Nestling development in the alpine : predation risk, parental care, and environmental conditions across the annual cycle ...

• Main Author: De Zwaan, Devin Rhys
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2020
• Subjects: Eremophila alpestris
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0389544; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0389544

Offspring development is a critical life-history stage for altricial songbirds and a prime target for selection, as predation risk is high relative to other life-stages and environmental conditions can induce lasting consequences for life-time fitness. Nestling development rates vary widely among species, populations, and individuals. Rapid development is considered an evolved response to improve nest success given high predation risk at the species or population level. However, it is unclear what drives variation in development rate among individuals and whether offspring or parents have the adaptive capacity to respond to prevailing stressors. I investigated the relative influence of multiple, interacting drivers from across the annual cycle on offspring developmental variation within an alpine breeding population of horned lark (Eremophila alpestris) by integrating ecological observations, behavioural experiments, physiology, and light-level geolocators to track migration. I demonstrated that rapid ...