Growing in the city: Urban evolutionary ecology of avian growth rates

Corsini, Michela; Schöll, Eva Maria; Lecce, Irene Di; Chatelain, Marion; Dubiec, Anna; Szulkin, Marta

doi:10.1111/eva.13081

Cited by 48 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…Abundant prey species associated with urban environments such as brown rats (Rattus norvegicus), rock pigeons (Columba livia), and house mice (Mus musculus) could potentially be driving predation rates and protein (i.e. nitrogen) consumption, at least for mammalian and avian predators (Corsini et al;Newsome et al, 2010;Mccabe et al, 2018;Scholz et al, 2020). Our findings are contrary to an emerging hypothesis of relaxed predation phenomenon in urban areas, described by a meta-analysis of 25 studies that found predation rates on bird nests were reduced in urban areas (Eötvös et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Downtown Diet: a global meta-analysis of urbanization on consumption patterns of vertebrate predators

Gámez

Potts

Mills

et al. 2020

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Predation is a fundamental ecological process that shapes communities and drives long-term evolutionary dynamics. As the world rapidly urbanizes, it is critical to understand how the built environment and other human perturbations alter predation across taxa. We conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the effects of urban environments on three components of trophic ecology in predators: dietary species richness (DSR), dietary evenness (DEV), and stable isotopic ratios (δ13C and δ15N IR). We then evaluated whether intensity of anthropogenic pressure, using the human footprint index (HFI), explained variation in the effect sizes of dietary attributes using a meta-regression. We calculated Hedges’ g effect sizes from 44 studies including 11,986 samples across 40 predatory species in 39 cities globally. The direction and magnitude of effect sizes varied between predator taxonomic groups with reptile diets exhibiting the most sensitivity to urbanization. Effect sizes revealed that predators in cities had comparable DSR, DEV, and nitrogen ratios, though carbon consumption was significantly higher. We found that HFI did not explain variation in effect sizes, a result consistent between the 1993 and 2009 editions of this metric. Our study provides the first assessment of how urbanization has perturbed predator-prey interactions for multiple taxa at a global scale, revealing that the functional role of predators is conserved in cities and urbanization does not inherently relax predation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Downtown Diet: a global meta-analysis of urbanization on consumption patterns of vertebrate predators

Gámez

Potts

Mills

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Great tits are hole-nesting passerine birds known to occupy a wide range of habitats, from primary forests (Tomiałojć and Wesołowski, 2004) to urban city centres (Corsini et al, 2020). In this species, the nesting environment is an important driver that shapes gut microbiota during early development (Teyssier et al, 2018a), making the great tit an ideal subject to study microbial changes across an urban mosaic.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…We included the following sampling sites: a natural forest (c. 10 km from the city borders and approximately 20 km from the city centre), a peri-urban village bordering a natural forest, 2 residential areas, 2 urban woodlands, a large urban park and an office area. These sites are presented in greater detail by Corsini et al (2019Corsini et al ( , 2020. In adsdition to the 8 sites described above, woodcrete nest boxes (Schwegler, Germany, Type 1B) and natural cavities were also monitored at a 9th site: the Bielany Forest, which is a unique forest remnant of the Masovian Primeval forest (and retains some of its features); this forest has an area of ca.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Alterations to the Gut Microbiota of a Wild Juvenile Passerine in an Urban Mosaic

Maraci

Corsini

Antonatou-Papaioannou

et al. 2021

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Urbanisation is a major anthropogenic perturbation that progressively alters multiple environmental parameters, thereby presenting novel evolutionary challenges to wild populations. Symbiotic microorganisms residing in the gastrointestinal tracts (gut) of vertebrates have well-established mutual connections with the physiology of their hosts and respond quickly to environmental alterations. However, the impacts of anthropogenic changes and urbanisation on gut microbiota remain poorly understood, especially in early development. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the gut microbiota in juvenile great tits (Parus major) in an urban mosaic. First, we compared the microbiota of nestlings reared in artificial nest boxes or natural cavities. Next, we analysed microbiota variations employing two distinct urbanisation frameworks, (i) the classical urban/rural dichotomy and (ii) gradual changes in the amount of impervious surface area (ISA) in the urban space and identified the environmental variables that predicted the changes in the microbial communities. Alpha diversity was influenced by cavity type and by the amount of impervious surface surrounding the breeding location. Alpha diversity was also positively correlated with the tree cover density. Beta diversity differed between urban and rural sites, and these alterations covaried with sound pollution, the distance to the city centre and the distance to the closest road. Overall, the microbial communities reflect and are possibly influenced by the heterogeneous environmental modifications that are typical of the urban space. Strikingly, the choice of framework used to define the urban space can influence the outcomes of studies investigating animal-microbe symbiosis. Our results open new perspectives from which the potential function of microbial symbionts in the adaptation of their hosts to anthropogenic stress can be investigated.

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“…In this study, we used genome-wide and epigenome-wide sequencing approaches to compare genetic and epigenetic responses among three pairs of great tit Parus major populations in urban and forest habitats. At the European level, population monitoring of Great tits revealed parallel phenotypic shifts in city birds compared to their forest conspecifics, with in particular smaller and lighter urban birds laying earlier and smaller clutches (33)(34)(35)(36). We investigated both average genomic (SNPs) and epigenomic (CpG methylation) differentiation and we searched for particular genomic footprints of divergent selection as well as differentially methylated regions, between forest and urban populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing for parallel genomic and epigenomic footprints of adaptation to urban life in a passerine bird

Grégoire

et al. 2021

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Identifying the molecular mechanisms involved in rapid adaptation to novel environments and determining their predictability are central questions in Evolutionary Biology and pressing issues due to rapid global changes. Complementary to genetic responses to selection, faster epigenetic variations such as modifications of DNA methylation may play a substantial role in rapid adaptation. In the context of rampant urbanization, joint examinations of genomic and epigenomic mechanisms are still lacking. Here, we investigated genomic (SNP) and epigenomic (CpG methylation) responses to urban life in a passerine bird, the Great tit (Parus major). To test whether urban evolution is predictable (ie parallel) or involves mostly non-parallel molecular processes among cities, we analysed three distinct pairs of city and forest Great tit populations across Europe. Results reveal a polygenic response to urban life, with both many genes putatively under weak divergent selection and multiple differentially methylated regions (DMRs) between forest and city great tits. DMRs mainly overlapped transcription start sites and promotor regions, suggesting their importance in the modulation gene expression. Both genomic and epigenomic outliers were found in genomic regions enriched for genes with biological functions related to nervous system, immunity, behaviour, hormonal and stress responses. Interestingly, comparisons across the three pairs of city-forest populations suggested little parallelism in both genetic and epigenetic responses. Our results confirm, at both the genetic and epigenetic levels, hypotheses of polygenic and largely non-parallel mechanisms of rapid adaptation in new environments such as urbanized areas.

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Growing in the city: Urban evolutionary ecology of avian growth rates

Cited by 48 publications

References 109 publications

Downtown Diet: a global meta-analysis of urbanization on consumption patterns of vertebrate predators

Downtown Diet: a global meta-analysis of urbanization on consumption patterns of vertebrate predators

Alterations to the Gut Microbiota of a Wild Juvenile Passerine in an Urban Mosaic

Testing for parallel genomic and epigenomic footprints of adaptation to urban life in a passerine bird

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