Early life conditions influence fledging success and subsequent local recruitment rates in a declining migratory songbird, the Whinchat Saxicola rubetra.

ABSTRACT: Life history traits and environmental conditions influence reproductive success in animals, and consequences of these can influence subsequent survival and recruitment into breeding populations. Understanding influences on demographic rates is required to determine the causes of decline. Migratory species experience spatially and temporally variable conditions across their annual cycle, making identifying where the factors influencing demographic rates operate challenging. Here, we use the Whinchat Saxicola rubetra as a model declining long-distance migrant bird. We analyse 10 years of data from 247 nesting attempts and 2519 post-fledging observations of 1193 uniquely marked nestlings to examine the influence of life history traits, habitat characteristics and weather on survival of

SUBMITTER: Halliwell C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10361359 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature