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23 results for “House Finch”
Sex-specific relationships between urbanization, parasitism, and plumage coloration in house finches
Historically, studies of condition-dependent signals in animals have been male-centric, but recent work suggests that female ornaments can also communicate individual quality (e.g., disease state, fecundity). There also has been a surge of interest in how urbanization alters signaling traits, but we know little about if and how cities affect signal expression in female animals. We present data of carotenoid-based plumage coloration and coccidian (Isospora spp.) parasite burden in desert and city populations of house finches Haemorhous mexicanus to examine links between urbanization, health state, and feather pigmentation in males and females. In earlier work, we showed that male house finches are less colorful and more parasitized in the city, and we again detected such patterns in this study for males; however, urban females were less colorful, but not more parasitized, than rural females. Moreover, contrary to rural populations, we found that urban birds (regardless of sex) with larger patches of carotenoid coloration were also more heavily infected with coccidia. These results show that urban environments can disrupt condition-dependent color expression and highlight the need for more studies on how cities affect disease and signaling traits in both male and female animals.
Does water-bath cleaning affect the health of visiting birds? A study of parasite loads in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) in the Phoenix, Arizona, USA metropolitan area (2018)
There is evidence that urban animals have higher parasite and pathogen burdens than those from natural areas, but the mechanism behind this pattern is unclear. One possibility for yard-visiting birds is that they drink from bird baths that have not been regularly cleaned and thus they have elevate infection risks and rates by consuming unusually soiled water. We experimentally tested this idea in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) – a common backyard visitor in North America – by implementing a rotating bath-cleaning regime, where we either left baths uncleaned for 5 weeks or cleaned them daily with dilute bleach for 5 weeks, and did so at both an urban and rural study site. We found that coccidian endoparasitism decreased in urban birds when they drank from clean baths, but the same was not true for rural birds. These results reveal a habitat-specific effect of feeder cleaning on disease status in an abundant yard-visiting songbird.
Fig. 1 in Apparent effect of chronic Plasmodium infections on disease severity caused by experimental infections with Mycoplasma gallisepticum in house finches
Fig. 1. Mean severity of eye lesions ± SE (circles), and M. gallisepticum-load (log (qPCR+1)) (triangles) of birds infected through horizontal transmission with the CA2015 strain of M. gallisepticum. Birds in which Plasmodium was detected by PCR (grey symbols) developed more severe disease than birds in which Plasmodium was not found (white symbol). As there is no significant interaction between M. gallisepticum ‾strain and Plasmodium infection (Table 2) the results for the other M. gallisepticum strains are qualitatively similar and therefore not shown.
Data from: SNPs across time and space: population genomic signatures of founder events and epizootics in the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)
Identifying genomic signatures of natural selection can be challenging against a background of demographic changes such as bottlenecks and population expansions. Here, we disentangle the effects of demography from selection in the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) using samples collected before and after a pathogen-induced selection event. Using ddRADseq, we genotyped over 18,000 SNPs across the genome in native pre-epizootic western US birds, introduced birds from Hawaii and the eastern United States, post-epizootic eastern birds, and western birds sampled across a similar time span. We found 14% and 7% reductions in nucleotide diversity, respectively, in Hawaiian and pre-epizootic eastern birds relative to pre-epizootic western birds, as well as elevated levels of linkage disequilibrium and other signatures of founder events. Despite finding numerous significant frequency shifts (outlier loci) between pre-epizootic native and introduced populations, we found no signal of reduced genetic diversity, elevated linkage disequilibrium, or outlier loci as a result of the epizootic. Simulations demonstrate that the proportion of outliers associated with founder events could be explained by genetic drift. This rare view of genetic evolution across time in an invasive species provides direct evidence that demographic shifts like founder events have genetic consequences more widespread across the genome than natural selection.
Data from: Infection reduces anti-predator behaviors in house finches
Infectious diseases can cause host mortality through direct or indirect mechanisms, including altered behavior. Diminished anti-predator behavior is among the most-studied causes of indirect mortality during infection, particularly for systems in which a parasite's life-cycle requires transmission from prey to predator. Significantly less work has examined whether directly-transmitted parasites and pathogens also reduce anti-predator behaviors. Here we test whether the directly-transmitted bacterial pathogen, Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), reduces responses to predation-related stimuli in house finches Haemorhous mexicanus. MG causes conjunctivitis and reduces survival among free-living finches, but rarely causes mortality in captivity, suggesting a role for indirect mechanisms. Wild-caught finches were individually housed in captivity and exposed to the following treatments: 1) visual presence of a stuffed, mounted predator (a Cooper's hawk Accipiter cooperii) or control object (a vase or a stuffed, mounted mallard duck Anas platyrhynchos), 2) vocalizations of the same predator and non-predator, 3) approach of a researcher to enclosures, and 4) simulated predator attack (capture by hand). MG infection reduced anti-predator responses during visual exposure to a mounted predator and simulated predator attack, even for birds without detectable visual obstruction from conjunctivitis. However, MG infection did not significantly alter responses during human approach or audio playback. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that predation plays a role in MG-induced mortality in the wild, with reduced locomotion, a common form of sickness behavior for many taxa, as a likely mechanism. Our results therefore suggest that additional research on the role of sickness behaviors in predation could prove illuminating.
House finch leg color changes with infection
<p>In numerous animals, dramatic coloration (e.g., bright red or yellow) often indicates potential fitness, but it is less clear whether subtle coloration in the same individuals (e.g., grey or brown) could also encode such signals. To determine if subtle coloration could indicate health in a bird species with colorful feathers, house finches (<em>Haemorhous mexicanus</em>), we used spectrometry to objectively quantify leg brightness and saturation before, six days after, and 13 days after captive individuals were inoculated with a naturally-occurring bacterial pathogen, <em>Mycoplasma gallisepticum</em>. We found that legs became less bright six days after infection (near the typical peak of infection), then more bright and less saturated at 13 days (entering the typical recovery period). These results suggest that subtle colors could reliably indicate current infection status, and therefore survival potential.</p>
Data from: SNPs across time and space: population genomic signatures of founder events and epizootics in the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)
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House finch leg color changes with infection
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Fitness consequences of structural variation inferred from a House Finch pangenome
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Data from: Infection reduces anti-predator behaviors in house finches
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Investigating mirror responses in adult male zebra finches and house crows
<p>Earlier evidence suggests that besides humans, some species of mammals and birds demonstrate visual self-recognition, assessed by the controversial 'mark' test. Whereas there are high levels of inter-individual differences amongst a single species, some species such as macaques and pigeons which do not spontaneously demonstrate mirror self-recognition (MSR) can be trained to do so. We were surprised to discover that despite being widely used as a model system for avian research, the performance of zebra finches (<i>Taenopygia guttata</i>) on the mark test had not been studied earlier. Additionally, we studied the behavior of another species of passerine songbirds (Indian house crows; <i>Corvus splendens</i>) on the mark test and other self-exploratory behaviors. Although, a small number of adult male zebra finches appeared to display heightened responses towards the mark while observing their reflections, we could not rule out the possibility that these were specific to the mirror and not a part of general grooming. In contrast, none of the house crows demonstrated mark-directed behavior or increased self-exploratory behaviors when facing mirrors. Our study suggests that self-directed behaviors need to be tested more rigorously in adult male zebra finches while facing their reflections and these findings need to be replicated in a larger population, given the high degree of variability in mirror-directed behaviors. We have also shown that house crows demonstrate early stages of self-awareness but do not pass the mark test.</p>
Data from: An experimental demonstration that house finches add cigarette butts in response to ectoparasites
Urban species encounter resources that are uncommon in nature, such as materials found in city waste. Many studies have shown that these can be harmful to wildlife. In Mexico City, house finches bring cigarette butts to their nests, which reduces the amount of ectoparasites, but also induces genotoxic damage in chicks and parents. Yet, the reason for this behaviour is unknown. One possibility is that birds extract the cellulose fibres from discarded butts simply because they resemble feathers. Alternatively, disassembled cigarette butts may be brought to the nests because they repel ectoparasites. Here we tested the latter hypothesis by assessing whether house finches Carpodacus mexicanus increase the amount of cigarette butts in their nests in response to a raise in ectoparasite load. When present, fibres from butts are concentrated in the nest lining. By taking it away, we simultaneously removed most of the butt material and collected the bulk of the tick population infesting each nest, as these parasites cluster in the lining. We removed the bedding of nests when chicks had recently hatched, and randomly assigned each nests to one of the following treatments: 1) addition of live ticks, 2) addition of dead ticks and 3) simulation of tick addition. Females in the live ticks' treatment added more butt fibres to their nests than parents in control treatments. Additionally, the amount of butt fibres in the original lining also predicted the amount of fibres added after the manipulation. It seems that the tendency to bring to the nest cigarette butts is at least partially a response to current, and perhaps also past, parasite load.
Data from: Patterns of call communication between group-housed Zebra finches change during the breeding cycle
Vocal signals such as calls play a crucial role for survival and successful reproduction, especially in group-living animals. However, call interactions and call dynamics within groups remain largely unexplored because their relation to relevant contexts or life-history stages could not be studied with individual-level resolution. Using on-bird microphone transmitters, we recorded the vocalisations of individual zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) behaving freely in social groups, while females and males previously unknown to each other passed through different stages of the breeding cycle. As birds formed pairs and shifted their reproductive status, their call repertoire composition changed. The recordings revealed that calls occurred non-randomly in fine-tuned vocal interactions and decreased within groups while pair-specific patterns emerged. Call-type combinations of vocal interactions changed within pairs and were associated with successful egg-laying, highlighting a potential fitness relevance of calling dynamics in communication systems.
Data from: House finch populations differ in early inflammatory signaling and pathogen tolerance at the peak of Mycoplasma gallisepticum infection
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Data from: An experimental demonstration that house finches add cigarette butts in response to ectoparasites
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Data from: Plumage redness signals mitochondrial function in the house finch
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Data from: Patterns of call communication between group-housed Zebra finches change during the breeding cycle
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Investigating mirror responses in adult male zebra finches and house crows
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Data from: Four decades of cultural evolution in House Finch songs
Bird song is the primary animal model system for cultural evolution. Longitudinal studies of bird song across many generations can provide insights into patterns and mechanisms of change in socially transmitted traits. In this study, we conducted a comparative analysis of songs of the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) across an interval of 37 years (in 1975 and in 2012). Recordings from both years were collected in western Long Island, New York, which is thought to be the initial site of introduction of the House Finch around 1940 from the West Coast. Song types experienced a complete turnover during this period, although half of the syllable types were represented in both samples. Song length, frequency bandwidth and several other spectrographic features were the same in both years, and no structural features predicted recurrence of individual syllables. Consistent with the fact that our study population expanded substantially following a cultural founder effect, song and syllable sharing and similarity between individuals were lower in 2012 than in 1975, reflecting an increase in song diversity at the population level. However, in the more recent sample individual songs had fewer syllables, and were sung with less sequence stereotypy across renditions than in the earlier sample. Syllable prevalence in 2012 was associated both with complexity (as gauged by frequency excursion) and increased minimum frequency. Thus, over nearly 4 decades, Eastern House Finch songs remained structurally similar at the whole-song level, diversified between individuals, but became simpler and less consistent within an individual.
Data from: Feeder density enhances house finch disease transmission in experimental epidemics
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