Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Winkler, David W.; Hallinger, Kelly K.; Ardia, Daniel R.; Robertson, Raleigh J.; Stutchbury, Bridget J. M.; Cohen, R. R.

doi:10.2173/bna.treswa.02

Cited by 49 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…The mean mass of freshly laid tree swallow eggs in west Michigan was consistent with those measured elsewhere in North America (Winkler et al 2011, Pellerin et al 2016). These results suggest that genetic or phenotypic variations among female tree swallows experiencing different local environments during egg production have minimal effects on egg mass and imply a long history of stabilizing selection on egg mass.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Second, females may strategically allocate more resources to later eggs, perhaps to compensate for differences among nestlings in size and competitive ability which can result from asynchronous hatching (Slagsvold et al 1984). Although asynchronous hatching is common in tree swallows (Winkler et al 2011), we do not think that this explanation adequately explains our observations. At our study site and elsewhere, tree swallow eggs laid earlier in the season are more likely to produce local recruits (Winkler and Allen 1995, Winkler et al 2004, Shutler et al 2006, Dawson 2008, Lombardo et al 2020) suggesting that laying heavier eggs later in the season, or laying sequence, does not necessarily increase the relative competitiveness of their later‐hatched nestlings.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 62%

“…Female tree swallows can be assigned to three different plumage categories: a) second year (SY) females have mostly (i.e. > 50%) brown dorsal plumage, b) after‐hatching year (AHY) females have dorsal plumage of ~ 50% brown and ~ 50% iridescent blue‐green or c) after‐second year (ASY) females have mostly iridescent blue‐green dorsal plumage (Cohen 1980, Hussell 1983, Winkler et al 2011). Breeding AHY females may be in either their first or later breeding season (Hussell 1983, Winkler et al 2011).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…> 50%) brown dorsal plumage, b) after‐hatching year (AHY) females have dorsal plumage of ~ 50% brown and ~ 50% iridescent blue‐green or c) after‐second year (ASY) females have mostly iridescent blue‐green dorsal plumage (Cohen 1980, Hussell 1983, Winkler et al 2011). Breeding AHY females may be in either their first or later breeding season (Hussell 1983, Winkler et al 2011). Data from AHY females are not included in some analyses because they represented 13/279 (4.7%) of breeding females and laid only 50/1977 (2.5%) eggs).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors associated with the mass of eggs laid by tree swallowsTachycineta bicolorvaried yearly between 2008 and 2016 in Michigan

Lombardo

Thorpe

Otieno

et al. 2021

Journal of Avian Biology

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The initial investment a female bird makes in an offspring is her production of its egg. The size of this investment can have important evolutionary consequences for both the female and her offspring. Between 2008 and 2016, we weighed 1977 tree swallow eggs freshly laid in nest boxes in west Michigan to investigate factors associated with egg mass. Breeding female age class was not associated with egg mass. Overall, eggs that hatched weighed significantly more than those that did not. An egg's mass was not associated with clutch size but increased with its position in the laying sequence. Females that bred multiple times showed high repeatability of egg mass. Mother–daughter narrow sense heritability of egg mass was low. There were statistically significant associations, both positive and negative, between female morphological characteristics and egg mass in some years but not others. Similarly, relationships between egg mass and weather conditions during egg formation were statistically significant in some years but not others. In summary, female characteristics and weather conditions were associated with tree swallow egg mass, but their influences varied yearly. These results reinforce the importance of long‐term studies for identifying the causes of selection that shape life‐history characteristics.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 62%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Factors associated with the mass of eggs laid by tree swallowsTachycineta bicolorvaried yearly between 2008 and 2016 in Michigan

Lombardo

Thorpe

Otieno

et al. 2021

Journal of Avian Biology

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“…Under projected climate change scenarios, the frequency of these extreme events is predicted to increase 6 , warranting greater understanding of their effects. Tree swallows feed primarily on aerial insects that emerge from aquatic environments during warmer weather 30 but are negatively affected by cold snaps 31 . We hypothesized that in years with more abundant ponds or warmer and wetter soil moisture conditions present when females bred would reflect increased food supply 32 or higher quality food, resulting in the production of larger broods 33 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative contribution of individual quality and changing climate as drivers of lifetime reproductive success in a short-lived avian species

Berzins

Dawson

Morrissey

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Animal populations are influenced strongly by fluctuations in weather conditions, but long-term fitness costs are rarely explored, especially in short-lived avian species. We evaluated the relative contributions of individual characteristics and environmental conditions to lifetime reproductive success (LRS) of female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) from two populations breeding in contrasting environments and geographies, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, Canada. Female swallows achieved higher LRS by breeding early in the season and producing more fledglings. Other measures of female quality had virtually no influence on LRS. Genetic factors did not predict LRS, as there was no correlation between life-history components for sister pairs nor between mothers and their daughters. Instead, climate variability—indexed by spring pond density (i.e., abundance of wetland basins holding water) during years when females bred—had strong positive effects on female LRS in more arid Saskatchewan but only weak positive effects of moisture conditions were detected in wetter British Columbia. Overall, several life history trait correlates of LRS were similar between populations, but local environmental factors experienced by individuals while breeding produced large differences in LRS. Consequently, variable and extreme environmental conditions associated with changing climate are predicted to influence individual fitness of distinct populations within a species’ range.

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Conservation implications of a lack of relationship between baseline glucocorticoids and fitness in a wild passerine

Madliger

Love

2016

Ecological Applications

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The application of physiological measures to conservation monitoring has been gaining momentum and, while a suite of physiological traits are available to ascertain disturbance and condition in wildlife populations, glucocorticoids (i.e., GCs; cortisol and corticosterone) are the most heavily employed. The interpretation of GC levels as sensitive indicators of population change necessitates that GCs and metrics of population persistence are linked. However, the relationship between GCs and fitness may be highly context-dependent, changing direction, or significance, depending on the GC measure, fitness metric, life history stage, or other intrinsic and extrinsic contexts considered. We examined the relationship between baseline plasma corticosterone (CORT) levels measured at two periods of the breeding season and three metrics of fitness (offspring quality, reproductive output, and adult survival) in female Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Specifically, we investigated whether (1) a relationship between baseline CORT metrics and fitness exists in our population, (2) whether the inclusion of energetic contexts, such as food availability, reproductive investment, or body mass, could alter or improve the strength of the relationship between CORT and fitness, and (3) whether energetic contexts could better predict fitness compared to CORT metrics. Importantly, we investigated these relationships in both natural conditions and under an experimental manipulation of foraging profitability (feather clipping) to determine the influence of an environmental constraint on GC-fitness relationships. We found a lack of relationship between baseline CORT and both short- and long-term metrics of fitness in control and clipped birds. In contrast, loss in body mass over reproduction positively predicted reproductive output (number of chicks leaving the nest) in control birds; however, the relationship was characterized by a low R (5%), limiting the predictive capacity, and therefore the application potential, of such a measure in a conservation setting. Our results stress the importance of ground-truthing GC-fitness relationships and indicate that baseline GCs will likely not be easily employed as conservation biomarkers across some species and life history stages. Given the accumulating evidence of temporally dynamic, inconsistent, and context-dependent GC-fitness relationships, placing effort towards directly measuring fitness traits, rather than plasma GC levels, will likely be more worthwhile for many conservation endeavours.

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Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Cited by 49 publications

References 0 publications

Factors associated with the mass of eggs laid by tree swallowsTachycineta bicolorvaried yearly between 2008 and 2016 in Michigan

Factors associated with the mass of eggs laid by tree swallowsTachycineta bicolorvaried yearly between 2008 and 2016 in Michigan

The relative contribution of individual quality and changing climate as drivers of lifetime reproductive success in a short-lived avian species

Conservation implications of a lack of relationship between baseline glucocorticoids and fitness in a wild passerine

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