Effects of partner workload and increasing environmental temperature on nestling provisioning and body temperature in a declining aerial insectivore

Research HighlightsIn adult male tree swallows, we found that experimental manipulations of heat dissipation capacity had little effect on the provisioning rate, body temperature, nor growth of nestlings. That males did not respond to enhanced heat dissipation suggests that they may provision below the threshold of overheating. Rather, male provisioning was affected by the provisioning rate of the males partner and environmental temperature. With climate change, birds will face increasing thermoregulatory demands, which may alter reproductive behaviors such as offspring provisioning. Experimental studies have shown that the provisioning capacity of female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) is limited by their risk of overheating. Given that parental investment strategies may vary between sexes, the thermal environment may have a different impact on males. We experimentally trimmed ventral feathers from male tree swallows to create a "thermal window" through which they could dissipate heat. We remotely monitored provisioning rate and core body temperature of males and their female partners. At high temperatures, all males decreased their nestling provisioning rates irrespective of trimming treatment. In addition, trimmed males maintained core body temperatures similar to those of controls. This suggests that in contrast to previous work with females, males limit provisioning rates to levels below the threshold at which they would overheat. Regardless of male treatment, females adjusted their own activity to match that of their male partners; whether there are costs to females is unknown. Combined, these studies highlight that sex-specific differences in thermal physiology and behavior must be considered when predicting responses to climatic warming.