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Temperature and precipitation effects on breeding productivity of some passerines — a multivariate analysis of constant effort mist-netting data

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Abstract

The relationship between the temperature, the precipitation of the breeding season’s months, and the annual proportions of the first year birds such as the indicators of the breeding success were examined by canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) having targeted nine common passerine species. The results of our study have shown that the high April and May temperature has been favourable for the breeding of the partial and the short-distance migrants, the common blackbird (Turdus merula) and the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). This is confirmed by the fact that the highest annual capture (164) of the hatching year of the Eurasian blackcap was in 2009, when there was the mildest April during the study period (13.57°C), while the lowest annual capture (15) was in 2002, when there was the second coolest April (9.78°C). The common chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) was a wet spring-tolerant species. There was negative correlation between April, May, June temperature and proportion of young great tit. The relationships between the annual captures of first year birds and the climate variables could not be identified with the methods used for the European robin (Erithacus rubecula), the common whitethroat (Sylvia communis), the lesser whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) and the blue tit (Parus caeruleus). The temperature in July was the most important climate factor for the breeding success of the long-distance migrant European pied flycatcher (Fycedula hypoleuca).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all those who took part in the field work and the members of Birdlife Hungary for the bird ringing and the data collecting work. We thank D. Winkler for the help collecting the NCDC data. The study was partially supported by the University of West Hungary (TÁMOP-4.2.2.D-15/1/KONV-2015-0023 “Climate effect”). We are also grateful to anonymous reviewers and the editors for their detailed and thoughtful critiques of the earlier draft of the manuscript, which has been greatly improved, and Péter Molnár, Veronika Gyurácz for language revision. This paper is part of the South-East Bird Migration Research Network and Actio Hungarica publications.

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  1. Institute of Biology, Szombathely, University of West Hungary, Károlyi Gáspár tér 4., H-9700, Hungary

    József Gyurácz, Sándor Kalmár & Zoltán Lukács

  2. Local Group of BirdLife Hungary, Szombathely, Károlyi Gáspár tér 4., H-9700, Hungary

    Péter Bánhidi, József Góczán, Péter Illés, Csaba Németh & László Varga

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  1. József Gyurácz
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Gyurácz, J., Bánhidi, P., Góczán, J. et al. Temperature and precipitation effects on breeding productivity of some passerines — a multivariate analysis of constant effort mist-netting data. Biologia 71, 1298–1303 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2016-0149

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