No effect of passive integrated transponder tagging method on survival or body condition in a northern population of Black‐capped Chickadees (<i>Poecile atricapillus</i>)

Farr, Jonathan James; Haave-Audet, Elène; Thompson, Peter R.; Mathot, Kimberley J.

doi:10.1002/ece3.7783

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Incident rate of leg injuries that were potentially related to tagging in our study population were below 0.005%. Furthermore, a study on small passerine birds found no differences in survival or body condition of tagged versus untagged individuals (Farr et al, 2021), indicative of no negative long‐term effects of tagging. The use of puzzle boxes in combination with RFID technology therefore not only provides a low‐cost method for conducting socio‐cognitive experiments on wild animals in their natural environment, but is also of low ethical concern.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manipulating actions: A selective two‐option device for cognitive experiments in wild animals

Wild

Alarcón‐Nieto

Chimento

et al. 2022

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Advances in biologging technologies have significantly improved our ability to track individual animals' behaviour in their natural environment. Beyond observations, automation of data collection has revolutionized cognitive experiments in the wild. For example, radio‐frequency identification (RFID) antennae embedded in ‘puzzle box’ devices have allowed for large‐scale cognitive experiments where individuals tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags interact with puzzle boxes to gain a food reward, with devices logging both the identity and solving action of visitors. Here, we extended the scope of wild cognitive experiments by developing a fully automated selective two‐option foraging device to specifically control which actions lead to a food reward and which remain unrewarded. Selective devices were based on a sliding‐door foraging puzzle, and built using commercially available low‐cost electronics. We tested it on two free‐ranging PIT‐tagged subpopulations of great tits Parus major as a proof of concept. We conducted a diffusion experiment where birds learned from trained demonstrators to get a food reward by sliding the door either to the left or right. We then restricted access of knowledgeable birds to their less preferred side and calculated the latency until birds produced solutions as a measure of behavioural flexibility. A total of 22 of 23 knowledgeable birds produced at least one solution on their less preferred side after being restricted, with higher‐frequency solvers being faster at doing so. In addition, 18 of the 23 birds reached their solving rate from prior to the restriction on their less preferred side, with birds with stronger prior side preference taking longer to do so. We therefore introduce and successfully test a new selective two‐option puzzle box, providing detailed instructions and freely available software that allows reproducibility. It extends the functionality of existing systems by allowing fine‐scale manipulations of individuals' actions and opens a large range of possibilities to study cognitive processes in wild animal populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manipulating actions: A selective two‐option device for cognitive experiments in wild animals

Wild

Alarcón‐Nieto

Chimento

et al. 2022

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…tarsus, bill length, bill depth, wing length), body mass was recorded, and a small blood sample was collected from the brachial vein to allow for molecular sexing [21]. As part of another study aimed at assessing the effects of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and methods on chickadees, from 2017 to 2019, birds were randomly assigned to receive no PIT tag, a PIT tag attached a colour band, or a PIT tag implanted subcutaneously [22]. Because we relied on radio frequency identification (RFID) to detect birds at feeders (see below), the data presented here are only for chickadees that were fitted with leg band PIT tags, as the implanted PIT tags were found to have unreliable detectability (see [2] for further details).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual risk-taking behaviour in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) does not predict annual survival

2022

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Within species, individuals often show repeatable differences in behaviours, called ‘animal personality’. One behaviour that has been widely studied is how quickly an individual resumes feeding after a disturbance, referred to as boldness or risk-taking. Depending on the mechanism(s) shaping risk-taking behaviour, risk-taking could be positively, negatively, or not associated with differences in overall survival. We studied risk-taking and survival in a population of free-living black-capped chickadees ( Poecile atricapillus ) in which we previously showed repeatable among-individual differences in risk-taking over the course of several months. We found no evidence that variation in risk-taking is associated with differences in annual survival. We suggest that variation in risk-taking is likely shaped by multiple mechanisms simultaneously, such that the net effect on survival is small or null. For example, among-individual differences in energy demand may favour greater risk-taking without imposing an overall mortality cost if higher energy demand covaries with escape flight performance. We propose directions for future work, including using a multi-trait, multi-year approach to study risk-taking, to allow for stronger inferences regarding the mechanisms shaping these behavioural decisions.

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“…Before releasing each bird, we fitted a passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag (2.12x10mm;CYNTAG, Inc;Item#: 601205-2248) to the tarsometatarsus of each adult following the methods established in Bridge and Bonter (2011) to monitor parental visitation. The PIT tags are small coils of magnetic wire programed with a unique 10digit code that can be read by any radio frequency identification (RFID) system (Bridge and Bonter, 2011;Bridge et al, 2019;Farr et al, 2021). We gave every bird a unique combination of color bands and multicolored heat shrink tubing incasing the PIT tags (Figure 1A) to allow us to visually identify individuals using binoculars.…”

Section: Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indirect effects of urbanization: consequences of increased aggression in an urban male songbird for mates and offspring

Lane,

VanDiest,

Brewer

et al. 2023

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Behavioral traits are often the first response to changing environmental conditions, including human induced rapid environmental change. For example, animals living in urban areas are often more aggressive than rural animals. This is especially evident in songbirds; males of several species display elevated aggression in urban habitats. Increased male aggression has been associated with reduced parental care, but the consequences of this trade-off for males, social partners, and offspring in the context of urbanization remains unclear. We explored the effects of increased urban male aggression on the life history traits, parental care, and offspring outcomes of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). We predicted that urban males would reduce paternal investment and result in urban females providing greater nestling care or reduced fledging success in urban habitats compared to rural. Contrary to our prediction, aggressive urban males did not decrease care but visited the nest more often compared to rural males. Additionally, urban birds had higher nest and fledging success compared to rural, though this was largely due to higher nest predation in rural habitats. Our study is among the first to evaluate trade-offs associated with elevated aggression expressed by urban animals and adds to a growing body of evidence that urban habitats provide benefits to some species.

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No effect of passive integrated transponder tagging method on survival or body condition in a northern population of Black‐capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus)

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 6 publications

References 45 publications

Manipulating actions: A selective two‐option device for cognitive experiments in wild animals

Manipulating actions: A selective two‐option device for cognitive experiments in wild animals

Individual risk-taking behaviour in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) does not predict annual survival

Indirect effects of urbanization: consequences of increased aggression in an urban male songbird for mates and offspring

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