Birds from deserts generally have lower total evaporative water loss (TEWL), the sum of cutaneous (CWL) and respiratory water loss (RWL), than species from mesic areas. We investigated the role of CWL and RWL as a function of air temperature (T(a)) in hoopoe larks (Alaemon alaudipes) and Dunn's larks (Eremalauda dunni) from the Arabian Desert and skylarks (Alauda arvensis) and woodlarks (Lullul...

Since 1899 ringing (or banding) remained the most important source of information about migration routes, stopover sites and wintering grounds for birds that are too small to carry satellite-based tracking systems. Despite the large quantity of migrating birds ringed in their breeding areas in Europe, the number of ring recoveries from sub-Saharan Africa is very low and therefore the whereabout...

Mercury (Hg) is one of the main global pollutants that may biomagnify in food nets, especially in wetlands. Birds may be useful in the biomonitoring of Hg in such habitats and may even serve in vivo samples. This paper examined Hg concentration in the feathers of seven bird species foraging on Fereydunkenar International wetland (in 2013). Mean Hg concentrations found ranged from 0.005 ± 0.002 ...

Patterns of time allocation to different activities can help reveal how natural selection has solved optimality problems that involve simultaneous environmental constraints. To investigate how time budgets of desert birds are affected by ambient temperature, lack of drinking water and low food availability, we provided food and water to hoopoe-larks, Alaemon alaudipes, in the Arabian Desert dur...

Seventeen predation attempts on four Hoopoe Upupa epops nests in an heterogenous agricultural Mediterranean area of central Italy were recorded during breeding seasons 2020-21. Camera traps identified 7 different predators’ species, mainly Western whip snake Hierophis viridiflavus and Black rat Rattus rattus. Uropygial secretions hissing calls from chicks incubating female inside the cavity alw...

We investigated interindividual variation and intra-individual phenotypic flexibility in basal metabolic rate (BMR), total evaporative water loss (TEWL), body temperature (Tb), the minimum dry heat transfer coefficient (h), and organ and muscle size of five species of larks geographically distributed along an aridity gradient. We exposed all species to constant environments of 158C or 358C, and...

1. Patterns of resource allocation in different times of the year can provide insights into the effects of simultaneous environmental constraints on reproduction and survival of desert birds. Field metabolic rate (FMR), water influx rate (WIR) and patterns of time allocation of Hoopoe Larks ( Alaemon alaudipes Desfontaines) were investigated during spring, when larks were rearing offspring, and...

We compared physiological, demographic, and ecological variables of larks to gain insights into life history variation along an aridity gradient, incorporating phylogenetic relationships in analyses when appropriate. Quantifying field metabolic rate (FMR) and water influx rate (WIR) of parents feeding nestlings as measures of parental effort, we found that parental FMR and WIR of larks decrease...