No short-term effects of geolocators on flight performance of an aerial insectivorous bird, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

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• 作者：Piotr Matyjasiak ; Diego Rubolini ; Maria Romano ; Nicola Saino
• 刊名：Journal of Ornithology
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：July 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：157
• 期：3
• 页码：653-661
• 全文大小：562 KB
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Life Sciences
  Zoology
  Animal Ecology
  Evolutionary Biology
  
• 出版者：Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
• ISSN：2193-7206
• 卷排序：157

文摘

Miniaturized light-level geolocators are becoming increasingly popular devices for the study of avian migration. However, the effects of these devices on birds’ flight behaviour, and hence fitness components, are poorly known. We investigated the effect of miniaturized geolocators on flight performance of the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), which may be especially susceptible to geolocator deployment as it is a small (~20 g), aerially insectivorous, long-distance migratory species. We tested whether miniaturized geolocators (~3.5 % of body mass) affected short-term flight performance traits of breeding males by comparing flight manoeuvrability, velocity and acceleration of geolocator-equipped versus control (handled only) birds in flight tunnels. We used a robust experimental design wherein the within-individual change in flight performance was compared between geolocator-equipped birds (after allowing for a period of acclimation) and control birds (that were also tested twice). We found no statistically significant evidence that short-term flight performance traits were affected by geolocator deployment. Here we discuss the implications of our findings for the deployment of geolocators in studies of migratory behaviour of small birds.KeywordsBarn SwallowBird flightDataloggerExternal transmitterFlight performanceLight-level geolocatorLocomotion