Search Results (10)

Gut microbiota play a significant role in various physiological functions, including digestion, nutritional metabolism, and host immune function. The composition of these gut microbes is largely influenced by habitats. This study examines the gut microbiota of the Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus) inhabiting rural and urban environments to understand the effects of habitat variation on microbial composition. We captured 36 rural and 29 urban adult tree sparrows and observed minor differences in body mass but substantial differences in foraging microhabitats between the two groups. Fecal samples from adult males with similar body mass were selected for a gut microbiome analysis to mitigate potential confounding effects, resulting in 20 successfully sequenced samples. The analysis disclosed disparities in gut microbiota diversity and composition between rural and urban sparrows. The urban group demonstrated slightly higher alpha diversity and distinct dominant phyla and genera compared to the rural group. Additionally, differences in the relative abundance of potentially pathogenic bacteria were observed between the groups. Several potentially pathogenic bacteria (e.g., TM7, Staphylococcus, Helicobacter, and Shigella) were more abundant in the urban group, suggesting that tree sparrows may act as transmission vectors and develop stronger immune systems. This could potentially facilitate pathogen dissemination while also contributing to the natural cycling of nutrients and maintaining ecosystem health in urban environments. The beta diversity analysis confirmed structural differences in microbial communities, implicating habitat variation as a contributing factor. Furthermore, the LEfSe analysis emphasized significant differences in gut bacteria abundance (across two phyla, three classes, six orders, seven families, and eight genera) between urban and rural sparrows, with predicted functional differences in metabolic pathways. Notably, lipid metabolism was enriched in urban sparrows, indicating enhanced lipid synthesis and metabolism in urban habitats. In conclusion, this study underscores the profound influence of habitat on the gut microbiota composition and functional potential in tree sparrows. Our findings highlight that urbanization alters the gut microbes and, consequently, the physiological functions of bird species. Full article

The research’s main objective is to explore and encourage modes of architectural practice that can foster multispecies co-living to reduce biodiversity loss and increase the quality of life for both human and nonhuman inhabitants of architecture. This is achieved through conceptual discussions, comprehensive architectural case studies and work-based design explorations that support cross-species co-living in the context of Eastern Norway (Østlandet)—a geographical region of south-eastern Norway consisting of the counties Vestfold, Telemark, Viken, Oslo and Innlandet. A pluralistic method builds on analytical, critical and work-based explorative studies consisting of two parts: (a) historical and contemporary case studies in Norway that support modes of cross-species co-living and (b) design explorations by the second author investigating the operational potential of kindness in architecture. The notion of kindness in this research is built upon an understanding of the amalgam of concepts: solidarity, kinship and being kind, explained in the article’s introduction. The potential for designing with and for nonhumans to reinvigorate modes of co-living and support existing habitats is investigated, focusing on the ways three bird species relate to a specific building in Eastern Norway due to their habitat needs in the region: Cyanistes caeruleus, Eurasian blue tit (blåmeis in Norwegian); Passer montanus, Eurasian tree sparrow (pilfink in Norwegian); and Delichon urbicum, northern or common house martin (taksvale in Norwegian). The research contributes to ongoing discussions within architectural discourse regarding multispecies inhabitation and architecture’s role in the current biodiversity crisis and provides insight into both historical and contemporary/ongoing design solutions for multispecies co-living. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in public and human activities worldwide, including using masks and reducing human interaction. These changes have also affected wildlife behavior, especially in urban areas. However, there is limited understanding of the impact of COVID-19-related human activities, mainly mask wearing, on the behavior of urban bird species. This case is intriguing in the Philippines, where COVID-19 restrictions and mask wearing have been more prolonged than in other countries. We studied two common urban bird species (Geopelia striata and Passer montanus) in Southcentral Mindanao, Philippines, to assess their response to mask wearing by examining their alert distance (AD) and flight initiation distance (FID). We found that birds had a reduced FID to mask wearing, but only significantly in G. striata (Zebra Doves) and not in P. montanus (Eurasian tree sparrow). The effect of the variables related to urbanization on FID was contrasting. For example, ambient noise increased bird vigilance while proximity to roads reduced bird FID in urbanized areas, but their effects were weaker compared to mask wearing. We conclude that mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic is a significant environmental element that alters bird escape responses in urban areas, and the effects may be species-specific. Full article

Urban areas are constantly increasing, which can cause an effect in bird populations since human activities lead to nature alterations. Populations of House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) have been decreasing in Spain according to the latest national censuses in Spain. In this study, we tried to assess the population trend over more than two decades using ringing data from Spanish constant effort sites, as well as to determine the population and breeding success proxy in relation to habitat composition at landscape level. We analysed the data and confirmed the decreasing trend in the two species. However, Eurasian Tree Sparrow showed signs of increasing presence in urban areas. Furthermore, the productivity remained stable over sampling sites and years, meaning that the causes of the decreasing populations are affecting both adult and juvenile individuals. Full article

The Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus) is a monomorphic passerine, for which it is impossible to differentiate between males and females based on external characteristics. Being a species frequently captured for ringing, having a reliable method to determine sex from conventional biometric measurements would facilitate its study and be very useful for the correct management and conservation of this declining species. In the present study, we used biometric measurements recorded in 66 individuals captured with mist nets in communal roosts in northern Spain during the winter and sexed them using molecular techniques. We conducted a discriminant function analysis (DFA) to derive equations that allowed us to determine the sex of the specimens from some of the measurements recorded in the field. Significant differences were found between males and females in wing length, third primary length, badge width and height and body weight. The DFA provided two functions that correctly classified the sex of 94.7% of the individuals using wing length and badge width, and 98.2% if weight was added to the analysis. Our results allow sexing from measurements that can be easily recorded in the field with the tools commonly used in banding sessions and without the need for additional training. Considerations of Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules on body size and the use of DFA in different populations are discussed. Full article

To investigate the effects of valley topography on the acoustic transmission of avian vocalisations, we carried out playback experiments in Daqinggou valley, Inner Mongolia, China. During the experiments, we recorded the vocalisations of five avian species, the large-billed crow (Corvus macrorhynchos Wagler, 1827), common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus Linnaeus, 1758), Eurasian magpie (Pica pica Linnaeus, 1758), Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus Linnaeus, 1758), and meadow bunting (Emberiza cioides Brand, 1843), at transmission distances of 30 m and 50 m in the upper and lower parts of the valley and analysed the intensity, the fundamental frequency (F0), and the first three formant frequencies (F1/F2/F3) of the sounds. We also investigated bird species diversity in the upper and lower valley. We found that: (1) at the distance of 30 m, there were significant differences in F0/F1/F2/F3 in Eurasian magpies, significant differences in F1/F2/F3 in the meadow bunting and Eurasian tree sparrow, and partially significant differences in sound frequency between the upper and lower valley in the other two species; (2) at the distance of 50 m, there were significant differences in F0/F1/F2/F3 in two avian species (large-billed crow and common cuckoo) between the upper and lower valley and partially significant differences in sound frequency between the upper and lower valley in the other three species; (2) there were significant differences in the acoustic intensities of crow, cuckoo, magpie, and bunting calls between the upper and lower valley. (3) Species number and richness were significantly higher in the upper valley than in the lower valley. We suggested that the structure of valley habitats may lead to the breakdown of acoustic signals and communication in birds to varying degrees. The effect of valley topography on acoustic communication could be one reason for animal species avoiding deep valleys. Full article

Animals inhabiting colder climates have a larger body size (Bergmann’s rule) and smaller body extremities (Allen’s rule), which help homeothermic animals to retain heat. Such ecogeographical phenomena have frequently been observed in animals along the latitudinal gradient and have occasionally been tested along the elevational gradient. This study tested whether these ecogeographic rules hold true for the morphology of sparrows (Passer spp.) along the elevational gradient offered by the Himalaya in central Nepal. Seventy house sparrows and twenty-eight tree sparrows were captured from 22 different localities of central Nepal between 100 and 3400 m asl, and morphological traits such as body size (body mass, tarsus length, wing length and tail length) and body extremities (bill length and bill width) were measured. Linear regression analysis was used to test the association of morphological measurements with elevation and climatic variables. House sparrows (Passer domesticus) had a wider elevational distribution range and exhibited significantly larger body sizes than the Eurasian tree sparrows (P. montanus). House sparrows had larger body sizes and smaller bills at higher elevations in adherence to Bergmann’s rule and Allen’s rule. Bill length in house sparrows showed a positive association with the temperature following the proposition of Allen’s rule. However, the morphological measurements in Eurasian tree sparrows did not show a distinct pattern with elevation and climatic variables. Therefore, this study concludes that ecogeographical phenomena such as Bergmann’s rule and Allen’s rule could be species-specific based on their biological and ecological characteristics. Full article

The bird community in urban areas indicates the species-specific adaptability to urban conditions such as the increase in man-made habitats. Urban adapters and urban exploiters, two groups that make up most of the urban birds, were assessed to determine their suitable habitat and explain their distribution, as well as to determine the environmental predictors for the two bird groups assemblages in Depok, one of Jakarta’s satellite cities. We used the point-count method to survey the birds in three habitat types, green spaces, residentials, and roadside, and then we used Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) to analyze the species distribution modeling. We also the predicted habitat distributions for the urban adapters and urban exploiters based on several environmental predictors. Our results suggest that both urban adapters and urban exploiters were abundant in residential areas. Eurasian tree sparrows (Passer montanus) and cave swiflets (Collocalia linchi) were the most common species in all three habitat types. On average, canopy cover was most extensive in green spaces followed by residential and roadside areas. Urban exploiters were likely to have a high suitability extent compared to urban adapters. The distributions of both groups were affected by the distance to perennial water, then by land function for the urban adapters, and distance to patches for the urban exploiters. The presence of urban adapters and urban exploiters in residential areas suggests that home gardens supported critical habitats when green spaces were unavailable. Full article

Urban planning and management need long-term population level studies for evaluating how urbanization influences biodiversity. Firstly, we reviewed the current population trends of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) in Europe, and evaluated the usefulness of citizens’ science projects to monitor these species in Finland. Secondly, we conducted a long-term (1991–2020) winter field study in 31 urban settlements along a 950 km north–south extent in Finland to study how latitude, weather and urbanization influence on sparrow’s growth rates. The House Sparrow is declining in 15 countries, and increasing in 5, whereas the Eurasian Tree Sparrow is declining in 12 and increasing in 9 European countries. The trend of the House Sparrow was significantly negative in continental Europe. However, the trend of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow was not significant. Both species have declined simultaneously in six countries, whereas in four countries, their trends are opposite. Citizen-based, long-term (2006–2020) winter season project data indicated that House Sparrow has decreased, whereas Eurasian Tree Sparrow has increased in Finland. However, the short-term (2013–2020) breeding season citizen-based project data did not indicate significant changes in the occupation rate of sparrows. Our long-term (1991–2020) field study indicated that wintering populations of the House Sparrow have decreased, whereas the Eurasian Tree Sparrows have both expanded their wintering range and increased their population size. Based on our winter count data, latitude and weather did not significantly influence the growth rates of sparrows. When the human population increased within the study plot, House Sparrow populations decreased, and vice versa. There was also a trend that a decreasing number of feeding sites has decreased the House Sparrow numbers. Urban-related factors did not influence the growth rate of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Our results indicate that the colonization of a new, even closely related species does not influence negatively on earlier urbanized species. It is probable that the niches of these sparrow species are different enough for allowing them to co-occur. The House Sparrow mainly nests on buildings, whereas the Eurasian Tree Sparrow can easily accept, e.g., nest boxes. Urban planning should take care of both the food availability and nest sites availability for both sparrow species. Full article

Interaction between nature and human has formulated unique biodiversity in temperate regions. People have conserved and maintained traditional folk villages (TFVs) dominated with houses made of natural materials, arable land and surrounding elements of landscape. Until now, little attention has been given to understand the traits of breeding birds in TFVs of Korea. The aim of this study was to reveal traits of breeding birds in TFVs and get conservative implications for biodiversity. We selected five TFVs: Hahoe maeul (HA), Wanggok maeul (WG), Nagan maeul (NA), Yangdong maeul (YD), and Hangae maeul (HG). We surveyed breeding birds with line transect methods, and analyzed functional traits (diet type and nest type) of birds in TFVs. Among 60 species recorded, Passer montanus (PM), Streptopelia orientalis (SO), Hirundo rustica (HR), Pica pica (PP), Phoenicuros auroreus (PA), Paradoxornis webbiana (PW), Microscelis amaurotis (MA), Carduelis sinica (CA) and Oriolus chinensis (OC) could be potential breeding birds that prefer diverse habitats of TFVs in Korea. Compared to the breeding birds of rural, urban and forest environments, the diversity of nesting types for birds was high in TFVs. The diverse nest types of breeding birds can be linked with habitat heterogeneity influenced by sustainable interaction between nature and human in TFVs in Korea. Full article