Prehatching maternal investment and offspring immunity in the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca).

Males respond to female begging signals of need: a handicapping experiment in the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca

Degradation of song in a species using nesting holes: the Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca.

The habitat, but also the nest hole of a hole-nesting species, will degrade the song during transmission. We investigated how the sounds degrade in a sound transmission experiment with the song of the Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca (Muscicapidae). Ten different song elements were transmitted to microphones placed inside and outside a nest box. On average, song degradation was much greater i...

Long-term recovery of clutch size and egg shell quality of the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) in a metal polluted area.

We explored if breeding parameters and egg shell quality of an insectivorous passerine, pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca, have fully recovered after c.a. 99% decrease in dust emissions from a non-ferrous smelter in the course of the 23 year study period. Some potentially important population characteristics (density, phenology, age) and environmental variables (habitat, inter-specific competi...

Empty nests in the great tit (Parus major) and the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) in a polluted area.

Great tits (Parus major) are sometimes found to incubate in their nests even though the nests contain no eggs. This phenomenon has been observed in different parts of Europe (Sweden, Finland, UK, Netherlands, Germany) and it has become more common during the 1980s. We analysed the occurrence of empty nests in P. major and in pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) in SW Finland from 6-year data co...

Optimizing the trade-off between offspring number and quality in unpredictable environments: testing the role of differential androgen transfer to collared flycatcher eggs.

According to the brood reduction hypothesis, parents adjust their brood size in response to current environmental conditions. When resources are abundant, parents can successfully raise all hatched offspring, but when resources are scarce, brood reduction, i.e., the sacrifice of some siblings to secure the quality of a subset of offspring, may maximize fitness. Differential transfer of maternal...