Juan Carlos Senar

#NEWPAPER Meteorological conditions can serve as proxies for climate change. Fewer rainy days in June reduced Citril Finch survival, and λ < 1 when rainfall fell below ~7 days — signalling population decline. tinyurl.com/yh26wsuy

#NEWPAPER: Now we can accurately age Monk Parakeets as juveniles by the absence of emargination in Primary 9. We provide a simplified protocol for aging Monk Parakeets for field use. Additionally, we show that the mean moult duration was 168 days. 👉tinyurl.com/2bjm4xf4

NEW PAPER from our group: No evidence for the 'early learning of the foraging niche hypothesis'; adult Great Tits feed their chicks a diet different from what they themselves experienced as nestlings. ➡️ vist.ly/3mke8u7 #diet #foraging

#NEWPAPER: Resurveys of monk parakeet abundance in Barcelona (1976-2022) reveal two phases of exponential growth and spatial expansion following a diffusion model. tinyurl.com/mrxbxt5y @museuciencies #invasivespecies

The law of least effort! Two Great Tit eggs found on a nest with very little material. Let's see if it stays that way or continues... @museuciencies #CanCata

Happy to share a #NEWPAPER unveiling how the Blue tit species interprets dominance cues (like tie size) from the Great tit, ultimately benefiting itself. A groundbreaking discovery of interspecies signalling I'm proud to have contributed to! @museuciencies

6/6 #BOU2024 #SESH3. We can conclude that changes in wing length in urban Blue tits resulted from evolutionary change through natural selection for survival, and that this selection is ongoing. The data emphasizes that evolutionary change may proceed very rapidly.

5/6 #BOU2024 #SESH3. In the forest, Blue tit survival is not affected by wing length. Analyses showed significant differences in slopes between city and forest habitats. Survival rates did not differ between the two habitats. #urbanization

4/6 #BOU2024 #SESH3. Recapture rate, in both urban and forest habitats showed a significant dependence on wing length, in addition to time variations. In the urban habitat, we found that shorter wing length was associated with higher survival rates.

3/6 #BOU2024 #SESH3. We analysed capture-recapture data from 164 urban and 391 forest Blue tits ringed between 2010 and 2023 at urban and forest locations in the Barcelona area. We examined the variation in survival rate according to wing length, using RMARK

2/6 #BOU2024 #SESH3. Recent work has shown that the longer wing length of urban tits is not the result of divergent reproductive selection. Our aim is to test whether it is the result of divergent survival selection. #naturalselection

1/6 #BOU2024 #SESH3. In recent years, it has been found that birds from urban environments have shorter wings than those from forest. However, the key is to determine whether these changes result from plastic responses or adaptive evolution. #ornithology #museuciencies

Continuing with the anomalies! Meanwhile, temperatures are higher than ever before, we observed a rare clutch size of 13 eggs in the Great tit. This clutch size is completely exceptional in the Mediterranean area, marking the first time we've recorded it in our 26-year study.

The breeding season of tits in #CanCata field station in Barcelona is progressing faster than ever in the over 25 years we've been studying it. As of today, we've already found 14 Great tit nests and 2 Blue tit nests with eggs. #ornithology @SPIbirds @museuciencies

Earlier than ever! Just discovered today (22nd March) the first two Great Tit nests with freshly laid eggs. 🥚 In over 25 years of study in #Barcelona, the earliest previous laying was on March 30, 1998! @museuciencies #ClimateCrisis #birds

#NEWPAPER on social associations in urban monk parakeets! Our study combines genetics & social network analysis to reveal that the primary social unit is the breeding pair. But check out how neighbors trump relatives in social bonds! tinyurl.com/49vmmnej @FrancescaDP12