Although birds might increase nesting survival by selecting safe sites, nest predation is a major... more Although birds might increase nesting survival by selecting safe sites, nest predation is a major limiting factor in natural bird populations. We investigated how forest structure, predator distribution, and nest location contribute to nest predation risk, and whether lower predation probabilities characterize formerly “safe” sites. We distributed 304 artificial ground and tree nests in a forest landscape, following the previous year locations of forest grouse observations (with and without broods). We modelled nest predation incidence using generalized mixed models; we also identified potential nest predators by tooth/bill marks on plasticine eggs. We found complex habitat effects: nest predation depended non-linearly on the stand age (low risk in post-clear-cut stands; peak values in middle-aged stands) and there were no simple relationships with predator proximity or nest concealment. Predation probabilities were higher in tree nests than in ground nests, and did not differ in th...
The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and... more The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild. Further, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad-scale global issues (e.g. climate change). To solve data integration issues and enable a new scale of ecological and evolutionary research based on long-terms studies of birds, we have created the SPI-Birds Network and Database (www.spibirds.org) – a large-scale initiative that connects data from, and researchers working on, studies of wild populations of individually recognizable (usually ringed) birds. Within a year of the establishment, SPI-Birds counts 120 members working on more than 80 populations, w...
1 University of Turku, Department of Biology, Turku, Finland 2 Russian Academy of Science, Kareli... more 1 University of Turku, Department of Biology, Turku, Finland 2 Russian Academy of Science, Karelian Research Centre, Department of Biology, Petrozavodsk, Russia 3 Russian Academy of Science, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ekaterinburg, Russia 4 University of Groningen, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, Haren, Netherlands 5 Palacky University, Laboratory of Ornithology, Olomouc, Czech Republic 6 Moscow State University, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Moscow, Russia 7 University of Daugavpils, Institute of Systematic Biology, , Latvia 8 University of Tartu, Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Tartu, Estonia 9 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, Ecología Evolutiva, Madrid, Spain 10 Lund University, Department of Animal Ecology, Lund, Sweden 11 Estación Biológica de Doñana-CSIC, Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Sevilla, Spain 12 University of Oslo, Department of Biology, Oslo, Norway
1 University of Turku, Finland; 2 Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finl... more 1 University of Turku, Finland; 2 Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finland; 3 Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic; 4 Russian Academy of Science, Petrozavodsk, Russia; 5 Russian Academy of Science, Ekaterinburg, Russia; 6 University of Groningen, Haren, The Netherlands; 7 University of Exeter, United Kingdom; 8 Moscow State University, Russia; 9 University of Lyon, France; 10 University of Oulu, Finland; 11 Harthausen, Germany; 12 University of Daugavpils, Latvia; 13 University of Oslo, Norway; 14 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales — CSIC, Madrid, Spain; 15 University of Tartu, Estonia; 16 Lund University, Sweden; 17 Estacion Biologica de Donana — CSIC, Sevilla, Spain; 18 Rue du Theu, CH—1446 Baulmes, Switzerland; 19 Russian Academy of Science, Rybachy, Russia
Previous studies have revealed a consistent habitat variation in seasonal reproductive patterns i... more Previous studies have revealed a consistent habitat variation in seasonal reproductive patterns in great tits in a mosaic of deciduous woodland fragments and managed coniferous forests. In deciduous forests, clutch size declines remarkably and offspring parameters improve significantly between two successive breeding attempts, whereas in coniferous forests the decline in clutch size is less steep and there is no seasonal trend in nestlings’ parameters. In this study, we explored whether these patterns can be explained by habitat-specific dynamics of food abundance and parental provisioning ability. We found an inverse relationship between seasonal patterns of offspring growth parameters and parental feeding rates in different habitat types. Parental ability to compensate for experimentally increased hunger level of nestlings by increased feeding rate did differ neither between habitats nor breeding attempts. Habitat- related variation in seasonal dynamics of food availability was no...
Many organisms adjust their reproductive phenology in response to climate change, but phenologica... more Many organisms adjust their reproductive phenology in response to climate change, but phenological sensitivity to temperature may vary between species. For example, resident and migratory birds have vastly different annual cycles, which can cause differential temperature sensitivity at the breeding grounds, and may affect competitive dynamics. Currently, however, adjustment to climate change in resident and migratory birds have been studied separately or at relatively small geographical scales with varying time series durations and methodologies. Here, we studied differential effects of temperature on resident and migratory birds using the mean egg laying initiation dates from 10 European nest box schemes between 1991 and 2015 that had data on at least one resident tit species and at least one migratory flycatcher species. We found that both tits and flycatchers advanced laying in response to spring warming, but resident tit populations advanced more strongly in relation to temperat...
... Marko MÄGI & Raivo MÄND2, Institute of Zoology and Hydrobiology, Centre of Basic and Appl... more ... Marko MÄGI & Raivo MÄND2, Institute of Zoology and Hydrobiology, Centre of Basic and Applied Ecology, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu 51014 ... The coniferous habitat is a typical managed pine forest on nutrient-poor sandy or peat (in the lower parts of the ter-rain ...
Maternally-derived glucocorticoids can modify the normal development of young animals. To date, l... more Maternally-derived glucocorticoids can modify the normal development of young animals. To date, little is known about maternal effects that are mediated by acute embryonic exposure to glucocorticoids. In birds, elevated maternal transmission of corticosterone (CORT) to egg albumen is mainly dependent on acute stress. In this study, we increased CORT levels in the egg albumen of a wild passerine, the great tit (Parus major), breeding in favourable deciduous and less suitable coniferous habitat. Subsequently we measured the somatic growth, baseline and acute glucocorticoid responses, immunity and behaviour of prenatally manipulated offspring with respect to control siblings. We found that prenatally CORT-exposed nestlings had lower baseline CORT levels, a more rapid decline in CORT during recovery from a standardized stressor, and a reduced heterophil/lymphocyte ratio compared with controls. Although stress-induced total CORT levels remained unchanged, free CORT levels were significantly lower and the levels of corticosteroid binding globulins (CBG) significantly higher in experimental offspring. Prenatally CORT-exposed offspring begged longer after hatching than controls. Stress-induced behavioural activity of fledglings did not differ between treatments, while its association with baseline CORT levels was significant in the control group only. The body mass and tarsus length of fledglings was positively affected by manipulation in unfavourable coniferous habitat only. We conclude that maternal effects related to elevated levels of albumen CORT modify diverse aspects of offspring phenotype and potentially increase offspring performance in resource poor environments. Moreover, our results indicate that maternal glucocorticoids may suppress the effect of hormones on behavioural responses.
General and comparative endocrinology, Jan 28, 2015
The crucial question in evolutionary ecology is to find out how physiological traits have coevolv... more The crucial question in evolutionary ecology is to find out how physiological traits have coevolved so animals fit their stochastic environments. The plasticity of these different physiological mechanisms is largely mediated by hormones, like glucocorticoids and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Brood size manipulation with nestlings of free-living great tits (Parus major) was carried out to see the way in which plasma IGF-1 and feather corticosterone, a predictor of long-term sustained plasma corticosterone level, are associated across different nutritional conditions and how this association predicts survival during the nestling phase. We showed that the association between levels of IGF-1 and corticosterone depended on physiological condition of nestlings. Namely, there was a positive association between the hormones in nestlings from the decreased broods and a negative association in nestlings from the enlarged broods. Furthermore, we showed that the interaction between leve...
Life history theory seeks answers to questions about how suites of traits, like growth rate, body... more Life history theory seeks answers to questions about how suites of traits, like growth rate, body mass and survival, have coevolved to maximize the fitness of individuals. In stochastic environments, individual fitness may be closely linked to environmental conditions experienced early in life. When conditions deteriorate, animals have to adapt physiologically to avoid detrimental effects to growth and survival. Hormones such as glucocorticoids are potentially important mediators of developmental plasticity, although their function is quite poorly understood in free-living animals to date. In this study, we used brood-size manipulation in wild great tits (Parus major) to see whether resource (e.g. food) availability can change feather corticosterone levels, somatic growth and fledging success in nestlings raised in habitats of different quality. Recent studies suggest that feather corticosterone offers a long-term hormonal measure for the main avian glucocorticoid by integrating the...
Although birds might increase nesting survival by selecting safe sites, nest predation is a major... more Although birds might increase nesting survival by selecting safe sites, nest predation is a major limiting factor in natural bird populations. We investigated how forest structure, predator distribution, and nest location contribute to nest predation risk, and whether lower predation probabilities characterize formerly “safe” sites. We distributed 304 artificial ground and tree nests in a forest landscape, following the previous year locations of forest grouse observations (with and without broods). We modelled nest predation incidence using generalized mixed models; we also identified potential nest predators by tooth/bill marks on plasticine eggs. We found complex habitat effects: nest predation depended non-linearly on the stand age (low risk in post-clear-cut stands; peak values in middle-aged stands) and there were no simple relationships with predator proximity or nest concealment. Predation probabilities were higher in tree nests than in ground nests, and did not differ in th...
The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and... more The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild. Further, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad-scale global issues (e.g. climate change). To solve data integration issues and enable a new scale of ecological and evolutionary research based on long-terms studies of birds, we have created the SPI-Birds Network and Database (www.spibirds.org) – a large-scale initiative that connects data from, and researchers working on, studies of wild populations of individually recognizable (usually ringed) birds. Within a year of the establishment, SPI-Birds counts 120 members working on more than 80 populations, w...
1 University of Turku, Department of Biology, Turku, Finland 2 Russian Academy of Science, Kareli... more 1 University of Turku, Department of Biology, Turku, Finland 2 Russian Academy of Science, Karelian Research Centre, Department of Biology, Petrozavodsk, Russia 3 Russian Academy of Science, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ekaterinburg, Russia 4 University of Groningen, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, Haren, Netherlands 5 Palacky University, Laboratory of Ornithology, Olomouc, Czech Republic 6 Moscow State University, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Moscow, Russia 7 University of Daugavpils, Institute of Systematic Biology, , Latvia 8 University of Tartu, Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Tartu, Estonia 9 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, Ecología Evolutiva, Madrid, Spain 10 Lund University, Department of Animal Ecology, Lund, Sweden 11 Estación Biológica de Doñana-CSIC, Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Sevilla, Spain 12 University of Oslo, Department of Biology, Oslo, Norway
1 University of Turku, Finland; 2 Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finl... more 1 University of Turku, Finland; 2 Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finland; 3 Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic; 4 Russian Academy of Science, Petrozavodsk, Russia; 5 Russian Academy of Science, Ekaterinburg, Russia; 6 University of Groningen, Haren, The Netherlands; 7 University of Exeter, United Kingdom; 8 Moscow State University, Russia; 9 University of Lyon, France; 10 University of Oulu, Finland; 11 Harthausen, Germany; 12 University of Daugavpils, Latvia; 13 University of Oslo, Norway; 14 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales — CSIC, Madrid, Spain; 15 University of Tartu, Estonia; 16 Lund University, Sweden; 17 Estacion Biologica de Donana — CSIC, Sevilla, Spain; 18 Rue du Theu, CH—1446 Baulmes, Switzerland; 19 Russian Academy of Science, Rybachy, Russia
Previous studies have revealed a consistent habitat variation in seasonal reproductive patterns i... more Previous studies have revealed a consistent habitat variation in seasonal reproductive patterns in great tits in a mosaic of deciduous woodland fragments and managed coniferous forests. In deciduous forests, clutch size declines remarkably and offspring parameters improve significantly between two successive breeding attempts, whereas in coniferous forests the decline in clutch size is less steep and there is no seasonal trend in nestlings’ parameters. In this study, we explored whether these patterns can be explained by habitat-specific dynamics of food abundance and parental provisioning ability. We found an inverse relationship between seasonal patterns of offspring growth parameters and parental feeding rates in different habitat types. Parental ability to compensate for experimentally increased hunger level of nestlings by increased feeding rate did differ neither between habitats nor breeding attempts. Habitat- related variation in seasonal dynamics of food availability was no...
Many organisms adjust their reproductive phenology in response to climate change, but phenologica... more Many organisms adjust their reproductive phenology in response to climate change, but phenological sensitivity to temperature may vary between species. For example, resident and migratory birds have vastly different annual cycles, which can cause differential temperature sensitivity at the breeding grounds, and may affect competitive dynamics. Currently, however, adjustment to climate change in resident and migratory birds have been studied separately or at relatively small geographical scales with varying time series durations and methodologies. Here, we studied differential effects of temperature on resident and migratory birds using the mean egg laying initiation dates from 10 European nest box schemes between 1991 and 2015 that had data on at least one resident tit species and at least one migratory flycatcher species. We found that both tits and flycatchers advanced laying in response to spring warming, but resident tit populations advanced more strongly in relation to temperat...
... Marko MÄGI & Raivo MÄND2, Institute of Zoology and Hydrobiology, Centre of Basic and Appl... more ... Marko MÄGI & Raivo MÄND2, Institute of Zoology and Hydrobiology, Centre of Basic and Applied Ecology, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu 51014 ... The coniferous habitat is a typical managed pine forest on nutrient-poor sandy or peat (in the lower parts of the ter-rain ...
Maternally-derived glucocorticoids can modify the normal development of young animals. To date, l... more Maternally-derived glucocorticoids can modify the normal development of young animals. To date, little is known about maternal effects that are mediated by acute embryonic exposure to glucocorticoids. In birds, elevated maternal transmission of corticosterone (CORT) to egg albumen is mainly dependent on acute stress. In this study, we increased CORT levels in the egg albumen of a wild passerine, the great tit (Parus major), breeding in favourable deciduous and less suitable coniferous habitat. Subsequently we measured the somatic growth, baseline and acute glucocorticoid responses, immunity and behaviour of prenatally manipulated offspring with respect to control siblings. We found that prenatally CORT-exposed nestlings had lower baseline CORT levels, a more rapid decline in CORT during recovery from a standardized stressor, and a reduced heterophil/lymphocyte ratio compared with controls. Although stress-induced total CORT levels remained unchanged, free CORT levels were significantly lower and the levels of corticosteroid binding globulins (CBG) significantly higher in experimental offspring. Prenatally CORT-exposed offspring begged longer after hatching than controls. Stress-induced behavioural activity of fledglings did not differ between treatments, while its association with baseline CORT levels was significant in the control group only. The body mass and tarsus length of fledglings was positively affected by manipulation in unfavourable coniferous habitat only. We conclude that maternal effects related to elevated levels of albumen CORT modify diverse aspects of offspring phenotype and potentially increase offspring performance in resource poor environments. Moreover, our results indicate that maternal glucocorticoids may suppress the effect of hormones on behavioural responses.
General and comparative endocrinology, Jan 28, 2015
The crucial question in evolutionary ecology is to find out how physiological traits have coevolv... more The crucial question in evolutionary ecology is to find out how physiological traits have coevolved so animals fit their stochastic environments. The plasticity of these different physiological mechanisms is largely mediated by hormones, like glucocorticoids and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Brood size manipulation with nestlings of free-living great tits (Parus major) was carried out to see the way in which plasma IGF-1 and feather corticosterone, a predictor of long-term sustained plasma corticosterone level, are associated across different nutritional conditions and how this association predicts survival during the nestling phase. We showed that the association between levels of IGF-1 and corticosterone depended on physiological condition of nestlings. Namely, there was a positive association between the hormones in nestlings from the decreased broods and a negative association in nestlings from the enlarged broods. Furthermore, we showed that the interaction between leve...
Life history theory seeks answers to questions about how suites of traits, like growth rate, body... more Life history theory seeks answers to questions about how suites of traits, like growth rate, body mass and survival, have coevolved to maximize the fitness of individuals. In stochastic environments, individual fitness may be closely linked to environmental conditions experienced early in life. When conditions deteriorate, animals have to adapt physiologically to avoid detrimental effects to growth and survival. Hormones such as glucocorticoids are potentially important mediators of developmental plasticity, although their function is quite poorly understood in free-living animals to date. In this study, we used brood-size manipulation in wild great tits (Parus major) to see whether resource (e.g. food) availability can change feather corticosterone levels, somatic growth and fledging success in nestlings raised in habitats of different quality. Recent studies suggest that feather corticosterone offers a long-term hormonal measure for the main avian glucocorticoid by integrating the...
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