Effects of Sitka spruce masting on phenology and demography of siskins Spinus spinus.

ABSTRACT: Masting behaviour of Sitka spruce Picea sitchensis may influence Eurasian siskin Spinus spinus breeding ecology as breeding siskins specialize on spruce seeds. We caught siskins and other small passerines over 16 years using mist nets adjacent to large plantations of mature Sitka spruce. We sexed, aged, measured and weighed the birds and collected feather samples from fledglings to measure nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratios. Siskins departed in late summer, and returned, and bred earlier in years of higher cone abundance. Nitrogen and carbon isotopes indicated that siskins fed their chicks on Sitka spruce seeds in most years, and more so in years of high cone production. More siskins were caught following heavy rainfall, when the cones had closed, encouraging the birds to seek alter

SUBMITTER: Furness EN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7921583 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature