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      Sex and age-specific differences in wing pointedness and wing length in blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla migrating through the southern Baltic coast

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          Abstract

          The blackcap Sylvia atricapilla shows a complex migratory pattern and is a suitable species for the studies of morphological migratory syndrome, including adaptations of wing shape to different migratory performance. Obligate migrants of this species that breed in northern, central, and Eastern Europe differ by migration distance and some cover shorter distance to the wintering grounds in the southern part of Europe/North Africa or the British Isles, although others migrate to sub-Saharan Africa. Based on ˃40 years of ringing data on blackcaps captured during autumn migration in the Southern Baltic region, we studied age- and sex-related correlations in wing pointedness and wing length of obligate blackcap migrants to understand the differences in migratory behavior of this species. Even though the recoveries of blackcaps were scarce, we reported some evidence that individuals which differ in migration distance differed also in wing length. We found that wing pointedness significantly increased with an increasing wing length of migrating birds, and adults had longer and more pointed wings than juvenile birds. This indicates stronger antipredator adaptation in juvenile blackcaps than selection on flight efficiency, which is particularly important during migration. Moreover, we documented more pronounced differences in wing length between adult and juvenile males and females. Such differences in wing length may enhance a faster speed of adult male blackcaps along the spring migration route and may be adaptive when taking into account climatic effects, which favor earlier arrival from migration to the breeding grounds.

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          Most cited references63

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          Generalized Linear Models

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            Competition for early arrival in migratory birds

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              Why do we still use stepwise modelling in ecology and behaviour?

              1. The biases and shortcomings of stepwise multiple regression are well established within the statistical literature. However, an examination of papers published in 2004 by three leading ecological and behavioural journals suggested that the use of this technique remains widespread: of 65 papers in which a multiple regression approach was used, 57% of studies used a stepwise procedure. 2. The principal drawbacks of stepwise multiple regression include bias in parameter estimation, inconsistencies among model selection algorithms, an inherent (but often overlooked) problem of multiple hypothesis testing, and an inappropriate focus or reliance on a single best model. We discuss each of these issues with examples. 3. We use a worked example of data on yellowhammer distribution collected over 4 years to highlight the pitfalls of stepwise regression. We show that stepwise regression allows models containing significant predictors to be obtained from each year's data. In spite of the significance of the selected models, they vary substantially between years and suggest patterns that are at odds with those determined by analysing the full, 4-year data set. 4. An information theoretic (IT) analysis of the yellowhammer data set illustrates why the varying outcomes of stepwise analyses arise. In particular, the IT approach identifies large numbers of competing models that could describe the data equally well, showing that no one model should be relied upon for inference.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Handling Editor
                Journal
                Curr Zool
                Curr Zool
                czoolo
                Current Zoology
                Oxford University Press
                1674-5507
                2396-9814
                June 2021
                23 October 2020
                23 October 2020
                : 67
                : 3
                : 271-277
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Avian Ecophysiology Unit, University of Gdańsk , Gdańsk, 80-308, Poland
                [2 ] Bird Migration Research Station, University of Gdańsk , Gdańsk, 80-308, Poland
                Author notes
                Address correspondence to Agnieszka Ożarowska. E-mail: agnieszka.ozarowska@ 123456biol.ug.edu.pl
                Article
                zoaa065
                10.1093/cz/zoaa065
                8489005
                ba2a89ea-125f-4d23-9e4d-e4d9ded1c42a
                © The Author(s) (2020). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Editorial Office, Current Zoology.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com

                History
                : 12 August 2020
                : 06 October 2020
                Page count
                Pages: 7
                Categories
                Articles
                AcademicSubjects/SCI01320
                AcademicSubjects/SCI01130

                blackcap,migration,population,wing shape
                blackcap, migration, population, wing shape

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