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Landscape-Level Effects Of Agricultural Intensification On The Condition And Diet Of Nestling Barn Swallows (Hirundo Rustica), Jackson W. Kusack
Landscape-Level Effects Of Agricultural Intensification On The Condition And Diet Of Nestling Barn Swallows (Hirundo Rustica), Jackson W. Kusack
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Farmland bird populations have experienced declines with increasing agricultural intensification for which the leading hypothesis is a reduction of prey insects. This may be especially relevant for aerial insectivores whose primary diet is aerial insects. For this thesis, I examined nestling body condition and used stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) and fecal DNA barcoding to determine the diet of a farmland breeding aerial insectivore, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), within an agro-ecosystem in Southern Ontario, Canada. Nestling body condition was positively affected by agricultural intensification, but all benefits were lost by the pre-fledging stage and …