Feather growth bars as a biomarker of habitat fragmentation in the Eurasian treecreeper

Tortorec, Eric Le; Helle, Samuli; Suorsa, Petri; Sirkiä, Päivi M.; Huhta, Esa; Nivala, Vesa; Hakkarainen, Harri

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.09.013

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…e ., at the base of the feather vane) using digital Vernier callipers (Powerfix Z11155). Growth bar widths were measured from digital photos taken with a Canon 7D camera in a dark room with shallow angle lighting [41]; we measured the width and position of all visible growth bars from the base of the vane to the feather tip [22] using ImageJ [40]. The width of a growth bar is the distance between the proximal edges of two adjacent dark bands.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Older birds have better feathers: A longitudinal study on the long-distance migratory Sand Martin, Riparia riparia

et al. 2019

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Feather quality is of critical importance to long-distance migratory birds. Here, we report a series of analyses of a unique data set encompassing known-age individuals of the long-distance migratory Sand Martin (Riparia riparia). Sampling over 17 years along the Tisza River, eastern Hungary, has resulted in the recapture of numerous individuals enabling longitudinal and cross-sectional investigation of the role of adaptation to variable environmental conditions on feather morphology. We show that older individuals tend to possess better quality feathers, measured using bending stiffness, feather length and thickness as proxies. Bending stiffness and feather thickness do not change with individual age, in contrast with increases in feather length and declines in daily feather growth versus age of individual alongside moult duration. Individuals who live to older ages tend to have similar, or higher, feather growth rates and better feather quality than individuals captured at younger ages. Thus, on the basis of strong selection against individuals with slow feather growth, as seen in other species of swallows and martins, which causes a delay in moult completion, the results of this analysis highlight the potential cost of producing better quality feathers when this depends on moult duration. Feather length also does change during the lifetime of the individual and thus enabled us to further investigate influence of individual and environmental conditions during the moult. The results of this analysis provide important insights on the adaptive significance of these traits, and the potential use of physical characteristics in unravelling the reasons why long distance migratory bird populations are in global decline.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Older birds have better feathers: A longitudinal study on the long-distance migratory Sand Martin, Riparia riparia

et al. 2019

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“…Further, fragmentation can cause the disappearance of the specialist component of biodiversity ( Fahrig, 2003 ). Such processes can alter biological, ecological and demographic traits like brood survival and growth ( Suorsa et al, 2003 ; Le Tortorec et al, 2012 ), occupancy or population size ( Schmiegelow, Machtans & Hannon, 1997 ; Villard, Trzcinski & Merriam, 1999 ; Cooper & Walters, 2002 ). Through SDMs, such results can be transposed into geographic projection and inform conservationists and practitioners ( Ferrier et al, 2007 ; Maiorano et al, 2015 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patchiness of forest landscape can predict species distribution better than abundance: the case of a forest-dwelling passerine, the short-toed treecreeper, in central Italy

Basile

Valerio

Balestrieri

et al. 2016

PeerJ

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Environmental heterogeneity affects not only the distribution of a species but also its local abundance. High heterogeneity due to habitat alteration and fragmentation can influence the realized niche of a species, lowering habitat suitability as well as reducing local abundance. We investigate whether a relationship exists between habitat suitability and abundance and whether both are affected by fragmentation. Our aim was to assess the predictive power of such a relationship to derive advice for environmental management. As a model species we used a forest specialist, the short-toed treecreeper (Family: Certhiidae; Certhia brachydactyla Brehm, 1820), and sampled it in central Italy. Species distribution was modelled as a function of forest structure, productivity and fragmentation, while abundance was directly estimated in two central Italian forest stands. Different algorithms were implemented to model species distribution, employing 170 occurrence points provided mostly by the MITO2000 database: an artificial neural network, classification tree analysis, flexible discriminant analysis, generalized boosting models, generalized linear models, multivariate additive regression splines, maximum entropy and random forests. Abundance was estimated also considering detectability, through N-mixture models. Differences between forest stands in both abundance and habitat suitability were assessed as well as the existence of a relationship. Simpler algorithms resulted in higher goodness of fit than complex ones. Fragmentation was highly influential in determining potential distribution. Local abundance and habitat suitability differed significantly between the two forest stands, which were also significantly different in the degree of fragmentation. Regression showed that suitability has a weak significant effect in explaining increasing value of abundance. In particular, local abundances varied both at low and high suitability values. The study lends support to the concept that the degree of fragmentation can contribute to alter not only the suitability of an area for a species, but also its abundance. Even if the relationship between suitability and abundance can be used as an early warning of habitat deterioration, its weak predictive power needs further research. However, we define relationships between a species and some landscape features (i.e., fragmentation, extensive rejuvenation of forests and tree plantations) which could be easily controlled by appropriate forest management planning to enhance environmental suitability, at least in an area possessing high conservation and biodiversity values.

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“…Since larger feathers have been linked to a higher growth rate both within (de la Hera, le Tortorec et al, 2012;Pérez-Tris et al, 2002) and between species (de la Hera et al, 2012), we expected to find positive correlations between feather length and growth bar width both within and between the four storm-petrel species. Since the studied species adopt contrasting moult-breeding strategies, we expected to find differences in feather growth rate relative to feather length between the two strategies, indicating differences in relative energy allocation towards moult.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…However, within species, growth bar width has also been related to other feather traits [i.e. positively to feather size (de la Hera, le Tortorec et al, 2012;Pérez-Tris, Carbonell & Tellería, 2002), though not in all species (de la Hera, Pérez-Tris et al, 2002), and negatively to feather quality (Marzal et al, 2013)].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #1 of "Differences in tail feather growth rate in storm-petrels breeding in the Northern and Southern hemisphere: a ptilochronological approach (v0.2)"

2019

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Moulting and breeding are costly stages of the avian annual cycle and may impose tradeoffs in energy allocation between them or in the timing of both stages. Here, we compared feather growth rates (FGR) of rectrices in adults between two pairs of small pelagic Procellariiformes species differing in moult-breeding strategies: the European storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus and Leach's storm-petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa breeding in the Northern Hemisphere (Faroe Islands), showing moult-breeding overlap in tail feathers; and the Wilson's storm-petrel Oceanites oceanicus and black-bellied storm-petrel Fregetta tropica, breeding in the Southern Hemisphere (South Shetlands), temporally separating moult and breeding. We used ptilochronology (i.e. feather growth bar width) to reconstruct FGR reflecting relative energy availability during moult. Based on previous research, we expected positive correlations between feather length (FL) and FGR. Additionally, we expected to find differences in FGR relative to FL between the moult-breeding strategies, where a relatively higher FGR to FL indicates a higher energy availability for moult. To investigate if energy availability during moult in the studied species is similar to species from other avian orders, we used FGR and FL found in literature (n = 164) and this study. We fitted a phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) model to FGR with FL, group (i.e. Procellariiformes vs non-Procellariiformes) and the interaction FL * group as predictors. As it has been suggested that Procellariiformes may form two growth bars per 24 h, we fitted the same model but with doubled FGR for Procellariiformes (PGLSadj). The group term was significant in the PGLS model, but was not in the PGLSadj model, confirming this suggestion. Individually predicted FGR by the PGLSadj model based on FL, showed that the Southern species have a significantly higher FGR relative to FL compared to the Northern species. Additionally, we found no correlation between FL and FGR in the Northern species, and a positive correlation between FL and FGR in the Southern species, suggesting differences in the trade-off between feather growth and size between species from both hemispheres. The observed differences between the Northern and Southern

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Feather growth bars as a biomarker of habitat fragmentation in the Eurasian treecreeper

Cited by 8 publications

References 29 publications

Older birds have better feathers: A longitudinal study on the long-distance migratory Sand Martin, Riparia riparia

Older birds have better feathers: A longitudinal study on the long-distance migratory Sand Martin, Riparia riparia

Patchiness of forest landscape can predict species distribution better than abundance: the case of a forest-dwelling passerine, the short-toed treecreeper, in central Italy

Peer Review #1 of "Differences in tail feather growth rate in storm-petrels breeding in the Northern and Southern hemisphere: a ptilochronological approach (v0.2)"

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