest, disproportionately use higher-quality habitat during the post-fledge stage and have higher survival rates in the region. Contrary to our predictions, we found that natal habitat (crop, pasture or non-agriculture) had no effect on fledgling quality or movement distance. Barn Swallow fledglings used crop habitat more frequently in relation to its availability than other habitat types, including pasture. Barn Swallows had low post-fledging survival rates (0.44; 95% CI: 0.35-0.57), which could negatively influence the population trend of the species in this region. While natal habitat had only minor effects, crop habitat appears to be important for fledgling Barn Swallows and therefore a decline in this habitat type could have further negative implications for an already declining species.

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

The impact of urbanization on body size of Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica gutturalis

Urbanization implies a dramatic impact on ecosystems, which may lead to drastic phenotypic differences between urban and non-urban individuals. For instance, urbanization is associated with increased metabolic costs, which may constrain body size, but urbanization also leads to habitat fragmentation, which may favour increases in body mass when for instance it correlates with dispersal capacity. However, this apparent contradiction has rarely been studied. This is particularly evident in China where the urbanization process is currently occurring at an unprecedented scale. Moreover, no study has addressed this issue across large geographical areas encompassing locations in different climates. In this regard, Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) are a suitable model to study the impact of urbanization on wild animals because they are a widely distributed species tightly associated with humans. Here, we collected body mass and wing length data for 359 breeding individuals of Barn Swallow (H. r. gutturalis) from 128 sites showing different levels of urbanization around the whole China. Using a set of linear mixed-effects models, we assessed how urbanization and geography influenced body size measured using body mass, wing length and their regression residuals. Interestingly, we found that the impact of urbanization was sex-dependent, negatively affecting males' body mass, its regression residuals, and females' wing length. We also found that northern and western individuals were larger, regarding both body mass and wing length, than southern and eastern individuals. Females were heavier than males, yet males had slightly longer wings than females. Overall, our results showed that body mass of males was particularly sensitive trait to urbanization, latitude and longitude, while it only showed a weak response to latitude in females. Conversely, while wing length showed a similar geographical pattern, it was only affected by urbanization in the case of females. Further research is needed to determine if these phenotypic differences are associated with negative effects of urbanization or potential selective advantages.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

High within-clutch repeatability of eggshell phenotype in Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster) despite less maculated last-laid eggs

Ecological and life history variation and both interspecific and intraspecific brood parasitism contribute to diversity in egg phenotype within the same species. In this study, Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster) laid eggs with high intraclutch repeatability in egg size, shape, and maculation. Despite this high intraclutch repeatability, last-laid eggs had consistently less of the eggshell covered in spots and fewer spots than earlier-laid eggs in the clutch. We examined sources of interclutch and intraclutch variation using both direct measurements and custom-software (SpotEgg, NaturePatternMatch) that provide detailed information on egg characteristics, especially maculation measures. In addition to our main findings, maculation on different sides of the egg was highly repeatable; however, only shape, proportion of the eggshell maculated, and average spot size were repeatable between first and replacement clutches. Low intraclutch variation in maculation could allow females to recognize their clutch and this may be adaptive for colonial nesting species, such as the Barn Swallow. Characterizing intraspecific variation in egg size, shape, and maculation is the first step in understanding whether intraclutch variation is low enough - and interclutch variation high enough – such that eggs could serve as identity signals.

opencc-zeroMay 2024View details →

Data from: Year-round carryover effects are driven by migration phenology for Hirundo rustica (Barn Swallow) wintering in West Africa

Recently, population declines have been reported for many migratory birds. Because of complex life cycles, determining the causes for such declines is often difficult. Thus, migratory birds are of special conservation interest. We studied the migratory behavior of barn swallows Hirundo rustica tagged with solar geolocators and determined carryover effects during the entire annual cycle from one breeding season to the next. We used a Partial Least Square Path Model (PLS-PM) to disentangle migratory and breeding events that occur in chronological order. In addition, we controlled for broad environmental conditions in the wintering grounds (NDVI and latitude) and the specific moulting habitat (δ13C). We did not find a carryover effect from reproduction investment in the attachment year to breeding success in the subsequent year. Individuals which invested more in reproduction departed earlier from the breeding colonies, but this in turn did not affect the onset of autumn migration. Thus, the pre-migratory period should be acting as a buffer stage counteracting any previous carryover effects from reproduction investment. On the other hand, we found a long-lasting domino effect from the onset of autumn migration to subsequent breeding success, consistent with the notion of a migratory race. Specifically, individuals which started earlier the autumn migration, arrived earlier to the wintering grounds, started earlier the spring migration, arrived earlier to the breeding colonies and had a higher breeding success. We highlight that the pre-migratory period (i.e., the time elapsed between departure from breeding areas and the onset of autumn migration) should be important for the lifecycle of migratory species, but it has been frequently overlooked.

Fig. 5 in The Migratory Fattening Of The Barn Swallow Hirundo Rustica In Hungary

Fig. 5. Daily average body mass for juvenile and adult Barn Swallows at Izsák between 2000–2002

Fig. 2 in The Migratory Fattening Of The Barn Swallow Hirundo Rustica In Hungary

Fig. 2. Differences in residuals from ANCOVA models between Ócsa and Izsák in 2002

Fig. 4 in The Migratory Fattening Of The Barn Swallow Hirundo Rustica In Hungary

Fig. 4. Differences in body mass of Barn Swallows between years at Izsák 2000–2002

Fig. 3 in The Migratory Fattening Of The Barn Swallow Hirundo Rustica In Hungary

Fig. 3. Daily average body mass for juvenile and adult Barn Swallows at Ócsa and Izsák in 2002

Fig. 1 in The Migratory Fattening Of The Barn Swallow Hirundo Rustica In Hungary

Fig. 1. Differences in body mass and fat score of Barn Swallows between Ócsa and Izsák in 2002