Environmental temperatures, artificial nests, and incubation of Cassin's auklet

Kelsey, Emily C.; Bradley, Russell W.; Warzybok, Pete; Jahncke, Jaime; Shaffer, Scott A.

doi:10.1002/jwmg.1012

Cited by 17 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Western gulls forage during the day, exchanging incubation duties multiple times, while at night they are more quiescent (Pierotti, 1981). This pattern is also evident, but reversed, in the nocturnal Cassin's auklet where egg turning rates are higher at night, when the parents are exchanging incubation duties (Kelsey et al, 2016, Shaffer et al, 2014. Laysan albatrosses do not exhibit diurnal patterns in egg turning rate (Shaffer et al, 2014), possibly because the exchange of incubation duties does not cycle diurnally in this species (Rice and Kenyon, 1962).…”

Section: Egg Turning Rate In Forster's Ternsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Hourly and daily egg turning rates, as well as mean hourly and daily temperatures, were determined for each egg logger deployment, consistent with previous studies (Beaulieu et al, 2010b;Shaffer et al, 2014;Kelsey et al, 2016). Daily egg turning rate was characterized as the number of turns between consecutive sunrises.…”

Section: Data Processingmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Most species studied using similar technology average approximately 2 turns h !! (Clatterbuck et al, in review; Kelsey et al, 2016;Shaffer et al, 2014), which is typical of birds with semi-precocial offspring (Deeming, 2002). Egg turning rates have been reported for several gull species (Carey, 1980), but these studies included numerous potential sources of inaccuracy (human disturbance, sampling only during the day, reliance on visual observations, small sample size, etc.)…”

Section: Egg Turning Rate In Forster's Ternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cassin's auklets exchange incubation duties on a nightly basis (i.e., ca. 24 hours), where parents alternate between foraging at sea at night or sitting on the nest and incubating the egg during the day (Kelsey et al, 2016). Both Adelie penguins and Laysan albatrosses alternate prolonged incubation bouts with long foraging trips so parents change out less frequently (Beaulieu et al, 2010a;Shaffer et al, 2014).…”

Section: Egg Turning Rate In Forster's Ternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forster's terns (Evers et al, 2008;Eagles-Smith and Ackerman, 2010), specific behaviors like egg turning rates or patterns have not been examined simultaneously with measures of mercury contamination. Egg temperatures may also be affected by the egg turning behavior of the parents (Kelsey et al, 2016) or by decreased parental nest attendance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Egg Turning Behavior and Egg Temperature in Relation to Mercury Contamination of Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri)

Taylor¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several avian species exhibit reduced hatching success as a result of mercury contamination, but the mechanism by which this occurs is unknown. We examined egg turning rates and egg temperatures, two important determinants of egg hatchability, in relation to egg mercury contamination of Forster's terns (Sterna forsteri) in San Francisco Bay. Here, we used artificial eggs containing a data logger with a 3-D accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a temperature thermistor to monitor parental incubation behavior (sampled at 1 Hz) of 186 tern nests. Overall, adults turned their eggs an average of 3.8 ± 0.8 SD turns h !! , which is nearly two times higher than that of other seabirds. Egg turning rates also increased with nest initiation date. Changes about the yaw axis (side-to-side egg movements) were the most prominent aspect of egg turning (224 ± 4.7 degrees h !!), though roll and pitch (up-and-down movements) also showed substantial changes (149 ± 2.5 degrees h !! and 89 ± 1.1 degrees h !! , respectively). Despite the high variability in egg turning rates among individuals (SD = 0.8 turns h !!), the rate of turning was not correlated with mercury concentrations in surrogate eggs collected from the same nest. Our results indicate that egg turning rates in Forster's terns are high, but unrelated to mercury contamination. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Scott Shaffer, for his guidance and advice every step of the way. Many thanks to Josh Ackerman, for his collaboration on this project and for sharing his expertise. Dr. Shelley Cargill, for her helpful feedback.

show abstract

Section: Egg Turning Rate In Forster's Ternsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Data Processingmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Egg Turning Rate In Forster's Ternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Egg Turning Rate In Forster's Ternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Egg Turning Behavior and Egg Temperature in Relation to Mercury Contamination of Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri)

Taylor¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Organochlorines, perfluoroalkyl substances, mercury, and egg incubation temperature in an Arctic seabird: Insights from data loggers

Blévin

Shaffer

Bustamante

et al. 2018

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In birds, incubation-related behaviors and brood patch formation are influenced by hormonal regulation such as prolactin secretion. Brood patch provides efficient heat transfer between the incubating parent and the developing embryo in the egg. Importantly, several environmental contaminants are already known to have adverse effects on avian reproduction. However, relatively little is known about the effect of contaminants on incubation temperature (T ) in wild birds. By using temperature thermistors placed into artificial eggs, we investigated whether the most contaminated parent birds are less able to provide appropriate egg warming and thus less committed to incubating their clutch. Specifically, we investigated the relationships among 3 groups of contaminants (organochlorines, perfluoroalkyl substances [PFASs], and mercury [Hg]) with T and also with prolactin concentrations and brood patch size in incubating Arctic black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla). Our results reveal that among the organochlorines considered, only blood levels of oxychlordane, the main metabolite of chlordane, a banned pesticide, were negatively related to the minimum incubation temperature in male kittiwakes. Levels of PFASs and Hg were unrelated to T in kittiwakes. Moreover, our study suggests a possible underlying mechanism: since we reported a significant and negative association between blood oxychlordane concentrations and the size of the brood patch in males. Finally, this reduced T in the most oxychlordane-contaminated kittiwakes was associated with a lower egg hatching probability. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:2881-2894. © 2018 SETAC.

show abstract

Effectiveness of novel artificial seabird nest modules for reducing ambient temperature transfer in a warming climate

Johns,

Bradley,

Warzybok

et al. 2023

Wildlife Society Bulletin

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Artificial habitat for cavity nesting birds can provide excellent opportunities for research and conservation efforts but may expose species to the negative impacts of warming ambient temperatures with climate change. Artificial nest boxes have been successfully used to monitor the breeding activity of the Cassin's auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus), a small burrow‐nesting seabird, on Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI) since 1971. Mean monthly ambient air temperatures on SEFI during the summer months have increased at an annual rate of roughly 0.03°C from 1971 to 2022, along with an increase in the number of extreme heat days and average maximum temperature, confirming a warming trend at this seabird colony. Given a projected increase in global temperature, we assessed the effectiveness of traditional wooden nest boxes vs. newer ceramic modules at buffering external ambient air temperatures in normal and extreme heat days across a gradient of microclimates on SEFI. Results from fitting linear mixed effects models indicated that, on average, internal temperatures of wooden and ceramic nests (of comparable size and shape) exhibited similar rates of deviation from ambient air temperature of approximately 0.15°C, even during extreme heat events. Ceramic modules did keep nest chambers cooler by approximately 1.2°C than wooden boxes during extreme events at the warmer, drier southern location of the island. Our results can help guide future efforts to design artificial nests that can effectively provide habitat for seabirds as ambient temperatures increase.

show abstract

Environmental temperatures, artificial nests, and incubation of Cassin's auklet

Cited by 17 publications

References 26 publications

Egg Turning Behavior and Egg Temperature in Relation to Mercury Contamination of Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri)

Egg Turning Behavior and Egg Temperature in Relation to Mercury Contamination of Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri)

Organochlorines, perfluoroalkyl substances, mercury, and egg incubation temperature in an Arctic seabird: Insights from data loggers

Effectiveness of novel artificial seabird nest modules for reducing ambient temperature transfer in a warming climate

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About