Authors: Philippe Christe Florentino de Lope Guillermo González Nicola Saino Anders Pape Møller
Publish Date: 2001/02/01
Volume: 126, Issue: 3, Pages: 333-338
Abstract
Nestling birds produced later in the season are hypothesized to be of poor quality with a low probability of survival and recruitment In a Spanish population of house martins Delichon urbica we first compared reproductive success immune responses and morphological traits between the first and the second broods Second we investigated the effects of an ectoparasite treatment and breeding date on the recapture rate the following year Due probably to a reverse situation in weather conditions during the experiment with more rain during rearing of the first brood nestlings reared during the second brood were in better condition and had stronger immune responses compared with nestlings from the first brood Contrary to other findings on house martins we found a similar recapture rate for chicks reared during the first and the second brood Furthermore ectoparasitic house martin bugs had no significant effect on the recapture rate Recaptured birds had similar morphology but higher immunoglobulin levels when nestlings compared with nonrecaptured birds This result implies that a measure of immune function is a better predictor of survival than body condition per se
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