Nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an Antarctic seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel
The importance of nest characteristics for birds breeding in the extreme climate conditions of polar regions, has been greatly understudied. Nest parameters, like nest orientation, exposure and insulation, could strongly influence microclimate and protection against precipitation of the nest, thereb...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6564424 2023-05-15T14:04:03+02:00 Nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an Antarctic seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel Michielsen, Rosanne J. Ausems, Anne N. M. A. Jakubas, Dariusz Pętlicki, Michał Plenzler, Joanna Shamoun-Baranes, Judy Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna 2019-06-13 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6564424/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31194763 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217708 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6564424/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31194763 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217708 © 2019 Michielsen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2019 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217708 2019-06-23T00:26:38Z The importance of nest characteristics for birds breeding in the extreme climate conditions of polar regions, has been greatly understudied. Nest parameters, like nest orientation, exposure and insulation, could strongly influence microclimate and protection against precipitation of the nest, thereby affecting breeding success. A burrow nesting seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) is an excellent model species to investigate the importance of nest characteristics, as it is the smallest endotherm breeding in the Antarctic. Here, we investigated the effects of nest parameters such as internal nest dimensions, nest micro-topography and thermal properties of the nest burrow and the influence of weather conditions on breeding output, measured as hatching success, chick survival, and chick growth. We collected data during the austral summers of 2017 and 2018, on King George Island, maritime Antarctica. Our results showed that the thermal microclimate of the nest burrow was significantly improved by a small entrance size, a low nest height, and insulation and tended to be enhanced by a low wind exposition index and an eastern nest site orientation. In addition, an eastern nest site orientation significantly reduced the chance of snow blocking. However, the relationships between nest characteristics and breeding output were complex and might be affected by other parameters like food availability and parental quality. The relation between chick growth and nest air temperature remained especially indistinct. Nevertheless, our results indicate that nest characteristics that enhance the thermal microclimate and reduce the risk of snow blocking favoured both hatching success and chick survival. Due to climate change in the Antarctic, snowfall is expected to increase in the future, which will likely enhance the importance of nest characteristics that determine snow blocking. Additionally, despite global warming, thermally favourable nest burrows will likely still be advantageous in the highly variable and ... Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica King George Island PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Austral Burrows ENVELOPE(163.650,163.650,-74.300,-74.300) King George Island The Antarctic PLOS ONE 14 6 e0217708 |
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Research Article |
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Research Article Michielsen, Rosanne J. Ausems, Anne N. M. A. Jakubas, Dariusz Pętlicki, Michał Plenzler, Joanna Shamoun-Baranes, Judy Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna Nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an Antarctic seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
The importance of nest characteristics for birds breeding in the extreme climate conditions of polar regions, has been greatly understudied. Nest parameters, like nest orientation, exposure and insulation, could strongly influence microclimate and protection against precipitation of the nest, thereby affecting breeding success. A burrow nesting seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) is an excellent model species to investigate the importance of nest characteristics, as it is the smallest endotherm breeding in the Antarctic. Here, we investigated the effects of nest parameters such as internal nest dimensions, nest micro-topography and thermal properties of the nest burrow and the influence of weather conditions on breeding output, measured as hatching success, chick survival, and chick growth. We collected data during the austral summers of 2017 and 2018, on King George Island, maritime Antarctica. Our results showed that the thermal microclimate of the nest burrow was significantly improved by a small entrance size, a low nest height, and insulation and tended to be enhanced by a low wind exposition index and an eastern nest site orientation. In addition, an eastern nest site orientation significantly reduced the chance of snow blocking. However, the relationships between nest characteristics and breeding output were complex and might be affected by other parameters like food availability and parental quality. The relation between chick growth and nest air temperature remained especially indistinct. Nevertheless, our results indicate that nest characteristics that enhance the thermal microclimate and reduce the risk of snow blocking favoured both hatching success and chick survival. Due to climate change in the Antarctic, snowfall is expected to increase in the future, which will likely enhance the importance of nest characteristics that determine snow blocking. Additionally, despite global warming, thermally favourable nest burrows will likely still be advantageous in the highly variable and ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Michielsen, Rosanne J. Ausems, Anne N. M. A. Jakubas, Dariusz Pętlicki, Michał Plenzler, Joanna Shamoun-Baranes, Judy Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna |
author_facet |
Michielsen, Rosanne J. Ausems, Anne N. M. A. Jakubas, Dariusz Pętlicki, Michał Plenzler, Joanna Shamoun-Baranes, Judy Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna |
author_sort |
Michielsen, Rosanne J. |
title |
Nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an Antarctic seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel |
title_short |
Nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an Antarctic seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel |
title_full |
Nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an Antarctic seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel |
title_fullStr |
Nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an Antarctic seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an Antarctic seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel |
title_sort |
nest characteristics determine nest microclimate and affect breeding output in an antarctic seabird, the wilson’s storm-petrel |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6564424/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31194763 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217708 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(163.650,163.650,-74.300,-74.300) |
geographic |
Antarctic Austral Burrows King George Island The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Austral Burrows King George Island The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica King George Island |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica King George Island |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6564424/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31194763 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217708 |
op_rights |
© 2019 Michielsen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217708 |
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PLOS ONE |
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14 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e0217708 |
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