AUTHOR=Higgott Caitlin G. , Evans Karl L. , Hatchwell Ben J. TITLE=Incubation in a Temperate Passerine: Do Environmental Conditions Affect Incubation Period Duration and Hatching Success? JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution VOLUME=8 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.542179 DOI=10.3389/fevo.2020.542179 ISSN=2296-701X ABSTRACT=
The timing of breeding often has a profound influence on the reproductive success of birds living in seasonal environments with rapidly changing nestling food availability. Timing is typically investigated with reference to lay dates, but it is the time of hatching that determines the ambient conditions and food availability that nestlings experience. Thus, in addition to lay date, phenological studies may also have to take account of variation in the length of the incubation period, which is likely to depend on both environmental conditions and parental traits. The primary aim of this study was to use a 24-year dataset to investigate the abiotic and biotic factors influencing variation in incubation duration in long-tailed tits (