Hatching phenology is lagging behind an advancing snowmelt pattern in a high-alpine bird.
Sci Rep
; 11(1): 22191, 2021 11 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34772973
ABSTRACT
To track peaks in resource abundance, temperate-zone animals use predictive environmental cues to rear their offspring when conditions are most favourable. However, climate change threatens the reliability of such cues when an animal and its resource respond differently to a changing environment. This is especially problematic in alpine environments, where climate warming exceeds the Holarctic trend and may thus lead to rapid asynchrony between peaks in resource abundance and periods of increased resource requirements such as reproductive period of high-alpine specialists. We therefore investigated interannual variation and long-term trends in the breeding phenology of a high-alpine specialist, the white-winged snowfinch, Montifringilla nivalis, using a 20-year dataset from Switzerland. We found that two thirds of broods hatched during snowmelt. Hatching dates positively correlated with April and May precipitation, but changes in mean hatching dates did not coincide with earlier snowmelt in recent years. Our results offer a potential explanation for recently observed population declines already recognisable at lower elevations. We discuss non-adaptive phenotypic plasticity as a potential cause for the asynchrony between changes in snowmelt and hatching dates of snowfinches, but the underlying causes are subject to further research.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
2_ODS3
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Reprodução
/
Estações do Ano
/
Comportamento Animal
/
Aves
/
Meio Ambiente
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Rep
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article