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Cliff swallow

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Extreme Group Sizes In A Colonial Bird Favored During A Rare Climatic Event, Charles R. Brown, Mary B. Brown Jan 2018

Extreme Group Sizes In A Colonial Bird Favored During A Rare Climatic Event, Charles R. Brown, Mary B. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

What maintains stasis in animal group-size distributions is an unresolved problem in behavioral ecology. One potential driver could be rare climatic events that favor certain group sizes in ways that do not occur in normal conditions. We investigated mortality among colonially nesting cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) during a rare climatic event in western Nebraska in 1996 that led to the starvation of thousands of adult birds. Colonies at the extreme end of the size distribution exhibited less size reduction (higher adult survival) than those of intermediate size. That this event resulted in disruptive selection on colony size was …

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Fluctuating Survival Selection Explains Variation In Avian Group Size, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Erin A. Roche, Valerie A. O'Brien, Catherine E. Page May 2016

Fluctuating Survival Selection Explains Variation In Avian Group Size, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Erin A. Roche, Valerie A. O'Brien, Catherine E. Page

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Most animal groups vary extensively in size. Because individuals in certain sizes of groups often have higher apparent fitness than those in other groups, why wide group size variation persists in most populations remains unexplained. We used a 30-y mark– recapture study of colonially breeding cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) to show that the survival advantages of different colony sizes fluctuated among years. Colony size was under both stabilizing and directional selection in different years, and reversals in the sign of directional selection regularly occurred. Directional selection was predicted in part by drought conditions: birds in larger colonies tended …

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The Effect Of Weather During Rearing On Morphometric Traits Of Juvenile Cliff Swallows, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown, Charles R. Brown Dec 2014

The Effect Of Weather During Rearing On Morphometric Traits Of Juvenile Cliff Swallows, Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Episodes of food deprivation may change how nestling birds allocate energy to the growth of skeletal and feather morphological traits during development. Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) are colonial, insectivorous birds that regu­larly experience brief periods of severe weather–induced food deprivation during the nesting season which may affect offspring development. We investigated how annual variation in timing of rearing and weather were associated with length of wing and tail, skeletal traits, and body mass in juvenile cliff swallows reared in southwestern Nebraska during 2001–2006. As predicted under conditions of food deprivation, nestling skeletal and feather measurements were generally smaller …

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Fluctuating Viability Selection On Morphology Of Cliff Swallows Is Driven By Climate, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Erin A. Roche May 2013

Fluctuating Viability Selection On Morphology Of Cliff Swallows Is Driven By Climate, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Erin A. Roche

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The extent to which fluctuating selection can maintain evolutionary stasis in most populations remains an unresolved question in evolutionary biology. Climate has been hypothesized to drive reversals in the direction of selection among different time periods and may also be responsible for intense episodic selection caused by rare weather events. We measured viability selection associated with morphological traits in cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) in western Nebraska, USA, over a 14-year period following a rare climatic event. We used mark-recapture to estimate the annual apparent survival of over 26 000 individuals whose wing, tail, tarsus, and bill had been …

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Heritable Choice Of Colony Size In Cliff Swallows: Does Experience Trump Genetics In Older Birds?, Erin A. Roche, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown Dec 2011

Heritable Choice Of Colony Size In Cliff Swallows: Does Experience Trump Genetics In Older Birds?, Erin A. Roche, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The variation in breeding colony size seen in populations of most colonial birds may reflect heritable choices made by individuals that are phenotypically specialized for particular social environments. Although a few studies have reported evidence for genetically based choice of group sizes in birds, we know relatively little about the extent to which animals potentially rely on experience versus innate preferences in deciding how many conspecifics to settle with at different times of their lives. We conducted a cross-fostering experiment in 1997–1998 on cliff swallows, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, in southwestern Nebraska, USA, in which some individuals were reared in colonies …

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Isolation By Distance Explains Genetic Structure Of Buggy Creek Virus, A Bird-Associated Arbovirus, Abinash Padhi, Amy T. Moore, Mary Bomberger Brown, Jerome E. Foster, Martin Pfeffer, Charles R. Brown Mar 2011

Isolation By Distance Explains Genetic Structure Of Buggy Creek Virus, A Bird-Associated Arbovirus, Abinash Padhi, Amy T. Moore, Mary Bomberger Brown, Jerome E. Foster, Martin Pfeffer, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Many of the arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) show extensive genetic variability and are widely distributed over large geographic areas. Understanding how virus genetic structure varies in space may yield insight into how these pathogens are adapted to and dispersed by different hosts or vectors, the relative importance of mutation, drift, or selection in generating genetic variability, and where and when epidemics or epizootics are most likely to occur. However, because most arboviruses tend to be sampled opportunistically and often cannot be isolated in large numbers at a given locale, surprisingly little is known about their spatial genetic structure on the local …

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Deterring Cliff-Swallow Nesting On Highway Structures Using Bioacoustics And Surface Modifications, Jaclyn S. Conklin, Michael J. Delwiche, W. Paul Gorenzel, Robert W. Coates Apr 2009

Deterring Cliff-Swallow Nesting On Highway Structures Using Bioacoustics And Surface Modifications, Jaclyn S. Conklin, Michael J. Delwiche, W. Paul Gorenzel, Robert W. Coates

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) are migratory birds that breed in colonies and frequently nest on highway structures. Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, swallows in their active nests cannot be harmed by nesting-control methods. This causes problems and delays in maintenance of structures by divisions of many departments of transportation. We evaluated 2 aversion strategies, bioacoustic deterrents and surface modifi cations, for their effect on cliff swallow nesting behavior. The bioacoustic deterrents consisted of sonic devices that broadcast 8 unique recordings of alarm and distress calls of cliff swallows. We made surface modifications, mounting high-density …

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Familiarity With Breeding Habitat Improves Daily Survival In Colonial Cliff Swallows, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Kathleen R. Brazeal Oct 2008

Familiarity With Breeding Habitat Improves Daily Survival In Colonial Cliff Swallows, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Kathleen R. Brazeal

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

One probable cost of dispersing to a new breeding habitat is unfamiliarity with local conditions such as the whereabouts of food or the habits of local predators, and consequently immigrants may have lower probabilities of survival than more experienced residents. Within a breeding season, estimated daily survival probabilities of cliff swallows, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, at colonies in southwestern Nebraska, USA, were highest for birds that had always nested at the same site, followed by those for birds that had nested there in some (but not all) past years. Daily survival probabilities were lowest for birds that were naive immigrants to …

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Experimental Inoculation Of House Sparrows (Passer Domesticus) With Buggy Creek Virus, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Amy T. Moore, Nicholas A. Panella, Eric A. Edwards, Mary Bomberger Brown, Nicholas Komar, Charles R. Brown Jan 2008

Experimental Inoculation Of House Sparrows (Passer Domesticus) With Buggy Creek Virus, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Amy T. Moore, Nicholas A. Panella, Eric A. Edwards, Mary Bomberger Brown, Nicholas Komar, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We performed experimental inoculations of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) with Buggy Creek virus (BCRV), a poorly known alphavirus (Togaviridae) vectored primarily by the swallow bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae: Oeciacus vicarius) that is an ectoparasite of the cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and house sparrow. Viremias were detected by plaque assay in two of six birds on days 1–3 postinoculation; viremia was highest on day 2. Viral RNA was detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in blood of six of 12 birds ranging from day 1 to day 15 postinoculation. Infectious BCRV was detected in …

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Ecological Correlates Of Buggy Creek Virus Infection In Oeciacus Vicarius, Southwestern Nebraska, 2004, Amy T. Moore, Eric A. Edwards, Mary Bomberger Brown, Nicholas Komar, Charles R. Brown Jan 2007

Ecological Correlates Of Buggy Creek Virus Infection In Oeciacus Vicarius, Southwestern Nebraska, 2004, Amy T. Moore, Eric A. Edwards, Mary Bomberger Brown, Nicholas Komar, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Buggy Creek virus (family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, BCRV) is an alphavirus within the western equine encephalitis virus complex whose primary vector is the swallow bug, Oeciacus vicarius Horvath (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), an ectoparasite of the colonially nesting cliff swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, that is also a frequent host for the virus.We investigated ecological correlates of BCRV infection in 100-bug pools at 14 different swallow colony sites in southwestern Nebraska from summer 2004, by using plaque assay on Vero cells to identify cytopathic virus and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to identify noncytopathic viral RNA. We found 26.7% of swallow bug pools …

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