Dehydration risk is associated with reduced nest attendance and hatching success in a cooperatively breeding bird, the southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor
We used a novel combination of a non-invasive
doubly-labelled water technique, nest temperature data and field-based behaviour
observations to test effects of temperature, rainfall, and group size on
physiology and behaviour during incubation in southern pied babblers Turdoides bicolor, a cooperatively-breeding
passerine endemic to the arid savanna regions of southern Africa.
Funding
Australian Research Council FT110100188
BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship BB/J014109/1
British Ornithologists’ Union
DST-NRF Centre of Excellence at the FitzPatrick Institute for African Ornithology
Oppenheimer Memorial Trust 20747/01
University of Cape Town
National Research Foundation of South Africa 110506
National Research Foundation of South Africa 99050
National Research Foundation of South Africa 118627