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Drinking water boosts food intake rate, body mass increase and fat accumulation in migratory blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla)

Oecologia volume 156, pages 21–30 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Fat accumulation by blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) is a prerequisite for successful migratory flight in the autumn and has recently been determined to be constrained by availability of drinking water. Birds staging in a fruit-rich Pistacia atlantica plantation that had access to water increased their body mass and fat reserves both faster and to a greater extent than birds deprived of water. We conducted a series of laboratory experiments on birds captured during the autumn migration period in which we tested the hypotheses that drinking water increases food use by easing limitations on the birds’ dietary choices and, consequently, feeding and food processing rates, and that the availability of drinking water leads to improved digestion and, therefore, to higher apparent metabolizable energy. Blackcaps were trapped in autumn in the Northern Negev Desert, Israel and transferred to individual cages in the laboratory. Birds were provided with P. atlantica fruit and mealworms, and had either free access to water (controls) or were water-deprived. In experiment 1, in which mealworm availability was restricted, water-deprived birds had a fourfold lower fruit and energy intake rates and, consequently, gained less fat and total mass than control birds. Water availability did not affect food metabolizability. In experiment 2, in which mealworms were provided ad libitum, water availability influenced the birds’ diet: water-restricted birds ate more mealworms, while control birds consumed mainly P. atlantica fruit. Further, in experiment 2, fat and mass gain did not differ between the two treatment groups. We conclude that water availability may have important consequences for fat accumulation in migrating birds while they fatten at stopover sites, especially when water-rich food is scarce. Restricted water availability may also impede the blackcap’s dietary shift from insectivory to frugivory, a shift probably necessary for successful pre-migratory fattening.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Adi Golos, Amram Zabari, Dr. Carmi Korine and Niv Palgi for their assistance in bird handling in the field and the laboratory. The authors would also like to thank Alon Lotan for his invaluable help and counsel in the analysis of energy content. Travel expenses were partially covered by a Rieger-JNF fellowship in environmental studies to N. Sapir. The experiments in this study comply with current Israeli laws and were done under permit number 2003/16577 from the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority and under authorization number IL-58-11-2003 issued by the university committee for the ethical care and use of animals in experiments, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. This is publication 590 of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, 84105, Beersheba, Israel

    Ido Tsurim, Jonathan Belmaker & Berry Pinshow

  2. Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel

    Nir Sapir

  3. Israel Ornithological Center, Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, P.O. Box 63, 12105, Yesod Hama’ala, Israel

    Itai Shanni

  4. Department of Biology, University of Haifa at Oranim, 36006, Tivon, Israel

    Ido Izhaki

  5. Department of Animal Physiology, Institute of General and Molecular Biology, Nicolas Copernicus University, ul. Gagarina 9, 87–100, Torun, Poland

    Michał S. Wojciechowski

  6. Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    William H. Karasov

  7. Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84990, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Berry Pinshow

Authors
  1. Ido Tsurim
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  2. Nir Sapir
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  3. Jonathan Belmaker
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Correspondence to Ido Tsurim.

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Communicated by Mark Chappell.

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Tsurim, I., Sapir, N., Belmaker, J. et al. Drinking water boosts food intake rate, body mass increase and fat accumulation in migratory blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla). Oecologia 156, 21–30 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-0970-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-0970-9

Keywords

  • Diet shift
  • Fruit
  • Metabolizability
  • Pistacia atlantica
  • Stopover