image: An adult barn swallow perched on a mud cup nest. This image captures the structural features of the nests and a typical barn nest site that are used by the birds in this study.
Credit: Sage Madden, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Temperature extremes and variability might be worst for the most vulnerable baby birds - the youngest, smallest, and most neglected nestlings - per study of 113 baby barn swallows in Colorado
Article URL: https://plos.io/4svFkQC
Article title: The effects of temperature on nestling growth in a songbird depend on developmental constraints.
Author countries: U.S.A.
Funding: ZML was supported by the National Science Foundation Division of Biological Infrastructure (https://www.nsf.gov/bio/dbi) 2010607. SAM was supported by a Graduate Group in Ecology Fellowship through the University of California, Davis (https://www.ucdavis.edu/) and by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/grfp-nsf-graduate-research-fellowship-program) 2036201. Research in this paper was supported by National Science Foundation Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (https://www.nsf.gov/bio/ios) 1856266 to RJS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS One
Article Title
The effects of temperature on nestling growth in a songbird depend on developmental constraints
Article Publication Date
22-Apr-2026
COI Statement
The effects of temperature on nestling growth in a songbird depend on developmental constraints