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04:49
A Do-it-yourself System for Scheduled Feeding of Laboratory Rodents in Their Home Cage
Published on: June 6, 2025
Winter food provisioning reduces future breeding performance in a wild bird
K E Plummer1, S Bearhop, D I Leech
11] Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK [2].
Scientific Reports
|June 22, 2013
Summary
Winter bird feeding, while common, may harm future reproduction. Studies on blue tits show supplementary food reduced offspring weight, size, and survival, indicating potential negative population impacts.
Area of Science:
- Ornithology
- Ecology
- Wildlife Conservation
Background:
- Winter food supplementation for wild birds is widespread and often viewed positively.
- Concerns exist that supplementary feeding may negatively impact bird reproduction by altering population dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of winter food supplementation on the subsequent breeding performance of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus).
Main Methods:
- A landscape-scale study over multiple years involving blue tits.
- Comparison of breeding performance between winter-fed and unfed populations.
Main Results:
- Winter food supplementation led to reduced breeding performance in the following spring.
- Offspring from supplemented parents were lighter, smaller, and had lower survival rates.
- Effects were observed with fat-only and fat with vitamin E supplementation, suggesting a general mechanism.
Conclusions:
- Winter food supplementation can have deleterious effects on wild bird reproductive success.
- This practice may lead to negative population-level consequences, challenging its perceived beneficial status.
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