Factors Affecting Growth of Tengmalm's Owl (Aegolius funereus) Nestlings: Prey Abundance, Sex and Hatching Order.

ABSTRACT: In altricial birds, energy supply during growth is a major predictor of the physical condition and survival prospects of fledglings. A number of experimental studies have shown that nestling body mass and wing length can vary with particular extrinsic factors, but between-year observational data on this topic are scarce. Based on a seven-year observational study in a central European Tengmalm's owl population we examine the effect of year, brood size, hatching order, and sex on nestling body mass and wing length, as well as the effect of prey abundance on parameters of growth curve. We found that nestling body mass varied among years, and parameters of growth curve, i.e. growth rate and inflection point in particular, increased with increasing abundance of the owl's main prey (Apodemus mic

SUBMITTER: Zarybnicka M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4596578 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature