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28 results for “passerine nests”
Linking ecological specialization to its macroevolutionary consequences: An example with passerine nest type
<p>A long-standing hypothesis in evolutionary biology is that the evolution of resource specialization can lead to an evolutionary dead end, where specialists have low diversification rates and limited ability to evolve into generalists. In recent years, advances in comparative methods investigating trait-based differences associated with diversification have enabled more robust tests of this idea and have found mixed support. We test the evolutionary dead end hypothesis by estimating net diversification rate differences associated with nest site specialization among 3,224 species of passerine birds. In particular, we test whether the adoption of hole-nesting, a nest site specialization that decreases predation, results in reduced diversification rates relative to nesting outside of holes. Further, we examine whether evolutionary transitions to the specialist hole-nesting state have been more frequent than transitions out of hole-nesting. Using diversification models that accounted for background rate heterogeneity and different extinction rate scenarios, we found that hole-nesting specialization was not associated with diversification rate differences. Furthermore, contrary to the assumption that specialists rarely evolve into generalists, we found that transitions out of hole-nesting occur more frequently than transitions into hole-nesting. These results suggest that interspecific competition may limit adoption of hole-nesting, but that such competition does not result in limited diversification of hole-nesters. In conjunction with other recent studies using robust comparative methods, our results add to growing evidence that evolutionary dead ends are not a typical outcome of resource specialization.</p>
Linking ecological specialization to its macroevolutionary consequences: An example with passerine nest type
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Data from: Nest attendance by tropical and temperate passerine birds: same constancy, different strategy
1. Parental care in birds varies among species and geographic regions. Incubation behavior influences embryonic development rate and varies substantially among species. 2. We studied attendance at the nest by videoing nests or collecting data from the literature for 112 species in north temperate and lowland tropical sites, then associated patterns of incubation on- and off-bouts with species and environmental traits. 3. Songbirds nesting at low elevations incubate their eggs for an average of 74.1% (12.9 s.d., n = 60 species) of the time in temperate regions and 71.0% (12.2 s.d., n = 52 species) in tropical regions during daylight hours, and 84.3% (8.2 s.d.) and 85.3% (6.2 s.d.), respectively, of each 24-hour cycle. 4. While these attendance percentages do not differ significantly between latitudes, our data also show that lowland tropical songbirds make fewer visits to the nest and, consequently, have longer on-bouts and off-bouts during incubation. This pattern in attendance reflects a latitudinal contrast in parental care strategy, where lowland tropical birds reduce visits to the nest by increasing on- and off-bout lengths while maintaining the same proportion of time spent incubating their eggs (constancy). 5. Similar constancy across latitude suggests that tropical and temperate birds may be similarly constrained to maintain elevated egg temperatures for normal embryo growth. 6. The different attendance strategies adopted in each region may reflect differences in ambient temperature, adult foraging time, and nest predation rate. Consistently warm ambient temperatures likely allow tropical birds to take longer off-bouts, and thereby to reduce activity around the nest, compared to temperate birds.
Data from: Global drivers of variation in cup nest size in passerine birds
<p>Dataset contains measurements of passerine cup nests from museum specimens and literature together with life-history, environmental and biogeographical factors pertaining to each species (<em>n</em> = 1,451 records; <em>n</em> = 1,117 species).</p> <p> </p>
Data for: The evolution of enclosed nesting in passerines is shaped by competition, energetic costs and predation threat
<p><span>Many bird species breed in enclosed nests which may provide better protection against predation and climatic conditions compared to open nests and </span><span>are </span><span>generally associated with </span><span>larger clutch sizes</span><span> and slower offspring growth</span><span>. Here we show that different enclosed nesting strategies are each linked to behaviors with very different costs and benefits on a macroevolutionary scale. Using a detailed dataset of nest structure and location from the order Passeriformes we employed phylogenetic comparative methods to evaluate (1) how predation, competition, design complexity and energetic costs have shaped evolutionary transitions between different nesting strategies and (2) whether these strategies also have distinct relationships with life-history traits. We find that flexible strategies (i.e., nesting in both open and enclosed sites) as well as energetically demanding strategies are evolutionarily unstable, indicating the presence of underlying ecological trade-offs between anti-predator protections, construction costs and competition. We confirm that species with enclosed nests have larger clutch sizes and longer development and nestling periods compared to open nesters, but only species that construct enclosed nests rather than compete for pre-existing cavities spend more time incubating and are concentrated in the tropics. Flexible strategies prevail in seasonal environments and are linked to larger clutches – but not longer development – compared to nesting in the open. Overall, our results suggest that predation, competition and energetic costs affect the evolution of nesting strategies, but via distinct pathways, and that caution is warranted when generalizing about the functions of enclosed nest designs in birds. </span></p>
Data for: The evolution of enclosed nesting in passerines is shaped by competition, energetic costs and predation threat
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Data from: Nest attendance by tropical and temperate passerine birds: same constancy, different strategy
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Data from: Associations between human non-motorized recreational activity on nest box occupation, exploratory behaviour, and breeding success in a passerine bird
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Data from: Sitting in the open: How nest microclimate influences incubation behavior in an open-cup nesting passerine
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Data from: Does nest predation risk affect the frequency of extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous passerine?
While considerable variations in both the frequency of extra-pair paternity (EPP) and the behavioral events that produce it are recognized among species, populations, individuals, and breeding attempts, the determinants of these variations are surprisingly difficult to establish. Nest predation may be one such determinant, since it is the most important source of reproductive failure, and past studies have suggested a variety of reproductive flexibilities under nest predation risk. However, despite its potentially significant effect on mating behaviors, nest predation risk has rarely been discussed in association with variations in intraspecific EPP patterns. Here, we examined the effect of naturally occurring nest predation, which varied between sites, years, and breeding attempts, on patterns of EPP in 92 broods (132 adults and 710 nestlings) of the Japanese great tit Parus major minor. We found that the frequency of extra-pair offspring was positively correlated with the nest predation rate, along with a correlation to breeding attempts in a season, but not with other factors such as individual quality or breeding density. Under high nest-predation risk, it may be adaptive for males to search for additional extra-pair copulation to spread the risk of losing all offspring and to invest less in mate-guarding, which also enables females to seek additional extra-mating. The results of this study suggest that nest predation risk, among other factors, may significantly influence paternity allocation in birds.
Data from: Nest predation risk and growth strategies of passerine species: grow fast or develop traits to escape risk?
Different body components are thought to trade off in their growth and development rates, but the causes for relative prioritization of any trait remains a critical question. Offspring of species at higher risk of predation might prioritize development of locomotor traits that facilitate escaping risky environments over growth of mass. We tested this possibility in 12 altricial passerine species that differed in their risk of nest predation. We found that rates of growth and development of mass, wings, and endothermy increased with nest predation risk across species. In particular, species with higher nest predation risk exhibited relatively faster growth of wings than of mass, fledged with relatively larger wing sizes and smaller mass, and developed endothermy earlier at relatively smaller mass. This differential development can facilitate both escape from predators and survival outside of the nest environment. Tarsus growth was not differentially prioritized with respect to nest predation risk, and instead all species achieved adult tarsus size by age of fledging. We also tested whether different foraging modes (aerial, arboreal, and ground foragers) might explain the variation of differential growth of locomotor modules, but we found that little residual variation was explained. Our results suggest that differences in nest predation risk among species are associated with relative prioritization of body components to facilitate escape from the risky nest environment.
Light affects parental provisioning behaviour in a cavity-nesting Passerine
Nocturnal bird species possess special adaptations to maximise visual efficiency under low light levels. However, some typically diurnal species also experience low-light environments. For example, cavity-nesting Passerines raise broods in dark cavities and search for food in light-abundant surroundings. It is not clear whether they possess special adaptations for low light vision or breed in cavities at the expense of impaired parental care. In this study, we tested whether light conditions affect the provisioning efficiency of great tits. We experimentally tested how the level of natural and artificially increased illumination inside nest boxes affects parental feeding duration, frequency and timing. We monitored 15-hours of provisioning activity of great tit parents when nestlings were day 7 post hatch. We used traditional "dark" nest boxes and "bright" nest boxes with increased illumination obtained by using semi-transparent plastic windows. The duration of single feedings were, on average, shorter in brightened nest boxes compared to dark ones. This difference tended to be higher early in the morning and in the evening, when the illumination in dark nest boxes was the lowest. Nest box type, however, did not influence feeding frequency or times of the onset and the end of feeding. Our findings provide new evidence for impaired efficiency of parental care due to lowered light conditions. Further research is needed to test whether prolonged feeding duration has negative effects on adult time budgets and nestling energy expenditures.
Digital records of Brown-headed Cowbirds removing eggs and nestlings from nests of grassland passerine birds in southwest Wisconsin
<p>We present digital recordings from video surveillance systems at nests of grassland birds. Video surveillance systems were used as part of grassland bird studies done in southwestern Wisconsin. Study sites were clustered near Mt. Horeb (43.0167°N, 89.7500°W). Four grassy field types were studied: continuously-grazed pasture, prairie, and cool- and warm-season grass fields. The digital recordings archived here were used to document egg and nestling destruction by the Brown-headed Cowbird (<em>Molothrus ater</em>).</p>
Data from: Nest predation risk and growth strategies of passerine species: grow fast or develop traits to escape risk?
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Digital records of Brown-headed Cowbirds removing eggs and nestlings from nests of grassland passerine birds in southwest Wisconsin
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Data from: Does nest predation risk affect the frequency of extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous passerine?
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Data from: Food supplementation mitigates dispersal-dependent differences in nest defence in a passerine bird.
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Light affects parental provisioning behaviour in a cavity-nesting Passerine
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Population decline of a long-distance migratory passerine at the edge of its range: nest predation, nest replacement, and immigration
<p class="CxSpFirst">The relative importance of predators and resources (i.e., food) for the dynamics of migratory bird populations is poorly known. Resource availability may be more likely in resource poor environments, but given that nest failure in most systems is due mainly to predation, predator effects may predominate. We document a rapid decline of an isolated Eastern Kingbird (<i>Tyrannus tyrannus</i>) population breeding in the Great Basin Desert of eastern Oregon, USA, and evaluate whether it was driven by limited food resources (water availability ~ food), nest predation, or first-year or adult return rate (RR<sub>J</sub> and RR<sub>A</sub>, respectively) that reflect nonbreeding season events. Most nests failed (~68% of nests) due mainly to nest predation (>90% of failures); nestling starvation was rare. Bioyear precipitation (October-April), breeding season precipitation, and river flow all varied widely but none could account for annual variation in either nest success (NS) or fledging success of successful nest (FSSN). Neither RR<sub>J</sub> nor RR<sub>A</sub> varied with year, any measure of water resources, or reproductive success. Annual population growth rate (ln[N<sub>t+1</sub>/N<sub>t</sub>]) was independent of year, all measures of water availability, RR<sub>J</sub> and RR<sub>A</sub>, and NS of replacement nests, but was high following years of high NS of initial nests; FSSN was also higher in years of high NS. High rates of nest predation, due likely to the expansion of the local American Crow (<i>Corvus brachyrhynchos</i>) population, appeared to drive the population decline. Empirical data and population simulations indicated that replacement nests contributed little to λ, while simulations revealed that, given site-specific vital rates, the decline would have been even greater without immigration (λ = 0.812) than the observed (λ = 0.914). Long distance dispersal may thus be critical for persistence of kingbirds in the naturally highly fragmented habitat that it occupies in the Great Basin Desert.</p>
Data from: Evolution of iris colour in relation to cavity nesting and parental care in passerine birds
Strong selection pressures are known to act on animal coloration. Although many animals vary in eye colour, virtually no research has investigated the functional significance of these colour traits. Passeriformes have a range of iris colours, making them an ideal system to investigate how and why iris colour has evolved. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we tested the hypothesis that conspicuous iris colour in passerine birds evolved in response to (a) coordination of offspring care and (b) cavity nesting, two traits thought to be involved in intra-specific gaze sensitivity. We found that iris colour and cooperative offspring care by two or more individuals evolved independently, suggesting that bright eyes are not important for coordinating parental care through eye gaze. Furthermore, we found that evolution between iris colour and nesting behaviour did occur in a dependent manner, but contrary to predictions, transitions to coloured eyes were not more frequent in cavity nesters than non-cavity nesters. Instead, our results indicate that selection away from having bright eyes was much stronger in non-cavity nesters than cavity nesters, perhaps because conspicuous eye coloration in species not concealed within a cavity would be more visible to predators.
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