Habitat use and body mass regulation among warblers in the Sahel Region during the non-breeding season

Vafidis, James O., Vaughan, Ian Philip ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7263-3822, Jones, Thomas Hefin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7874-3627, Facey, Richard J., Parry, Rob and Thomas, Robert J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5256-3313 2014. Habitat use and body mass regulation among warblers in the Sahel Region during the non-breeding season. PLoS ONE 9 (11) , e113665. 10.1371/journal.pone.0113665

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Migratory birds face significant challenges across their annual cycle, including occupying an appropriate non-breeding home range with sufficient foraging resources. This can affect demographic processes such as over-winter survival, migration mortality and subsequent breeding success. In the Sahel region of Africa, where millions of migratory songbirds attempt to survive the winter, some species of insectivorous warblers occupy both wetland and dry-scrubland habitats, whereas other species are wetland or dry-scrubland specialists. In this study we examine evidence for strategic regulation of body reserves and competition-driven habitat selection, by comparing invertebrate prey activity-density, warbler body size and extent of fat and pectoral muscle deposits, in each habitat type during the non-breeding season. Invertebrate activity-density was substantially higher in wetland habitats than in dry-scrubland. Eurasian reed warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus occupying wetland habitats maintained lower body reserves than conspecifics occupying dry-scrub habitats, consistent with buffering of reserves against starvation in food-poor habitat. A similar, but smaller, difference in body reserves between wet and dry habitat was found among subalpine warblers Sylvia cantillans but not in chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita inhabiting dry-scrub and scrub fringing wetlands. Body reserves were relatively low among habitat specialist species; resident African reed warbler A. baeticatus and migratory sedge warbler A. schoenobaenus exclusively occupying wetland habitats, and Western olivaceous warblers Iduna opaca exclusively occupying dry habitats. These results suggest that specialists in preferred habitats and generalists occupying prey-rich habitats can reduce body reserves, whereas generalists occupying prey-poor habitats carry an increased level of body reserves as a strategic buffer against starvation.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QL Zoology
Additional Information:	© 2014 Vafidis et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
ISSN:	1932-6203
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	27 October 2014
Last Modified:	02 May 2023 20:42
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/68762

Citation Data

Cited 11 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item