Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Impact of weather and climate variation on Hoopoe reproductive ecology and population growth

  • Original article
  • Published:
Journal of Ornithology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Preserving peripheral populations is a key conservation issue because of the adaptive potential to environmental change they provide for the species as a whole. Yet, peripheral populations are often small and isolated, i.e. more vulnerable to stochastic events and prone to extinction. We studied a peripheral population of Hoopoe (Upupa epops), a rare insectivorous farmland bird, in the Swiss Alps. We first investigated the effect of weather variation on food provisioning to chicks by Hoopoe parents. Second, while accounting for density-dependence, we tested the extent to which breeding success is governed by weather circumstances and assessed the possible consequences of climate variation on population growth. Provisioning rate and provisioned prey biomass were negatively affected by adverse weather (cool, rainy days), were higher in males and also increased with brood size. Much smaller proportions of molecrickets (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa; the most profitable prey locally, constituting 93% of chicks’ food biomass) were provisioned on days with adverse weather, irrespective of brood size. Rainfall prior to hatching and during the first days of chick life had a negative impact on their survival, and there was a positive effect of temperature on chick survival just before fledging. Reproductive output was negatively affected by precipitation during the hatching period, but was enhanced by warm temperature just before hatching and in the last days before fledging. Our model showed that the variable reproductive output has a strong impact on the population growth: a succession of adverse, rainy springs would cause a rapid decline of the population. This case study confirms that conservation efforts may be obliterated if risks linked to increasing climate variability are not properly accounted for in the management of small peripheral populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Antonovics J, McKane AJ, Newman TJ (2006) Spatiotemporal dynamics in marginal populations. Am Nat 167:16–27

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arlettaz R (1984) Ecologie d’une population de huppes, Upupa e. epops, en Valais: répartition spatiale, biotopes et sites de nidification. Nos Oiseaux 37:197–222

    Google Scholar 

  • Arlettaz R, Perrin N (1995) The trophic niches of sympatric sibling Myotis myotis and Myotis blythii: do mouse-eared bats select prey? Symp Zool Soc Lond 67:361–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Arlettaz R, Fournier J, Zbinden N (2000) Evolution démographique (1979–1998) d’une population témoin de huppe fasciée Upupa epops en Valais et stratégie de conservation ciblée. Nos Oiseaux 47:19–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Arlettaz R, Christe P, Lugon A, Perrin N, Vogel P (2001) Food availability dictates the timing of parturition in insectivorous mouse-eared bats. Oikos 95:105–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Avery MI, Krebs JR (1984) Temperature and foraging success of great tits Parus major hunting for spiders. Ibis 126:33–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bussmann J (1950) Zur Brutbiologie des Wiedehopfes (Upupa epops). Ornithol Beob 47:141–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassel-Lundhagen A, Tammaru T, Winding JJ, Ryrholm N, Nylin S (2009) Are peripheral populations special? Congruent patterns in two butterfly species. Ecography 32:591–600

    Google Scholar 

  • Channell R, Lomolino MV (2000) Dynamic biogeography and conservation of endangered species. Nature 403:84–86

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cramp S (1985) Birds of the western Palearctic, vol IV. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Crandall KA, Bininda-Emonds ORP, Mace GM, Wayne RK (2000) Considering evolutionary processes in conservation biology. Trends Ecol Evol 15:290–295

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crick HQP, Gibbons DW, Magrath RD (1993) Seasonal changes in clutch size in British birds. J Anim Ecol 62:263–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Cucco M, Malacarne G (1996a) Reproduction of the pallid swift (Apus pallidus) in relation to weather and aerial insect abundance. Ital J Zool 63:247–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Cucco M, Malacarne G (1996b) Effect of food availability on nestling growth and fledging success in manipulated pallid swift broods. J Zool 240:141–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterling DR, Meehl GA, Parmesan C, Changnon SA, Karl TR, Mearns LO (2000) Climate extremes: observations, modeling and impacts. Science 289:2068–2074

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fournier J, Arlettaz R (2001) Food provision to nestlings in the hoopoe Upupa epops: implications for the conservation of a small endangered population in the Swiss Alps. Ibis 143:2–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Geiser S, Arlettaz R, Schaub M (2008) Impact of weather variation on feeding behaviour, nestling growth and brood survival in wrynecks Jynx torquilla. J Ornithol 149:597–606

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson SY, Van der Marel RC, Starzomsi BM (2009) Climate change and conservation of leading-edge peripheral populations. Cons Biol 23:1369–1373

    Google Scholar 

  • Glutz von Blotzheim UN, Bauer KM (1980) Upupa epops Linnaeus 1758–Wiedehopf. In: Glutz von Blotzheim UN (ed) Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas, Band 9: Columbiformes-Piciformes. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Wiesbaden, pp 852–876

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendry AP, Kinnison MT (1999) Perspective: the pace of modern life: measuring rates of contemporary microevolution. Evolution 53:1637–1653

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann AA, Blows MW (1994) Species borders: ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Trends Ecol Evol 9:223–227

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horton P, Schaefli B, Mezghani A, Hingray B, Musy A (2006) Assessment of climate-change impacts on alpine discharge regimes with climate model uncertainty. Hydrol Process 20:2091–2109

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntley B, Collingham YC, Willis SG, Green RE (2008) Potential impacts of climatic change on European breeding birds. PLoS ONE 3:e1439. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001439

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hustings F (1997) Upupa epops, Hoopoe. In: Hagemeijer WJM, Blair MJ (eds) The EBCC Atlas of European breeding birds: their distribution and abundance. Poyser, London, pp 438–439

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller V, Zbinden N, Schmid H, Volet B (2001) Rote Liste der gefährdeten Brutvogelarten der Schweiz, BUWAL-Reihe Vollzug Umwelt. Bundesamt für Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft and Schweizerische Vogelwarte Sempach, Bern

    Google Scholar 

  • Laiolo P, Bignal EM, Patterson IJ (1998) The dynamics of parental care in choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax). J Ornithol 139:297–305

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawton JH (1993) Range, population abundance and conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 8:409–413

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lesica P, Allendorf FW (1995) When are peripheral populations valuable for conservation? Conserv Biol 9:753–760

    Google Scholar 

  • Lomolino MV, Channell R (1995) Splendid isolation: patterns of geographic range collapse in endangered mammals. J Mammal 76:335–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Martín-Vivaldi M, Palomino JJ, Soler M, Soler JJ (1999) Determinants of reproductive success in the hoopoe Upupa epops, a hole-nesting non-passerine bird with asynchronous hatching. Bird Study 46:205–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills JA, Yarrall JW, Bradford-Grieve JM, Uddstrom MJ, Renwick JA, Merilä J (2008) The impact of climate fluctuation on food availability and reproductive performance of the planktivorous red-billed gull Larus novaehollandiae scopulinus. J Anim Ecol 77:1129–1142

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nantel P, Gagnon D (1999) Variability in the dynamics of northern peripheral versus southern populations of two clonal plant species, Helianthus divaricatus and Rhus aromatica. J Ecol 87:748–760

    Google Scholar 

  • Nathan R, Safriel UN, Shirihai H (1996) Extinction and vulnerability to extinction at distribution peripheries: an analysis of the Israeli breeding avifauna. Isr J Zool 42:361–383

    Google Scholar 

  • Newton I (1998) Population limitation in birds. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Parmesan C, Yohe G (2003) A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems. Nature 421:37–42

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pellantova J (1981) The growth of young of the swift, Apus apus, in relation to the number of nestlings, temperature, feeding frequency and quantity of food. Folia Zool 30:59–73

    Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2008) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Radford AN, Du Plessis MA (2003) The importance of rainfall to a cavity-nesting species. Ibis 145:692–694

    Google Scholar 

  • Radford AN, McCleery RH, Woodburn RJW, Morecroft MD (2001) Activity patterns of parent great tits Parus major feeding their young during rainfall. Bird Study 48:214–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Rehsteiner U (1996) Siedlungsdichte und Habitatansprüche des Wiedehopfs Upupa epops in Extremadura (Spanien). Ornithol Beob 93:277–287

    Google Scholar 

  • Reznick DN, Shaw FH, Rodd FH, Shaw RG (1997) Evaluation of the rate of evolution in natural populations of guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Science 275:1934–1937

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez C, Bustamante J (2003) The effect of weather on lesser kestrel breeding success: can climate change explain historical population declines? J Anim Ecol 72:793–810

    Google Scholar 

  • Sæther BE, Bakke Ø (2000) Avian life history variation and contribution of demographic traits to the population growth rate. Ecology 81:642–653

    Google Scholar 

  • Sagarin RD, Gaines SD (2002) The ‘abundant centre’ distribution: to what extent is it a biogeographical rule? Ecol Lett 5:137–147

    Google Scholar 

  • Sala OE, Chapin FS III, Armesto JJ, Berlow E, Bloomfield J, Dirzo R, Huber-Sanwald E, Huenneke LF, Jackson RB, Kinzig A, Leemans R, Lodge DM, Mooney HA, Oesterheld M, Poff NL, Sykes MT, Walker BH, Walker M, Wall DH (2000) Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. Science 287:1770–1774

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schaub M (1996) Jagdverhalten und Zeitbudget von Rotkopfwürgern Lanius senator in der Nordwestschweiz. J Ornithol 137:213–227

    Google Scholar 

  • Siikamäki P (1996) Nestling growth and mortality of pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca in relation to weather and breeding effort. Ibis 138:471–478

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor LR (1963) Analysis of the effect of temperature on insects in flight. J Anim Ecol 32:99–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas CD, Cameron A, Green RE, Bakkenes M, Beaumont LJ, Collingham YC, Erasmus BFN, de Siqueira MF, Grainger A, Hannah L, Hughes L, Huntley B, van Jaarsveld AS, Midgley GF, Miles L, Ortega-Huerta MA, Peterson AT, Phillips OL, Williams SE (2004) Extinction risk from climate change. Nature 427:145–148

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turner AK (1983) Time and energy constraints on the brood size of swallows, Hirundo rustica, and sand martins, Riparia riparia. Oecologia 59:331–338

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Veistola S, Lehikoinen E, Eeva T (1997) Weather and breeding success at high latitudes—the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca and the Siberian tit Parus cinctus. Ornis Fenn 74:89–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Wanner J, Rickli R, Salvisberg E, Schmutz C, Schüepp M (1997) Global climate change and variability and its influence on Alpine climate—concepts and observations. Theor Appl Climatol 58:221–243

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank A. Sierro, P. Mosimann-Kampe, F. Leippert, H. Alber, M. Bendel, J. Fournier, A. Tagmann-Ioset, S. Mettaz, B. Posse, H. Routti, B. Tschirren, A. Valsangiacomo and N. Weisshaupt for their assistance. O. Roth and M. Whyte assisted with editing.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Raphaël Arlettaz, Michael Schaad, Thomas S. Reichlin & Michael Schaub

  2. Valais Field Station, Swiss Ornithological Institute, Nature Centre, 3970, Salgesch, Switzerland

    Raphaël Arlettaz

  3. The Ecology Centre, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Raphaël Arlettaz

  4. Swiss Ornithological Institute, 6204, Sempach, Switzerland

    Thomas S. Reichlin & Michael Schaub

Authors
  1. Raphaël Arlettaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael Schaad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas S. Reichlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michael Schaub
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raphaël Arlettaz.

Additional information

Communicated by P. H. Becker.

M. Schaad and T. S. Reichlin contributed equally to the work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Arlettaz, R., Schaad, M., Reichlin, T.S. et al. Impact of weather and climate variation on Hoopoe reproductive ecology and population growth. J Ornithol 151, 889–899 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0527-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0527-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation