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Food limitation greatly affects bird breeding performance, but the effect of nutritive stress on molt has barely been investigated outside of laboratory settings. Here we show changes in molting patterns for an entire native Hawaiian bird community at 1650-1900 m elevation on the Island of Hawaii between 1989-1999 and 2000-2006, associated with severe food limitation throughout the year beginning in 2000. Young birds and adults of all species took longer to complete their molt, including months never or rarely used during the 1989-1999 decade. These included the cold winter months and even the early months of the following breeding season. In addition, more adults of most species initiated their molt one to two months earlier, during the breeding season. Suspended molt, indicated by birds temporarily not molting primary flight feathers during the months of peak primary molt, increased in prevalence. Food limitation reached the point where individuals of all species had asymmetric molt, with different primary flight feathers molted on each wing. These multiple changes in molt, unprecedented in birds, had survival consequences. Adult birds captured during January to March, 2000-2004, had lower survival in four of five species with little effect of extended molt. Extended molt may be adaptive for a nutrient stressed bird to survive warm temperatures but not cool winter temperatures that may obliterate the energy savings. The changing molt of Hawaiian birds has many implications for conservation and for understanding life history aspects of molt of tropical birds.
Pubmed ID: 22279547
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The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. MacArthur is one of the nation's largest independent foundations. Through the support it provides, the Foundation fosters the development of knowledge, nurtures individual creativity, strengthens institutions, helps improve public policy, and provides information to the public, primarily through support for public interest media. The Foundation makes grants and loans through four programs. * International Programs focus on international issues, including human rights and international justice, peace and security, conservation and sustainable development, higher education in Nigeria and Russia, migration, and population and reproductive health. MacArthur grantees work in about 60 countries; the Foundation has offices in India, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia. * U.S. Programs address issues in the United States, including community and economic development; housing, with a focus on the preservation of affordable rental housing; juvenile justice reform; education, with an emerging interest in digital media and learning; and policy research and analysis. * Media, Culture, and Special Initiatives support public interest media, including public radio, documentary programming, and work to explore the use of digital technologies to reach and engage the public. Grants are also made to arts and cultural institutions in the Chicago area and for special initiatives. * The MacArthur Fellows Program awards five-year, unrestricted fellowships to individuals across all ages and fields who show exceptional merit and promise of continued creative work. It is limited to U.S. citizens and residents. John D. MacArthur (1897-1978) developed and owned Bankers Life and Casualty Company and other businesses, as well as considerable property in Florida and New York. His wife Catherine (1909-1981) held positions in many of these companies and served as a director of the Foundation.
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