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opencc-by-4.0Dec 2005View details →

Fig. 3 in Repeatability Analysis Of Egg Shape In A Wild Tree Sparrow (Passer Montanus) Population: A Sensitive Method For Egg Shape Description

Fig. 3. The effect of egg-photographing on the description of outline. Panel a shows ten outlines described following the photos of ten randomly chosen eggs, panel b shows ten outlines described fol-

opencc-zeroJul 2024View details →

Are urbanization and brood parasitism associated with differences in telomere lengths in song sparrows?

Urbanization reflects a major form of environmental change impacting wild birds globally. Whereas urban habitats may provide increased availability of water, some food items, and reduced predation levels compared to rural, they can also present novel stressors including increased light at night, ambient noise, and reduced nutrient availability. Urbanization can also alter levels of brood parasitism, with some host species experiencing elevated levels of brood parasitism in urban areas compared to rural areas. Though the demographic and behavioral consequences of urbanization and brood parasitism have received considerable attention, their consequences for cellular-level processes are less understood. Telomeres provide an opportunity to understand the cellular consequences of different environments as they are a well-established metric of biological state that can be associated with residual lifespan, disease risk, and behaviour, and are known to be sensitive to environmental conditions. Here we examine the relationships between urbanization, brood parasitism, and blood telomere lengths in adult and nestling song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Song sparrows are a North American songbird found in both urban and rural habitats that experience high rates of brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) in the urban, but not the rural, sites in our study system. Among adults and nestlings from non-parasitized nests, we found no differences in relative telomere lengths between urban and rural habitats. However, among urban nestlings, the presence of a brood parasite in the nest was associated with significantly shorter relative telomere lengths compared to when a brood parasite was absent. Our results suggest a novel, indirect, impact of urbanization on nestling songbirds through the physiological impacts of brood parasitism.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2013View details →

Fig. 2. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree for a 219 in Prevalence of filarioid nematodes and trypanosomes in American robins and house sparrows, Chicago USA

Fig. 2. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree for a 219 bp region of the trypanosome 18s rRNA gene. Underlined sequences are from this study. Sequences for additional Trypanosoma spp. were downloaded from NCBI Genbank for comparison and Bodo caudatus was used as an outgroup. Numbers by branches indicate statistical bootstrap support of À50%.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2013View details →

Fig. 1. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic trees for a 475 in Prevalence of filarioid nematodes and trypanosomes in American robins and house sparrows, Chicago USA

Fig. 1. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic trees for a 475 bp region of the 18S rRNA gene for filarioid nematodes (A) and a 529 bp region of the filarial nematode mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (B). Sequences were obtained from bird blood clots, bird tissues, or adult nematodes recovered from birds. Underlined sequences are from this study. Additional sequences for filarial nematode species were downloaded from NCBI Genbank for comparison and Thelazia lacrimalis and Caenorhabditis elegans were used as outgroups. Numbers by branches indicate statistical bootstrap support of À50%.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

Data from: Dispersal in a house sparrow metapopulation: an integrative case study of genetic assignment calibrated with ecological data and pedigree information

Dispersal has a crucial role determining eco-evolutionary dynamics through both gene flow and population size regulation. However, to study dispersal and its consequences, one must distinguish immigrants from residents. Dispersers can be identified using telemetry, capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods, or genetic assignment methods. All of these methods have disadvantages, such as, high costs and substantial field efforts needed for telemetry and CMR surveys, and adequate genetic distance required in genetic assignment. In this study, we used genome-wide 200K Single Nucleotide Polymorphism data and two different genetic assignment approaches (GSI_SIM, Bayesian framework; BONE, network-based estimation) to identify the dispersers in a house sparrow (Passer domesticus) metapopulation sampled over 16 years. Our results showed higher assignment accuracy with BONE. Hence, we proceeded to diagnose potential sources of errors in the assignment results from the BONE method due to variation in levels of inter-population genetic differentiation, intra-population genetic variation and sample size. We show that assignment accuracy is high even at low levels of genetic differentiation and that it increases with the proportion of a population that has been sampled. Finally, we highlight that dispersal studies integrating both ecological and genetic data provide robust assessments of the dispersal patterns in natural populations.

Fig. 5 in Factors limiting the current distribution of the introduced Java sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) in Bangkok, Thailand

Fig. 5. Four nest localities of Java sparrow in the study area; nurse dormitory of Bhumipol Hospital (1), Air Force Youth Club (2), Air Force Museum (3) and Phaholyothin 69/1 alley (4). Java sparrows were mostly found nesting in (1) and (3). All sites were located <1.5 km from Don Muang Airport. (1), (2) and (3) were located on the eastern side of Don Muang Airport and (4) was located to the south-west.

Fig. 6. There were 39 in Factors limiting the current distribution of the introduced Java sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) in Bangkok, Thailand

Fig. 6. There were 39 nest sites at Bhumibol Hospital, 22 sites at the Royal Thai Air Force Museum, 3 at the Thai Air Force Youth Club and 3 at Phahonyothin Soi 69/1. Birds mostly located their nests in cavities in the ceilings of buildings or in openings of air ducts.

Fig. 3. Within the 15 occupied cells, 6 cells had a in Factors limiting the current distribution of the introduced Java sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) in Bangkok, Thailand

Fig. 3. Within the 15 occupied cells, 6 cells had a percentage of paddyfield cover <1%, 6 cells had 1–20% paddyfield cover and 3 cells had 20–40% paddyfield cover. For the 26 cells with no detections, 16 had a percentage of paddyfield cover <1%, 7 cells had 1–20% paddyfield cover and 3 cells had 20–40% paddyfield cover.

Fig. 2. Forty-one grid cells randomly set within a 10 in Factors limiting the current distribution of the introduced Java sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) in Bangkok, Thailand

Fig. 2. Forty-one grid cells randomly set within a 10-km radius around Don Muang airport, Bangkok, Thailand, used for surveying Java sparrows. Don Muang was the site where Java sparrows were first recorded in Thailand in 1924. The study area includes three provinces; Bangkok, Pathum Thani, and Nonthaburi. The primary land use was urban, while paddyfields were mostly located on the eastern side of the study area. Different symbols (circles, squares and triangles) represent the number of occasions (out of 5 possible visits to a location) on which the sparrow was detected. Size of symbols of Java sparrow detection points was related to the number of birds detected; smallest size indicated only 1 bird was detected, medium size indicated 2–10 birds were detected, and largest size indicated a group of more than 40 birds was detected.

Fig. 1. 101 in Factors limiting the current distribution of the introduced Java sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) in Bangkok, Thailand

Fig. 1. 101 grid cells (400 ha each) were overlaid on the study area (40,000 ha). We randomly selected approximately 40% (41) (green) of 98 accessible grid cells in total. Access to three grid cells (red) in the middle of study area including Don Muang International Airport were restricted by the Thai Air Force.

Fig. 4 in Factors limiting the current distribution of the introduced Java sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) in Bangkok, Thailand

Fig. 4. Number of Java sparrows counted at the two main roosting sites in Bangkok, Thailand, each site was counted once per month from August 2016 to July 2017. Lowest and highest counts (33 and 2132 individuals) were obtained from the Kan Kheha Thung Song Hong (KKTSH) roost (dashed line). Lowest counts at KKTSH were in August–September 2016. The roosting site at Chaeng Wattana (solid line) had a lower number of birds but may have received some birds from KKTSH during the first two months of the count.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

Data for: Atypical singing is associated with developmental stress and zero fitness in a male white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

Here we provide data for a manuscript in which we describe the atypical song of a male white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). We observed this male over multiple breeding seasons at our Cranberry Lake study site (Adirondack Mountains; New York; 44.15N, 74.78W). We recorded the male singing, and also made observations regarding his failure to obtain reproductive success. In addition, as the male was banded as a nestling, we were able to compare his morphometric measurements at the time to the population average. Our observations of this unique individual support a connection between developmental stress, atypical song, and fitness outcomes.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

Acute stress and restricted diet reduce bill-mediated heat dissipation in the song sparrow (Melospiza melodia): Implications for optimal thermoregulation

We used thermal imaging to show that two environmental factors—acute stress and diet—influence thermoregulatory performance of a known thermal window, the avian bill. The bill plays important roles in thermoregulation and water balance. Given that heat loss through the bill is adjustable through vasoconstriction and vasodilation, and acute stress can cause vasoconstriction in peripheral body surfaces, we hypothesized that stress may influence the bill's role as a thermal window. We further hypothesized that diet influences heat dissipation from the bill given that body condition influences the surface temperature of another body region (the eye region). We measured the surface temperature of the bills of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) before, during, and after handling by an observer at 37°C ambient temperature. We fed five birds a restricted diet intended to maintain bodyweights typical of wild birds, and we fed six birds an unrestricted diet for five months prior to experiments. Acute stress caused a decrease in the surface temperature of the bill, resulting in a 32.4% decrease in heat dissipation immediately following acute stress, before recovering over approximately 2.3 minutes. The initial reduction and subsequent recovery provide partial support for the haemoprotective and thermoprotective hypotheses, which predict a reduction or increase in peripheral blood flow, respectively. Birds with unrestricted diets had larger bills and dissipated more heat, indicating that diet and body condition influence bill-mediated heat dissipation and thermoregulation. These results indicate that stress-induced vascular changes and diet can influence mechanisms of heat loss and potentially inhibit optimal thermoregulation.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

Gut microbiome composition associated with Plasmodium infection in the Eurasian tree sparrow

Recent expansion of microbiome research has uncovered connections between resident microbial communities and blood parasite risk, establishing the potential for microbial disease treatments such as probiotics in the future. However, this field has largely focused on humans and model organisms, leaving much unknown about how microbial communities might directly or indirectly impact parasite infection in wild populations and non-mammals. To contribute to this knowledge base in wild birds, we collected fecal and blood samples from wild Eurasian tree sparrows (Passer montanus) in the United States to test for associations between blood parasite infection and the gut microbiome. We used a widespread molecular approach to test 81 samples from peripheral blood for Plasmodium and Haemoproteus, and we characterized the gut microbiome using fecal samples as a proxy. Neither alpha nor beta diversity significantly varied with detected Plasmodium infection. However, differential abundance analysis highlighted a number of significantly varying bacteria, with the greatest representation within the phyla Proteobacteria and Firmicutes in Plasmodium-infected birds. These differentially abundant taxa offer a starting point for experimental work establishing the relationship between microbial abundance and Plasmodium infection.

opencc-by-4.0Feb 2023View details →

Fig. 1 in Nest Entry Shape Change May Cause Nest Abandonment In Urban Cavity-Nesting Species: A Case Study Of The Tree Sparrow Passer Montanus

Fig. 1. Location of the study area (left) and examples of Tree Sparrow nests at the study sites (right). Site 1: Agricultural Practical Training Center, Chonnam National University,