Date: June 5, 2017
Source: FECYT - Spanish Foundation for
Science and Technology
Most bird chicks need parental
care to survive. In biparental species the chicks have greater chances of
success if both parents participate in this task, especially under hostile
situations. An international team of scientists has revealed that when
temperatures rise, males and females in pairs of plovers shift incubation more
frequently.
Climate change causes ecological
variation and affects the lives of animals. The ever-earlier springs and later
autumns caused by rising temperatures cause changes to animals' physiology,
breeding seasons and even population distributions. However, little is still
known about how animals behave in response to these disturbances.
A team of scientists, working in
collaboration with the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC), has studied the
influence of climate change on incubation in plovers (Charadrius spp.), a genus of shorebirds spread over six continents,
with a total of 33 species.
Many plover species nest on the
ground in sites where there is no plant cover to detect more easily approaching
predators, but where their nests receive direct sunlight.
"This can represent a
significant challenge," as indicated by Juan A. Amat, a researcher at the
EBD and one of the authors of the study, which was published recently in the
journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.
The scientist adds that the
situation can become complicated for birds in the middle of the day, "when
incubating adults may not be able to tolerate the high temperatures."
Typically, the optimum temperature adults provide for embryonic development is
35-39 ºC.
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