Journal article : Letter
Continent-wide drivers of spatial synchrony in breeding demographic structure across wild great tit populations
- Abstract:
- Variation in age structure influences population dynamics, yet we have limited understanding of the spatial scale at which its fluctuations are synchronised between populations. Using 32 great tit populations, spanning 4° W–33° E and 35°–65° N involving > 130,000 birds across 67 years, we quantify spatial synchrony in breeding demographic structure (subadult vs. adult breeders) and its drivers. We show that larger clutch sizes, colder winters, and larger beech crops lead to younger populations. We report distance-dependent synchrony of demographic structure, maintained at approximately 650 km. Despite covariation with demographic structure, we do not find evidence for environmental variables influencing the scale of synchrony, except for beech masting. We suggest that local ecological and density-dependent dynamics impact how environmental variation interacts with demographic structure, influencing estimates of the environment's effect on synchrony. Our analyses demonstrate the operation of synchrony in demographic structure over large scales, with implications for age-dependent demography in populations.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 2.5MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1111/ele.70079
Authors
+ European Research Council
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0472cxd90
- Grant:
- 250164
+ UK Research and Innovation
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/001aqnf71
- Grant:
- EP/X024520/1
+ Natural Environment Research Council
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/02b5d8509
- Grant:
- NE/S010335/1
- NE/D011744/1
- NE/K006274/1
- Publisher:
- Wiley
- Journal:
- Ecology Letters More from this journal
- Volume:
- 28
- Issue:
- 2
- Article number:
- e70079
- Publication date:
- 2025-02-18
- Acceptance date:
- 2024-12-17
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1461-0248
- ISSN:
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1461-023X
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Subtype:
-
Letter
- Pubs id:
-
2071363
- Local pid:
-
pubs:2071363
- Deposit date:
-
2024-12-17
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Woodman et al
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- © 2025 The Author(s). Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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