Manipulating seasonal timing in the wild: mechanisms and fitness

The objective of this project is to manipulate seasonal timing in great tits in the wild in order to experimentally assess the fitness consequences of breeding earlier. The experimental method that will be used is to manipulate the female great tit while roosting in the nest box at night by giving her an hour of light in the box (which will be temporally closed) towards the end of the night (but not at dawn). This skeleton photoperiod will affect the bird’s perception of photoperiod while not altering the time it leaves the box in the morning. The control group should also get an hour of light at the time of night when they are not sensitive. The first question is whether this treatment will affect seasonal timing (a causal effect of photoperiod under natural conditions), the second question is whether an experimental shift in reproductive timing has fitness consequences.  The experiment will be carried out at the Hoge Veluwe population in spring 2012 and the stage will start in February/March. The project will be supervised by Samuel Caro, Lucia Salis & Marcel Visser.

For more information please contact Samuel Caro (s.caro@nioo.knaw.nl) 0317 – 473 451