Patterns of year-to-year variation in haemoglobin and glucose concentrations in the blood of nestling Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca

Abstract

Physiological tools can be used to identify the sources and consequences of stressors on animals. Understanding the influences of variation in habitat quality and anthropogenic disturbance on organism condition and health may improve future management and conservation. We present results concerning variation in haemoglobin and glucose concentrations in the blood of about 14-day-old nestling Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca in central Poland over a 4-year period, 2011-2014, in a deciduous forest. The most important findings of the study are: (1) the concentration of haemoglobin and glucose of the nestlings from the same brood tended to be consistently similar, with much variation occurring among broods; (2) repeatability of haemoglobin concentration was higher than repeatability of glucose concentration; (3) mean levels of haemoglobin and glucose varied among years; (4) haemoglobin and glucose concentrations were negatively correlated; and (5) there was a positive relationship between haemoglobin levels and breeding success.

Spatial variation in haemoglobin concentration of nestling Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus): a long-term perspective

“…Repeatability is low if measurements within broods are very different (Bańbura and Zieliński 1990). The high repeatability of haemoglobin concentration we found suggests that hemoglobin responds first of all to the factors affecting entire broods, such as parasitic pressure in the nest (Glądalski et al 2015a). More studies are needed to determine if this may be considered as a general pattern in wild populations of birds.…”

“…Some recent studies suggest caution when using haemoglobin concentration as a simple body condition index (Lill et al 2013). However, our previous studies showed that the level of haemoglobin is a reliable condition indicator for Tits (Nadolski et al 2006;Kaliński et al 2009;Kaliński et al 2012) and for Pied Flycatcher (Glądalski et al 2015a). Kilgas et al (2006a, b) also found that the concentration of haemoglobin is strongly positively related to the physiological condition of nestling great tits.…”

“…In nestling Pied Flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) studied in our forest study site the repeatability of haemoglobin was assessed at 0.63 (Glądalski et al 2015a). Potti et al (1999) found that within-brood repeatability of haematocrit in Pied Flycatcher nestlings in Spain was 0.7.…”

“…It reflects the presence of pathogens and parasites, as well as the nutritional status of organism (a drop in haemoglobin concentration suggests nutritional deficiency ;Campbell 1995;Simon et al 2004;Kasprzyk et al 2006;Słomczyński et al 2006). All those features support the use of the haemoglobin level as a relatively reliable indicator of physiological condition in field and experimental studies on birds (Stevens 1996;Kilgas et al 2006a;Kaliński et al 2009Kaliński et al , 2012Pyrke and Rollins 2012;Lill et al 2013;Minias 2014;Minias et al 2014;Glądalski et al 2015a). But it is important to emphasize that some recent studies recommend caution when using blood characteristics to evaluate physiological condition in some species (Fair et al 2007;Lill et al 2013;Minias 2015;Johnstone et al 2015).…”

“…But it is important to emphasize that some recent studies recommend caution when using blood characteristics to evaluate physiological condition in some species (Fair et al 2007;Lill et al 2013;Minias 2015;Johnstone et al 2015). Also the use of haemoglobin concentration as a body condition index in a particular population should not be automatically extended to other populations (Fair et al 2007;Smith and Barber 2012;Lill et al 2013;Minias 2015;Glądalski et al 2015a). Knowledge of phenotypic and ecological factors that directly influence the level of haemoglobin in free living birds is relatively poor Minias 2015).…”