Kouba Marek, Bartoš Luděk, Korpimäki Erkki, Zárybnická Markéta
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
Department of Animal Science and Ethology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech Republic.
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 20;10(3):e0121641. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121641. eCollection 2015.
In altricial birds, the nestling period is an important part of the breeding phase because the juveniles may spend quite a long time in the nest, with associated high energy costs for the parents. The length of the nestling period can be variable and its duration may be influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors; however, studies of this have mostly been undertaken on passerine birds. We studied individual duration of nestling period of 98 Tengmalm's owl chicks (Aegolius funereus) at 27 nests during five breeding seasons using a camera and chip system and radio-telemetry. We found the nestlings stayed in the nest box for 27 - 38 days from hatching (mean ± SD, 32.4 ± 2.2 days). The individual duration of nestling period was negatively related to wing length, but no formally significant effect was found for body weight, sex, prey availability and/or weather conditions. The fledging sequence of individual nestlings was primarily related to hatching order; no relationship with wing length and/or other factors was found in this case. We suggest the length of wing is the most important measure of body condition and individual quality in Tengmalm's owl young determining the duration of the nestling period. Other differences from passerines (e.g., the lack of effect of weather or prey availability on nestling period) are considered likely to be due to different life-history traits, in particular different food habits and nesting sites and greater risk of nest predation among passerines.
在晚成鸟中，雏鸟期是繁殖阶段的重要组成部分，因为雏鸟可能会在巢中待相当长的时间，这会给亲鸟带来高昂的能量成本。雏鸟期的长度可能各不相同，其持续时间可能受到生物和非生物因素的影响；然而，对此的研究大多是在雀形目鸟类上进行的。我们在五个繁殖季节中，使用摄像头和芯片系统以及无线电遥测技术，研究了27个巢穴中98只长耳鸮雏鸟（Aegolius funereus）的个体雏鸟期持续时间。我们发现雏鸟从孵化到离巢在巢箱中待了27 - 38天（平均值±标准差，32.4 ± 2.2天）。雏鸟期的个体持续时间与翅长呈负相关，但未发现体重、性别、猎物可获得性和/或天气条件有正式的显著影响。个体雏鸟的离巢顺序主要与孵化顺序有关；在这种情况下，未发现与翅长和/或其他因素有相关性。我们认为翅长是长耳鸮雏鸟身体状况和个体质量的最重要衡量指标，它决定了雏鸟期的持续时间。与雀形目鸟类的其他差异（例如，天气或猎物可获得性对雏鸟期没有影响）可能是由于不同的生活史特征，特别是不同的食性、筑巢地点以及雀形目鸟类中更高的巢捕食风险。
