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Bird breeding season linked to sunshine hours in a marginally seasonal equatorial climate

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Abstract

The timing of reproduction is a fundamental aspect of life history, yet the breeding seasons of most birds of the world, i.e., those in the tropics, remain poorly understood. Here, we use more than 3000 mist-netting records and 300,000 citizen scientist observations collected over 6 years to characterize the nesting, incubation, fledging, and juvenile stages of the breeding season on Singapore Island in Southeast Asia’s equatorial rainforest zone. The breeding season was compared with climate variables and food availability to identify possible proximate and ultimate causes. Breeding was seasonal and began just after the rainiest months of the year, when insect abundance was highest and when masting events were most likely to occur. While true photoperiod varied little throughout the year, overcast weather in November–December and sunnier weather in February–March caused average daily sunshine to increase by several hours at the onset of the breeding season in all 6 years. Our data suggest that subjective daily sunshine hours, which correlate with photoperiod at higher latitudes but not in the tropics, may be the actual proximate trigger of breeding activity in most of the world’s birds.

Zusammenfassung

Die Vogel-Brutsaison in einem äquatorialen Klima mit geringfügiger Saisonalität ist an Sonnenstunden gekoppelt

Die zeitliche Koordinierung der Fortpflanzung ist ein grundlegender Aspekt des biologischen Lebenszyklus, und dennoch wissen wir immer noch sehr wenig über die Brutsaison der meisten Vögel der Welt, insbesondere der Vögel in den Tropen. In dieser Studie verwenden wir mehr als 3.000 Datenaufzeichnungen von Nebelnetz-Vogelfängen sowie 300.000 Beobachtungen von Bürgerforschungsplattformen – allesamt über einen Zeitraum von sechs Jahren gesammelt – um die Nist-, Inkubations-, Flügge- und Juvenil-Stadien der Brutzeit auf der Insel Singapur in der äquatorialen Regenwaldzone Südostasiens zu charakterisieren. Die Brutzeit wurde mit Klimavariablen und Daten bezüglich der Nahrungsverfügbarkeit verglichen, um mögliche proximate und ultimate Ursachen der zeitlichen Koordinierung zu identifizieren. Brutaktivität zeigte Saisonalität und begann kurz nach den regnerischsten Monaten des Jahres, wenn Insekten am häufigsten und Regenwald-Mastereignisse am wahrscheinlichsten waren. Obgleich die wahre Photoperiode das ganze Jahr über kaum variierte, führten bewölktes Wetter von November bis Dezember und sonnigeres Wetter von Februar bis März dazu, dass die durchschnittliche tägliche Sonneneinstrahlung zu Beginn der Brutzeit in allen sechs Jahren um mehrere Stunden zunahm. Unsere Daten deuten darauf hin, dass die subjektiven täglichen Sonnenstunden, die mit der Photoperiode zwar in höheren Breiten aber nicht in den Tropen korrelieren, bei den meisten Vögeln der Erde der eigentliche unmittelbare Auslöser der Brutaktivität sein könnten.

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Data availability

Raw data presented in this article is available at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k3j9kd5b5. Citizen science records were obtained from and are available at eBird.org.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of the Avian Evolution Lab at the National University of Singapore (NUS), staff of the National Parks Board Singapore (NParks), and numerous volunteers for field support, particularly R. Teo, Y. Chung, J. Soh, R. Teo, R. Kolandavelu, M.F.B. Ahmad, M.B. Shunari, and M.G.B. Tahir. Warm thanks are extended to V.K. Saranathan for discussing early stages of the project and facilitating support. Special thanks go to E. Ng, who led many of the NUS field sessions

Funding

We acknowledge funding from NParks (WBS number: R-154-000-A11-490) and the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117558, Singapore

    Laura Berman & Frank Rheindt

  2. Yale-NUS College, 16 College Avenue West, Singapore, 138527, Singapore

    Laura Berman

  3. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, National Parks Board, 301, Neo Tiew Crescent, Singapore, 718925, Singapore

    David Li & Yang Shufen

  4. eBird.Org, Country Coordinator for Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Martin Kennewell

Authors
  1. Laura Berman
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  2. David Li
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  3. Yang Shufen
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Contributions

All authors contributed to writing the paper. LB formulated the question, developed methods, and analyzed the data. DL and YS contributed NParks mist-netting records. MK vetted and curated eBird records. FR contributed NUS mist-netting records and supervised research.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank Rheindt.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

NParks facilitated field work under permits RP13-019-2, RP13-019-3, RP13-019-4, RP13-019-5, and RP13-019-6. Field work was conducted in compliance with NUS’s Office of Safety, Health and Environmental regulations and with approval from the NUS Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

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Communicated by A. Aleixo.

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Berman, L., Li, D., Shufen, Y. et al. Bird breeding season linked to sunshine hours in a marginally seasonal equatorial climate. J Ornithol 164, 125–138 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-022-02009-9

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