Papers by Charles Thompson
Journal of Avian Biology, 1996
We recorded the population growth of two mite species, Dermanyssus hirundinis and Androlaelaps ca... more We recorded the population growth of two mite species, Dermanyssus hirundinis and Androlaelaps casalis, during the nesting cycle of an Illinois population of House Wrens in 1993-94. We tested two hypotheses concerning mite population growth which explain why these two mite ...
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Evolution; international journal of organic evolution, Jan 10, 2015
Despite keen interest in extra-pair mating in birds, its adaptive significance remains unresolved... more Despite keen interest in extra-pair mating in birds, its adaptive significance remains unresolved. Here, we use a multi-year dataset to test whether traits of a female's social mate influence her propensity to produce extra-pair offspring in a population of house wrens, and whether producing extra-pair young has consequences for a female's fitness through effects on offspring survival. Females were most likely to produce extra-pair offspring when paired with old males and when paired with males on poor-quality territories, although this latter effect was marginally nonsignificant. Among offspring, the cutaneous immunity of within-pair young decreased as the age of their sires increased, but cutaneous immunity of extra-pair young was not affected by the age of their extra-pair sires or by the age of the males rearing them. Extra-pair offspring were more likely than within-pair offspring to return as breeding adults to the local population, with extra-pair sons being more like...
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Journal of zoology (London, England : 1987), 2015
Mass or body-size measures of 'condition' are of central importance to the study of ecolo... more Mass or body-size measures of 'condition' are of central importance to the study of ecology and evolution, and it is often assumed that differences in condition measures are positively and linearly related to fitness. Using examples drawn from ecological studies, we show that indices of condition frequently are unlikely to be related to fitness in a linear fashion. Researchers need to be more explicit in acknowledging the limitations of mass-based condition measures and accept that, under some circumstances, they may not relate to fitness as traditionally assumed. Any relationship between a particular condition measure and fitness should first be empirically validated before condition is used as a proxy for fitness. In the absence of such evidence, researchers should explicitly acknowledge that assuming such a relationship may be unrealistic.
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Ecology, 2014
Measures of body condition, immune function, and hematological health are widely used in ecologic... more Measures of body condition, immune function, and hematological health are widely used in ecological studies of vertebrate populations, predicated on the assumption that these traits are linked to fitness. However, compelling evidence that these traits actually predict long-term survival and reproductive success among individuals in the wild is lacking. Here, we show that body condition (i.e., size-adjusted body mass) and cutaneous immune responsiveness to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) injection among neonates positively predict recruitment and subsequent longevity in a wild, migratory population of house wrens (Troglodytes aedon). However, neonates with intermediate hematocrit had the highest recruitment and longevity. Neonates with the highest PHA responsiveness and intermediate hematocrit prior to independence eventually produced the most offspring during their lifetime breeding on the study site. Importantly, the effects of PHA responsiveness and hematocrit were revealed while controlling for variation in body condition, sex, and environmental variation. Thus, our data demonstrate that body condition, cutaneous immune responsiveness, and hematocrit as a neonate are associated with individual fitness. Although hematocrit's effect is more complex than traditionally thought, our results suggest a previously underappreciated role for this trait in influencing survival in the wild.
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The Birds of North America Online, 2001
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PLoS ONE, 2014
Incubating birds must allocate their time and energy between maintaining egg temperature and obta... more Incubating birds must allocate their time and energy between maintaining egg temperature and obtaining enough food to meet their own metabolic demands. We tested the hypothesis that female house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) face a trade-off between incubation and self-maintenance by providing females with supplemental food during incubation. We predicted that food supplementation would increase the amount of time females devoted to incubating their eggs, lower their baseline plasma corticosterone levels (a measure of chronic stress), and increase their body mass, haematocrit (a measure of anaemia), and reproductive success relative to control females. As predicted, food-supplemented females spent a greater proportion of time incubating their eggs than control females. Contrary to expectation, however, there was no evidence that food supplementation significantly influenced female baseline plasma corticosterone levels, body mass, haematocrit, or reproductive success. However, females with high levels of corticosterone at the beginning of incubation were more likely to abandon their nesting attempt after capture than females with low levels. Corticosterone significantly increased between the early incubation and early nestling stages of the breeding cycle in all females. These results suggest that although food supplementation results in a modest increase in incubation effort, it does not lead to significantly lower levels of chronic stress as reflected in lower baseline corticosterone levels. We conclude that female house wrens that begin the incubation period with low levels of plasma corticosterone can easily meet their own nutritional needs while incubating their eggs, and that any trade-off between incubation and self-feeding does not influence female reproductive success under the conditions at the time of our study.
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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 1999
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Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2008
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Ibis, 2008
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Behavioral Ecology, 1998
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Acta Ornithologica, 2010
The widespread use of artificial nestboxes has led to significant advances in our knowledge of th... more The widespread use of artificial nestboxes has led to significant advances in our knowledge of the ecology, behaviour and physiology of cavity nesting birds, especially small passerines. Nestboxes have made it easier to perform routine monitoring and ...
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Biology Letters, 2011
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Papers by Charles Thompson