ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2014
Severe recent decrease of adult body mass in a declining insectivorous bird population.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reproductive Drivers of Temporal Telomere Dynamics in Female Tree Swallows.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Double burden: microfilariae infection amplifies metabolic costs of moult in breeding male village weavers (Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2026Article
- Social foraging and the associated benefits of group-living in Cliff Swallows decrease over 40 years.Ecological monographs · 2024Article
- Quantifying long-term phenological patterns of aerial insectivores roosting in the Great Lakes region using weather surveillance radar.Global change biology · 2023Article
- Nonideal nest box selection by tree swallows breeding in farmlands: Evidence for an ecological trap?Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- The relative contribution of individual quality and changing climate as drivers of lifetime reproductive success in a short-lived avian species.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Rainy springs linked to poor nestling growth in a declining avian aerial insectivore ( Tachycineta bicolor).Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Offspring mass variation in tree swallows: A case of bet-hedging?Ecosphere (Washington, D.C) · 2019Article
- Biotic predictors complement models of bat and bird responses to climate and tree diversity in European forests.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
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- High intra-specific variation in avian body condition responses to climate limits generalisation across species.PloS one · 2018Article
- Eucalypt leaf litter impairs growth and development of amphibian larvae, inhibits their antipredator responses and alters their physiology.Conservation physiology · 2018Article
- Widespread episodic thiamine deficiency in Northern Hemisphere wildlife.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- How maize monoculture and increasing winter rainfall have brought the hibernating European hamster to the verge of extinction.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Multidimensional environmental influences on timing of breeding in a tree swallow population facing climate change.Evolutionary applications · 2015Article
- Candidate gene-environment interactions and their relationships with timing of breeding in a wild bird population.Ecology and evolution · 2015Article
- Change Points in the Population Trends of Aerial-Insectivorous Birds in North America: Synchronized in Time across Species and Regions.PloS one · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Migratory bird species that feed on air-borne insects are experiencing widespread regional declines, but these remain poorly understood. Agricultural intensification in the breeding range is often regarded as one of the main drivers of these declines. Here, we tested the hypothesis that body mass in breeding individuals should reflect habitat quality in an aerial insectivore, the tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), along a gradient of agricultural intensity. Our dataset was collected over 7 years (2005-2011) and included 2918 swallow captures and 1483 broods. Analyses revealed a substantial decline of the population over the course of the study (-19% occupancy rate), mirrored by decreasing body mass. This trend was especially severe in females, representing a total loss of 8% of their mass. Reproductive success was negatively influenced by intensive agriculture, but did not decrease over time. Interestingly, variation in body mass was independent of breeding habitat quality, leading us to suggest that this decline in body mass may result from carry-over effects from non-breeding areas and affect population dynamics through reduced survival. This work contributes to the growing body of evidence suggesting that declines in migratory aerial insectivores are driven by multiple, complex factors requiring better knowledge of year-round habitat use.
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