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Open AccessWinter-ground microhabitat use by differently coloured phenotypes affects return rate in a long-distance migratory bird
Migratory bird populations are declining globally at alarming rates. Non-breeding site conditions affect breeding populations, but generalising non-breeding habitat conditions over large spatial regions cannot...
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Article
Stable isotopes and a changing world
The measurement of naturally occurring stable isotope ratios of the light elements (C, N, H, O, S) in animal tissues and associated organic and inorganic fractions of associated environments holds immense pote...
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Article
Stopover-site feather isotopes uncover African non-breeding grounds of migratory passerines
The survival of migratory passerines depends considerably on conditions experienced on their non-breeding grounds. However, these critical non-breeding sites are generally poorly known, especially for species ...
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Open AccessCorrection to: Feather stable isotopes (δ2 Hf and δ13Cf) identify the Sub-Saharan wintering grounds of turtle doves from Europe
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Open AccessMulti-isotope (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N) feather profiles and morphometrics inform patterns of migratory connectivity in three species of North American swallows
Aerial insectivorous birds have suffered steep population declines in North America over the last 60 years. A lack of information on migratory connectivity between breeding and non-breeding grounds for these ...
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Article
Breeding stage and tissue isotopic consistency suggests colony-level flexibility in niche breadth of an Arctic marine bird
Organisms must overcome environmental limitations to optimize their investment in life history stages to maximize fitness. Human-induced climate change is generating increasingly variable environmental conditi...
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Article
Open AccessUsing stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N) values from feces and breath to infer shorebird diets
The use of stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) from feces and breath offers potential as non-destructive tools to assess diets and nutrition. How stable isotope values derived from breath and fec...
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Article
Characterizing spatial and temporal variation in stable hydrogen isotopes (δ2H) between two distinct lentic freshwater food webs
We investigated variability in δ2H values for two aquatic food webs involving avian consumers (lesser scaup, Aythya affinis Eyton and tree swallow, Tachycineta bicolor Vieillot) foraging from boreal lakes in the ...
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Article
Open AccessFeather stable isotopes (δ2Hf and δ13Cf) identify the Sub-Saharan wintering grounds of turtle doves from Europe
Conservation of migratory birds requires knowledge of breeding and nonbreeding ranges and the connections between them. European turtle doves (Streptopelia turtur) are Palearctic-African long-distance migrants wi...
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Article
Linking environmental indicators to blood, feather and claw δ18O in the Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) in the central Brazilian savannas
Understanding linkages between biotic and abiotic processes operating in highly seasonal environments such as the Savannas in the Neotropics is tremendously challenging but has been aided considerably through ...
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Article
Diet of nestling Barn Swallows in an agroecosystem: insights from fecal DNA barcoding and feather stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N)
Globally, grassland and farmland birds have experienced population declines due to habitat loss associated with increasing agricultural land-use intensity. These modified environments can reduce insect availab...
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Article
Stable isotopes (δ2H) in feathers identify non-breeding origins of the endangered Jankowski’s Bunting
There is sparse and contradictory information concerning the migratory status and non-breeding range of the endangered Jankowski’s Bunting Emberiza jankowskii, precluding the possible development of conservation ...
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Open AccessAuthor Correction: Age-dependent carry-over effects in a long-distance migratory bird
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Intra- and inter-individual changes in little penguin diving and isotopic composition over the breeding season
Seabirds allocate different amounts of energy to reproduction throughout the breeding season, depending on the trade-off between their own needs and those of their chicks and/or changes in environmental condit...
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Article
Tracing sources of carbon and hydrogen to stored lipids in migratory passerines using stable isotope (δ13C, δ2H) measurements
Using measurements of naturally occurring stable isotopes in feathers to determine avian origin and migratory patterns is well established. However, isotopically determining nutritional origins of lipids, a ma...
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Article
Testing the utility of condition indices in nestling swallows: a quantitative magnetic resonance approach
Nutritional condition is a key factor influencing the survival of migratory birds, and condition indices derived from morphometric measurements are commonly used to assess nutrient and energy stores. The perfo...
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Article
Feather stable isotope (δ2H) measurements suggest no historical variation in latitudinal origin of migrants in two declining songbirds
The geographic origin of migratory birds can be traced using measurements of stable-hydrogen isotopes (δ2H) in their feathers. In continental Europe, local amount-weighted mean annual δ2H in precipitation varies ...
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Article
Mercury exposure to swallows breeding in Canada inferred from feathers grown on breeding and non-breeding grounds
Aerial insectivorous birds such as swallows have been the steepest declining groups of birds in North America over the last 50 years but whether such declines are linked to contaminants has not been examined. ...
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Article
Birds of a feather don’t always flock together: variation in molt origins and movement patterns of winter finches in Ontario
For irruptive or facultative migrants in the subfamily Carduelinae, the winter finches, seasonal movements are extensive but have been poorly described in North America. We used stable hydrogen isotope measure...
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Temporal patterns of foraging by silver-haired bats during migratory stopover revealed by isotopic analyses (δ13C) of breath CO2
The extent to which migratory bats forage at stopover sites or while in migratory flight is poorly understood. Endogenous fat stores have lower δ13C values relative to the dietary substrates from which they were ...
