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Parent-Offspring Resemblance In Colony-Specific Adult Survival Of Cliff Swallows, Charles R. Brown, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown
Parent-Offspring Resemblance In Colony-Specific Adult Survival Of Cliff Swallows, Charles R. Brown, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown
School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications
Survival is a key component of fitness. Species that occupy discrete breeding colonies with different characteristics are often exposed to varying costs and benefits associated with group size or environmental conditions, and survival is an integrative net measure of these effects. We investigated the extent to which survival probability of adult (≥ 1-year old) cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) occupying different colonies resembled that of their parental cohort and thus whether the natal colony had long-term effects on individuals. Individuals were cross-fostered between colonies soon after hatching and their presence as breeders monitored at colonies in the western Nebraska …
Ectoparasitism Shortens The Breeding Season In A Colonial Bird, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown
Ectoparasitism Shortens The Breeding Season In A Colonial Bird, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown
School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications
When blood-feeding parasites increase seasonally, their deleterious effects may prevent some host species, especially those living in large groups where parasites are numerous, from reproducing later in the summer. Yet the role of parasites in regulating the length of a host’s breeding season—and thus the host’s opportunity for multiple brooding—has not been systematically investigated. The highly colonial cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota), a temperate-latitude migratory songbird in the western Great Plains, USA, typically has a relatively short (eight to nine week) breeding season, with birds rarely nesting late in the summer. Colonies at which ectoparasitic swallow bugs (Oeciacus vicarius) were experimentally …