A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Diet diversity, individual heterozygosity and habitat heterogeneity influence health parameters in Eurasian Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus)
Authors: Hochleitner, Lukas; Korpimäki, Erkki; Chakarov, Nayden; Isaksson, Caroline; Nebel, Carina; Renner, Swen C.; Vasko, Ville; Voigt, Christian C.; Terraube, Julien; Sumasgutner, Petra
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Ibis
Journal name in source: Ibis
Volume: 167
Issue: 1
First page : 145
Last page: 160
ISSN: 0019-1019
eISSN: 0022-3727
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13345
Web address : https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ibi.13345
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/457316242
The loss of habitat heterogeneity due to agricultural intensification has led to a global decline in farmland birds. Among them is the Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus, which occupies high trophic levels and may be adversely affected by reduced food quantity or quality and consequent health impacts. In this study, we investigate the effects of habitat heterogeneity, individual heterozygosity and diet diversity on five different health indices (integument coloration, dietary antioxidants, haematocrit, body condition and parasite infection). The study was conducted in farmland areas of western Finland during a year of exceptionally low vole abundance. We found no obvious relationship between diet diversity and habitat heterogeneity. An interaction between diet diversity and individual heterozygosity in females suggested that diet specialists were able to maintain more intensely coloured integuments only if they had higher genetic diversity. In addition, more heterozygous females were less likely to be infected with Haemoproteus than females with lower individual genetic diversity. Finally, specialist males with lower diet diversity had higher body condition than males with a more generalist diet. Our results suggest that variation in individual quality and foraging ecology should be considered in conjunction with spatial variation in habitat heterogeneity to understand sex-specific variation in kestrel health. These findings add to a better understanding of the mechanisms linking land-use change to health indices in a common avian predator, which can be used as a health sentinel in European agroecosystems.
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Funding information in the publication:
The project was financially supported by the Academy of Finland (grant nos. 123 379, 136 717 and 250 709 to E.K.). The Environmental Protection Bureau of Vienna (MA 22-2220/2010), the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (H-2483/2012) and the research grant of the German Ornithologists’ Society (DO-G) funded the genetic analyses; all granted to P.S. P.S. was financially supported by the Marietta Blau Grant of the Austrian Centre for International Cooperation and Mobility and the Finnish Cultural Foundation Regional Fund (grant no. H91042). We are grateful to Rauno Varjonen and Jorma Nurmi for their great assistance during fieldwork, and Meri Lindqvist, Katja Salminen, Elisabeth Haring, Barbara D€aubl, Luise Kruckenhauser, Jane Jonsson, Johannes Rath and Eva Ringler for their help € during laboratory work and protocol optimization. We would like to thank Adlerarena Burg Landskron, Austria, specifically Franz Schuttelkopf, for their contribu- € tion of blood samples of kestrels to test microsatellites beforehand on individuals of known relatedness. Alexandre Villers prepared the land-cover map based on remote sensing of the study area, and Aurelie Coulon advised on the individual heterozygosity index. Last but not least, P.S. would like to thank Anita Gamauf (1962–2018) for her assistance with the grant applications.
