Climate change is expected to affect many biological systems, including the timing of seasonal events such as breeding in birds. In this study, I investigated how brood size and timing of ...reproduction (measured as median date for ringing of broods) changed for three tit species in Sweden 1962–2019 using data reported to the Swedish Bird Ringing Centre. The brood size for the Coal Tit Periparus ater increased from 7.74 between 1962–2001 to 7.98 young between 2002–2019, while no change was detected for Crested Tit Lophophanes cristatus or Willow Tit Poecile montanus. The largest biological effects were seen for timing of reproduction, with Coal Tits and the Crested Tits initiating breeding about seven days earlier at the end of the study period compared to the 1960s. The Willow Tit data also suggested earlier breeding, but only by about two days across the study period.
Mixed-species broods appear to be an uncommon phenomenon in altricial birds. In secondary hole-nesting birds, such as tits (Paridae), mixed-species clutches occur as a consequence of facultative ...interspecific brood parasitism or as a byproduct of nest takeover. Here, we report a case of a mixed-species brood composed of one Coal Tit Periparus ater and three Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus nestlings that was successfully raised by a Blue Tit pair. The foreign Coal Tit nestling received more food than its Blue Tit nestmates, possibly resulting in a larger tarsus length compared to other Coal Tit nestlings from a regular single-species brood in the same forest.
Temperatures in mountain areas are increasing at a higher rate than the Northern Hemisphere land average, but how fauna may respond, in particular in terms of phenology, remains poorly understood. ...The aim of this study was to assess how elevation could modify the relationships between climate variability (air temperature and snow melt‐out date), the timing of plant phenology and egg‐laying date of the coal tit (Periparus ater). We collected 9 years (2011–2019) of data on egg‐laying date, spring air temperature, snow melt‐out date, and larch budburst date at two elevations (~1,300 m and ~1,900 m asl) on a slope located in the Mont‐Blanc Massif in the French Alps. We found that at low elevation, larch budburst date had a direct influence on egg‐laying date, while at high‐altitude snow melt‐out date was the limiting factor. At both elevations, air temperature had a similar effect on egg‐laying date, but was a poorer predictor than larch budburst or snowmelt date. Our results shed light on proximate drivers of breeding phenology responses to interannual climate variability in mountain areas and suggest that factors directly influencing species phenology vary at different elevations. Predicting the future responses of species in a climate change context will require testing the transferability of models and accounting for nonstationary relationships between environmental predictors and the timing of phenological events.
Our study focuses on how the environmental predictors (air temperature, snow melt‐out date, and plant phenology) of breeding phenology (egg‐laying date) differ with elevation in a common woodland bird species, the coal tit.
Birds often have a peak of singing activity at dawn, and the timing of dawn song is species-specific. However, the start of singing at dawn may also depend on environmental factors. We investigated ...the effects of different environmental variables on the start of dawn singing in six common songbird species in the woodlands of the Swiss National Park. Moon phase, aspect, temperature and road noise had the most consistent effects across species: dawn singing started earlier after brighter and warmer nights, on more east-exposed slopes, and in areas with more road noise. On average, birds started to sing 2.8 min earlier in areas with high road noise level compared to areas without road noise, and 4.7 min earlier in east-exposed slopes compared to west-exposed slopes. Further, birds started to sing on average 5.0 min earlier after full moon compared to new moon nights, 1.2 min earlier after warmer compared to colder nights, and 2.5 min earlier at 2200 m than at 1500 m a.s.l. The effects of date were more species-specific: Alpine Tits started to sing on average 4.9 min later at the end compared to the beginning of the study period, whilst Song Thrushes started to sing 9.0 min earlier. Our findings are in line with the results of previous studies on the effects of road noise, nocturnal light, and partly on temperature. Our study shows that variation in environmental variables may influence the start of dawn singing in different ways, and that anthropogenic factors like road noise can affect bird behaviour even in a highly protected area.
1. We present a multivariate model of the post-fledging survival of juvenile great and coal tits (Parus major L., P ater L.) in relation to chick body condition and timing of breeding. ...Radio-telemetry and colour marks were used to track tit families during 20 days from fledging, that is, the period of post-fledging dependence. Data on 342 chicks of 68 broods were obtained. 2. Forty-seven per cent of juveniles died during the observation period, predation being the main cause of mortality. In the first 4 days after fledging the mortality rate was 5-10% per day. 3. Survival of juveniles was positively correlated with fledging mass. Furthermore, survival strongly decreased during the season. In the second half of June, mortality was five times the rate of mid-May. The differential survival resulted in selection for both early fledging and high fledging mass. Juvenile condition was less important for survival in birds that had fledged early in the season. Their survival rates exceeded 70% in all weight classes, whereas in late broods only the heaviest individuals survived equally well. The survival of birds fledging both late and in poor condition was below 20%. Thus, selection for high fledging mass was much stronger in the late season than in early broods. 4. We conclude that the impact of predation after leaving the nest results in selection for early breeding and, particularly in the late season, for high fledging mass. This may explain why the earliest broods have been found to produce most recruits into the breeding population even if they did not profit from maximum food availability during the nestling period. On the other hand, energetic limitations may constrain the begin of egg laying in adult birds. Thus, counteracting evolutionary responses to the seasonal development of food availability (the caterpillar peak) and to the risk of post-fledging mortality (the peak in post-fledging mortality) may have focused the period of optimal reproduction to a narrow time-window.
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The structure of the diet of passerine bird nestlings was analyzed in order to identify possible ways to reduce food competition between these species during the breeding period. We assumed that ...analysis of the effects of obtaining diets of heterospecific birds by nestlings in nature can help better understand their species-specific adaptations to living conditions, and we considered the case of joint nesting of the coal tit (
Periparus ater
(L. 1758)) (CT) and pied flycatcher (
Ficedula hypoleuca
(Pallas 1764)) (PF) in Moscow oblast as a key link. A PF male attracted a female to an artificial nest box, which has been already occupied by a CT pair. The females of both species incubated a mixed clutch sitting side by side. The CT nestlings hatched earlier than the PF nestlings, and the parents of both species began to feed them. The CT nestlings started to die one by one on the 4th day of joint feeding, and the last nestling died on the 11th day. This case encouraged us to compare the diets of nestlings from 22 broods of CTs and PFs in the same region. To compare the ratios of nestlings, we collected the portions of food that were delivered to nestlings by their parents and analyzed video recordings from the nests. The diet of PF nestlings was significantly more diverse than in CT nestlings (Berger–Parker reverse indices (1/d) were 3.01 and 2.11, respectively). Caterpillars and spiders (objects with a high content of carotenoids and taurine important for the development of nestlings) dominated in the CT diet. In PF feed, these objects occupied a much smaller portion. In addition to the above, compared with coal tits, PFs brought the following to nestlings: a significant number of objects with rough, highly chitinized covers (Coleoptera, Homoptera, etc.); objects with a sharp taste, such as true bugs (Heteroptera), ladybirds (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae), and millipedes (Diplopoda, Julidae); insects containing cantharidin toxin (soldier beetles, Coleoptera, Cantharidae). The nestlings developed successfully in PF nests to which parents brought such feed objects. The dimensional ranges of objects in the CT and PF diets completely overlapped. According to our opinion, the rougher, highly chitinized food and some poisonous insects (Cantharidae) in the PF diet make fundamentally important differences in the nutrition of PFs and CTs. Most likely, PFs have resistance to cantharidin and some other toxins that are contained in insects and therefore have a wider trophic niche.
Intraspecific variation of passerine song may influence mate choice and consequently provides a potential mechanism for premating reproductive isolation in birds. Notable geographic variation of ...songs is particularly common in widespread bird species, such as the coal tit Periparus ater (Aves, Passeriformes, Paridae) having a large trans-Palearctic distribution range including allopatric populations. In this study, measurement and analysis of 16 song parameters from different Western Palearctic populations showed a relatively uniform song in all continental European and the island populations of Corsica and Sardinia. Song variation among and within these populations seems so variable that there is a broad geographical overlap of acoustic parameters between populations. However, songs from northwest African and Cypriot populations had lowest minimum frequencies and were thus significantly different from continental European, Corsican and Sardinian populations. To test for intraspecific species recognition and potential acoustic isolation of different Palearctic populations, we carried out field playback experiments on Central European coal tit males with songs from populations of the Eurasian (Germany, Latvia, Russian Far East, Japan) and the Mediterranean region (northwest Africa, Cyprus, Corsica, Sardinia). Eurasian song types elicited similar strong territorial reactions in Central European coal tits as local control songs. In contrast, none of the Mediterranean songs evoked any notable reaction. Thus, there is geographic variation in coal tit song across continents that coincides with reduced species recognition between Central European and Mediterranean populations.
Hole-nesting passerines constitute a ‘model’ group for which importance of synchronisation between food availability — mainly caterpillars — and appearance of nestlings is commonly postulated. Is ...there an adequate set of data allowing one to prove this relationship? The recent climate change could lead to a mis-match between food peaks and nestlings' appearance. Do the data exist that show that the birds have switched to other food sources? We analyse data on nestling food of eleven European hole-nesting passerines (158 papers). The diet of some species is hardly known (< 100 broods observed), there are large gaps in geographical coverage (70% of data from five countries — Germany, Russia, Slovakia/Czech Republic, Poland and Great Britain) and most of studies do not meet the minimum requirement of representativeness (three seasons, ≥ 20 broods/season), which limits their external validity. The majority of investigations were done decades ago, in different conditions and most probably they cannot be treated as representative for the current situation. There is no study in which the past (before warming) and current nestling diet in the same local population have been compared, so, direct empirical support for the ‘mismatch’ idea is rather weak. Knowledge of nestling diet and its variation is far from adequate and new, properly designed, studies are needed.
In order to understand evolution in life history strategies, it is useful to compare breeding parameters among closely related species and/or different habitats within the same species. The Paridae ...family, known as tits and chickadees, are suitable for such studies since they are distributed worldwide and use a variety of habitats. However, previous studies are mostly limited to populations in Europe and North America. Few studies have compared breeding biology in sympatric Paridae species. In this study, we investigated the breeding biology of Japanese Tits (Parus minor), Coal Tits (Periparus ater), Marsh Tits (Poecile palustris), and Varied Tits (Sittiparus varius) in a cool temperate forest of northern Japan. A previous study has shown that Japanese Tits have higher annual production (i.e., clutch size, rate of multiple brooding) compared to a European sister species, the Great Tit (Parus major), possibly because of greater diversity and abundance of prey items. Therefore, we predicted that annual breeding productivity should also be high in the other sympatric species. Contrary to the expectation, annual productivities were not high for the other species with few or no second clutches, indicating the lack of a general rule of high food availability in this region. Some ecological or physiological constraints may exist for other species, such as trade-offs involving survival versus fecundity or resident versus migrant. This study provides basic but important information on breeding biology of Paridae in understudied Asian populations.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The coal tit Periparus ater populations were surveyed along 981 2-km transects situated in 872 quadrats (4.5 km×5 km), in central and southeastern Hokkaido from late April to early July, 1976-2012. ...Coal tits occurred in 411 quadrats (47%) and 453 transects (46%). The occurrence frequencies were 18% in Siberian dwarf pine forests, 100% in ever-green coniferous forests, 85% in mixed forests, 68% in deciduous broad-leaved forests, 67% in larch plantations, 41% in agricultural land with woods, 14% in agricultural land and 14% in residential areas. The occurrence frequencies at less than 200 m above sea level (asl), 201-400 m asl, 601-800 m asl, 601-800 m asl and 801 m asl or above were 36, 60, 73, 92 and 60%, respectively. The number of birds (mean±SD) counted per 2-km transect was 0.2±0.4 in Siberian dwarf pine forests, 4.1±2.1 in ever-green coniferous forests, 2.4±2.5 in mixed forests, 1.0±1.3 in deciduous broad-leaved forests, 0.9±1.5 in larch plantations, 0.3±0.8 in agricultural lands with woods, 0.02±0.2 in agricultural lands and 0.1±0.3 in residential areas.
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