When blood-feeding parasites increase seasonally, their deleterious effects may prevent some host species, especially those living in large groups where parasites are numerous, from reproducing later in the summer. Yet the role of parasites in regulating the length of a host's breeding season-and thus the host's opportunity for multiple brooding-has not been systematically investigated. The hig...

Many hypotheses attempt to explain why younger, less experienced birds have relatively low reproductive output. We evaluated reproductive patterns of marked American Kestrels Falco sparverius nesting in boxes in southwestern Idaho from 1992 to 2006 to test predictions of these hypotheses. Results were consistent with the selection (differential mortality) hypothesis and did not support the cons...

including intraand interspecific interactions (i.e. competition, parasitism and predation), parental condition and behaviour, and weather (Newton 1998, Lima 2009). Temporal patterns, such as the date at which the nesting attempt started (i.e. time of breeding) or the stage of the nesting cycle (i.e. nest age), often influence nest survival (Grant et al. 2005, Lantz & Conway 2009, Nest survival ...

Nest building in birds involves a behavioral sequence (nest material collection and deposition in the nest) that offers a unique model for addressing how the brain sequences motor actions. In this study, we identified brain regions involved in nesting behavior in male and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). We used Fos immunohistochemistry to quantify production of the immediate early g...

Most mesoscale models can be run with either one-way (parasitic) or two-way (interactive) grid nesting. This paper presents results from a linear 1D shallow-water model to determine whether the choice of nesting method can have a significant impact on the solution. Two-way nesting was found to be generally superior to one-way nesting. The only situation in which one-way nesting performs better ...

Nest attentiveness (percentage of time spent on the nest) during incubation represents a parent-offspring conflict; incubating birds must balance a trade-off between caring for embryos by staying on the nest versus caring for themselves by getting off the nest to forage. For species in which females are the sole incubator, males can potentially affect this trade-off and increase nest attentiven...

—Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) routinely collect andscatter dry manure of mammals around their nesting burrows. Recent studies have suggested this behavior attracts insect prey to the nesting burrow. However, some Burrowing Owls do not use manure, but instead, collect and scatter other materials (e.g., grass, moss, paper, plastic) around their nesting burrow in a similar fashion. Use of t...

Preterm infant’s condition is a major risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality rate. infants that getting treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) will be disrupted due to different factors causing sleep distrubance on infant. Due critical role of premature brain development, developmental as nesting needed facilitate sleep’s necessary. This study aimed explore implication ...