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Weather impacts on interactions between nesting birds, nest-dwelling ectoparasites and ants
Marta Maziarz1, Richard K Broughton2, Przemysław Chylarecki3
1Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, 00-679, Warsaw, Poland. mmaziarz@miiz.waw.pl.
Scientific Reports
|October 25, 2022
Summary
Weather impacts nesting birds and nest arthropods. Higher temperatures and less rain increase ectoparasite risk, but ants may mitigate this. Bird growth is unaffected by parasites but reduced by rain.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
- Ornithology
Background:
- Weather significantly influences organismal life histories and interactions.
- The direct and indirect effects of weather on nesting birds and their associated arthropod communities are not well understood.
- Bird nests host complex arthropod communities, including parasites and potential nest-sanitizing predators.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of ambient temperature and rainfall on the interactions between Wood Warblers (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), their blowfly ectoparasites (Protocalliphora azurea), and predatory ants (Myrmica and Lasius species).
- To determine how weather conditions affect the prevalence and abundance of ectoparasites and the presence of ants in bird nests.
- To assess the impact of ectoparasites and ants on nestling growth in Wood Warblers.
Main Methods:
- Field sampling of blowflies and ants in 129 Wood Warbler nests over three breeding seasons (2018-2020).
- Measurement of Wood Warbler nestling growth parameters.
- Correlation analysis of weather variables (temperature, precipitation) with arthropod presence/abundance and nestling growth.
Main Results:
- Nest ectoparasite occurrence probability increased with higher ambient temperatures and lower precipitation during the early nestling stage.
- Ectoparasite abundance in late nestling stages was higher with elevated temperatures, but only when ants were absent.
- Nestling growth was not significantly related to ectoparasite load or ant presence but was negatively affected by high rainfall.
Conclusions:
- Weather exerts complex and potentially conflicting influences on the tritrophic interactions within bird nests.
- Ants may play a role in regulating ectoparasite populations, potentially mediated by weather conditions.
- Wood Warblers in old-growth forests may possess resilience to weather-driven impacts on nest arthropod communities due to abundant food resources.
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