Weather influenced nestling growth of an insectivorous but not a granivorous grassland passerine in Argentina

Abstract

Nestling growth of birds can be affected by weather fluctuations. In general, it is expected that higher temperatures favor growth by improving food availability and nestling metabolism, while rain hinders it by reducing foraging efficiency. However, most of these patterns have been described in insectivorous cavity-nesting birds in temperate forests. We tested these predictions in two neotropical grassland ground-nesting birds with contrasting nestling diets and therefore potentially different responses to weather. We measured nestlings of the Hellmayr's Pipit (Anthus hellmayri, an insectivorous passerine) and the Grassland Yellow-Finch (Sicalis luteola, which feeds its nestlings exclusively with seeds) during three breeding seasons (2017–2020) in central-eastern Argentina. We took measurements of tarsus and body mass, modeled growth curves using nonlinear mixed-effects models, and evaluated the effects of minimum daily temperature and precipitation during the growth period and the 30 days prior to hatching. For pipits (60 nestlings from 21 nests), minimum temperatures during the growth period were positively associated with tarsus and body mass asymptotes. Also, there was a positive association between precipitation during the pre-hatching period and tarsus asymptote. Conversely, none of the weather variables analyzed had significant effects on nestling growth of finches (131 nestlings from 35 nests). Dietary contrast between species may explain the different results. Arthropod activity and abundance can be affected by weather variations within the span of a breeding season, whereas seeds may depend on conditions from previous years, making the effects harder to detect. Fledglings with reduced asymptotic size can have reduced chances of survival. Hence, pipit populations could be impacted if they experience cold and dry conditions during their breeding season, which is of major relevance in the current context of climate change.