- Title
- Body mass and condition of a fynbos bird community investigating impacts of time, weather and raptor abundance from long-term citizen-science datasets
- Creator
- Lee, Alan T K, Barnard, Phoebe, Fraser, Mike, Lennard, Chris, Smit, Ben, Oschadleus, Hans-Dieter
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/448383
- Identifier
- vital:74726
- Identifier
- https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2019.1683093
- Description
- Variation in body size, especially mass, is a function of local environmental conditions for any given species. Recent recorded decreases in body size of endotherms have been attributed to climate change in some cases. This prediction is based on the trend of smaller body size of endotherms in warmer climates (Bergmann’s rule) and it implies genetic responses rather than phenotypic flexibility. Alternatively, selection for smaller body size or lower mass could be explained by the starvation-predation hypothesis, where lighter individuals have a higher probability of escaping pursuing predators, such as raptors. Evidence that climate warming is driving patterns of size selection in birds in recent times has been mixed. We inspected data on 40 bird species contributed by bird ringers to the South African Ringing Scheme (SAFRING) for changes in body mass and condition as a function of time (year), minimum temperature of the day of capture, maximum temperature of the previous day, and rainfall data in the south-western Cape Floristic Region (fynbos) around Cape Town, South Africa, for the period 1988–2015.
- Format
- 16 pages, pdf
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Ostrich, Lee, A.T.K., Barnard, P., Fraser, M., Lennard, C., Smit, B. and Oschadleus, H.D., 2020. Body mass and condition of a fynbos bird community: investigating impacts of time, weather and raptor abundance from long-term citizen-science datasets. Ostrich, 91(2), pp.142-157, Ostrich volume 91 number 2 142 157 2020 1727-947X
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Taylor and Francis Online Terms and Conditions Statement (https://www.tandfonline.com/terms-and-conditions)
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Smit, Ben (Dr)
SDG 15. Life On Land
RU Department of Zoology and Entomology
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Body mass and condition of a fynbos bird community.pdf | 701 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |