La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Body mass of female great tits (Parus major) at egg laying
Auteurs :	Anita Meszaros, Auteur ; Zoltan Toth, Auteur ; Liz Pasztor, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Journal of Ornithology (147(3) JUL 2006)
Article en page(s) :	414-418
Langues:	Anglais
Résumé :	Based on automated weighing of nest-boxes, we found that female great tits (Parus major) usually maintained their body mass during the egg-laying period. A drop in temperature (3 degrees C or more) during laying was followed by a drop in body mass, and female body mass also depended slightly but significantly on mean temperature on the other days. Day to day change in body mass depended negatively on the actual body mass. Moreover, the repeatability of the morning body mass was high (r=0.90, n=24). Thus, female body mass seems to be regulated around a female specific, but temperature-dependent, level during laying. The lack of strong correlation between female average body mass and clutch size makes it improbable that body mass at laying plays a leading, proximate role in the control of clutch-size of great tits.

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