Low‐temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird
Global climate change has posed widespread challenges to the ecological process critical to the fitness of many wild organisms, such as reproductive phenology. Many bird species have advanced their reproductive phenology in response to the increases in spring temperatures. However, the mechanism of...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Avian Biology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03084 |
| _version_ | 1797853465592987648 |
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| author | Chen‐Yang Liu Juha Merilä Yang Liu Lei Lv |
| author_facet | Chen‐Yang Liu Juha Merilä Yang Liu Lei Lv |
| author_sort | Chen‐Yang Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Global climate change has posed widespread challenges to the ecological process critical to the fitness of many wild organisms, such as reproductive phenology. Many bird species have advanced their reproductive phenology in response to the increases in spring temperatures. However, the mechanism of how climate influences the timing of breeding is still often unclear in many species. We explored the relationship between the timing of breeding and spring temperatures based on 14 years of data on hair‐crested drongos Dicrurus hottentottus in the wild. By applying a ‘sliding window' approach, we aimed to identify the time window and weather variable that best explains the timing of breeding at both population and individual levels. We found that the more nights with a minimum temperature below 17°C, around three weeks earlier than the peak reproduction, delayed the breeding time. Low night temperatures may force females to allocate more energy to thermoregulation and therefore physiologically constrain egg‐laying. Although annual minimum and maximum temperatures have increased over the study period, the timing of breeding showed no trend as there was no change in the number of low‐temperature nights in the relevant period across years. The repeatability of the laying date for individual females (R = 0.211) and across the years (R = 0.270) were low indicating that drongos were flexible in adjusting their breeding phenology to environmental variation. These results suggest an effect of low night temperature on avian breeding phenology. This effect may apply commonly across bird species considering shared physiological constraints. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T19:49:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9a52b02a43594bbca508d401d6c3db78 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0908-8857 1600-048X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T19:49:59Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Avian Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-9a52b02a43594bbca508d401d6c3db782023-04-03T08:07:07ZengWileyJournal of Avian Biology0908-88571600-048X2023-03-0120233-4n/an/a10.1111/jav.03084Low‐temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbirdChen‐Yang Liu0Juha Merilä1Yang Liu2Lei Lv3State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou ChinaArea of Ecology & Biodiversity, The School of Biological Sciences, The Univ. of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR ChinaState Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou ChinaState Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou ChinaGlobal climate change has posed widespread challenges to the ecological process critical to the fitness of many wild organisms, such as reproductive phenology. Many bird species have advanced their reproductive phenology in response to the increases in spring temperatures. However, the mechanism of how climate influences the timing of breeding is still often unclear in many species. We explored the relationship between the timing of breeding and spring temperatures based on 14 years of data on hair‐crested drongos Dicrurus hottentottus in the wild. By applying a ‘sliding window' approach, we aimed to identify the time window and weather variable that best explains the timing of breeding at both population and individual levels. We found that the more nights with a minimum temperature below 17°C, around three weeks earlier than the peak reproduction, delayed the breeding time. Low night temperatures may force females to allocate more energy to thermoregulation and therefore physiologically constrain egg‐laying. Although annual minimum and maximum temperatures have increased over the study period, the timing of breeding showed no trend as there was no change in the number of low‐temperature nights in the relevant period across years. The repeatability of the laying date for individual females (R = 0.211) and across the years (R = 0.270) were low indicating that drongos were flexible in adjusting their breeding phenology to environmental variation. These results suggest an effect of low night temperature on avian breeding phenology. This effect may apply commonly across bird species considering shared physiological constraints.https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03084breeding experiencebreeding phenologyglobal warmingminimum temperaturesensitive period |
| spellingShingle | Chen‐Yang Liu Juha Merilä Yang Liu Lei Lv Low‐temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird Journal of Avian Biology breeding experience breeding phenology global warming minimum temperature sensitive period |
| title | Low‐temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird |
| title_full | Low‐temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird |
| title_fullStr | Low‐temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird |
| title_full_unstemmed | Low‐temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird |
| title_short | Low‐temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird |
| title_sort | low temperature nights delay the timing of breeding in a wild songbird |
| topic | breeding experience breeding phenology global warming minimum temperature sensitive period |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03084 |
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