Wing Characteristics and Spring Arrival Date in Barn Swallows<i>Hirundo rustica</i>

Matyjasiak, Piotr; Olejniczak, Izabella; Boniecki, Paweł; Møller, Anders Pape

doi:10.3161/000164513x670025

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…30 and 20 breeding pairs) located in two nearby horse stables in the Łomianki commune near Warsaw (52°22 0 N, 20°53 0 E, elevation 75 m), central Poland. Further details on the study area and the study population are given in Matyjasiak (2013) and Matyjasiak et al (2013).…”

Section: Study Area and General Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

No short-term effects of geolocators on flight performance of an aerial insectivorous bird, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

et al. 2016

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Miniaturized light-level geolocators are becoming increasingly popular devices for the study of avian migration. However, the effects of these devices on birds' flight behaviour, and hence fitness components, are poorly known. We investigated the effect of miniaturized geolocators on flight performance of the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), which may be especially susceptible to geolocator deployment as it is a small (*20 g), aerially insectivorous, long-distance migratory species. We tested whether miniaturized geolocators (*3.5 % of body mass) affected short-term flight performance traits of breeding males by comparing flight manoeuvrability, velocity and acceleration of geolocator-equipped versus control (handled only) birds in flight tunnels. We used a robust experimental design wherein the within-individual change in flight performance was compared between geolocatorequipped birds (after allowing for a period of acclimation) and control birds (that were also tested twice). We found no statistically significant evidence that short-term flight performance traits were affected by geolocator deployment. Here we discuss the implications of our findings for the deployment of geolocators in studies of migratory behaviour of small birds.

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Section: Study Area and General Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

No short-term effects of geolocators on flight performance of an aerial insectivorous bird, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

et al. 2016

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“…One deficiency of the aerodynamic explanation is that it is unclear how the measured aerodynamic ability contributes to fitness in the wild (e.g., Barbosa ; Møller and Barbosa ; Cuervo and de Ayala , ; but see Matyjasiak et al. for the link between aerodynamic ability and migration date in the barn swallow). Deep fork tails with streamer‐shaped outermost tail feathers (see Matyjasiak et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of tail fork depth in genusHirundo

Hasegawa

Arai

Kutsukake

2016

Ecology and Evolution

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A classic example of a sexually selected trait, the deep fork tail of the barn swallow Hirundo rustica is now claimed to have evolved and be maintained mainly via aerodynamic advantage rather than sexually selected advantage. However, this aerodynamic advantage hypothesis does not clarify which flight habits select for/against deep fork tails, causing diversity of tail fork depth in hirundines. Here, by focusing on the genus Hirundo, we investigated whether the large variation in tail fork depth could be explained by the differential flight habits. Using a phylogenetic comparative approach, we found that migrant species had deeper fork tails, but less colorful plumage, than the other species, indicating that migration favors a specific trait, deep fork tails. At the same time, tail fork depth but not plumage coloration decreased with increasing bill size – a proxy of prey size, suggesting that foraging on larger prey items favors shallower fork tails. Variation of tail fork depth in the genus Hirundo may be explained by differential flight habits, even without assuming sexual selection.

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“…The patterns of sex‐ and age‐dependent variation in wing size and pointedness were in the predicted direction (Alatalo et al , Matyjasiak et al ). Males are known to have longer wing feathers than females (Bańbura ), and the present results confirm those findings, but also show that sex‐dependent variation in the length of primary wing feathers depends on feather sequence, as it occurs only among the outermost, but not among the innermost primary feathers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…individuals that had all passed the selection episode between the yearling and the older life stage. Age‐dependent variation in wing shape may reflect age‐dependent variation in the balance between selection for different performance traits (Matyjasiak et al ). More rounded wings may be advantageous for relatively young, inexperienced birds particularly in this species which feeds on the wing on highly mobile insect prey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, we tested if wing morphology changed with age, sex and their combined effects. We expected that wing size increased with age and was larger in males than in females (Turner , Matyjasiak et al ). We also expected that wing pointedness was larger in males and in older individuals (age ≥ 2 yr), since arrival from migration is slightly protandrous (ca 4 d; Liechti et al ), and older individuals migrate and arrive considerably earlier (2–3 weeks) to the breeding site than yearlings (Rubolini et al , Saino et al ).…”

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Sex‐ and age‐dependent morphology and selection on wing shape in the barn swallow Hirundo rustica

Saino

Rubolini

Ambrosini

et al. 2017

Journal of Avian Biology

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Wings have evolved in phylogenetically distant organisms with morphologies that depend on the combined effects of diverse, potentially contrasting selective forces. In birds, long pointed wings boost speed and energetic efficiency during cruising flight but reduce manoeuvrability. Migratory behavior is believed to lead to the evolution of more pointed wings, but selection on pointedness has never been estimated. Because annual routines of migrants are tightly scheduled, wing pointedness may be selected for because it allows for earlier arrival to the breeding grounds. In long‐distance migratory barn swallows Hirundo rustica we showed that selection via breeding date and thus annual fecundity operates on wing pointedness, but not on other wing traits, among yearling females but not among older females or males. Selection on wing pointedness specifically in yearling females may result from climatic effects, which favour earlier arrival from migration, and from yearling females being the sex‐by‐age class with the latest migration and the smallest wing pointedness. Wing morphology differed between sexes and age classes because of change in size of the outermost but not the innermost wing feathers. Hence, sex‐ and age‐specific selection on wing pointedness operates in a species with sex‐ and age‐dependent variation in phenology and wing morphology.

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Wing Characteristics and Spring Arrival Date in Barn SwallowsHirundo rustica

Cited by 12 publications

References 46 publications

No short-term effects of geolocators on flight performance of an aerial insectivorous bird, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

No short-term effects of geolocators on flight performance of an aerial insectivorous bird, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Evolution of tail fork depth in genusHirundo

Sex‐ and age‐dependent morphology and selection on wing shape in the barn swallow Hirundo rustica

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