Habitat Use and Body Mass Regulation among Warblers in the Sahel Region during the Non-Breeding Season.

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 t

SUBMITTER: Vafidis JO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4245214 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature