Episode Details

Does water on a hen make it more susceptible to predation? In this episode, we comb through the literature on olfactory camouflage, dissecting studies assessing correlations between nest survival, weather, and environmental conditions, and divulging into the complicated web of ecology dynamics. Strap on your science boots for this one, it's gonna be dense…

Research papers referenced:

• Bakner, N. W., et al. (2019). Incubation recess behaviors influence nest survival of Wild Turkeys. Ecology and Evolution, 9(24), 14053-14065.

• Boone, W. W., et al. (2024). Robust assessment of associations between weather and eastern wild turkey nest success. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 88(2), e22524.

• Braun, M. S., et al. (2018). Birds, feather-degrading bacteria and preen glands: the antimicrobial activity of preen gland secretions from turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) is amplified by keratinase. FEMS microbiology ecology, 94(9), fiy117.

• Conover, M. R. (2007). Predator-prey dynamics: the role of olfaction. CRC Press.

• Fluen, T. (2008). A comparative analysis of evolutionary changes in island birds. MSc Thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch.

• Grieves, L. A., et al. (2020). Food stress, but not experimental exposure to mercury, affects songbird preen oil composition. Ecotoxicology, 29, 275-285.

• Grieves, L. A., et al. (2022). Olfactory camouflage and communication in birds. Biological Reviews, 97(3), 1193-1209.

• Lehman, C. P., et al. (2010). Ground roost resource selection for Merriam's wild turkeys. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 74(2), 295-299.

• Lowrey, D. K., et al. (2001). Influences of selected weather variables on predation of wild turkey females and nest success. In Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium (Vol. 8, pp. 173-178).

• Potier, S., et al. (2018). Preen oil chemical composition encodes individuality, seasonal variation and kinship in black kites Milvus migrans. Journal of Avian Biology, 49(7), e01728.

• Reneerkens, J., et al. (2002). Sandpipers (Scolopacidae) switch from monoester to diester preen waxes during courtship and incubation, but why?. Proceedings of t