Updates from the @ifv-whv.bsky.social's long-term individual-based study on common terns breeding at the Banter See in Wilhelmshaven; provided by me - Sandra. With a side of gull-billed terns from @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social's conservation project.
Common Tern Project
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Bugging is underway, and we are missing @matteobeccardi.bsky.social who spent two seasons supplementing the team to collect data on sex- and age-specific mitochondrial functioning in the terns. His paper on this just came out in @jexpbiol.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
Matteo measured 4 traits and found that incubating females have higher baseline and maximum rates of respiration (ROUTINE and ETS), as well as levels of ATP synthesis (OXPHOS), than males. This might reflect the energetic demands of egg laying and/or their larger share of incubation duties.
In addition, he found older birds to have lower maximum rates of respiration (ETS), while also having lower levels of proton leak (LEAK), with the latter leading to older birds having greater mitochondrial efficiency in ATP production, suggesting mixed effects of senescence and individual quality.
Fresh as can be. Hatching has started at the Banter See common tern colony. ❤️
Hatching has started at @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social's colony site too. ❤️
The Banter See breeding season in numbers so far: 226 males and 210 females (aged 2 - 25) have been registered, 319 clutches have been produced, 257 chicks have hatched, 93 blood samples have been collected and 48 birds have been caught for our geolocator-project.
