Publications

population dynamical consequences of climate change for a small temperate songbird.	predicting the effects of an expected climatic change requires estimates and modeling of stochastic factors as well as density-dependent effects in the population dynamics. in a population of a small songbird, the dipper (cinclus cinclus), environmental stochasticity and density dependence both influenced the population growth rate. about half of the environmental variance was explained by variation in mean winter temperature. including these results in a stochastic model shows that an expected ...	2000	10657299
the presence of a river bird, the dipper, in relation to water quality and biotic indices in central italy.	a good water quality bio-indicator should be sensitive to different forms of water degradation in any geographical area, and effectively track water quality changes in time. we investigated whether the presence of a bird, the dipper (cinclus cinclus), in 47 reaches of 35 streams of central italy was affected by stream pollution as assessed by the extended biotic index. data from the literature and interviews with ornithologists furnished information about past dipper presence and water quality i ...	2002	11996386
a description of cinclotaenia georgievi n. sp. (cestoda: dilepididae), a tapeworm from the dipper cinclus cinclus (l.) (passeriformes: cinclidae).	cinclotaenia sp., described originally by georgiev & genov (1985) from the dipper cinclus cinclus (l.) in bulgaria, has recently been identified from the same host in the carpathian mountains in the slovak republic. this tapeworm is considered to be a new species, which is named c. georgievi n. sp. it is characterised by: a scolex armed with 23-27 (predominantly 24-26) hooks in two rows; hooks 30.5-36 microm long, with a blade 10-13.5 microm long and resembling in shape the diorchoid hooks of hy ...	2002	12023564
mercury and organochlorine content of dipper cinclus cinclus eggs in south-west ireland: trends during 1990-1999.	a sample of 124 deserted/infertile dipper (cinclus cinclus) eggs was collected in south-west ireland during six seasons (1990-1994 and 1999) and analysed for mercury and organochlorines. mercury was detected in three of the 6 years but no trend was observed. ddt occurred above the limit of detection in only two eggs, one each in 1993 and 1994. in contrast, two derivatives of ddt (dde and tde) were found much more commonly. dde occurred in over 87% of eggs, while tde contamination was less widesp ...	2003	12663208
cutaneous trematode collyriclum faba in wild birds in the central european carpathians.	the occurrence of cutaneous trematode collyriclum faba in wild birds was monitored in the central european carpathians from 1996 to 2001. a total of 5,414 birds, representing 86 species, was examined. collyriclum faba was found at 7 sites (5 in slovakia, 1 in poland, and 1 in the czech republic), and prevalences at the sites varied from 1 to 16%. ten species of passerine birds were infected: blackcap (sylvia atricapilla) (16 positive/622 tested, 2% prevalence), black redstart (phoenicurus ochrur ...	2003	12760670
a review of the likely causal pathways relating the reduced density of breeding dippers cinclus cinclus to the acidification of upland streams.	previous work has shown that the breeding density of a bird characteristic of upland streams, the dipper cinclus cinclus, is markedly reduced at low ph in both wales and scotland. populations also declined when streams became more acidic. evidence of causal explanation for these relationships is that: (1) food quantity is reduced in acidic streams, and important prey, including those rich in calcium, are scarce; (2) blood chemistry in pre-breeding birds differs between acid and circumneutral str ...	1992	15091927
patterns of contamination by organochlorines and mercury in the eggs of two river passerines in britain and ireland with reference to individual pcb congeners.	unhatched eggs were collected in 1988 and 1990 from nests of the eurasian dipper cinclus cinclus and the grey wagtail motacilla cinerea in wales, eastern scotland and south-western ireland. mercury concentrations in dipper eggs (geometric means 0.45-0.91 ppm (microg g(-1)) dry mass) were significantly lower in eastern scotland than in either south-western ireland or wales, where the incidence of detectable residues increased markedly between 1988 (2% of eggs) and 1990 (69%). by contrast, dde (ge ...	1992	15091988
long-term change in the suitability of welsh streams for dippers cinclus cinclus as a result of acidification and recovery: a modelling study.	using a recognized and widely used hydrochemical model, magic, long-term changes in acidity were simulated at 104 sites in the acid sensitive region of upland wales. conditions were modelled in the future (2010) under different reductions in sulphate deposition from 0 to 90% of 1984 values. chemical output from the model was used to simulate change in the chemical suitability of streams for a species of river bird, the dipper cinclus cinclus, known to be affected by acidification according to si ...	1989	15092343
egg mass and shell thickness in dippers cinclus cinclus in relation to stream acidity in wales and scotland.	the shell thickness and mass of eggs of the dipper (cinclus cinclus) collected on streams of different ph in wales and scotland were measured. the aluminium, phosphorus and calcium content of their invertebrate prey were also measured. in a regression analysis, significant at p<0.05, stream ph accounted for up to 7% of the variance in shell thickness, with shells decreasing by 2.5% of the overall mean with each unit of ph decline. in the welsh sample, differences in shell thickness due to ph wer ...	1988	15092507
effects of point-source pcb contamination on breeding performance and post-fledging survival in the dipper cinclus cinclus.	despite widespread information on the incidence and biochemical effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) in birds, field studies of effects on population processes are still scarce. this is particularly so in passerines. we therefore assessed breeding performance and post-fledging survival in dippers, cinclus cinclus, breeding along the afon mule, a welsh river where previous work indicated locally elevated pcb concentrations. we hypothesised that marked toxicological effects, including endoc ...	2000	15092829
long-range air pollution and its impact on heavy metal accumulation in dippers cinclus cinclus in norway.	heavy metals such as cadmium, lead and zinc are deposited in norway as long-range transported air pollution, while copper deposition is of mainly local origin. this study examined whether the deposition influences the metal concentrations in dippers cinclus cinclus. the lead concentration in dippers reflected the deposition pattern of long-range air pollution, with higher concentrations in southern norway than central norway and a significant decrease (>/=40%) between 1987 and 1994. for cadmium, ...	1996	15093514
time-activity budgets and energetics of dipper cinclus cinclus are dictated by temporal variability of river flow.	the white-throated dipper (cinclus cinclus) is unique among passerine birds by its reliance on diving to achieve energy gain in fast-flowing waters. consequently, it should have evolved behavioural adaptations allowing responding directly to runoff patterns (one of the assumptions of the natural flow regime paradigm-nrfp). in this study (october 1998-august 2001), we investigated how behavioural and energy use strategies in dippers might vary under the natural flow regime of snowmelt-dominated s ...	2007	17897855
[relations between the ectosomatic and the entosomatic organs].	a.n. severtsov, when introduced the concepts of ecto- and entosomatic organs, illustrated them by three examples of adaptations, namely by the blindness of some subterranean vertebrates, by the "suckers" on the geckos' fingers and toes, and by the flattened body shape of skates and rays. morphology of the pterygoideus muscle in some song-birds, which is one of the most complicated jaw muscles, is considered here in the framework of those concepts. this muscle displays mosaic variation among bird ...	2010	18669305
evidence of a highly complex phylogeographic structure on a specialist river bird species, the dipper (cinclus cinclus).	this study details the phylogeographic pattern of the white-throated dipper (cinclus cinclus), a palearctic, temperate, passerine bird that is exclusively associated with flowing water. our results reveal a complex phylogeographic structure with at least five distinct lineages for the western palearctic region. as for many species of the western palearctic fauna and flora, this genetic structure is probably linked to the isolation of populations in different southern refuges during glacial perio ...	2008	18762260
diet shifts during egg laying: implications for measuring contaminants in bird eggs.	we combined stable isotope tracers of blood plasma, blood cells and egg contents with faecal analysis during pre-breeding and egg laying phases in two dipper species cinclus cinclus and cinclus mexicanus to determine the occurrence of dietary shifts during egg production and to assess consequences for egg contaminant loads. in both species, changes in delta(13)c (c. cinclus) or delta(15)n (c. mexicanus) in female plasma relative to red blood cells indicated a dietary shift during laying that was ...	2010	19782447
riparian bird communities as indicators of human impacts along mediterranean streams.	riparian areas link aquatic and terrestrial habitats, supporting species-rich bird communities, which integrate both terrestrial and aquatic processes. for this reason, inclusion of riparian birds in stream bioassessment could add to the information currently provided by existing programs that monitor aquatic organisms. to assess if bird community metrics could indicate stream conditions, we sampled breeding birds in the riparian zone of 37 reaches in 5 streams draining watersheds representing a ...	2010	20066532
local to continental influences on nutrient and contaminant sources to river birds.	stable isotope and contaminant analyses revealed differences in nutrient sources and contaminant pathways in two species of dipper, cinclus mexicanus and cinclus cinclus in western canada and western britain. we collected dipper prey and eggs from relatively pristine british columbian rivers contrasting in the presence of salmon-derived nutrients, and rural welsh rivers with varying food-web complexity associated with stream acidity. enriched delta(13)c and to a lesser extent delta(15)n in ameri ...	2010	20131785
climate effects on population fluctuations of the white-throated dipper cinclus cinclus.	1. climate change may have profound consequences for many organisms. we have studied fluctuations in a population of the white-throated dipper cinclus cinclus during 31 years (1978-2008) in a river system in southern norway in relation to both large-scale and local weather conditions occurring during the non-breeding season. 2. multiple regression and partial least squares regression were used to model the growth rate of the population, accounting for population size in the previous year. 3. pop ...	2011	20880020
frailty in state-space models: application to actuarial senescence in the dipper.	senescence, a decrease in life history traits with age, is a within-individual process. the lack of suitable methods to deal with individual heterogeneity has long impeded progress in exploring senescence in wild populations. analyses of survival senescence are additionally complicated by the often neglected issue of imperfect detectability. to deal with both these issues, we developed state-space models to analyze capture-mark-recapture data while accounting for individual heterogeneity by inco ...	2011	21608464
to make the most of what we have: extracting phenological data from nestling measurements.	to study the ecological and evolutionary effects of climate change on timing of annual events, scientists need access to data that have been collected over long time periods. high-quality long-term phenology data are rare and costly to obtain and there is therefore a need to extract this information from other available data sets. many long-term studies on breeding birds include detailed information on individually marked parents and offspring, but do not include information on timing of breedin ...	2011	21710281
eurasian dipper eggs indicate elevated organohalogenated contaminants in urban rivers.	many urban european streams are recovering from industrial, mining, and sewage pollution during the 20th century. however, associated recolonization by clean water organisms can potentially result in exposure to legacy or novel toxic pollutants that persist in the environment. between 2008 and 2010, we sampled eggs of a river passerine, the eurasian dipper (cinclus cinclus), from 33 rivers in south wales and the english borders (uk) which varied in catchment land use from rural to highly urbaniz ...	2013	23819781
impacts of acid rainon aquatic birds.	studies of toxicological and ecological effects of acidification on aquatic birds in europe and north america are reviewed. heavy metals are deposited by acid emissions, which also increase solubility and mobility of heavy metals in soil and water. aluminium is leached from soil and mobilized from lake sediments under acid conditions; it removes susceptible fish and invertebrate species and contaminates remaining invertebrates. it is not highly toxic to birds, but may interfere with their regula ...	1989	24249190
developmental impairment in eurasian dipper nestlings exposed to urban stream pollutants.	avian studies of endocrine disruption traditionally have focused on reproductive impairment, given that many environmental contaminants affect sex steroid hormones. there is also increasing interest in altered thyroid function, and associated early development, particularly in altricial species with extended developmental windows. both types of effect are relevant under the complex pollutant conditions created in streams draining urban areas, but case studies are scarce. therefore, the authors m ...	2014	24648128
intermediate hosts of the trematode collyriclum faba (plagiochiida: collyriclidae) identified by an integrated morphological and genetic approach.	the cutaneous monostome trematode collyriclum faba (bremser in schmalz, 1831) is a bird parasite with a hitherto unknown life cycle and highly focal occurrence across the holarctic and neotropic ecozones.	2015	25889245
mother-offspring and nest-mate resemblance but no heritability in early-life telomere length in white-throated dippers.	telomeres are protective dna-protein complexes located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, whose length has been shown to predict life-history parameters in various species. although this suggests that telomere length is subject to natural selection, its evolutionary dynamics crucially depends on its heritability. using pedigree data for a population of white-throated dippers (cinclus cinclus), we test whether and how variation in early-life relative telomere length (rtl, measured as the numb ...	2015	25904662
phenotype-associated inbreeding biases estimates of inbreeding depression in a wild bird population.	inbreeding depression is usually quantified by regressing individual phenotypic values on inbreeding coefficients, implicitly assuming there is no correlation between an individual's phenotype and the kinship coefficient to its mate. if such an association between parental phenotype and parental kinship exists, and if the trait of interest is heritable, estimates of inbreeding depression can be biased. here we first derive the expected bias as a function of the covariance between mean parental b ...	2016	26362803
the ecology of dippers cinclus cinclus (l.) in relation to stream acidity in upland wales: time-activity budgets and energy expenditure.	the time-activity budget and energy expenditure of a riverine bird, the dipper cinclus cinclus, was studied from march 1988 to july 1989, across a range of streams of contrasting acidity in upland wales. differences in time-activity budgets of birds on acidic and circumneutral streams were consistent with documented differences in prey availability and diet. birds spent a significantly greater proportion of their active day foraging, swimming and flying, and less time resting, on acidic streams. ...	1990	28312567
the potential influence of atlantic salmon salmo salar and brown trout salmo trutta on density and breeding of the white-throated dipper cinclus cinclus.	interactions between birds and fish are often overlooked in aquatic ecosystems. we studied the influence of atlantic salmon and brown trout on the breeding population size and reproductive output of the white-throated dipper in a norwegian river. acidic precipitation led to the extinction of salmon, but salmon recolonized after liming was initiated in 1991. we compared the dipper population size and reproductive output before (1978-1992) and after (1993-2014) salmon recolonization. despite a rap ...	2018	29721280
environmental drivers of varying selective optima in a small passerine: a multivariate, multiepisodic approach.	in changing environments, phenotypic traits are shaped by numerous agents of selection. the optimal phenotypic value maximizing the fitness of an individual thus varies through time and space with various environmental covariates. selection may differ between different life-cycle stages and act on correlated traits inducing changes in the distribution of several traits simultaneously. despite increasing interests in environmental sensitivity of phenotypic selection, estimating varying selective ...	2018	30259522
the effect of early life conditions on song traits in male dippers (cinclus cinclus).	song complexity and singing frequency in male birds are shaped by female choice; they signal male quality because song is costly to develop and produce. the timing of song learning and the development of the brain structures involved occur during a period when chicks are exposed to a number of potential stressors. the quality and quantity of song produced by adults may therefore reflect the level of stress experienced during early life, a theory known as the 'developmental stress hypothesis'. we ...	2018	30427834
territory location and quality, together with climate, affect the timing of breeding in the white-throated dipper.	recent climate change has led to advanced spring phenology in many temperate regions. the phenological response to variation in the local environment, such as the habitat characteristics of the territories birds occupy, is less clear. the aim of this study is to understand how ecological conditions affect breeding time, and its consequences for reproduction, in a white-throated dipper cinclus cinclus population in a river system in norway during 34 years (1978-2011). hatching date advanced almos ...	2019	31114022
persistent contaminants as potential constraints on the recovery of urban river food webs from gross pollution.	urban areas contribute substantially to xenobiotic contaminant loads in rivers, but their effects have been investigated more for individual organisms and sensitive taxa, rather than through the emergent properties of communities. here, we use replicated, catchment-scale sampling of benthic invertebrates and novel multivariate techniques to assess whether urban wastewater contaminants affected the structure and function of river food webs. we postulated that the continued occurrence of selected ...	2019	31325703
environment and food web structure interact to alter the trophic magnification of persistent chemicals across river ecosystems.	legacy organic pollutants persist in freshwater environments, but there is limited understanding of how their trophic transfer and effects vary across riverine ecosystems with different land use, biological communities and food webs. here, we investigated the trophic magnification of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (pbdes), polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) and a suite of organochlorines (ocs) across nine riverine food webs in contrasting hydrological catchments across south wales (united kingdom) ...	2020	32065886
isospora dipperia n. sp. (apicomplexa: eimeriidae) from the american dipper cinclus mexicanus swainson (passeriformes: cinclidae) in yosemite national park, usa.	isospora dipperia n. sp. is described from the feces of the american dipper cinclus mexicanus swainson collected in yosemite national park, california, usa. sporulated oöcysts of the new species are subespherical, 20-24 × 17-21 (20.9 × 18.7) μm, with a length/width (l/w) ratio of 1.0-1.1 (1.1); one polar granule is present, but micropyle is absent. sporocyts are lemon-shaped, 14-16 × 8-11 (15.5 × 9.8) μm, with a l/w ratio of 1.6; prominent stieda and sub-stieda bodies are both present, but para- ...	2020	32253576
food web transfer of plastics to an apex riverine predator.	as a rapidly accelerating expression of global change, plastics now occur extensively in freshwater ecosystems, yet there is barely any evidence of their transfer through food webs. following previous observations that plastics occur widely in their prey, we used a field study of free-living eurasian dippers (cinclus cinclus), to test the hypotheses that (1) plastics are transferred from prey to predators in rivers, (2) plastics contained in prey are transferred by adults to altricial offspring ...	2020	32441452