scholarly journals Impacts of ambient temperature and clutch size on incubation behaviour onset in a female‐only incubator songbird

Ibis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Diez‐Méndez ◽  
Juan José Sanz ◽  
Emilio Barba
Keyword(s):  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Incubation Behaviour

scholarly journals Deconstructing incubation behaviour in response to ambient temperature over different timescales

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Diez‐Méndez ◽  
Caren B. Cooper ◽  
Juan José Sanz ◽  
José Verdejo ◽  
Emilio Barba
Keyword(s):  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Incubation Behaviour

scholarly journals Family Planning in the Kestrel (Falco Tinnunculus): the Proximate Control of Covariation of Laying Date and Clutch Size

Behaviour ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 114 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 117-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Daan ◽  
Michael Hall ◽  
Theo Meijer
Keyword(s):  
Clutch Size ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Significant Advance ◽  
Laying Date ◽  
Plasma Prolactin ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Feeding Experiments ◽  
Incubation Behaviour ◽  
Time Of Year ◽  
Seasonal Decline

AbstractThe time in spring when a male kestrel rapidly increases his daily hunting time and his hunting yield, and thereby the amount of food delivered to the female, determines the date when she lays the first egg. Food experiments in free-living and captive kestrels gave a significant advance in laying date. Clutch size, which decreases with progressive laying date, did not change independent of date in response to food manipulation. These effects are in agreement with most other feeding experiments. Photoperiod experiments in kestrels advanced the reproductive cycle in constant long days, and a similar seasonal decline in clutch size was found. It seems that there is an internally preprogrammed decrease in clutch size within an annual "reproductive window". A proximate control model for the seasonal decline of clutch size is proposed, modified from an earlier model by HAFTORN (1985). This incorporates an increasing tendency to incubate the first eggs with progression of the season, an egg contact-incubation positive feedback loop, and the resorption of further follicles in the ovary when the laying female incubates 50% of the time. This follicle resorption fixes the clutch size ca. four days before the last egg is laid. the 50% incubation level is reached earlier in late females and consequently resorption starts earlier and the resulting clutch is smaller than in early females. Experiments in kestrels with removal and addition of eggs, in combination with measurements of incubation behaviour are discussed in relation to the model. Plasma prolactin data of female kestrels show that this hormone is a serious candidate for a physiological component relaying time of year in our model for clutch size regulation.

scholarly journals The allocation between egg size and clutch size depends on local nest survival rate in a mean of bet-hedging in a shorebird

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zitan Song ◽  
Xin Lin ◽  
Pinjia Que ◽  
Naerhulan Halimubieke ◽  
Qin Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survival Rate ◽  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Nest Survival ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
High Survival ◽  
Allocation Of Resources ◽  
Bet Hedging

Abstract Background The allocation of resources between offspring size and number is a central question of life-history theory. Although several studies have tested the existence of this trade-off, few studies have investigated how environmental variation influences the allocation of resources to offspring size and offspring number. Additionally, the relationship between population dynamics and the offspring size and number allocation is far less understood. Methods We investigate whether resource allocation between egg size and clutch size is influenced by the ambient temperature and whether it may be related to apparent nest survival rate. We measured 1548 eggs from 541 nests of two closely related shorebird species, the Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) and the White-faced Plover (C. dealbatus) in China, in four populations that exhibit contrasting ambient environments. We weighed females, monitored nest survival, and calculated the variance of ambient temperature. Results Although we found that egg size and clutch size were all different between the four breeding populations, the reproductive investment (i.e. total clutch volume) was similar between populations. We also found that populations with a high survival rate had relatively larger eggs and a smaller clutch than populations with a low nest survival rate. The latter result is in line with a conservative/diversified bet-hedging strategy. Conclusions Our findings suggest that plovers may increasing fitness by investing fewer, larger or many, small according local nest survival rate to make a similar investment in reproduction, and thereby may have an impact on population demography.

scholarly journals Evolution of parental incubation behaviour in dinosaurs cannot be inferred from clutch mass in birds

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 20130036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey F. Birchard ◽  
Marcello Ruta ◽  
D. Charles Deeming
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Theropod Dinosaurs ◽  
Incubation Behaviour ◽  
Allometric Analysis ◽  
Clutch Mass

A recent study proposed that incubation behaviour (i.e. type of parental care) in theropod dinosaurs can be inferred from an allometric analysis of clutch volume in extant birds. However, the study in question failed to account for factors known to affect egg and clutch size in living bird species. A new scaling analysis of avian clutch mass demonstrates that type of parental care cannot be distinguished by conventional allometry because of the confounding effects of phylogeny and hatchling maturity. Precociality of young but not paternal care in the theropod ancestors of birds is consistent with the available data.

scholarly journals Nestling Development of Jackdaws Corvus monedula in Agricultural Landscape

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-23
Author(s):  
Piotr Kamiński ◽  
Leszek Jerzak ◽  
Joerg Boehner
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ne Poland ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Nestling Development

Abstract A Jackdaw colony of over 200 nests, built in cavities of old willow trees along 3 km of a small road running through meadows next to the river Narew in an agricultural landscape (15 km southwest of Białystok, NE Poland), was studied to determine nest locations and construction, onset of egg laying, incubation period, egg parameters, clutch size and hatching success, nestling growth and mortality, breeding success as well as predation. The onset of laying and clutch size were correlated with ambient temperature and precipitation (p < 0.001). Hatching success was also determined by these environmental factors as well as by the degree of predation (p < 0,001). There was a statistically significant correlation between clutch size and hatching success (p < 0.001) as well as fledging success (p < 0.001). Nestlings hatching first or second grew faster, reached a higher body weight, and had a lower mortality rate than those hatching last or second to last. There was also a statistically significant correlation between nestling survival and clutch size as well as ambient temperature (p < 0.001 each). Nestling mortality caused by predators, i. e. mainly by martens Martes foina and domestic cats Felis domestica, was high in periods of intensive burning of the meadows surrounding the Jackdaw colony. However, mortality rate of the youngest nestlings was almost 100% lower in periods of high predation compared to times of low predatory activity. Several groups of insects constituted a high amount of nestling food, e. g. 60% of all Orthoptera occurring in the meadows next to the breeding colony. In that area the total dry body mass of phytophagous invertebrates amounted to 1.4-2.0 g per m2, of which 0.3 g were fed to the nestlings. The percentage of zoophagous invertebrates delivered to the offspring was high with about 30-35%. From an economical point of view, Jackdaws during the breeding season are advantageous in an agricultural landscape because they reduce pest insects significantly while consuming only an insignificant amount of all seeds applied.

scholarly journals Nesting Ecology of West African Dwarf Crocodiles in a Heavily Disturbed Landscape in Chirehin, Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Amoah ◽  
Emmanuel Danquah ◽  
James Perran Ross
Keyword(s):  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Incubation Temperature ◽  
West African ◽  
Nesting Success ◽  
Nest Temperature ◽  
Nesting Ecology ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
West African Dwarf ◽  
Monitor Lizard

West African dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemus sp. nov. cf. tetraspis) are among the most threatened crocodilians in the world due to unregulated hunting and habitat loss-related population decline. Despite this, many questions about their basic ecology remain unanswered and this inadequate data hampers effective dwarf crocodile management. We describe incubation temperature, nesting success, hatching rate, and clutch size of West African dwarf crocodiles. We monitored 18 nests from the 2017 and 2018 nesting seasons in the Chirehin Community Land—a highly disturbed agricultural matrix in the climatic transition zone of Ghana. We used Hobo tidbit® data loggers to monitor egg chamber temperature and the effect of ambient temperature on nest temperature. The daily mean incubation temperature recorded during the study was 30.7°C (±SD = 0.8°C, n = 240, range = 28–33°C) and it is congruent with the reported value for the species. The findings from this study suggest a weak positive to no correlation between dwarf crocodile incubation temperature and ambient temperature indicating nest temperature is almost independent of ambient temperature. We found a mean clutch size of 8 eggs per nest (SD = ±2; range = 5–13; n = 17) supporting previous reports that this genus has a low clutch size. The mean nesting success and hatching success across the two seasons were 77.8% and 75.3% (SD = ±41.9, n = 18), respectively. Three nests were destroyed by flood and one by an unknown predator suspected to be a West African Nile monitor lizard. Generally, dwarf crocodiles selected forest patches within the highly disturbed landscape for nesting indicating the need to protect the remaining forest patches. Efforts should be made to repeat the study across this species’ range for an improved understanding of its nesting ecology.

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