Red-Bellied Woodpecker Predation on Nestling House Wrens

The energetic cost of begging behaviour in nestling house wrens.

This study presents data relevant to the hypothesis that the energy expenditure associated with begging influences the signalling of need by nestling birds. We used open-circuit respirometry to measure the energy costs of resting, begging and non-begging activities in nestling house wrens, Troglodytes aedon, ranging in age from 1 to 11 days post-hatching. Across all ages, begging caused a 27% i...

No effect of carotenoid supplementation on phytohemagglutinin response or body condition of nestling house wrens.

Carotenoids are an essential and often limiting resource in animals and play important roles in immune system function. In birds, the period shortly after hatching is an energetically demanding stage characterized by rapid growth in body size and organ systems, including the immune system. Availability of carotenoids for the growing nestlings may be of particular importance and potentially limi...

Effects of Competition and Predation on Prothonotary Warblers and House Wrens Nesting in Eastern Iowa

Red-cockaded Woodpecker Centers On

T he southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus fiontalis (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), and the red-cockaded woodpecker, Picoides borealis, are indigenous species that occur together in pine (Pinus sp.) forests of the southern United States. For different reasons, these organisms have been the focus of considerable research. Interest in the southern pine beetle centers on the role this insect plays as a pe...

Mutation-biased adaptation in Andean house wrens.

Genes, proteins, and genomes are pervasively shaped by biases in mutation that exert their influence by biasing rates of evolutionary change. Indeed, methods of phylogeny inference routinely assume that evolutionary rates will reflect transition–transversion bias and other common mutational biases. This influence is typically attributed to neutral evolution, presuming that mutation is a weak fo...