Article
Behavioral Sciences
Sydney F. Hope, William A. Hopkins, Frederic Angelier
Summary: With 68% of the world's population expected to live in cities by 2050, it is crucial to understand how animals respond to urbanization. This study examines the effects of urbanization on parental care and incubation behavior in great tits. The results show that urban females spent more time incubating, had shorter off-bouts, and ended their last daily off-bouts at a later hour compared to forest females. However, there were no significant differences in egg temperatures or fitness-related offspring variables between urban and forest populations.
Article
Ecology
Miklos Laczi, Gabor Herczeg, Gyula Szabo, Helga Gyarmathy, Fanni Sarkadi, Janos Torok, Gergely Hegyi
Summary: This study investigated sexual dichromatism in great tits. The results showed marked differences between the breast section of males and the throat and belly sections, with the female's breast appearing less bright. This sexual dichromatism is not easily detected by the human eye. Additionally, a hidden ultraviolet patch was discovered in the male's breast, which may serve as a sexual ornament or signal amplifier.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biology
Marcel M. Lambrechts, Samuel P. Caro
Summary: Birds have developed adaptive responses to changes in ambient temperature, and the thickness of the nest and the surrounding wall play a role in regulating egg cooling, ensuring successful incubation.
JOURNAL OF THERMAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Katarzyna Malinowska, Klaudia Szala, Pawel Podkowa, Adrian Surmacki
Summary: This study experimentally tested the relationship between light conditions at the nesting site and pigmentation in the eggshell. The results showed no significant difference in eggshell pigmentation between different light conditions. The researchers speculated that other ecological factors might have influenced the observed variability in eggshell pigmentation.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Marcel E. Visser, Melanie Lindner, Phillip Gienapp, Matthew C. Long, Stephanie Jenouvrier
Summary: Climate change has caused phenological shifts in different species and trophic levels, with a recent slowdown in the rate of advance due to a decrease in late spring temperatures. It is projected that prey phenology will advance faster than predator phenology in the coming decades, intensifying phenological mismatches.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Natalie E. van Dis, Kamiel Spoelstra, Marcel E. Visser, Davide M. Dominoni
Summary: Artificial light at night (ALAN) can impact bird incubation behavior, leading to lower nest temperatures, fewer but longer off-bouts, and potentially severe consequences for embryo development. However, no clear effects on hatchling number or weight were found in this study. The subtle alterations in natural behaviors due to ALAN may not have immediate fitness consequences, but could potentially accumulate and negatively affect parent condition, survival, and offspring recruitment in the long term, especially in urban environments with high levels of environmental pollutants.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biology
Cesare Pacioni, Marina Sentis, Catherine Hambly, John R. Speakman, Anvar Kerimov, Andrey Bushuev, Luc Lens, Diederik Strubbe
Summary: Understanding how birds allocate energy to cope with changing environmental conditions and physiological states is crucial. This study on great tits found that their energy requirements increase during the breeding season compared to winter, but overall they maintain a relatively stable energy budget.
JOURNAL OF THERMAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Gabrielle L. Davidson, Shane E. Somers, Niamh Wiley, Crystal N. Johnson, Michael S. Reichert, R. Paul Ross, Catherine Stanton, John L. Quinn
Summary: Our study found a time-lagged negative relationship between nestling weight and microbial diversity during development, indicating relative weight gain over time. There was no direct link detected between gut microbiota and weight or survival rate of nestlings. Indicator species analysis showed high specificity values and low fidelity values, suggesting that indicator taxa were primarily detected within either the survived or not survived groups.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Evy Goossens, Roschong Boonyarittichaikij, Daan Dekeukeleire, Lionel Hertzog, Sarah Van Praet, Frank Pasmans, Dries Bonte, Kris Verheyen, Luc Lens, An Martel, Elin Verbrugghe
Summary: This study investigates the impact of forest structure on the gut microbiome of wild great tit nestlings. The results show an interaction effect of edge density with tree species richness or composition on the microbial richness and community structure. There is no significant short-term impact of the overall fecal microbiome on host characteristics, but specific bacterial genera have adverse effects on fledging success.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jianping Liu, Laikun Ma, Xiwen Yang, Bin Li, Xingyu Wang, Wei Liang
Summary: It is common for incubating female ground- or cavity-nesting birds to accidentally roll their own eggs out of the nest cup. A study found that green-backed tits and Japanese tits in China have a strong egg recognition ability and are able to reject nonmimetic eggs in the nest.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Melissa L. Grunst, Andrea S. Grunst, Rianne Pinxten, Marcel Eens
Summary: Research has shown that anthropogenic noise can have strong effects on sleep in free-living animals, reducing sleep duration and causing sleep fragmentation. Understanding the differences in effects of different noise regimes and individual sensitivities to noise is important for evaluating the impact of noise exposure.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biology
Charlotte E. E. Regan, Kristina B. B. Beck, Keith McMahon, Sam Crofts, Josh A. A. Firth, Ben C. C. Sheldon
Summary: There is growing evidence that individuals actively assess the match between their phenotype and their environment when making habitat choice decisions. However, little is known about how the social environment may interact with social phenotype in determining habitat choice. This study used wild great and blue tits to investigate how birds integrate their social phenotype and social environment when choosing where and how to feed. The results showed that both social environment and social phenotype predicted feeder usage, and feeding behavior varied depending on social phenotype.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ornithology
Xudong Li, Wenyu Xu, Jiangping Yu, Wutong Zhang, Haitao Wang
Summary: The reproductive behaviors of birds are controlled by the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis, and hormone levels are closely related to the breeding sub-stages. This study investigated the changes in LH and PRL concentrations in different reproductive stages of the facultative double-brooded Great Tit. Results showed sex-based differences in LH and PRL levels at different stages of reproduction, and the concentrations of LH and PRL varied between different reproductive periods for both males and females.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marcin Markowski, Piotr Minias, Miroslawa Banbura, Michal Gladalski, Adam Kalinski, Joanna Skwarska, Jaroslaw Wawrzyniak, Piotr Zielinski, Jerzy Banbura
Summary: Human-induced landscape conversions can affect dispersal patterns and genetic structure of bird populations. Urbanization can enhance genetic differentiation, but different bird species may respond differently to urbanization-related changes.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Erno Vincze, Veronika Bokony, Laszlo Zsolt Garamszegi, Gabor Seress, Ivett Pipoly, Csenge Sinkovics, Krisztina Sandor, Andras Liker
Summary: Urban female great tits show bolder behavior by staying on the nest more frequently and producing alarm calls more often than those in forest habitats. However, consistency and plasticity of risk-taking behavior do not differ between urban and forest populations across various temporal scales.