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Black Sparrowhawk brooding behaviour in relation to chick age and weather variation in the recently colonised Cape Peninsula, South Africa

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Abstract

Understanding the effects climate change may have on animal populations relies on establishing which environmental conditions shape their behaviour and subsequent reproductive output, fitness or survival. South Africa has seen significant warming trends and changes in precipitation over the last few decades; however, the ways in which these trends are likely to influence animal populations are still relatively poorly understood. The Black Sparrowhawk (Accipiter melanoleucus) has expanded its range in South Africa and recently colonised the Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape, a region that experiences a Mediterranean climate. In this study, we examined the brooding behaviour of this species, a vital trait for reproductive success, in the Cape Peninsula breeding population. We examined the influence of chick age as well as temperature, rainfall and wind speed on parental brooding. Additionally, the effect of prey provisioning on brooding was investigated. In our analyses, we used data on brooding from nest cameras together with weather data collected at a fine temporal scale (1 h). The variable with the strongest influence on parental brooding was chick age. This variable showed a non-linear relationship. Initially chicks were brooded >50 % of the time; however after 3 weeks brooding declined rapidly. The proportion of time spent brooding increased with decreasing temperatures, while rainfall and wind speed showed a positive correlation with the amount of brooding. Our model predicted that in common winter conditions of the Western Cape (15 °C, 10 km/h wind speed, 1 mm/h rainfall) A. melanoleucus breeding pairs spent nearly 100 % of their time brooding young chicks (7 days old) to protect them from detrimental weather. Our results highlight measurable effects of weather patterns on avian behaviour at a key stage of the life cycle. Changes in weather conditions predicted for this region will likely further benefit this range-expanding species.

Zusammenfassung

Der Einfluss von Nestlingsalter und Wetterschwankungen auf das Brutverhalten des Mohrenhabichts auf der kürzlich besiedelten Kap-Halbinsel, Südafrika

Um die möglichen Effekte des Klimawandels auf Tierpopulationen zu ergründen ist das Verständnis der Umweltfaktoren die ihr Verhalten und die darauffolgende Reproduktion, Fitness und das Überleben bestimmen von grundlegender Bedeutung. In welcher Weise die Klimaerwärmung und Niederschlagsveränderung der letzten Jahrzehnte in Südafrika Einfluss auf die Tierpopulationen hat ist noch nicht vollständig erforscht. Der Mohrenhabicht (Accipiter melanoleucus) hat sein lokales Verbreitungsgebiet in der letzten Zeit erheblich vergrößert und auch die durch ein mediterranes Klima geprägte Kap-Halbinsel in der Provinz Westkap besiedelt. In dieser Studie haben wir das Brutverhalten der Art, ein unverzichtbarer Aspekt für die erfolgreiche Reproduktion, an der Kap-Halbinsel Population erforscht. Untersucht wurde der Einfluss des Nestlingsalters sowie von Temperatur, Niederschlag und Windgeschwindigkeit auf das Brüten der Elternvögel. Zusätzlich wurde geprüft ob die Bereitstellung von Nahrung das Brüten beeinflusste. Für unsere Analysen nutzten wir Aufnahmen von Nestkameras zusammen mit Wetterdaten auf einer sehr detaillierten Zeitskala von einer Stunde. Den stärksten Einfluss hatte das Alter der Nestlinge, welches in einem nichtlinearen Zusammenhang mit dem Brüten der Elternvögel stand. Anfangs wurden die Nestlinge durchschnittlich >50 % der Zeit bebrütet aber nach drei Wochen fiel dieser Wert rasch ab. Der Anteil der stündlichen Brutzeit war höher bei niedrigeren Temperaturen, während Niederschlag und Windgeschwindigkeit eine positive Korrelation mit dem stündlichen Brutanteil zeigten. Unser Modell prognostizierte, dass bei üblichen Wetterkonditionen im Winter des Westkaps (15 °C, 10 km/h Windgeschwindigkeit, 1 mm/h Niederschlag) Brutpaare von A. melanoleucus nahezu 100 % der Zeit mit dem Bebrüten von jungen Nestlingen (7 Tage alt) verbringen müssen, um diese vor schädlichen Wettereinflüssen schützen zu können. Unsere Ergebnisse ziehen Aufmerksamkeit darauf wie Wettereffekte das Verhalten von Vögeln in einer entscheidenden Stufe ihres Lebenszyklus beeinflussen und wie diese Effekte quantifiziert werden können. Die vorhergesagten Klimaveränderungen in der Region werden der weiteren Ausbreitung des Mohrenhabichts voraussichtlich zuträglich sein.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for help with data processing from Marina Wang, Tesray Linevee, Sarah Caine, Jacques de Satgé, Jess Suri and Tumelo Morapi. Jacques de Satgé and Susie Cunningham are also thanked for comprehensive discussions and their help in improving the manuscript. Two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their comments of on a previous draft of this manuscript. For the provisioning of weather data we acknowledge the support of the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON). We are also grateful to Nigel Butcher (RSPB) who helped develop some of the cameras used in this study. J.K. was funded by a Deutschlandstipendium scholarship of the University of Applied Sciences Bremen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Jakob Katzenberger, Gareth Tate, Ann Koeslag & Arjun Amar

  2. University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Neustadtswall 30, 28199, Bremen, Germany

    Jakob Katzenberger

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  1. Jakob Katzenberger
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  2. Gareth Tate
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  3. Ann Koeslag
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Correspondence to Arjun Amar.

Additional information

Communicated by O. Krüger.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3, 4 and 5.

Table 3 GLMM model summary for effects of chick age and weather parameters on Black Sparrowhawk brooding behaviour, including prey provisioning as fixed effect
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Table 4 Summary statistics of measured weather variables during monitored Black Sparrowhawk breeding
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Table 5 References used for review of the relationship between length of intensive brooding and average weight of a raptor species (Fig. 4)
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Katzenberger, J., Tate, G., Koeslag, A. et al. Black Sparrowhawk brooding behaviour in relation to chick age and weather variation in the recently colonised Cape Peninsula, South Africa. J Ornithol 156, 903–913 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1199-0

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