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82 results for “Parus major”
Early developmental carry-over effects on exploratory behaviour and DNA methylation in wild great tits (Parus major)
<p>Adverse, postnatal conditions experienced during development are known to induce lingering effects on morphology, behaviour, reproduction and survival. Despite the importance of early developmental stress for shaping the adult phenotype, it is largely unknown which molecular mechanisms allow for the induction and maintenance of such phenotypic effects once the early environmental conditions are released. Here we aimed to investigate whether lasting early developmental phenotypic changes are associated with post-developmental DNA methylation changes. We used a cross-foster and brood size experiment in great tit (Parus major) nestlings, which induced post-fledging effects on biometric measures and exploratory behaviour, a validated personality trait. We investigated whether these post-fledging effects are associated with DNA methylation levels of CpG sites in erythrocyte DNA. Individuals raised in enlarged broods caught up on their developmental delay after reaching independence and became more explorative as days since fledging passed, while the exploratory scores of individuals that were raised in reduced broods remained stable. Although we previously found that brood enlargement hardly affected pre-fledging methylation levels, we found 420 CpG sites that were differentially methylated between fledged individuals that were raised in small versus large sized broods. A considerable number of the affected CpG sites were located in or near genes involved in metabolism, growth, behaviour and cognition. Since the biological functions of these genes line up with the observed post-fledging phenotypic effects of brood size, our results suggest that DNA methylation provides organisms the opportunity to modulate their condition once the environmental conditions allow it. In conclusion, this study shows that nutritional stress during early development associates with indirect, carry-over effects on DNA methylation. We propose that treatment-associated DNA methylation differences arise as a consequence of pre-fledging phenotypic changes, rather than that they cause early environmentally-induced effects.</p>
Fig. 4 in Determining Spatial Parameters Of The Ecological Niche Of Parus Major (Passeriformes, Paridae) On The Base Of Remote Sensing Data
Fig. 4. Distribution of resources (light bars) and distribution of resources used by P. major (grey bars).
Fig. 5 in Determining Spatial Parameters Of The Ecological Niche Of Parus Major (Passeriformes, Paridae) On The Base Of Remote Sensing Data
Fig. 5. Distribution of pseudo absence cells: a — the distance to the presence cells is not less than 1000 meters; b — the distance to the presence cells is not less than 500 meters; c — the distance to the presence cells is not less than 250 meters; d — distance to the presence cells is not less than 100 meters.
Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location – an experimental evidence with two tree species
<p>1. When searching for food, great tits (Parus major) can use herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) as an indicator of arthropod presence. Their ability to detect HIPVs was shown to be learned, and not innate, yet the flexibility and generalization of learning remains unclear. 2. We studied if, and if so how, naïve and trained great tits (Parus major) discriminate between herbivore-induced and non-induced saplings of Scotch elm (Ulmus glabra) and cattley guava (Psidium cattleyanum). We chemically analysed the used plants and showed that their HIPVs differed significantly and overlapped only in a few compounds. 3. Birds trained to discriminate between herbivore-induced and non-induced saplings preferred the herbivore-induced saplings of the plant species they were trained to. Naïve birds did not show any preferences. Our results indicate that the attraction of great tits to herbivore-induced plants is not innate, rather it is a skill that can be acquired through learning, one tree species at a time. 4. We demonstrate that the ability to learn to associate HIPVs with food reward is flexible, expressed to both tested plant species, even if the plant species has not coevolved with the bird species (i.e. guava). Our results imply that the birds are not capable of generalising HIPVs among tree species but suggest that they either learn to detect individual compounds or associate whole bouquets with food rewards.</p>
Data from: Developmental stress does not induce genome-wide DNA methylation changes in wild great tit (Parus major) nestlings
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>The environment experienced during early life is a crucial factor in the life of many organisms. This early life environment has been shown to have profound effects on morphology, physiology and fitness. However, the molecular mechanisms that mediate these effects are largely unknown, even though this is essential for our understanding of the processes that induce phenotypic variation in natural populations. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that has been suggested to explain such environmentally induced phenotypic changes early in life. To investigate whether DNA methylation changes are associated with experimentally induced early developmental effects, we cross-fostered great tit (<em>Parus major</em>) nestlings and manipulated their brood sizes in a natural study population. We assessed experimental brood size effects on pre-fledging biometry and behaviour. We linked this to genome-wide DNA methylation levels of CpG sites in erythrocyte DNA, using 122 individuals and an improved epiGBS2 laboratory protocol. Brood enlargement caused developmental stress and negatively affected nestling condition, predominantly during the second half of the breeding season, when conditions are harsher. Brood enlargement, however, affected nestling DNA methylation in only one CpG site and only if hatch date was taken into account. In conclusion, this study shows that nutritional stress in enlarged broods does not associate with direct effects on genome-wide DNA methylation. Future studies should assess whether genome-wide DNA methylation variation may arise later in life as a consequence of phenotypic changes during early development.</span></p>
Spatio-temporal variation in diet among age and sex cohorts of a model generalist bird species, the Great Tit Parus major: new insights revealed by DNA metabarcoding
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Early developmental carry-over effects on exploratory behaviour and DNA methylation in wild great tits (Parus major)
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Data from: Developmental stress does not induce genome-wide DNA methylation changes in wild great tit (Parus major) nestlings
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location – an experimental evidence with two tree species
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Recent natural variability in global warming weakened phenological mismatch and selection on seasonal timing in great tits (Parus major)
<p></p><p> Climate change has led to phenological shifts in many species, but with large variation in magnitude among species and trophic levels. The poster child example of the resulting phenological mismatches between the phenology of predators and their prey is the great tit (Parus major), where this mismatch led to directional selection for earlier seasonal breeding. Natural climate variability can obscure the impacts of climate change over certain periods, weakening phenological mismatching and selection. Here, we show that selection on seasonal timing indeed weakened significantly over the past two decades as increases in late spring temperatures have slowed down. Consequently, there has been no further advancement in the date of peak caterpillar food abundance, while great tit phenology has continued to advance, thereby weakening the phenological mismatch. We thus show that the relationships between temperature, phenologies of prey and predator, and selection on predator phenology are robust, also in times of a slowdown of warming. Using projected temperatures from a large ensemble of climate simulations that take natural climate variability into account, we show that prey phenology is again projected to advance faster than great tit phenology in the coming decades, and therefore that long-term global warming will intensify phenological mismatches. </p><p></p>
Camera trap image of Parus major (2019-01-12T10:28:29Z)
Camera Trap Image taken in <a href="https://www.plantentuinmeise.be">Meise Botanic Garden</a>.
Camera trap image of Parus major (2017-12-02T13:24:16Z)
Camera Trap Image taken in <a href="https://www.plantentuinmeise.be">Meise Botanic Garden</a>.
Camera trap image of Parus major (2019-02-03T12:09:06Z)
Camera Trap Image taken in <a href="https://www.plantentuinmeise.be">Meise Botanic Garden</a>.
Camera trap image of Parus major (2019-02-04T10:28:40Z)
Camera Trap Image taken in <a href="https://www.plantentuinmeise.be">Meise Botanic Garden</a>.
Camera trap image of Parus major (2019-02-12T11:49:40Z)
Camera Trap Image taken in <a href="https://www.plantentuinmeise.be">Meise Botanic Garden</a>.
Camera trap image of Parus major (2018-11-18T10:57:40Z)
Camera Trap Image taken in <a href="https://www.plantentuinmeise.be">Meise Botanic Garden</a>.
List of known SNP positions (based on SNP chip data) for base quality score recalibration of alignments for whole-genome resequencing and whole-genome bisulfite sequencing data from great tits (Parus major)
<p>The profiling of epigenetic marks like DNA methylation has become a central aspect of studies in evolution and ecology. Bisulfite sequencing is commonly used for assessing genome-wide DNA methylation at single nucleotide resolution but these data can also provide information on genetic variants like single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, bisulfite conversion causes unmethylated cytosines to appear as thymines, complicating the alignment and subsequent SNP calling. Several tools have been developed to overcome this challenge, but there is no independent evaluation of such tools for non-model species, which often lack genomic references. Here, we used whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) data from four female great tits (<i>Parus major</i>) to evaluate the performance of seven tools for SNP calling from bisulfite sequencing data. We used SNPs from whole-genome resequencing data of the same samples as baseline SNPs to assess common performance metrics like sensitivity, precision, and the number of true positive, false positive, and false negative SNPs for the full range of variant and genotype quality values. We found clear differences between the tools in either optimizing precision (Bis-SNP), sensitivity (biscuit), or a compromise between both (all other tools). Overall, the choice of SNP caller strongly depends on which performance parameter should be maximized and whether ascertainment bias should be minimized to optimize downstream analysis, highlighting the need for studies that assess such differences.</p>
Color of artificial light at night affects incubation behavior in the great tit, Parus major
<p>Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been recognized as a biodiversity threat due to the drastic effects it can have on many organisms. In wild birds, artificial illumination alters many natural behaviors that are important for fitness, including chick provisioning. Although incubation is a key determinant of the early developmental environment, studies into the effects of ALAN on bird incubation behavior are lacking. We measured nest temperature in nest boxes of great tits during the incubation period in two consecutive years. Nest boxes were located in eight previously dark field sites that have been experimentally illuminated since 2012 with white, green, or red light, or were left dark. We tested if light treatment affected mean nest temperature, number of times birds leave the nest (off-bout frequency), and off-bout duration during the incubation period. Subsequently, we investigated if incubation behavior is related to fitness. We found that birds incubating in the white light during a cold, early spring had lower mean nest temperatures at the end of incubation, both during the day and during the night, compared to birds in the green light. Moreover, birds incubating in white light took fewer off-bouts, but off-bouts were on average longer. The opposite was true for birds breeding in the green light. Low incubation temperatures and few but long off-bouts can have severe consequences for developing embryos. In our study, eggs from birds that took on average few off-bouts needed more incubation days to hatch compared to eggs from birds that took many off-bouts. Nevertheless, we found no clear fitness effects of light treatment or incubation behavior on the number of hatchlings or hatchling weight. Our results add to the growing body of literature that shows that effects of ALAN can be subtle, can differ due to the spectral composition of light, and can be year-dependent. These subtle alterations of natural behaviors might not have severe fitness consequences in the short-term. However, in the long term they could add up, negatively affecting parent condition and survival as well as offspring recruitment, especially in urban environments where more environmental pollutants are present.</p>
Data for: Strong phenotypic trait correlations between mating partners do not result from assortative mating in wild great tits (Parus major)
<p>There is considerable debate about the occurrence of assortative mating between phenotypic traits measured within natural populations. Meta-analyses have implied that assortative mating occurs generally in natural populations but recent work indicates these conclusions largely result from biased data. Specifically, estimates of phenotypic correlations between mating partners do not solely result from non-random associations between individual-level traits of partners but also from other biological processes (joint phenotypic plasticity, indirect genetic effects), methodological practices (observer bias), and other unexplained residual correlations (e.g. correlated measurement error). This paper puts this critique to test. First, we estimated the overall phenotypic correlation between phenotypic traits of mating partners for a wild population of great tits. Second, we estimated various key variance components to reveal the extent to which phenotypic correlations between partners resulted from assortative mating, reversible plasticity, social partner effects, and methodological practices. We performed our analyses for a range of phenotypic traits (body mass, breathing rate, exploration behaviour, wing and tarsus length) to derive general conclusions not hinging on the specifics of the traits involved. Our analyses support the conclusion that patterns of assortative mating exist at first glance but occur because of the biasing effects of correlated residuals likely caused by a combination of phenotypic responses to unknown environmental factors or measurement error – not because of intrinsic patterns of assortative mating.</p>
Dataset of the great tits (Parus major) from Sagunto (Spain)
<p>A big dataset of the pairs of great tits (Parus major) breeding in Sagunto (eastern Spain) with many variables, for both parents and their chicks.</p>
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