Breeding biology of Western Bonelli’s Warblers<i>Phylloscopus bonelli</i>in the Mediterranean region

Roncalli, Gianluca; Ibáñez‐Álamo, Juan Diego; Soler, Manuel

doi:10.1080/00063657.2016.1215408

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(65 reference statements)

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“…In all the experiments in which we recorded ejection, all the plasticine eggs were ejected by females, this being the expected result for species in which only the females incubate (Soler et al 2002), such as Bonelli's Warblers (Roncalli et al 2016). Females invariably ejected by grasping (including large eggs).…”

Section: Ejection Events and Female Behavioursupporting

confidence: 62%

“…), such as Bonelli's Warblers (Roncalli et al . ). Females invariably ejected by grasping (including large eggs).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In our study area, Bonelli's Warblers began to breed by the second half of May, laying on average 4.9 eggs, with both incubation and nestling periods of 12–13 days (Roncalli et al . ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Once we located a nest, we visited it every other day to establish the exact laying date. Because female Bonelli's Warblers lay one egg per day (Cramp 1985, Roncalli et al 2016, we could accurately determine the date on which clutch size was completed before conducting egg-addition experiments 1 or 2 days after clutch completion.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Females spend most of their time near the ground and typically give excitement calls when coming to the nest, whereas males are usually higher in the canopy of trees and sing from perch sites in the tree crown. In our study area, Bonelli's Warblers began to breed by the second half of May, laying on average 4.9 eggs, with both incubation and nestling periods of 12-13 days (Roncalli et al 2016).…”

Section: Study Area and Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Size and material of model parasitic eggs affect the rejection response of Western Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli

Roncalli

Ibáñez‐Álamo

Soler

2016

Ibis

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Given the high costs of brood parasitism, avian hosts have adopted different defences to counteract parasites by ejecting the foreign egg or by deserting the parasitized nest. These responses depend mainly on the relative size of the host compared with the parasitic egg. Small hosts must deal with an egg considerably larger than their own, so nest desertion becomes the only possible method of egg rejection in these cases. The use of artificial model eggs made of hard material in egg-recognition experiments has been criticized because hard eggs underestimate the frequency of egg ejection. However, no available studies have investigated the effect of softer material. Here, we test the potential effect of size of dummy parasitic eggs in relation to egg-rejection behaviour (egg ejection and nest desertion rates) in Western Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli, a small host, using plasticine non-mimetic eggs of three different sizes. In addition, we tested the potential effect of material, comparing ejection and desertion responses between real and plasticine eggs. As predicted, small eggs were always ejected, whereas nest desertion occurred more frequently with large eggs, thus suggesting that nest desertion occurs because of the constraints imposed by the large eggs. We found that plasticine may misrepresent the responses to experimental parasitism, at least in small host species, because this material facilitates egg ejection, provoking a decrease in nest desertion rate. Thus, particular caution is needed in the interpretation of the results in egg-rejection experiments performed using dummy eggs made of soft materials.

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Section: Ejection Events and Female Behavioursupporting

confidence: 62%

“…), such as Bonelli's Warblers (Roncalli et al . ). Females invariably ejected by grasping (including large eggs).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In our study area, Bonelli's Warblers began to breed by the second half of May, laying on average 4.9 eggs, with both incubation and nestling periods of 12–13 days (Roncalli et al . ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Area and Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Size and material of model parasitic eggs affect the rejection response of Western Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli

Roncalli

Ibáñez‐Álamo

Soler

2016

Ibis

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A test of the mechanistic process behind the convergent agonistic character displacement hypothesis

Luepold,

Carlotti,

Pasinelli

2024

Behavioral Ecology

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In this era of rapid global change, understanding the mechanisms that enable or prevent species from co-occurring has assumed new urgency. The convergent agonistic character displacement (CACD) hypothesis posits that signal similarity enables co-occurrence of ecological competitors by promoting aggressive interactions that reduce interspecific territory overlap and hence, exploitative competition. In northwestern Switzerland, ca. 10% of Phylloscopus sibilatrix produce songs containing syllables that are typical of their co-occurring sister species, P. bonelli (“mixed singers”). To examine whether the consequences of P. sibilatrix mixed singing are consistent with CACD, we combined a playback experiment and an analysis of interspecific territory overlap. Although P. bonelli reacted more aggressively to playback of mixed P. sibilatrix song than to playback of typical P. sibilatrix song, interspecific territory overlap was not reduced for mixed singers. Thus, the CACD hypothesis was not supported, which stresses the importance of distinguishing between interspecific aggressive interactions and their presumed spatial consequences.

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Fully accounting for nest age reduces bias when quantifying nest survival

Weiser

2021

Ornithological Applications

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Accurately measuring nest survival is challenging because nests must be discovered to be monitored, but nests are typically not found on the first day of the nesting interval. Studies of nest survival therefore often monitor a sample that overrepresents older nests. To account for this sampling bias, a daily survival rate (DSR) is estimated and then used to calculate nest survival to the end of the interval. However, estimates of DSR (and thus nest survival) can still be biased if DSR changes with nest age and nests are not found at age 0. Including nest age as a covariate of DSR and carefully considering the method of estimating nest survival can prevent such biases, but many published studies have not fully accounted for changes in DSR with nest age. I used a simulation study to quantify biases in estimates of nest survival resulting from changes in DSR with nest age under a variety of scenarios. I tested four methods of estimating nest survival from the simulated datasets and evaluated the bias and variance of each estimate. Nest survival estimates were often strongly biased when DSR varied with age but DSR was assumed to be constant, as well as when the model included age as a covariate but calculated nest survival from DSR at the mean monitored nest age (the method typically used in previous studies). In contrast, biases were usually avoided when nest survival was calculated as the product of age-specific estimates of DSR across the full nesting interval. However, the unbiased estimates often showed large variance, especially when few nests were found at young ages. Future field studies can maximize the accuracy and precision of nest survival estimates by aiming to find nests at young ages, including age as a covariate in the DSR model, and calculating nest survival as the product of age-specific estimates of DSR when DSR changes with nest age.

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Breeding biology of Western Bonelli’s WarblersPhylloscopus bonelliin the Mediterranean region

Cited by 3 publications

References 46 publications

Size and material of model parasitic eggs affect the rejection response of Western Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli

Size and material of model parasitic eggs affect the rejection response of Western Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli

A test of the mechanistic process behind the convergent agonistic character displacement hypothesis

Fully accounting for nest age reduces bias when quantifying nest survival

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