Pablo Melero Romero

• PhD Student at National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC)

Carotenoid-based coloration is an indicator of the fitness of birds, as carotenoids act as a limiting resource obtained through the diet. In many altricial birds, this carotenoid-based coloration is found in the nestling' mouth flanges, signaling their physical condition and acting as a visual indicator for parent-offspring communication. To invest...

Vocalizations and postural begging serve as signals that nestlings use to request food from their parents and express their nutritional needs. Hungry nestlings will increase the frequency and intensity of their begging behavior, which may result in an increase in the parental feeding rate. Furthermore, an increase in brood size leads to higher comp...

Nestlings normally exhibit a mix of traits that attract parental care, such as postural and vocal begging and carotenoid‐based mouth colouration. These signals are hypothesised to be signs of nestling needs (vocal begging) and quality (mouth colouration). Therefore, we hypothesised that broods, where nestlings beg for less time and display more sat...

Hematophagous dipterans such as black flies of the genus Simulium or biting midges of the genus Culicoides are common ectoparasites attacking birds in their nests. In addition to their deleterious effects as blood-suckers, these insects are vectors of avian malaria-like parasites of the genera Leucocytozoon and Haemoproteus, respectively. In spite...

The utility of fresh green material in avian nests is still not fully understood. Potential explanations include the effects of plants’ volatile compounds on parasite reduction (nest protection hypothesis) or direct beneficial effects on nestling condition (drug hypothesis). We used correlative data collected during 2020 and 2021 in a Mediterranean...

Varias especies de aves colocan en sus nidos trozos de plantas aromáticas, caracterizadas por la emisión de metabolitos secundarios. Estas plantas no suelen encontrarse en las inmediaciones del nido, sino que componen una fracción no aleatoria de todas las plantas presentes en un área. Debido a que estas aves emplean tiempo y esfuerzo en su búsqued...

Las poblaciones de aves se encuentran en un declive generalizado, por lo que las técnicas de monitoreo eficientes, rápidas y no invasivas pueden ayudar a la conservación de las aves al predecir el éxito reproductivo a corto plazo. Sin embargo, estas técnicas suelen consumir tiempo, ser costosas o tener efectos negativos en el éxito reproductivo de...

La malaria aviar es una enfermedad propia de las aves producida por protozoos del orden Haemosporida (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus y Leucocytozoon), que son transmitidos por dípteros hematófagos como las moscas del género Simulium. Se desconocen qué factores hacen que en un nido entren más o menos ejemplares de estos dípteros. El objetivo de este estud...

La coloración basada en carotenoides es un indicador de la aptitud biológica de aves, ya que los carotenoides actúan como recursos limitantes al obtenerse de la dieta. En muchas aves altriciales, esta coloración basada en carotenoides señaliza la condición física de los pollos y altera el cuidado parental. Para comprobar qué factores ecológicos afe...

The use of fresh green material in avian nests has been reported for several species, but its utility is still not fully understood. Potential explanations include the effects of plants’ volatile compounds on parasite reduction (“nest protection hypothesis”) or the direct beneficial effects on the nestling condition (e.g., through the stimulation o...