Long-term variation in the timing and height of annual peak abundance of caterpillars in tree canopies: Some effects on a breeding songbird

Nadolski, Jerzy; Marciniak, Bronisław; Loga, Barbara; Michalski, Marek; Bańbura, Jerzy

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107120

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Caterpillars provide a high-quality food source because they are rich in proteins 19 as well as carotenoids which have essential functions as antioxidants, immunostimulants, and pro-vitamins in birds, and also influence plumage colour signalling 20 – 23 . The abundance of caterpillars—similarly to many other insects—has been dramatically declining in urban areas compared to more natural habitats, which may be a major contributor to the food limitation of insectivorous animals in cities and towns 15 , 24 – 26 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the above findings, the availability of different, natural food types is a key factor for insectivorous birds that determines the success of nestling rearing. However, some long-term studies highlighted that both the food availability during breeding season and the breeding success of birds may vary significantly not only between habitats but also between years 15 , 26 , 48 . For example, in an earlier study we analysed caterpillar biomass and breeding success of great tits in urban and forest habitats in 4 years (2013–2016) 15 and in line with other studies 26 , 31 , we found strongly decreased caterpillar biomass in the canopies of urban relative to forest trees (the yearly mean ± SE of hourly caterpillar biomass (mg/h) during the nestling rearing period was ranging from 1.67 ± 0.1 to 5.86 ± 0.54 in the urban sites, and from 50.09 ± 6.25 to 122.96 ± 13.93 in the forest sites, see Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Great tits feed their nestlings with more but smaller prey items and fewer caterpillars in cities than in forests

Sinkovics

Seress

Pipoly

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Rapidly increasing urbanisation is one of the most significant anthropogenic environmental changes which can affect demographic traits of animal populations, for example resulting in reduced reproductive success. The food limitation hypothesis suggests that the shortage of high-quality nestling food in cities is a major factor responsible for the reduced reproductive performance in insectivorous birds. To study this explanation, we collected data on the parental provisioning behaviour of urban and forest great tits (Parus major) in three years that varied both in caterpillar availability (the main food of great tit nestlings) and in reproductive success of the birds. In all years, urban parents provisioned caterpillars in a smaller proportion to their nestlings, but the total amount of food per nestling (estimated by the volumes of all prey items) did not differ between habitats. In the two years with much lower reproductive success in urban than forest habitats, urban parents had higher provisioning rates, but provided more non-arthropod food and brought smaller prey items than forest parents. In the year with reduced habitat difference in reproductive success, urban parents were able to compensate for the scarcity of caterpillars by provisioning other arthropods rather than non-arthropod food, and by delivering larger preys than in the other years. Specifically, in this latter year, caterpillars provisioned by urban pairs were cc. twice as large as in the other two years, and were similar in size to caterpillars provisioned in the forest broods. These results show that although urban great tit parents can provide the same quantity of food per nestling as forest parents by reducing their brood size and increasing the per capita feeding rates for nestlings, they cannot compensate fully for the scarcity of high-quality preys (caterpillars) in poor years. In some years, however, favourable conditions for urban caterpillar development can greatly reduce food limitation in cities, allowing urban birds to achieve higher reproductive success. We suggest that urban green areas designed and managed in a way to facilitate conditions for phytophagous arthropods could improve habitat quality for urban birds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great tits feed their nestlings with more but smaller prey items and fewer caterpillars in cities than in forests

Sinkovics

Seress

Pipoly

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…Several features of the urban environments may explain these results. First, previous studies showed that high-quality food is often limited in cities during the breeding season ( Marciniak et al 2007 ; Nadolski et al 2021 ), resulting in increased rates of starvation-related mortality and detrimental impacts on nestling development and fledging success (Seress et al 2018 , 2020 ). The relative scarcity of natural food sources may also limit urban birds’ multi-brooding propensity ( Verboven et al 2001 ; Batey 2018 ), either because females cannot find enough food to produce new clutches or because it is difficult and energetically expensive for the parents to provide enough prey items for their nestlings ( Jarrett et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Double-brooding and annual breeding success of great tits in urban and forest habitats

et al. 2021

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Urban areas differ from natural habitats in several environmental features that influence the characteristics of animals living there. For example, birds often start breeding seasonally earlier and fledge fewer offspring per brood in cities than in natural habitats. However, longer breeding seasons in cities may increase the frequency of double-brooding in urban compared with nonurban populations, thus potentially increasing urban birds’ annual reproductive output and resulting in lower habitat difference in reproductive success than estimated by studies focusing on first clutches only. In this study, we investigated 2 urban and 2 forests great tit Parus major populations from 2013 to 2019. We compared the probability of double-brooding and the total number of annually fledged chicks per female between urban and forest habitats, while controlling for the effects of potentially confounding variables. There was a trend for a higher probability of double-brooding in urban (44% of females) than in forest populations (36%), although this was not consistent between the 2 urban sites. Females produced significantly fewer fledglings annually in the cities than in the forest sites, and this difference was present both within single- and double-brooded females. Furthermore, double-brooded urban females produced a similar number of fledglings per season as single-brooded forest females. These results indicate that double-brooding increases the reproductive success of female great tits in both habitats, but urban females cannot effectively compensate in this way for their lower reproductive output per brood. However, other mechanisms like increased post-fledging survival can mitigate habitat differences in reproductive success.

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“…A few weeks after fledging FY great tits undergo the partial post-juvenile moult, during which they replace all of their contour feathers (Jenni and Winkler 2020). At this time, FY birds are still relatively inexperienced (Heise and Moore 2003) and may have especially low foraging efficiency in food limited environments like cities (Nadolski et al 2021; including our urban study sites, Seress et al 2018Seress et al , 2020. Later, by the time of their first post-breeding moult as AFY birds, individuals became more experienced in foraging (Heise and Moore 2003), which can help them to develop higher-quality plumage -similar to that of the forest birds -, therefore the differences present in FY birds' contour feathers may disappear in later life phases.…”

Section: Contour Feathersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the major changes birds have to face in urban environments is the drastically altered quantity and quality of food sources (e.g. fewer invertebrates but abundant anthropogenic food; Jones and Leather 2012, Seress et al 2018, Nadolski et al 2021) that is known to affect several key life‐history characteristics, including reproductive success (Peach et al 2015, Pollock et al 2017, Seress et al 2020), body size (Heiss et al 2009, Meyrier et al 2017). The quality and quantity of available food strongly affect the structural properties of the wing and contour feathers during the moulting period (Murphy and King 1992, Pap et al 2008, Broggi et al 2011, Jenni and Winkler 2020, but see Pap et al 2015) and very probably also during the nestling stage when the first feathers are being grown (Sillanpää et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in feather structure between urban and forest great tits: constraint or adaptation?

Sándor

Seress

Sinkovics

et al. 2022

Journal of Avian Biology

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Urbanization is one of the strongest habitat transforming processes today that has resulted in changes in the ecological conditions for wild populations. In birds, the limitation of natural food sources and a warmer microclimate in cities can potentially influence the development and functioning of the plumage that may have important fitness consequences. Despite its potential significance, the plumage structure of urban birds are largely unexplored and it is unclear whether and how they respond to urban ecological processes such as different constraints and selection pressures. In this study, we compared several structural properties of contour, primary and tail feathers between two forest and two urban great tit Parus major populations. Our results show that the urban environment affects only a few structural properties of feathers and only in the plumage of first‐year birds. We found that both the plumulaceous and the pennaceous parts of their contour feathers are longer and have lower barb density in the urban than in the forest habitat. We also found that the primaries of first‐year birds have narrower rachis and higher barbule density in the cities than in the forests, but there were no differences in other wing feather traits and in any tail feather traits between habitats. We did not find differences in the feather structure of urban versus forest adult birds. The habitat differences in first‐year birds may indicate nutritional constraints or the effects of the warmer microclimate of the urban environment. These differences seem to disappear completely in adulthood that can be explained by the selective mortality of first‐year birds, or by adults being less sensitive than first‐year birds to environmental effects during their moult.

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Long-term variation in the timing and height of annual peak abundance of caterpillars in tree canopies: Some effects on a breeding songbird

Cited by 11 publications

References 54 publications

Great tits feed their nestlings with more but smaller prey items and fewer caterpillars in cities than in forests

Great tits feed their nestlings with more but smaller prey items and fewer caterpillars in cities than in forests

Double-brooding and annual breeding success of great tits in urban and forest habitats

Differences in feather structure between urban and forest great tits: constraint or adaptation?

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