Consequences of experimental addition of fresh, aromatic plants into nests of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) on the physiological condition of nestlings

Glądalski, Michał; Bańbura, Mirosława; Kaliński, Adam; Markowski, Marcin; Skwarska, Joanna; Wawrzyniak, Jarosław; Zieliński, Piotr; Bańbura, Jerzy

doi:10.1007/s00265-020-2812-7

Cited by 7 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…There is an increasing number of experimental evidence that morphological and physiological condition of tit nestlings gains when this aromatic plant material is present in the nest (Mennerat et al 2009a(Mennerat et al , 2009bGlądalski et al 2020a;Pires et al 2020). It was also shown that Blue Tits are very choosy when collecting those aromatic plants (Petit et al 2002).…”

Section: Blue Titmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…protects against excessive moisture and low temperatures); it may contribute to protection from predators and fix the position of eggs during incubation (Collias & Collias 1984;Deeming 2011;Deeming et al 2012;Lambrechts et al 2016aLambrechts et al , 2016bAkresh et al 2017;Deeming & Campion 2018). In some passerine species, like tits, some nest materials may also serve as parasite repellents and/or antimicrobial agent (Petit et al 2002;Pires et al 2012;Dubiec, Góźdź & Mazgajski 2013;Zabłotni et al 2020;Glądalski et al 2020a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some authors also distinguish an outer, decorative/functional layer in tit nests (e.g. large bird feathers brought by a male; delicate, movable lining-like cover for eggs or fresh, aromatic plants; Sanz & García-Navas 2011;Reynolds et al 2019;Pires et al 2020;Glądalski et al 2020a). Different studies show that nest composition in Great Tits Parus major and Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus is affected by a set of factors, including amounts of rainfall, spring temperatures, latitude, parents and territory quality, availability of construction materials or risk of predation (Mainwaring et al 2012(Mainwaring et al , 2014Heenan 2013;Kaliński et al 2014;Reynolds et al 2016;Biddle et al 2018;Deeming et al 2019;Alambiaga et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differences in use of bryophyte species in tit nests between two contrasting habitats: an urban park and a forest

Glądalski

Wolski

Bańbura

et al. 2021

The European Zoological Journal

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A considerable number of avian species tend to use bryophytes as nest construction material, but the selectivity of birds in their bryophyte use in nest construction in relation to the availability of particular mosses in individual territories remains largely unexplored. We studied the bryophyte composition of nests in two passerine species: the Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus and the Great Tit Parus major in two floristically and structurally contrasting study areas (a mature deciduous forest and an urban parkland). We also studied territories within a radius of 10 m from each occupied nest box, listing all bryophyte species and checking to what extent the moss composition of the nest reflected what was available in the surrounding of the nest box. Both tit species appeared to be selective. The tits used a total of 31 bryophyte species in their nests (27 found in Blue Tits and 19 in Great Tits), whereas 25 additional bryophyte species were found around (10 m radius) the studied nests, but not in the nests. The number of bryophyte species found in individual nests varied in the urban parkland between 1 and 6 and in the forest between 1 and 11. The average number of bryophytes in the nest ranged from 2.31 in Great Tit from the urban parkland to 3.52 in Blue Tit in the urban parkland. Only a few species were used in a higher proportion than 5% of the volume within a single nest and, considering only these most abundant bryophyte species, the mean number ranged from 1.28 in Great Tits in the forest to 1.57 in Blue Tits in the urban parkland. Our study also showed that, in general, the bryophyte species composition of the nests seems to be affected by the site (the urban park vs the forest) rather than the parid species (Blue Tit vs Great Tit).

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Section: Blue Titmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differences in use of bryophyte species in tit nests between two contrasting habitats: an urban park and a forest

Glądalski

Wolski

Bańbura

et al. 2021

The European Zoological Journal

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“…More recent studies have looked into whether fresh, aromatic plants in nests influences the physiological conditions of nestlings. Glądalski et al, (2020) experimentally added fresh, aromatic plant fragments into a random sample of Blue Tit nests in Poland. It was found that in the supplemented nests, nestlings had increased levels of haemoglobin when compared to control nests.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may provide evidence that fresh aromatic plants added by adults improve nestling body conditions and their overall fitness. Glądalski et al, (2020) concluded that more research on properly sensitive physiological indicators is needed to confirm if this is the case. Leaves, when entered as covariates were, found to be significantly influencing and negatively correlating w ith abundance of both ectoparasites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-based restorative justice: Challenging ‘cultures of violence’ in local communities

Jenks¹

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The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the efforts of community-based restorative justice agencies in responding to ‘cultures of violence’ in local communities in Northern Ireland. The first research objective is to explore the rationale behind the emergence of community-based restorative justice in Northern Ireland. The second research objective is to capture the perspectives of community restorative justice practitioners on the methods used to challenge ‘cultures of violence’. The third research objective is to identify and interpret principles of good practice in the use of community-based restorative justice in Northern Ireland with respect to tackling ‘cultures of violence’ and promoting key restorative principles. The key literature in the thesis explores the application of theory, defining restorative justice, previous and other context research and the emergence of ‘cultures of violence’ and community-based restorative justice within the Northern Ireland Context. This thesis uses a mixed methods research design that uses both semi-structured interviews and document based research to collect data. It uses both an inductive and deductive approach to thematic analysis to analyse the data. It focuses on five themes. The key findings from this project were that community based-restorative justice can be used to challenge ‘cultures of violence’ but won’t necessarily eradicate the problem. Restorative justice practices should be placed at a community level especially in working class areas where cultures of violence are seen to thrive, and should be made available to young males who are most susceptible to the dangers associated with cultures of violence such as rioting, anti-social behaviour and punishment violence. However, these practices need to continue to be legitimately managed through government accreditation schemes and partnership working with the police to ensure the sustainability of the projects.

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Is there a role for aromatic plants in blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nests? Results from a correlational and an experimental study

Garrido-Bautista,

Ramos,

Arce

et al. 2023

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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The utility of fresh green material in avian nests is still not fully understood. Potential explanations include the effects of plants’ volatile compounds on parasite reduction (nest protection hypothesis) or direct beneficial effects on nestling condition (drug hypothesis). We used correlative data collected during 2020 and 2021 in a Mediterranean population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) as well as experimental data (aromatic nest content manipulation) to assess the effects of aromatic plant use on nestling physiological condition and survival, nest-dwelling ectoparasitic pressure and its relationship with breeding parameters. We found that aromatic plants were disproportionally used in relation to their abundance in the environment and that their use was positively related to egg mass (but only in 2020). Blowflies and facultative parasitic mites were more frequent in nests with aromatics compared to nests without aromatics, but obligatory parasitic mites were less abundant in nests with aromatics. However, no effects of aromatic plants were observed on nestling haemoglobin levels nor erythrocyte sedimentation rate or other physiological health metrics, but the heterophil to lymphocyte ratio was higher in nests with the highest quantity of aromatics. The artificial addition of mint reduced the flea abundance, but 7-day old nestlings showed significantly lower colour saturation and brightness in the mouth flange. Nestling survival to fledging was not related to aromatic plant use. Therefore, our results partially support a beneficial effect of aromatic plants in blue tit nests because some ectoparasite groups were reduced. Immediate effects on nestling physiology or survival could not be established. Significance statement Some avian species place fresh aromatic plant material in their nests, and several non-mutually exclusive hypotheses have been proposed to explain its potential functions. In this study, we use both correlational and experimental data from a blue tit population to test two hypotheses, namely the ‘nest protection hypothesis’ and the ‘drug hypothesis’. The first one proposes that aromatic plants have direct repellent effects against ectoparasites, while the latter poses that these plant components benefit nestling condition through the stimulation of some components of the immune system. Our results suggest that some ectoparasites, such as fleas and obligatory parasitic mites, were less abundant in nests where aromatic plants were artificially or naturally added, respectively, but no relationships were detected with nestling physiology or survival, which could be partially explained by our small sample size. Our study partially supports a beneficial effect of aromatic plants in avian nests.

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Consequences of experimental addition of fresh, aromatic plants into nests of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) on the physiological condition of nestlings

Cited by 7 publications

References 54 publications

Differences in use of bryophyte species in tit nests between two contrasting habitats: an urban park and a forest

Differences in use of bryophyte species in tit nests between two contrasting habitats: an urban park and a forest

Community-based restorative justice: Challenging ‘cultures of violence’ in local communities

Is there a role for aromatic plants in blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nests? Results from a correlational and an experimental study

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