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Did you know that fungi, like mushrooms and molds, are super important for our planet? Fungi can form critical relationships with other organisms. For example, many plants rely on fungi to help them grow and thrive. However, fungi are not always friendly and sometimes they can hurt plants by causing disease. Did you also know that there are fungi in the ocean? While you might not be able to see these fungi when you go to the beach (because they can only be seen with a microscope), they are found everywhere in the ocean. Marine fungi are pretty cool, but we do not know a lot about them yet or what roles they play in the ocean. Scientists are starting to learn more about how marine fungi help the ocean and keep our planet healthy. This article will explore the amazing world of marine fungi!
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What Can Tree Swallows Teach Us About Biology?
Tree swallows are North American birds that can help us understand more about biology. We already know a lot about tree swallows because they are easy to work with. These birds are popular for scientists to study. We know a lot about bird health, migration, and nesting because of tree swallows. However, tree swallows are declining because of climate change, insect loss, and habitat destruction. You can help by becoming a community scientist! Tree swallows are fascinating birds that everyone can help conserve. And along the way, we can learn more about our world.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2208924
- PAR ID:
- 10610189
- Publisher / Repository:
- Frontiers for Young Minds
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers for Young Minds
- Volume:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2296-6846
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract The risk of predation directly affects the physiology, behavior, and fitness of wild birds. Strong social connections with conspecifics could help individuals recover from a stressful experience such as a predation event; however, competitive interactions also have the potential to exacerbate stress. Few studies have investigated the interaction between environmental stressors and the social landscape in wild bird populations. In 2 years of field studies, we experimentally simulated predation attempts on breeding female tree swallows (Tachicyneta bicolor). At the same time, we manipulated female breast plumage color, a key social signal. Simulated predation events on tree swallows early in the nestling period reduced young nestlings' mass by approximately 20% and shortened telomere lengths. Ultimately, only 31% of nestlings in the predation group fledged compared with 70% of control nestlings. However, the effects of experimental manipulations were timing dependent: the following year when we swapped the order of the experimental manipulations and simulated predation during incubation, there were no significant effects of predation on nestling condition or fledging success. Contrary to our expectations, manipulation of the social environment did not affect the response of tree swallows to simulated predation. However, manipulating female plumage during the nestling period did reduce nestling skeletal size and mass, although the effects depended on original plumage brightness. Our data demonstrate that transient stressors on female birds can have carry‐over effects on their nestlings if they occur during critical periods in the breeding season.more » « less
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Ruiz-Rodriguez, Magdalena (Ed.)Some birds exhibit a maxillary overhang, in which the tip of the upper beak projects beyond the lower mandible and may curve downward. The overhang is thought to help control ectoparasites on the feathers. Little is known about the extent to which the maxillary overhang varies spatially or temporally within populations of the same species. The colonial cliff swallow ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ) has relatively recently shifted to almost exclusive use of artificial structures such as bridges and highway culverts for nesting and consequently has been exposed to higher levels of parasitism than on its ancestral cliff nesting sites. We examined whether increased ectoparasitism may have favored recent changes in the extent of the maxillary overhang. Using a specimen collection of cliff swallows from western Nebraska, USA, spanning 40 years and field data on live birds, we found that the extent of the maxillary overhang increased across years in a nonlinear way, peaking in the late 2000’s, and varied inversely with cliff swallow colony size for unknown reasons. The number of fleas on nestling cliff swallows declined in general over this period. Those birds with perceptible overhangs had fewer swallow bugs on the outside of their nest, but they did not have higher nesting success than birds with no overhangs. The intraspecific variation in the maxillary overhang in cliff swallows was partly consistent with it having a functional role in combatting ectoparasites. The temporal increase in the extent of the overhang may be a response by cliff swallows to their relatively recent increased exposure to parasitism. Our results demonstrate that this avian morphological trait can change rapidly over time.more » « less
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Briffa, Mark (Ed.)Abstract While female mate choice is well established, mutual choice may play a larger role in mate selection than currently recognized. Assortative mating is a common form of nonrandom mating in animals that can result from mutual choice. However, few studies address assortative patterns beyond the social pair, potentially overlooking assortativity in the mating pair and in the social environment that shapes reproductive decisions. We asked whether North American barn swallows (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster) breeding in a large colony form pairs, mate (through both within-pair and extra-pair fertilizations), and interact assortatively by ventral plumage color, wing length, and age. Social interactions were tracked using proximity loggers, which recorded close contact between tagged individuals when birds were mating and laying eggs. Barn swallows paired and mated assortatively by their ventral plumage color; however, the assortative patterns in mating pairs were not as strong as they were in social pairs. Barn swallows also interacted assortatively, associating more often with individuals of both sexes who had similar phenotypes relative to the other birds in the colony. Finally, older males and females with darker ventral plumage achieved the highest reproductive success. Investigation of assortative behavior beyond the level of the social pair provides a more complete understanding of mate choice and suggests a mechanism that may maintain the large variation in ventral plumage color in North American barn swallows.more » « less
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Abstract Reversing large-scale habitat degradation and deforestation goes beyond what can be achieved by site-level ecological restoration and a landscape ecology perspective is fundamental. Here we assess the relative importance of tree cover and its configuration on forest-dependent birds and late-successional tree seedlings in restoration sites in southern Costa Rica. The abundance and species richness of birds increased in landscapes with more corridors, higher tree cover, and lower levels of fragmentation, highlighting the importance of riparian corridors for connectivity, and continuous tree cover as suitable habitat. Landscape variables affected abundance and species richness of seedlings similarly, but effects were weaker, possibly because seedlings face establishment limitation in addition to dispersal limitation. Moreover, the scale of landscape effects on seedlings was small, likely because proximal individual trees can significantly influence recruitment in restoration plots. Results underscore the importance of incorporating landscape-level metrics to restoration projects, as knowing the extent, and how the landscape may affect restoration outcomes can help to infer what kind of species will arrive to restoration plots.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1274157
