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Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology
Breeding Time In A Migratory Songbird Is Predicted By Drought Severity And Group Size, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown
Breeding Time In A Migratory Songbird Is Predicted By Drought Severity And Group Size, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown
School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications
Global climate change is altering the breeding phenology of many organisms, and one reported consequence of warmer average temperatures is earlier breeding times in migratory songbirds of north temperate latitudes. Less studied are the potential interactions between earlier breeding and social behavior in colonial species. We investigated how breeding time, as measured by colony initiation dates across the entire summer, in Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) of southwestern Nebraska, USA, changed over a 30-year period and could be predicted by climatic variables, year, and colony size. Mean colony initiation date became earlier over the study, with variation best predicted …