Lanius Meridionalis Research Articles

Bird diversity in a Sahelian ecosystem under restoration: A study in the great Grenn wall extension area of Senegal

In this study, we survey the avian biodiversity in Koyli Alpha, Senegal, located in the extension area of the Great Green Wall (GGW) project in Senegal to restore the degraded ecosystems by the long years of drought during the 1970s in addition to anthropogenic pressures. Data are collected during a period of 52 days between July 2019 and Jun 2021 in Koyli Alpha and their surroundings, we identified the presence of avian species through daytime focal observations using transects, fixed points and trapping cameras. Thus, we recorded the presence of 198 total bird species. Species composed of 143 landbirds and 55 waterbirds distributed in 22 orders and 59 families. The most common were granivorous birds such as the Golgen sparrow (Passer luteus) and the Red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea). Among these inventoried species, three are categorized as critically endangered species (CR) (IUCN Redlist). They are the Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli), the White-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) and the hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus). Additionally, the Martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) is categorized as endangered (EN), and the Great grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis), the Abyssinian ground hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus) and the European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) are categorized as vulnerable species (VN). Furthermore, 37% of observed birds are palearctic migratory species.

Feather characteristics of loral zone in an insectivorous passerine: The Iberian gray shrike Lanius meridionalis, in southern France.

In the French Mediterranean plain, the northern extreme of its native range, the Iberian gray shrike, Lanius meridionalis, predominantly feeds on arthropods. Its type of loral plumage plays a key role in protecting its eyes while transporting large prey. The aims are to understand the role played by feathers in protecting the animal from various types of defensive prey. I combine an inspection of large insect prey types found on larders with a review of bird specimens found in museum collections to examine the morphometric characteristics of rictal feathers and culmen. In addition, precision photographs are used to observe the posture of the plumage in natura. Icould identify four categories of protective feathers: clustered bristles, semi-bristles, semi-plumes distributed in the loral area, and semi-plumes above the eyes. My results suggest that the Iberian gray shrike has a complex structure of loral feathers, specific to its foraging activity and prey types. The presence of these rictal bristles is probably a protection against the movements of larger prey items, which might damage loral zone of Lanius meridionalis.

Haemosporidian prevalence in Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis nestlings in the Iberian Peninsula: lower prevalence than previously reported

ABSTRACT We report a new analysis of haemosporidian occurrence in 392 Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis nestlings previously reported in Hernández et al. (2017. Haemosporidian prevalence in Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis nestlings: impact on body condition and geographic distribution in the Iberian Peninsula. Bird Study 64: 362–373). The previous findings have since been suspected of suffering from contamination by DNA samples from another species. The new analysis showed a prevalence of 1% with a single Leucocytozoon lineage (ENCIR02), distributed in two of the three populations studied.

SIGHTING OF SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKES PREYING ON RED PALM WEEVIL IN TWO COUNTRIES

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, commonly known as Red Palm Weevil, is one of the most destructive and invasivepalm pests’ species in the world. The most important host species are coconut palms, oil palms, Canary Island palms and itis considered as a key pest in date palms crops. As the existing chemical – based treatments are not efficient, the eco-friendly biological control methods have now attracted high interest. In this note, we report for the first time the predationof the Red Palm Weevil by two subspecies of Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis, once in Spain and once in SaudiArabia.

Haemosporidian prevalence in Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis nestlings: impact on body condition and geographic distribution in the Iberian Peninsula

ABSTRACTCapsule: Nestling Southern Grey Shrikes Lanius meridionalis show a high prevalence of haemosporidian parasites including five lineages described here for the first time.Aims: To examine the prevalence of various haemosporidian lineages in nestlings of three separated Iberian populations of the Southern Grey Shrike.Methods: Blood samples were taken from nestling Southern Grey Shrikes from three agroecosystem areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Parasites were detected from blood samples using polymerase chain reaction screening.Resusts: Nestlings were parasitized by 11 different lineages belonging to the genera Haemoproteus (3.8%), Plasmodium (0.5%) and Leucocytozoon (1.8%), including five new undescribed lineages. These are among the highest prevalence levels of haemosporidians parasites (7.4%) for nestlings of passerine birds.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the distribution of avian haemosporidians is determined by complex effects including climate and biogeography. Most parasite lineages were not universally spread across shrike populations, despite being otherwise widespread both geographically and taxonomically.

Hatching order and sex ratio in Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis in relation to clutch size

Despite major advances in sex ratio theory, how offspring sex should vary with hatching order remains unclear. We examine nestling sex ratio in the Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis according to hatching order and clutch size. Southern Grey Shrike nestlings present a different sex ratio with body‐mass rank order depending on clutch size. When the clutch size was five eggs (with a very low risk of brood reduction; 13%) the less costly sex (male) was found at the end of the body mass hierarchy. However, when clutch size was six eggs (with a high risk of brood reduction; 42%) the larger sex (female) was found at intermediate positions in the hatching order, possibly to decrease competitive asymmetries.

Population history, gene flow, and bottlenecks in island populations of a secondary seed disperser, the southern grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis koenigi).

Studying the population history and demography of organisms with important ecological roles can aid understanding of evolutionary processes at the community level and inform conservation. We screened genetic variation (mtDNA and microsatellite) across the populations of the southern grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis koenigi) in the Canary Islands, where it is an endemic subspecies and an important secondary seed disperser. We show that the Canarian subspecies is polyphyletic with L. meridionalis elegans from North Africa and that shrikes have colonized the Canary Islands from North Africa multiple times. Substantial differences in genetic diversity exist across islands, which are most likely the product of a combination of historical colonization events and recent bottlenecks. The Eastern Canary Islands had the highest overall levels of genetic diversity and have probably been most recently and/or frequently colonized from Africa. Recent or ongoing bottlenecks were detected in three of the islands and are consistent with anecdotal evidence of population declines due to human disturbance. These findings are troubling given the shrike's key ecological role in the Canary Islands, and further research is needed to understand the community-level consequences of declines in shrike populations. Finally, we found moderate genetic differentiation among populations, which largely reflected the shrike's bottleneck history; however, a significant pattern of isolation-by-distance indicated that some gene flow occurs between islands. This study is a useful first step toward understanding how secondary seed dispersal operates over broad spatial scales.

Costs of rearing and sex-ratio variation in southern grey shrike Lanius meridionalis broods

Several non-mutually exclusive hypotheses predict adaptive variation in the off spring sex ratio. When conditions for breeding are adverse, parents are predicted to produce more off spring of the less costly sex to rear ( ‘ the costof-reproduction hypothesis ’ ). Moreover, they also should produce the more dispersing sex in order to diminish future competition ( ‘ the local-resource-competition hypothesis ’ ). Here, we analyse brood sex ratio according to rearing conditions in the southern shrike Lanius meridionalis , a species with moderately reversed sexual dimorphism. Our results suggest that females are more costly to rear than males in this species. Adult females proved heavier than males, and female nestling tended to be heavier than male nestlings. Moreover, the greater brood reduction, the more malebiased was the brood, suggesting that brood reduction implied higher mortality in female nestlings. Consistent with these fi ndings, the brood sex ratio was biased to the less costly sex (males) when breeding conditions were adverse (bad years or low-quality male parents), supporting the cost-of-reproduction hypothesis. By contrast, these fi ndings did not support the local-resource-competition hypothesis, which predicted female-biased brood sex ratio under adverse conditions. As a whole, our results support the idea that birds adaptively modulate sex ratio in order to minimize reproduction costs.

Benefits of Extra Begging Fail to Compensate for Immunological Costs in Southern Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) Nestlings

Theoretical models aimed at explaining the evolution of honest, informative begging signals employed by nestling birds to solicit food from their parents, require that dishonest signalers incur a net viability cost in order to prevent runaway escalation of signal intensity over evolutionary time. Previous attempts to determine such a cost empirically have identified two candidate physiological costs associated with exaggerated begging: a growth and an immunological cost. However, they failed to take into account the fact that those costs are potentially offset by the fact that nestlings that invest more in begging are also likely to obtain more food. In this study, we test experimentally whether a 25% increase in ingested food compensates for growth and immunological costs of extra begging in southern shrike (Lanius meridionalis) nestlings. Three nestmates matched by size were given three treatments: low begging, high begging-same food intake, and high begging-extra food intake. We found that, while a higher food intake did effectively compensate for the growth cost, it failed to compensate for the immunological cost, measured as T-cell mediated immune response against an innocuous mitogen. Thus, we show for the first time that escalated begging has an associated physiological net cost likely to affect nestling survival negatively.

High prevalence of haemosporidian parasites infection in southern grey shrike Lanius meridionalis (Laniidae, Aves) from agricultural areas

We present the first data on prevalence of haematozoa in Southern grey shrikes Lanius meridionalis (Temminck) in agricultural areas of western Spain. A fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of the parasite was amplified, using a nested PCR assay from blood sample. Of the 81 shrikes analysed, 65.4% showed infection with Haemoproteus (Kruse, 1890) while neither Leucocytozoon (Berestneff, 1904) nor Plasmodium (Marchiafava et Celli, 1885) were detected. Our results were in line with the high Haemoproteus infection rate prevalence recorded in some species of migratory passerines in the same study area. There were more birds infected in irrigated crops than in non-irrigated crops (82.6% and 58.6%, respectively) although this trend was not statistically significant. No significant differences were recorded between infected and non-infected birds by age, sex and season (breeding, non-breeding).

Breeding Success of Southern Grey ShrikesLanius meridionalisin Agricultural Areas: The Influence of Nest Site Characteristics

Three hundred and thirty nests of Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis were located during 1998–2010 in two highly fragmented Mediterranean agricultural areas of Spain (Olite in Northern and Toro in Western part of the country). Most nests (ca. 85%) were built in thorny shrubs (mainly Dog Rose Rosa sp. and Blackberry Rubus ulmifolius) and thornless shrubs (mainly Holm Oak Quercus rotundifolia and Kermes Oak Quercus coccifera). Based on a logistic regression, three factors had an influence on breeding success: study area, breeding phenology, and plant cover type. Location of the nest inside the shrub, as well as luminosity inside a shrub varied between studied shrub species, but did not significantly affect breeding success. The percentage of successful nests was significantly higher in Olite than in Toro (64.5% and 37.9% respectively). In Olite, but not in Toro, clutches laid early (first egg laid prior to 1st May) were more successful than clutches laid late. The highest breeding success was recorded in nests located in thorny shrubs and, especially, in those found in Blackberry bushes. Conservation of Blackberry shrubs appears to be an appropriate measure to increase breeding success of the Southern Grey Shrike.

Begging at high level simultaneously impairs growth and immune response in southern shrike (Lanius meridionalis) nestlings

Theoretical models suggest that begging should be costly in order to be evolutionarily stable. However, evidence for such a cost is contradictory (e.g. for growth costs) or scant (e.g. for immunological costs). Here, we experimentally test the existence of both costs in southern shrike (Lanius meridionalis) nestlings. Nestlings were paired by nest of origin and similar body mass. In each pair, a nestling was forced to beg for about 30 s h(-1) , whereas the other begged for only 2 s, both nestlings receiving the same quantity of food. At the same time, the nestling response to an antigen (phytohaemagglutinin) was measured. Nestlings forced to beg for longer showed a reduction in growth rate and in immunocompetence when compared to control chicks. The two costs occurred independently of each other and were negatively correlated to time begging. These results strongly support models of honest signalling as well as scramble competition, which predict that begging should be costly in order to be evolutionarily stable.

Temporal changes and sexual differences of impaling behavior in Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)

The Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) is a common resident along the rift valley. During 2007-2008 we studied the impaling behavior of Southern Grey Shrikes at the Shezaf nature reserve by food supplementation. Our findings indicate seasonal shifts in impaling behavior. During the winter, there was no difference between the sexes and shrikes impaled house mice (Mus musculus) close to their territorial boundaries with neighboring conspecifics. All impaled mice disappeared from the tree within a few hours of impalement. During the mating season, males impaled the whole prey and let females eat it, and prey was impaled by both sexes only in order to dismember and feed the nestlings. Shrikes impaled and cached meal worms only after they were satiated. The number of meal worms taken to be hoarded increased during the non-breeding season, but during the breeding season male shrikes preferred to feed the females. During the entire research period we did not find any specific cache sites or trees and no prey remained impaled for extended periods of time. In conclusion, impaling prey changed temporally and between sexes: from being a signal for conspecifics to pair bonding.

Annual Precipitation Affects Reproduction of the Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)

Abstract We studied the breeding ecology of the Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) at the Shezaf Nature Reserve, Arava Valley, Israel, an extremely arid desert with mean annual rainfall of 30 mm. We color-banded 128 shrikes during 2007–2009. The breeding season lasted from late February until late June. We found 34 nests and a correlation between years with amount of precipitation and number of breeding pairs. Second broods after successful broods were found only in 2007 and were all unsuccessful. Most nests were in Acacia trees; pairs that nested in dry trees, lacking foliage, were more likely to fail. The average clutch size was 3.44; average number of nestlings was 1.95; and average number of nestlings that fledged was 1.24. These results are lower than other studies of the species, probably a result of the scarcity of food in the arid environment. Nest survival rate was higher during incubation than during rearing of nestlings (0.71vs. 0.62), and total nest survival was 44.5%. The arid Arava V...

Sjeldne fugler i Norge i 2008 - Rapport fra Norsk sjeldenhetskomité for fugl (NSKF)

This is the 33rd annual report from the Norwegian Rarities Committee (NSKF). The majority of records treated here are from 2008, but more than 100 older records are also included. The Norwegian rarities committee follow advises given by the Taxonomic Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Association of European Records and Rarities Committees (AERC) on issues concerning taxonomy and nomenclature. The systematic list of accepted records is set out in the following system: (1) The bird's Norwegian name, (2) scientific name, (3) the numbers in brackets, e.g. (2, 30/32, 1), refers respectively to the (i) total number of records/total number of individuals up to and including 1974, (ii) total number of records/total number of individuals from 1975 (the foundation year of NSKF), except (iii) records/individuals in 2008, (4) any breeding, (5) year, (6) county, (7) number of individuals, age (1K = first calendar year etc.), sex (if known) and sometimes circumstances («rm.» means that the bird was ringed, «sy.» indicates a singing male), (8) site and municipality, (9) date, (10) * indicates if the record was complemented by positive evidence, and type of the evidence (F = photo, V = video-recorded, L = tape-recorded), (11) observers' names in brackets, main observer(s) is specified first and emphasized with *, (12) roughly gives the species' distribution and (13) comments concerning the records.Species and subspecies new to the Norwegian listTwo new species were accepted to the Norwegian Category A list from 2008. Both of these were Nearctic waders, namely a Hudsonian Godwit Limosa haemastica from Røstlandet on June 24th and a Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri from Jæren on July 12th-13th. In addition there were three new subspecies accepted: Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens japonicus (Karmøy, January to April), Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava feldegg (Utsira, 3rd to 5th June) and White Wagtail M. alba leucopsis (Lista, 1st-2nd November).General trendsRecord numbers for Norway was recorded for Grey Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius (14/23) during 2008. Also the following species showed an occurrence above average during 2008: Great White Egret Ardea alba, Black Kite Milvus migrans, Pectoral Sandpiper C. melanotos, Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica, Citrine Wagtail M. citreola, Blyth's Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum and Rose-coloured Starling Sturnus roseus. Also published here are the 6th Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiaca (Cat. C), 3rd Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis, 8th Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus, 5th to 7th American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica, 4th Laughing Gull Larus atricilla, 6th Franklin's Gull L. pipixcan, 6th and 8th Oriental Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis, 8th Blyth's Pipit A. godlewskii, 2nd Siberian Rubythroat Luscinia calliope, 5th Isabelline Wheatear Oenanthe isabellina, 10th Lanceolated Warbler Locustella lanceolata, 4th Melodious Warbler Hippolais polyglotta, 3rd Eastern Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus orientalis and 4th and 7th Steppe Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis pallidirostris.

Spatial and temporal distribution of Southern Grey Shrikes Lanius meridionalis in agricultural areas

Capsule Southern Grey Shrikes were spatially segregated by sex during the non‐breeding period. Aims To provide data that show sex‐related spatial segregation in Southern Grey Shrikes in agricultural areas and suggest possible causes. Methods Shrikes were captured using a modified potter trap in a 169‐km2 study area in the Duero River valley, western Spain, which encompassed areas of irrigated and non‐irrigated crop lands. Birds were sexed and colour‐ringed, and capture locations and re‐sighting locations plotted with respect to irrigated and non‐irrigated crop systems Results A total of 215 shrikes were trapped. Males occupied the breeding areas (non‐irrigated crops) year‐round, and only 12.8% moved to irrigated crops during the non‐breeding months. Females occupied irrigated crops in the autumn (94.9% in October and November), and in January they started to return to the breeding areas. The movements of females were greater in length than those of males between different periods (breeding, non‐breeding), but not within the same period. Conclusion In the study area the Southern Grey Shrikes were spatially segregated by sex and we suggest that this arises because females are subordinate to males.

Trophic ecology of the Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) in insular environments: the influence of altitude and seasonality

The seasonal diet and prey selection of the Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) was studied in two different insular habitats: shrub environments of the Canary Islands in coastal and high mountain zones. We measured, in each season, food availability and prey size in order to determine prey size selection of shrikes along an altitudinal gradient. Moreover, we compared the diet patterns observed with those documented on the continent, to determine if Southern Grey Shrikes in the islands’ high mountain zone (which has a continental climate) showed seasonal diet variation similar to those in northern continental areas. We analysed a total of 1,139 shrike pellets collected in 1 year and identified 10,179 prey items. Numerically arthropods (91%), and in terms of biomass lizards (70%) were the main prey consumed by the shrikes. The proportions of the main prey items differed significantly between seasons and habitats. Diet in the coastal areas was less variable than in the high mountain zone. The greater seasonal climatic variation in the high mountain zone was associated with diet patterns similar to those found in some northern continental areas, such as the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. Finally, shrikes selected the largest prey in the high mountain habitat. This suggests that foraging behaviour in this species is related to climatic conditions, as the biggest and most profitable prey were consumed in the most harsh habitats.

Seasonal Variation in the Body Size-Body Mass Relationship in the Southern Grey ShrikeLanius meridionalis

The variation of male (n = 105) and female (n = 107) Southern Grey Shrike body mass has been analyzed in northern Spain during 2000–2002. The annual cycle was divided into autumn (October and November), winter (December to February) and breeding season (March to July), the latter subdivided into egg incubation, small nestlings and large nestlings periods. In order to analyze body mass, the residual index (RI) was used because it corrects body mass related to body size. The mean RI value for males was negative during the whole breeding season and positive during autumn and winter and it did not vary greatly between the periods. In females, the mean RI was definitely greater during egg incubation compared to other periods. The RI value of females was higher than that of males during the egg incubation and large nestlings periods, showing no significant differences in other periods. Female Southern Grey Shrikes (but not males) fitted to the programmed anorexia hypothesis during the breeding season whereas in winter they did not increase their body mass, in clear contrast to what has been put forward in some theoretical models.

Mitochondrial DNA points to Lanius meridionalis as a polyphyletic species

University Institute of Tropical Diseases of Canary Islands, Genetics, University of La Laguna, Avda. Astrofisico Fco. Sanchez S/N, E-38071 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain Department of Zoology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Navarre, E-31080 Pamplona, Spain European University Miguel de Cervantes, Padre Julio Chevalier 2, E-47012 Valladolid, Spain d SEO/BirdLife Conservation Unit, C/Melquiades Biencinto 34, E-28053 Madrid, Spain Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, E-35080 Las Palmas, Spain

Evidence from DNA nucleotide sequences and ISSR profiles indicates paraphyly in subspecies of the Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)

We obtained DNA sequence data from mitochondrial (cytochrome b) and nuclear genes (myoglobin and ornithine decarboxylase) to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among eight species of shrikes (Lanius). Phylogenetic analyses based on maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference all converged into a congruent topology and defined several well-supported clades. Our multi-gene approach based on nucleotide sequences from fast-evolving and conserved genes strongly supported the paraphyly of Southern Grey Shrikes (Lanius meridionalis). The Canary Islands subspecies (L. m. koenigi) differed significantly from its European counterpart (L. m. meridionalis). Furthermore, the genetic distinctiveness of L. m. koenigi was confirmed by ISSR genomic fingerprinting. By contrast, we did not find evidence to distinguish the Canarian Southern Grey Shrike from L. m. algeriensis on the African mainland (Tunisia), and therefore these two taxa may be considered as synonymous. Together, they correspond to a separate species. The origin of the taxa investigated in this study might have originated about 6 Mya at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary when a remarkable worldwide faunal turnover and global vegetation change occurred. The Lanius genus represents a complex and taxonomically challenging group that requires additional research.