Nikole E. Freeman
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Climatic Variability Threatens Population Growth and Persistence of a Declining Grassland Songbird Open
Determining the factors responsible for population change in threatened populations and the degree to which changing climates might put those populations at risk is one of the most pressing roles of conservation science. In the climaticall…
Corticosterone predicts double-brooding in female savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) Open
Given that double-brooding (rearing two broods within a season) can increase annual fecundity, it is unclear why some females in multi-brooded populations rear only one brood per season. The Quality Hypothesis proposes that double-brooded …
Environmental drivers of female reproductive investment in egg quantity and quality in a grassland sparrow Open
Female investment in reproduction is a critical component of life history that influences both the fitness of the female and her offspring. Oviparous females can allocate energy into egg size and/or clutch size, and this allocation can var…
View article: Fecal DNA metabarcoding helps characterize the Canada jay’s diet and confirms its reliance on stored food for winter survival and breeding
Fecal DNA metabarcoding helps characterize the Canada jay’s diet and confirms its reliance on stored food for winter survival and breeding Open
Accurately determining the diet of wild animals can be challenging if food items are small, visible only briefly, or rendered visually unidentifiable in the digestive system. In some food caching species, an additional challenge is determi…
Survival throughout the annual cycle of first year Canada Jays in the context of sibling competition, expulsion, and adoption Open
For most birds that exhibit delayed dispersal (remaining on the natal territory rather than dispersing to seek a breeding opportunity), siblings appear free to stay or leave the natal area. However, in rare cases, delaying dispersal is det…
The biotic and abiotic drivers of timing of breeding and the consequences of breeding early in a changing world Open
The decision of when to breed is an important determinant of individual fitness. However, despite a multitude of studies investigating the intraspecific relationship between timing of breeding and reproductive performance, less is known ab…
Early-life sibling conflict in Canada jays has lifetime fitness consequences Open
While delaying natal dispersal can provide short-term benefits for juveniles, lifetime fitness consequences are rarely assessed. Furthermore, competition for limited positions on a natal territory could impose an indirect fitness cost on t…
Fuirst et al. RSPB Dataset 3 Open
Dataset used to calculate direct, indirect, and inclusive fitness of Canada jays
Fuirst et al. RSPB Dataset 1 Open
Dataset to test the effect of Dominant Juvenile presence on adult breeding success
Fuirst et al. RSPB Dataset 2 Open
Dataset used to test the effects of early-life social status on lifetime reproductive success.
Riding out the storm: depleted fat stores and elevated hematocrit in a small bodied endotherm exposed to severe weather Open
In the mid-continental grasslands of North America, climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. Increasingly severe storms and prolonged periods of elevated temperatures can impose challenges that ad…
Fuirst et al. RSPB Dataset 1 Open
Dataset to test the effect of Dominant Juvenile presence on adult breeding success
Early-life experience shapes patterns of senescence in a food-caching passerine Open
For many species, breeding performance increases through early adulthood followed by declines later in life. Although patterns of age-specific decline have been shown to vary between individuals, the factors that lead to this individual va…
Popular press portrayal of issues surrounding free‐roaming domestic cats <i>Felis catus</i> Open
Domestic cats Felis catus have a complex and contentious history. They fill multiple societal roles (e.g. as pest controllers and companion animals), which has led to a variety of animal welfare, conservation, and human health concerns. Po…
The Effect of Egg Laying on Feather and Plasma Corticosterone Concentrations in Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Hens Open
Phenological differences in energy demand (i.e., reproductive status) might influence the measurement of corticosterone. The objective of this study was to compare corticosterone concentrations in feathers (FCORT) and plasma (PCORT) for tu…
Early-Life Corticosterone Body Condition Influence Social Status and Survival in a Food-Caching Passerine Open
Synopsis Individuals undergo profound changes throughout their early life as they grow and transition between life-history stages. As a result, the conditions that individuals experience during development can have both immediate and lasti…
Data from: Popular press portrayal of issues surrounding free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus) Open
This dataset is comprised of variables coded/extracted from popular press articles about domestic cats (Felis catus), which were evaluated as part of a media-content analysis. Our focus was understanding how a number of issues surrounding …
Data supplement from Early-life experience shapes patterns of senescence in a food-caching passerine Open
Long-term data used for statistical analysis
Causes and consequences of variation in diet composition of nestling Canada jays Open
Diet quality during development can impact growth, physiology, behaviour and survival. The Canada jay is a resident boreal passerine that caches a wide variety of perishable food items in late summer and autumn for its over‐winter survival…
Early-life Carry-over Effects on Physiology and Survival in a Food-caching Passerine Open
Knowledge of the downstream effects of conditions experienced during early life is essential to understanding the mechanisms driving individual physiology, behaviour, and, ultimately, fitness. Developmental conditions, such as diet quantit…
ESM 2 from Autumn freeze–thaw events carry over to depress late-winter reproductive performance in Canada jays Open
Evidence suggests that range-edge populations are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but few studies have examined the specific mechanisms that are driving observed declines. Species that store perishable food for extended…
ESM 3 Nestling from Autumn freeze–thaw events carry over to depress late-winter reproductive performance in Canada jays Open
Evidence suggests that range-edge populations are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but few studies have examined the specific mechanisms that are driving observed declines. Species that store perishable food for extended…
Supplementary material from "Autumn freeze–thaw events carry over to depress late-winter reproductive performance in Canada jays" Open
Evidence suggests that range-edge populations are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but few studies have examined the specific mechanisms that are driving observed declines. Species that store perishable food for extended…
Length polymorphisms at two candidate genes explain variation of migratory behaviors in blackpoll warblers (<i>Setophaga striata</i>) Open
Migratory behaviors such as the timing and duration of migration are genetically inherited and can be under strong natural selection, yet we still know very little about the specific genes or molecular pathways that control these behaviors…
A Boreal Songbird's 20,000 km Migration Across North America and the Atlantic Ocean Open
The 12-g migratory blackpoll warbler has one of the most spectacular migrations in the world. We used miniaturized devices to track the movements of blackpolls breeding at four northern locations, including as far west as Nome, Alaska, USA…
Autumn freeze-thaw events carry over to depress late-winter reproductive performance in Canada jays Open
Evidence suggests that range-edge populations are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but few studies have examined the specific mechanisms that are driving observed declines. Species that store perishable food for extended…
Quantifying corticosterone in feathers: validations for an emerging technique Open
Feather corticosterone measurement is becoming a widespread tool for assessing avian physiology. Corticosterone is deposited into feathers during growth and provides integrative and retrospective measures of an individual's hypothalamic-pi…