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Models of climate change predict that its effects on animal populations will not always be negative, but most studies indicate negative associations between changes in climate and the phenology of animal migration and reproduction. For some populations, however, climate change may render particular environments more favourable, with positive effects on population growth. We used a 30‐year population...
Many farmland bird species have declined markedly in Europe in recent decades because of changes in agricultural practice. The specific causes vary and are poorly known for many species. The Little Owl, which feeds extensively on large invertebrates and is strongly associated with the agricultural landscape, has declined over most of northwestern Europe, including Denmark. We investigated the likely...
Differing reproductive effort, individual qualities and local environmental conditions can lead to uneven mortality risk among individuals within populations and may result in survival differences according to age and sex. Identification of factors contributing to unequal operational sex ratios has been important for understanding population dynamics and conservation management. In this study, sex‐...
Dynamics of populations may be synchronized at large spatial scales, indicating driving forces acting beyond local scales, but may also vary locally as a result of site‐specific conditions. Conservation measures for fragmented and declining populations may need to address such local effects to avoid local extinction before measures at large spatial scales become effective. To assess differences in...
Capturing and marking free‐living birds permits the study of important aspects of their biology but may have undesirable effects. Bird welfare should be a primary concern, so it is necessary to evaluate and minimize any adverse effects of procedures used. We assess short‐term effects associated with the capture, handling and tagging with backpack‐mounted transmitters of Pin‐tailed Pterocles alchata...
A potential key event linking the nestling phase to first‐year survival is fledging (nest leaving) because this process is characterized by a major change of environments and therefore a sudden shift in selective forces. Here we assessed whether different facets of fledging predicted subsequent survival (measured as local recruitment) in Great Tits Parus major. Nestlings had a higher recruitment probability...
Understanding movement of individuals between sites is necessary to quantify emigration and immigration, yet previous analyses exploring sex biases in site fidelity among birds have not evaluated remigration (the return of marked birds that moved to alternative areas from the site at which they were marked). Using novel Bayesian multistate models, we tested whether between‐winter emigration, remigration...
The survival of captive‐bred individuals from release into the wild to their first breeding season is crucial to assess the success of reintroduction or translocation programmes, and to assess their potential impact of wild populations. However, assessing the survival of captive‐bred individuals following their release is often complicated by immediate dispersal once in the wild. Here, we apply Lindberg's...
Body size strongly influences fitness, with larger individuals benefiting in terms of both greater productivity and survivorship; for reverse sexual size dimorphic (RSD) species, this relationship may be more complex. We examined the selection pressures acting on body size in male and female Merlins Falco columbarius to assess whether larger or smaller individuals of this RSD species were favoured...
The study of urban birds has increased exponentially in the last century. A prior review of the scientific literature up to the year 2000 found 100 research articles on urban birds, but in the past decade alone, over 1000 have been published. Here I review the studies from 2006–2015 to characterize their approach, location, general findings and recent obsessions, with an eye toward suggesting important...
Order of birth has profound consequences on offspring across taxa during development and can have effects on individuals later in life. In birds, differential maternal allocation and investment in their progeny lead to variance in the environmental conditions that offspring experience during growth within the brood. In particular, laying and hatching order have been proposed to influence individual...
Extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones are becoming more frequent, but efforts to understand their impact on wildlife have focused on population‐level change rather than the behavioural responses of individuals. In this study, we monitored individually marked Brown Dippers Cinclus pallasii in upland Taiwanese streams in order to investigate the movements of these birds following typhoons...
Conservation of beach‐nesting medium‐distance migrants has focused on breeding areas because protection of nests is more tractable than protection of non‐breeding habitat. As breeding ground management has encountered diminishing returns, interest in understanding threats in non‐breeding areas has increased. However, robust estimates of non‐breeding demographic rates and abundance are generally lacking,...
Latitudinal variation in avian life history strategies is well documented. Clutch size and nest success tend to increase with latitude, whereas longevity and developmental periods have been argued to decrease with latitude. However, these patterns are largely based on interspecific comparisons of species breeding at tropical and temperate latitudes. We compared the life history of Yellow Warblers...
In snowy winters, the survival of Tawny Owls Strix aluco of the grey colour morph is suggested to be better than that of the brown (or red) morph, partly due to their paler plumage, which is presumed to provide better camouflage against predation. If the difference in the susceptibility to predation between the colour morphs is significant, this should probably be reflected in the relation between...
Rapid population declines of many long‐distance Afro‐Palaearctic migratory bird species are ongoing across Europe but the demographic drivers are often poorly understood, thereby limiting the development of appropriate conservation actions. Using long‐term population monitoring (39 years), capture–mark–recapture data and a matrix model, we estimated demographic parameters and the effect of climate...
In common with many other insectivorous birds, the Common Swift Apus apus is undergoing population declines, with an estimated 57% reduction in abundance between 1995 and 2017 in the UK. The ultimate drivers of this decline are poorly understood but links have been drawn to reductions in the abundance and availability of insect prey, as well as loss of nesting sites. The aim of this study is to improve...
The European population of Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata arquata, a near‐threatened wader subspecies, has undergone pronounced population declines over the past 30 years. To assess the demography and viability of its global population, we surveyed studies quantifying demographic rates (productivity and survival) and complemented this review with new estimates of survival probability at the flyway...
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