Effects of the winter beechmast crop on bird occurrence in British gardens

Capsule Woodland birds were significantly less likely to occur in gardens in years of high beechmast crop.

Aim To test the hypothesis that woodland species that feed on beechmast will have significantly lower occurrence rates at garden feeders in mast years.

Methods Weekly winter occurrence rates at garden feeders between 1970/71 and 1999/2000 for 40 species were analysed in relation to annual beechmast abundance, classified into low, medium and high years. A repeated-measures logistic regression model was used to assess whether beechmast abundance explained further significant variation additional to underlying seasonal and annual trends.

Results Seven species that commonly feed on beechmast showed significantly lower occurrence in gardens in years of highest beechmast abundance: Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major, Woodpigeon Columba palumbus, Great Tit Parus major, Coal Tit Periparus ater, Nuthatch Sitta europaea, Jay Garrulus glandarius and Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs. Blackbird Turdus merula and Siskin Carduelis spinus, which showed similar significant patterns, are likely to take beechmast as elements of their diet. Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba was the only insectivorous species to show significant effects, but occurrence was lowest in years of intermediate beechmast abundance. For the latter species, this may have been due to confounding effects of temperature, but there were no such confounding effects of either temperature, or the number of bird feeders provided in gardens, for the other nine species.

Conclusion Use of artificial food sources by birds in gardens is influenced by resources in the surrounding countryside, suggesting that food provided in gardens may play a significant part in the population dynamics of these species, that population monitoring without consideration of the garden habitat may be deficient, and that volunteer-based garden bird recording may provide data that can be used as an indicator of changes in the wider countryside.     

新疆北部白冠攀雀的巢与巢址选择

2008年4—7月,在新疆北部对白冠攀雀巢址选择进行了研究。白冠攀雀的营巢习性特殊,巢呈囊袋状,结构甚为精致。对于白冠攀雀巢的研究,采用总面积调查法,进行地毯式的搜寻,并结合标图法对其进行标记,绘制分布图。研究结果共发现巢125个,营巢位于于临近湖泊、河流等水域附近的柳树、杨树、桦树等阔叶树上。营巢树种以柳树为主,占68.80%。巢的高度平均为(5.3±2.5)m,营巢于乔木的中下部（约1/3处）,约70%的巢离河边不足30 m。对于巢址选择的研究,将原始记录中与巢址选择有关的特征变量进行主成分分析,分析表明,影响白冠攀雀巢址选择的主要因素有4种,依次为：郁闭度因素（包括营巢树胸径、巢上郁闭度）、营巢树种因素(包括营巢树种、树高、巢位高度和乔木种类)、方位因素（包括距河边距离和巢向）、食物与巢材因素。     

Significant effects of season and bird age on use of coppice woodland by songbirds

Woodland birds have experienced widespread population declines across Europe, resulting partly from a decrease in management practices such as coppicing. Increasing fuelwood demand may reverse the decline of coppicing, making it timely to attempt a fuller understanding of its effects. Here, the impact of coppicing on year‐round habitat use by adults and juveniles of 16 songbird species was quantified from a quasi‐experimental study over 32 years (1978–2009) in Treswell Wood, Nottinghamshire, UK. Habitat use was inferred using capture rates from more than 10 000 h of mist‐netting (> 25 000 captures) and detailed information on coppicing. Capture rates varied with coppice age in different ways: (1) increases as coppice aged (e.g. Marsh Tit Poecile palustris, juvenile Eurasian Treecreepers Certhia familiaris); (2) declines as coppice aged (e.g. Eurasian Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus, Great Tit Parus major); (3) peaks in capture rates at intermediate coppice age (i.e. 5–15 years) (e.g. Garden Warbler Sylvia borin, Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus, adult Treecreepers); and (4) a peak at intermediate ages, followed by a decline, before an increase in use again at the oldest coppice ages (i.e. > 20 years) (e.g. Common Blackbird Turdus merula, Eurasian Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla, Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula). Responses to coppice age were similar in different seasons, although Willow Tits Poecile montana showed little preference during breeding but avoided older coppice at other times. Juveniles and adults often differed in their responses to coppice age. The analyses reveal patterns in habitat use that are relevant to woodland management and conservation policy. They suggest that a mosaic of age structures in woodland is beneficial to a wide range of woodland species, and that management should consider the requirements of all age‐classes of birds at different times of year.     

繁殖期杂色山雀应激水平的皮质酮浓度 与繁殖投入的关系

皮质酮是鸟类重要的糖皮质激素,在其适应环境变化及压力应激反应中起重要的调节作用。非应激状态时,鸟类血浆皮质酮浓度处于基线水平,当鸟类面对应激刺激时,血浆皮质酮浓度迅速升高,应激水平的皮质酮对鸟类个体生存至关重要。然而,目前繁殖季鸟类血浆应激水平的皮质酮浓度变化及其与繁殖投入关系的研究结果存在种间差异,仍需在不同的物种中进行实验研究。本研究分析了繁殖季杂色山雀（Sittiparus varius）血浆应激水平的皮质酮浓度在繁殖阶段的变化,及育雏期亲鸟血浆应激水平的皮质酮浓度与繁殖参数和亲鸟育雏投入的关系。结果显示,与求偶期相比,育雏期杂色山雀亲鸟血浆应激水平的皮质酮浓度极显著升高（P < 0.001）,雌性与雄性亲鸟之间无显著性差异（P > 0.05）;雌性与雄性亲鸟血浆应激水平的皮质酮浓度与繁殖参数、亲鸟递食投入、巢防卫行为均无显著相关性（P > 0.05）。     

A simple tool for calculating egg shape,volume and surface area from digital images

The geometrical properties of eggs – such as volume and surface area – have uses ranging from ecological, physiological and morphological studies in birds, to predictions of chick condition in the poultry industry. Although measurements of an egg's length and breadth can be used to approximate its geometry, the coefficients used in these models are specific to the original test population, and intraspecific variation in egg shape means these methods cannot be used reliably beyond that population. Here I present a novel mathematical formula to describe the curvature of a bird's egg that can be used to calculate the shape, volume and surface area of an egg precisely from digital images. Using data from several species I demonstrate that the model has a greater level of accuracy than length‐ and breadth‐based methods, and release the user‐friendly tool for others to use for measuring eggs from digital images.     

The economic basis of cooperation: tradeoffs between selfishness and generosity

The current study examined the economics of cooperation in controlled-payoffgames by using captive blue jays, Cyanocitta cristata. Thisinvestigation used a special feeding apparatus to test for thestability of cooperative choice in a series of iterated games.The jays experienced experimentally determined game theoreticalpayoff matrices, which determined the distribution of food tothemselves and their opponent, depending on their decision tocooperate or defect. The experiment tested four game matrices,called the cooperate only, defect only, prisoner's dilemma,and opponent control treatments. This study found little cooperationin the defect only and prisoner's dilemma treatments. Cooperationoccurred significantly more often in the opponent control treatment.These findings suggest that the jays attend to short-term consequences;they do not cooperate in the absence of an immediate benefit(defect only), even if a long-term benefit may exist (prisoner'sdilemma). The opponent control treatment suggests that cooperationcan occur when an individual's benefits depend completely onthe actions of others; therefore, generosity is cheap. Thisstudy, therefore, agrees with recent studies in proposing alternativemodels of cooperation.     

人工巢箱条件下的大山雀巢捕食

于2004—2008年在次生阔叶林中,采用悬挂巢箱的方法对大山雀的巢捕食作了研究。结果表明:不同年龄巢箱的被捕食率显著不同,新巢箱被捕食率最低,第2年被捕食率最高,第3年下降很大,第4年又略有上升。被捕食巢的窝卵数极显著的低于未被捕食巢的窝卵数。影响巢捕食的主要生境因子为巢箱高度和巢上盖度,其次为灌木的密度和高度。     

Ambient temperature effects on photo induced gonadal cycles and hormonal secretion patterns in Great Tits from three different breeding latitudes

The present study determines how populations of Great Tits (Parus major) breeding in southern, mid and northern European latitudes have adjusted their reproductive endocrinology to differences in the ambient temperature during the gonadal cycle. A study based on long-term breeding data, using the Colwell predictability model, showed that the start of the breeding season has a high predictability (≈ 0.8-0.9) at all latitudes, and that the environmental information factor (I_e) progressively decreased from mid Italy (I_e > 4) to northern Finland (I_e < 1). The results indicate that integration of supplementary information, such as ambient temperature, with photoperiodic initial predictive information (day length), becomes progressively more important in maintaining the predictability of the breeding season with decreasing latitude. This hypothesis was verified by exposing photosensitive Great Tits from northern Norway, southern Sweden and northern Italy to sub-maximal photo-stimulatory day lengths (13L:11D) under two different ambient temperature regimes (+ 4 °C and + 20 °C). Changes in testicular size, plasma levels of LH and testosterone were measured. The main results were: (1) Initial testicular growth rate, as well as LH secretion, was affected by temperature in the Italian, but not in birds from the two Scandinavian populations. (2) Maximum testicular size, maximum LH and testosterone levels were maintained for a progressively shorter period of time with increasing latitude, regardless of whether the birds were kept on a low or a high ambient temperature. (3) In birds from all latitudes, the development of photorefractoriness, as indicated by testicular regression and a decrease in plasma levels of LH and testosterone, started much earlier (with the exception for LH Great Tits from northern Scandinavia) when kept on + 20 °C than when kept on + 4 °C. The prolonging effects of a low temperature was more pronounced in Mediterranean birds, than in birds from Scandinavia, and more pronounced in Great Tits from southern Scandinavia than in Great Tits from northern Scandinavia. Ecological implications of the results are discussed, as well as possible impact of global warming on the breeding success of European Great Tits from different breeding latitudes.     

Iterated prisoner's dilemma in an asocial world dominated by loners, not by defectors

Cooperation among genetically unrelated individuals can arise when pairs of individuals interact repeatedly in the Prisoner’s Dilemma. However, the conditions allowing the evolution of reciprocal cooperation become extremely restrictive as the size of the cooperative group increases, because defectors can exploit cooperators more efficiently in larger groups. Here we consider three strategies: Tit for Tat, defector, and loner. Loner beats defector in a non-cooperative world. However, a cooperative strategy Tit for Tat (TFT₀) that stops cooperation after the first iteration when there is at least one defector in the group, can invade a world of loners, even in sizable groups, if both the TFT₀ and the defector strategies arise at the same frequency by mutation.     

瓦屋山2种山雀的生态位分化和共存

黑冠山雀(Parus rubidiventris)和煤山雀(P.ater)在瓦屋山同域分布,生态位相似,是潜在的竞争者。在垂直分布上,煤山雀的生态位宽度为5.237,显著高于黑冠山雀的2.792,而在水平分布和活动基质2个维度上,二者的生态位宽度值相当。尽管3个维度上2种山雀生态位重叠值均大于0.7,但是它们对3个维度上的资源利用分别存在不同的偏好和侧重。2种山雀的身体量度除了喙宽外均有极显著差异,这应该是2种山雀对环境适应的结果。这2种山雀在巢址选择上各项参数差异均不显著,表明适宜的洞巢可能是它们种间竞争的主要对象。2种山雀的种群数量可能与居留类型有关。空间生态位或食物生态位的分离及适宜的种群数量和比例是它们得以共存的几个重要因素。