Find research datasets worth reusing

Search datasets from major research repositories and use ShareScore to quickly assess how well each record supports discovery, access, and reuse.

592

datasets available to search

ShareScore release 0.7.1

Dataset results

592 results for “songbirds”

Learn how ShareScore rates datasets ↗

dryad32/100

Lead exposure is correlated with reduced nesting success of an urban songbird

Lead exposure is a concern in urban ecosystems, with physiological and behavioral effects well documented in humans. Wildlife inhabiting urban ecosystems are also exposed to lead, yet little work has documented the sublethal effects of lead exposure in urban wildlife. We studied northern mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) in three neighborhoods of New Orleans, Louisiana, two with high soil lead and one with low soil lead, to better understand how lead exposure may influence mockingbirds' reproductive biology. We monitored nesting attempts, measured lead concentrations in the blood and feathers of nestling mockingbirds, documented egg hatching and nesting success, and assessed rates of sexual promiscuity in relation to neighborhood soil lead levels. We found that nestling mockingbirds' blood and feather lead levels reflected the lead levels of their neighborhood soil lead level and nestling blood lead levels were similar to adult mockingbirds in the same neighborhoods. Nest success, as evaluated by daily survival rates, was higher in the lower lead neighborhood. Clutch sizes varied substantially across neighborhoods, but rates of unhatched eggs did not covary with neighborhood lead levels, suggesting that other drivers are influencing variation in clutch sizes and hatching success in urban habitats. At least one-third of nestling mockingbirds were sired by an extra-pair male, and there was no relationship between extra-pair paternity rates and neighborhood lead levels. This study provides insight into how lead contamination may influence reproduction in urban-dwelling wildlife and suggests that nestling birds could serve as useful bioindicators of lead levels in urban neighborhoods.

opencc-zeroJun 2023View details →

dryad32/100

Urbanisation impacts plumage colouration in a songbird across Europe: evidence from a correlational, experimental, and meta-analytical approach

Urbanisation is increasing rapidly across the globe, transforming landscapes, presenting organisms with novel challenges, shaping phenotypes, and impacting fitness. Urban individuals are claimed to have duller tones in carotenoid-based traits, the so-called ″urban dullness″ phenomenon. However, at the intra-specific level, this generalisation is surprisingly inconsistent and often based on examples from few populations or a limited geographic area. Here, combining correlational, experimental, and meta-analytical results from a common songbird, the great tit (Parus major), we investigated carotenoid-based plumage coloration in urban and forest populations across Europe. We find that, as predicted, urban individuals are paler than forest individuals, although there are large population-specific differences in the magnitude of the urban-forest contrast in colouration. Our meta-analysis indicates a non-significant effect of environmental pollution on carotenoid-based plumage for the species, suggesting that the observed differences across urban populations are not only driven by pollution. Finally, using one region as an example (Malmö, Sweden), we reveal population-specific processes behind plumage colouration differences, which are likely the result of variation in the spatial and temporal distribution of carotenoid-rich resources in anthropogenic environments. Our results provide convincing evidence for consistency on the "urban dullness" phenomenon but highlight that its magnitude depends on local urban characteristics.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

dryad32/100

Experimental reduction of a primary nest predator fails to decrease nest predation rates of sagebrush songbirds

Predator removal comprises one management strategy to increase the reproductive success of a prey species of concern, particularly within human-altered landscapes. The efficacy of such an approach, however, depends partly on the extent to which predation risk is additive or compensatory, which remains unknown for many systems. We experimentally reduced the local abundance of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), a primary nest predator of three sagebrush-obligate songbirds (Brewer's Sparrow [Spizella breweri], Sagebrush Sparrow [Artemisiospiza nevadensis], and Sage Thrasher [Oreoscoptus montanus]) during May ̶ August 2019 in western Wyoming, USA to assess whether nest predation risk was additive or compensatory and whether nest predator removal could comprise a potentially effective management tool. Deer mouse removal did not affect the daily nest survival of songbirds between experimental and control plots, despite a reduction of 68 ̶ 85% in deer mouse abundance within treatment areas. Nest predation in this system therefore likely operated in a compensatory way, in which deer mice that escaped removal, new immigrants, or other species of nest predator maintained similar levels of nest predation risk regardless of the prevalence of a primary predator. We caution that predator removal may not be an effective management tool in systems that lack barriers to predator immigration or have several alternative species of predators, even when a single species typically is responsible for the majority of predation events.

opencc-zeroSep 2023View details →

dryad32/100