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Dive into the research topics where Charles F. Thompson is active.

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Featured researches published by Charles F. Thompson.


Acta Ornithologica | 2010

The design of artificial nestboxes for the study of secondary hole-nesting birds: a review of methodological inconsistencies and potential biases

Marcel M. Lambrechts; Frank Adriaensen; Daniel R. Ardia; Alexandr Artemyev; Francisco Atiénzar; Jerzy Bańbura; Emilio Barba; Jean Charles Bouvier; Jordi Camprodon; Caren B. Cooper; Russell D. Dawson; Marcel Eens; Tapio Eeva; Bruno Faivre; László Zsolt Garamszegi; Anne E. Goodenough; Andrew G. Gosler; Arnaud Grégoire; Simon C. Griffith; Lars Gustafsson; L. Scott Johnson; Wojciech Maria Kania; Oskars Keišs; Paulo E. Llambías; Mark C. Mainwaring; Raivo Mänd; Bruno Massa; Tomasz D. Mazgajski; Anders Pape Møller; Juan Moreno

Abstract. The widespread use of artificial nestboxes has led to significant advances in our knowledge of the ecology, behaviour and physiology of cavity nesting birds, especially small passerines. Nestboxes have made it easier to perform routine monitoring and experimental manipulation of eggs or nestlings, and also repeatedly to capture, identify and manipulate the parents. However, when comparing results across study sites the use of nestboxes may also introduce a potentially significant confounding variable in the form of differences in nestbox design amongst studies, such as their physical dimensions, placement height, and the way in which they are constructed and maintained. However, the use of nestboxes may also introduce an unconsidered and potentially significant confounding variable due to differences in nestbox design amongst studies, such as their physical dimensions, placement height, and the way in which they are constructed and maintained. Here we review to what extent the characteristics of artificial nestboxes (e.g. size, shape, construction material, colour) are documented in the ‘methods’ sections of publications involving hole-nesting passerine birds using natural or excavated cavities or artificial nestboxes for reproduction and roosting. Despite explicit previous recommendations that authors describe in detail the characteristics of the nestboxes used, we found that the description of nestbox characteristics in most recent publications remains poor and insufficient. We therefore list the types of descriptive data that should be included in the methods sections of relevant manuscripts and justify this by discussing how variation in nestbox characteristics can affect or confound conclusions from nestbox studies. We also propose several recommendations to improve the reliability and usefulness of research based on long-term studies of any secondary hole-nesting species using artificial nestboxes for breeding or roosting.


The Condor | 1986

Site fidelity and habitat quality as determinants of settlement pattern in male painted buntings

Scott M. Lanyon; Charles F. Thompson

The spatial distribution of high and low quality Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) territories on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, was determined through an examination of the distribution of food resources and polygynous pairings in 1976 and 1977. Based on the distribution of high and low quality territories, we predicted the pattern of territory settlement by males at the start of the breeding season. As predicted, males settled significantly earlier on high quality than on low quality territories in 1978 and 1979. However, not all males that initially acquired high quality territories were able to maintain them long enough to breed on them. Most of these males, which were subsequently displaced by returning site-faithful males, were settling for the first time on the study area, although some were returning males that had held low quality territories the previous year. New breeders and some returners initially settled in a pattern consistent with predictions based on territory quality; most returning males settled on the basis of site fidelity. Thus, the final settlement pattern was the result of an interaction between preference for areas of high quality and the return and site faithfulness of previous territory holders. The implications of this pattern of territory acquisition for the evolution of delayed maturation in males are discussed.


Journal of Animal Ecology | 1987

Evolution of clutch size an experimental test in the house wren troglodytes aedon

Mark A. Finke; Dona J. Milinkovich; Charles F. Thompson

(1) We manipulated the brood size of house wrens (Troglodytes aedon Vieillot) to determine (i) which brood size, and hence clutch size, is the most productive, and (ii) if there is a cost of reproduction that increases as an individuals brood size increases. (2) Early and late-season broods of above-modal size produced more fledglings than did broods of modal size. Chicks raised in early-season broods of above-modal size weighed less than those in broods of below-modal and modal size, but the difference is small (0-39 g, 4%). Weights of chicks raised in above-modal, modal and below-modal broods late in the season were similar to each other. (3) Enlarged broods produced as many fledglings as did normal broods of the same size. Weights of chicks from enlarged broods were not significantly different from those of chicks raised in normal broods of the same size. (4) Females that raised enlarged first broods were not less likely than other females to attempt a second brood on the study area; they also did not have a longer interbrood interval or produce smaller second clutches than did females that raised broods of normal size. Female weight during the nesting cycle was not related to size of brood or to treatment. (5) We conclude that house wrens can raise additional chicks, and that there is no evidence that clutch size is adjusted to a single population optimum or to the maximum number of high-quality fledglings that the parents can raise. Wrens appear to be withholding reproductive ffort, yet we find no evidence that raising additional chicks produces adverse effects either on subsequent reproductive attempts in the same season or on female condition.


Journal of Animal Ecology | 1983

Effects of Supplemental Food on a Microtus pennsylvanicus Population in Central Illinois

Elizabeth A. Desy; Charles F. Thompson

(1) This study tested the hypothesis that meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord)) populations are influenced by the quality and quantity of food available throughout the year. (2) Two live-trap plots and one snap-trap plot, each c. 0 8 ha, were established in a strip of vole habitat surrounded by unfavourable habitat. The snap-trap plot was between the two live-trap plots so that movement from the two live-trapped populations could be monitored.


Journal of Evolutionary Biology | 2008

Immune‐challenged house wren broods differ in the relative strengths of their responses among different axes of the immune system

Anna M. Forsman; Laura A. Vogel; Scott K. Sakaluk; Jennifer L. Grindstaff; Charles F. Thompson

Single components of the immune system are widely used to assess immune function in free‐living vertebrates. However, as different immunological components are triggered by different types of threats and may be regulated independently, there is little reason to assume that they should respond similarly if challenged. We investigated whether three commonly assayed immune responses, cutaneous immune activity (phytohaemagglutinin assay), antibody response (tetanus toxoid immunization), and plasma bactericidal activity (Escherichia coli killing) are positively related in nestling house wrens (Troglodytes aedon). Multivariate analysis revealed significant differences in overall immune responsiveness among broods (i.e. nests), primarily attributable to differences in plasma bactericidal activity. Among broods, humoral immune response was negatively related to cutaneous immune activity and positively related to plasma bactericidal activity. We found no significant relationships among these measures of immunity among individual nestlings within broods. Our results suggest that different broods (i.e. families) invest differentially in the various branches of the immune system. Further study is needed to characterize the roles of maternal, genetic and environmental effects on the expression of this physiological bias.


Ecology | 2014

Neonatal body condition, immune responsiveness, and hematocrit predict longevity in a wild bird population

E. Keith Bowers; Christine J. Hodges; Anna M. Forsman; Laura A. Vogel; Brian S. Masters; Bonnie G. P. Johnson; L. Scott Johnson; Charles F. Thompson; Scott K. Sakaluk

Measures of body condition, immune function, and hematological health are widely used in ecological studies of vertebrate populations, predicated on the assumption that these traits are linked to fitness. However, compelling evidence that these traits actually predict long-term survival and reproductive success among individuals in the wild is lacking. Here, we show that body condition (i.e., size-adjusted body mass) and cutaneous immune responsiveness to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) injection among neonates positively predict recruitment and subsequent longevity in a wild, migratory population of house wrens (Troglodytes aedon). However, neonates with intermediate hematocrit had the highest recruitment and longevity. Neonates with the highest PHA responsiveness and intermediate hematocrit prior to independence eventually produced the most offspring during their lifetime breeding on the study site. Importantly, the effects of PHA responsiveness and hematocrit were revealed while controlling for variation in body condition, sex, and environmental variation. Thus, our data demonstrate that body condition, cutaneous immune responsiveness, and hematocrit as a neonate are associated with individual fitness. Although hematocrits effect is more complex than traditionally thought, our results suggest a previously underappreciated role for this trait in influencing survival in the wild.


Ecology | 1998

DO POTENTIALLY VIRULENT MITES AFFECT HOUSE WREN (TROGLODYTES AEDON) REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS

Andrew J. Pacejka; Colleen M. Gratton; Charles F. Thompson

We tested the hypothesis that blood-feeding mites adversely affect House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) reproductive success. We measured the effects of natural mite numbers on nestling mass, nestling survival, and length of the nestling period during the summers of 1990 and 1992, and used path analysis to examine the effects of unmanipulated mite numbers on nestling health. We also investigated whether an experimental reduction in mite numbers affected nestling mass, length of the nestling period, and subsequent reproductive success of female House Wrens. Among unmanipulated nests, mite load had no discernible effect on the mass and survival of nestling House Wrens or on length of the nestling period. Similarly, broods with ex- perimentally reduced numbers of mites did not differ significantly from unmanipulated broods in nestling mass, survival, or length of the nestling period. We also detected no effect of experimentally reduced mite numbers on subsequent reproductive success of female House Wrens. Transmission rate and virulence in parasites are often positively correlated, and mite transmission rate at the study site is high. Virulence, however, is usually low. We propose that removal of old nests from nesting cavities by male House Wrens and unfavorable microclimatic conditions in the nest combine to reduce the initial size of mite populations. This usually slows the mite population growth sufficiently to permit nestlings to leave the nest before mites reach levels that produce detrimental effects.


Behaviour | 2006

Mate choice in house wrens: nest cavities trump male characteristics

Kevin P. Eckerle; Charles F. Thompson

When male birds defend all-purpose breeding territories, females may select mates based on indicators of male or territory quality, or both. However, in non-experimental studies, it can be difficult to determine which traits females prefer because measures of male and territory quality frequently covary. We conducted a series of studies to investigate the traits female house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) use to select a social mate when each male is provided with nest sites of equal quality (i.e., nestboxes). We first compared the phenotypic and territory vegetation traits of males with the time it took them to secure a social mate after returning from the wintering grounds. Male arrival and pairing date were positively correlated and early-arriving males were in better condition and occupied territories in more preferred vegetation than late-arriving males. To test the hypothesis that early-arriving males possessed phenotypic or territory traits that led to their pairing more quickly than late-arriving males, we removed all females after pairs had been established and determined male success in attracting new mates. Male settlement and pairing date with replacement females were not correlated as had been male settlement and pairing date with original females, and male time-to-pairing was not correlated with male song rate, condition index, or territory vegetation. When we manipulated the abundance of nest sites on territories, after males settled but before females arrived, male time-to-pairing, independent of male condition index or territory vegetation, was negatively related to the number of nest sites on a males territory. These results suggest that under natural conditions females rely on nest-site quantity and, likely, quality when selecting a social mate.


Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences | 2012

Sex-biased terminal investment in offspring induced by maternal immune challenge in the house wren (Troglodytes aedon)

E. Keith Bowers; Rebecca A. Smith; Christine J. Hodges; Laura M. Zimmerman; Charles F. Thompson; Scott K. Sakaluk

The reproductive costs associated with the upregulation of immunity have been well-documented and constitute a fundamental trade-off between reproduction and self-maintenance. However, recent experimental work suggests that parents may increase their reproductive effort following immunostimulation as a form of terminal parental investment as prospects for future reproduction decline. We tested the trade-off and terminal investment hypotheses in a wild population of house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) by challenging the immune system of breeding females with lipopolysaccharide, a potent but non-lethal antigen. Immunized females showed no evidence of reproductive costs; instead, they produced offspring of higher phenotypic quality, but in a sex-specific manner. Relative to control offspring, sons of immunized females had increased body mass and their sisters exhibited higher cutaneous immune responsiveness to phytohaemagglutinin injection, constituting an adaptive strategy of sex-biased allocation by immune-challenged females to enhance the reproductive value of their offspring. Thus, our results are consistent with the terminal investment hypothesis, and suggest that maternal immunization can induce pronounced transgenerational effects on offspring phenotypes.


Ecology | 1997

MASS LOSS IN BREEDING HOUSE WRENS: EFFECTS OF FOOD SUPPLEMENTS

John F. Cavitt; Charles F. Thompson

Adult passerines commonly lose mass during the course of the breeding cycle. This loss has been ascribed to an energy deficit incurred during nesting, but recently two adaptational hypotheses have been proposed. The first, the wing-loading hypothesis, proposes that adults actively reduce mass in order to increase flight efficiency. The second, the reserve-mobilization hypothesis, proposes that females store reserves during the early stages of the breeding cycle, which they mobilize to sustain them during later stages. We tested these hypotheses by providing food supplements to House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) breeding on a study area north of Bloomington, Illinois, during the 1990-1992 breeding seasons. Additional food had no effect on mass except late in one season. Females that were given additional food during the late-young stage in 1992 had significantly higher mass than controls, but their mass was not greater than that normally obtained by females not receiving food supplements in other years. We conclude that the results from this experimental study are consistent with the wing-loading hypothesis, and that House Wrens do not lose mass because of an energy deficit or because they mobilize reserves.

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E. Keith Bowers

Illinois State University

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Anna M. Forsman

Illinois State University

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Laura A. Vogel

Illinois State University

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E. K. Bowers

Illinois State University

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