AI Article Synopsis
- Juvenile survival rates after fledging are notably low, impacting bird populations significantly.
- Researchers studied the great tit to identify factors affecting postfledging survival, focusing on elements like hatching date, temperature, fledging size, and body mass.
- Findings revealed that first-year survival averaged 15.2%, being lower for smaller birds and those hatching early or late, highlighting the need for optimal hatching times and larger chicks for better survival outcomes.
Article Abstract
Survival of juveniles during the postfledging period can be markedly low, which may have major consequences on avian population dynamics. Knowing which factors operating during the nesting phase affect postfledging survival is crucial to understand avian breeding strategies. We aimed to obtain a robust set of predictors of postfledging local survival using the great tit (Parus major) as a model species. We used mark-recapture models to analyze the effect of hatching date, temperatures experienced during the nestling period, fledging size and body mass on first-year postfledging survival probability of great tit juveniles. We used data from 5192 nestlings of first clutches ringed between 1993 and 2010. Mean first-year postfledging survival probability was 15.2%, and it was lower for smaller individuals, as well as for those born in either very early or late broods. Our results stress the importance of choosing an optimum hatching period, and raising large chicks to increase first-year local survival probability in the studied population.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4930993 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2192 | DOI Listing |
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