Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lei Lv, Martijn van de Pol, Helen L. Osmond, Yang Liu, Andrew Cockburn, Loeske E. B. Kruuk
Summary: Climate change can affect animal population dynamics by influencing reproduction and mortality. This study found that adult mortality in Australian superb fairy-wrens increased during the nonbreeding season and was associated with lower minimum winter temperatures, higher maximum winter temperatures, and higher summer heat wave intensity. Increases in summer heat waves and winter maximum temperatures accounted for 62.6% of the overall increase in mortality observed over a 27-year period. These findings suggest that climate warming in both summer and winter can have detrimental effects on survival and potentially significant population consequences.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paul Dufour, Christophe de Franceschi, Paul Doniol-Valcroze, Frederic Jiguet, Maya Gueguen, Julien Renaud, Sebastien Lavergne, Pierre-Andre Crochet
Summary: The study reveals that the Richard's Pipits in southwestern Europe are true migrants originating from the western edge of their known breeding range, making a remarkable 6,000 km journey from Central Asia across Eurasia. Climatic niche modeling using citizen-science bird data suggests an increase in winter niche suitability in southwestern Europe, potentially leading to increased winter survival and successful return journey of autumn vagrants. This illustrates the underestimated role of vagrancy in the emergence of new migratory routes and adaptation to global change in migratory birds, marking one of the few documented contemporary changes in migration route and the first longitudinal shift in a long-distance migratory bird.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Robert Patchett, Alexander N. G. Kirschel, Joanna Robins King, Patrick Styles, Will Cresswell
Summary: Based on the study of Cyprus wheatears, we found that age has an impact on migratory behavior, with early adaptation occurring during the first annual cycle. Juveniles depart and arrive later than adults, but there are no significant differences in the duration of migration and route directness. Additionally, the timing of migration and non-breeding locations are repeatable for adults but not for juveniles.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marina Sentis, Cesare Pacioni, Annelies De Cuyper, Geert P. J. Janssens, Luc Lens, Diederik Strubbe
Summary: Biophysical models accurately predict energy use in common waxbill, outperforming traditional methods. This study improves parameterization of biophysical models and enables accurate predictions of invasion risk for small passerines.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tongping Su, Chao He, Aiwu Jiang, Zhidong Xu, Eben Goodale, Guangle Qiu
Summary: A study in a large-scale Hg mining district and a non-mining district in Guizhou, southwest China, found no evidence of decreased breeding in spite of elevated concentrations of Hg. Even with some adult birds having blood levels above those considered harmful, no population-level reproductive effects were detected.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Emily J. Francis, Pariya Pourmohammadi, Zachary L. Steel, Brandon M. Collins, Matthew D. Hurteau
Summary: The availability and heterogeneity of fuel influence the likelihood of high-severity fires, while connectivity has a smaller impact on potential fire transmission and area. Managing forests to reduce connectivity and fuel accumulation, and increase heterogeneity, can mitigate the risks of large high-severity fires.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Peter Mikula, Oldrich Tomasek, Dusan Romportl, Timothy K. Aikins, Jorge E. Avendano, Bukola D. A. Braimoh-Azaki, Adams Chaskda, Will Cresswell, Susan J. Cunningham, Svein Dale, Gabriela R. Favoretto, Kelvin S. Floyd, Hayley Glover, Tomas Grim, Dominic A. W. Henry, Tomas Holmern, Martin Hromada, Soladoye B. Iwajomo, Amanda Lilleyman, Flora J. Magige, Rowan O. Martin, Marina de A. Maximiano, Eric D. Nana, Emmanuel Ncube, Henry Ndaimani, Emma Nelson, Johann H. van Niekerk, Carina Pienaar, Augusto J. Piratelli, Penny Pistorius, Anna Radkovic, Chevonne Reynolds, Eivin Roskaft, Griffin K. Shanungu, Paulo R. Siqueira, Tawanda Tarakini, Nattaly Tejeiro-Mahecha, Michelle L. Thompson, Wanyoike Wamiti, Mark Wilson, Donovan R. C. Tye, Nicholas D. Tye, Aki Vehtari, Piotr Tryjanowski, Michael A. Weston, Daniel T. Blumstein, Tomas Albrecht
Summary: This study investigates the factors influencing avian tolerance towards humans in open tropical ecosystems. It finds that rural bird populations and those exposed to lower human disturbance have lower tolerance, while larger species with larger clutches and enhanced flight ability are also less tolerant. The study also shows that escape distances increase during the wet season and from longer starting distances.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lucie Schmiedova, Oldrich Tomasek, Hana Pinkasova, Tomas Albrecht, Jakub Kreisinger
Summary: The quality and quantity of food have significant effects on phenotypes, and diet can indirectly affect phenotype by altering gut microbiota. Most of our knowledge in this area is based on mammalian species, and little is known about these effects in other vertebrates.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
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
Guillermo Navalon, Alexander Bjarnason, Elizabeth Griffiths, Roger B. J. Benson
Summary: This study examines the morphological diversification in living birds and finds substantial variation in evolutionary modes among different avian subgroups and skeletal parts. It suggests that waterbirds have explored a large portion of their morphospace, emphasizing body proportions and bone shape related to locomotion, while landbirds have distinct body forms and emphasize local shape variation in the head and distal limb bones.
Article
Biology
Simon Tapper, Joseph J. Nocera, Gary Burness
Summary: This study investigated the repeatability of body temperature (T-b) in tree swallows under different ambient temperatures. It found that female T-b was less repeatable than male T-b, which may be related to differences in parental investment. Trimmed birds had lower T-b than control birds, but the repeatability of female T-b did not differ based on heat dissipation capacity.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Kristen Ruegg, Eric C. Anderson, Marius Somveille, Rachael A. Bay, Mary Whitfield, Eben H. Paxton, Thomas B. Smith
Summary: Global loss of biodiversity has increased the urgency of understanding species responses to rapid environmental change, with specialized species facing challenges; using a genome-wide genetic approach, migratory routes of different populations of the willow flycatcher have been successfully mapped, further quantifying the differences in climate tolerances within populations.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
H. L. Payne, G. F. Lynch, D. Aronov
Summary: The study shows that the neural circuit mechanisms in the hippocampus are similar between birds and mammals, but the resulting patterns of activity may vary quantitatively according to species-specific ethological needs.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Hannah Watson, Daniel Powell, Pablo Salmon, Arne Jacobs, Caroline Isaksson
Summary: Urbanization drives phenotypic changes with differences in DNA methylation patterns between urban and forest-dwelling birds, particularly in the liver. Differentially methylated genomic sites in the liver are associated with regulatory regions and expressed genes, while blood shows under-representation of regulatory regions and nonexpressed genes in differentially methylated sites.
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jian Ding, Shengnan Wang, Wenzhi Yang, Huijie Zhang, Fei Yu, Yingmei Zhang
Summary: The bioaccumulation of heavy metals in tree sparrows from polluted and unpolluted sites was investigated. The concentrations of heavy metals were significantly higher in birds from the polluted site. Adult birds had higher metal concentrations compared to nestlings and juveniles. Heavy metals were mainly accumulated in feathers, and correlations between metals in different organs and tissues varied with age.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2023)