Investigating the Effects of Environmental Differences in Nest Ectoparasite Abundance on Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) Reproductive Success
Materials and Methods
Mountain bluebirds, (Sialia currucoides) are sexually dimorphic insectivorous songbirds, which defend a breeding territory approximately five ha in size, while giving biparental care to their altricial offspring (Power and Lombardo 1996). Bluebirds are often parasitized by hematophagous nest ectoparasitic blowfly larvae, which can potentially carry diseases or otherwise affect nestling development (O’Brien and Dawson 2013). Bluebirds exhibit secondary cavity nesting (Power and Lombardo 1996), and on this site, they used nest boxes (Garcia et al. 1993). They were studied at …show more content…
The mean daily temperature (°C) was recorded hourly using temperature data loggers, (iButton DS1921, Maxim Integrated Products, Sunnyvale, CA), placed underneath the nest-boxes and averaged over 22 days of the brood rearing period, to determine the average temperature for each territory throughout the period (Pellerin et al. 2016). As a measure of prey availability, terrestrial arthropod abundance was determined using pitfall traps, in which a container was buried level with the ground and filled with 100ml of propylene glycol, to act as a relatively non-evaporative and non-toxic killing fluid to trap passing insects which fell into it (Skvarla et al. 2014). Four traps were placed linearly at 50m intervals in each territory on the first day after chicks hatched, and retrieved 22 days post-hatch (White 2017). The mean number of insects per trap was determined by totalling the trapping rates for individual traps and averaging for all traps within a territory. Boxes were checked 22 days post-hatch, and nests were processed to determine the abundance of Protocalliphora spp. puparia (O’Brien and Dawson 2013). The nests were placed in plastic bags at room temperature for two weeks to allow larvae to pupate, then all pupae and puparia were removed from nesting material (O’Brien and Dawson 2013). The UNBC Animal Care and Use Committee approved all work involving
Materials and Methods
Mountain bluebirds, (Sialia currucoides) are sexually dimorphic insectivorous songbirds, which defend a breeding territory approximately five ha in size, while giving biparental care to their altricial offspring (Power and Lombardo 1996). Bluebirds are often parasitized by hematophagous nest ectoparasitic blowfly larvae, which can potentially carry diseases or otherwise affect nestling development (O’Brien and Dawson 2013). Bluebirds exhibit secondary cavity nesting (Power and Lombardo 1996), and on this site, they used nest boxes (Garcia et al. 1993). They were studied at …show more content…
The mean daily temperature (°C) was recorded hourly using temperature data loggers, (iButton DS1921, Maxim Integrated Products, Sunnyvale, CA), placed underneath the nest-boxes and averaged over 22 days of the brood rearing period, to determine the average temperature for each territory throughout the period (Pellerin et al. 2016). As a measure of prey availability, terrestrial arthropod abundance was determined using pitfall traps, in which a container was buried level with the ground and filled with 100ml of propylene glycol, to act as a relatively non-evaporative and non-toxic killing fluid to trap passing insects which fell into it (Skvarla et al. 2014). Four traps were placed linearly at 50m intervals in each territory on the first day after chicks hatched, and retrieved 22 days post-hatch (White 2017). The mean number of insects per trap was determined by totalling the trapping rates for individual traps and averaging for all traps within a territory. Boxes were checked 22 days post-hatch, and nests were processed to determine the abundance of Protocalliphora spp. puparia (O’Brien and Dawson 2013). The nests were placed in plastic bags at room temperature for two weeks to allow larvae to pupate, then all pupae and puparia were removed from nesting material (O’Brien and Dawson 2013). The UNBC Animal Care and Use Committee approved all work involving