House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Lowther, Peter E.; Cink, Calvin L.; Poole, Anthony M.; Stettenheim, Peter; Gill, F.

doi:10.2173/bna.houspa.02

Cited by 38 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…The first ordination axis (NMDS1) was positively associated with precipitation during the molt period (in house sparrows molt primarily occurs in August and September, although more conservative estimates define the molt period as June-November; see Casto 1974;Mathew and Naik 1986;Lowther and Cink 2006;Romero et al 2006) which overlaps with the rainy season in Mexico (July-September). NMDS1 was also positively associated with minimum and maximum temperatures of months outside of the molt period, in the dry season.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have found negative associations between CORT p and precipitation levels in white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis) in Washington (Wingfield et al 1983), in dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis) wintering across the United States (Rogers et al 1993), and in Alpine swifts (Apus melba) in Switzerland (Bize et al 2010). House sparrows eat grains primarily but also consume insects (Lowther and Cink 2006). As rainfall is important for plant growth and climate can influence the availability of insect prey (Murphy 1987), the CORT f -precipitation associations in the Mexican population could be driven by effects of precipitation on food supply.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…House sparrows are native to Europe and Asia but were introduced to the United States in the 1850s, and their New World range now extends from northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada, to Panama (Lowther and Cink 2006). House sparrows spread across the majority of Mexico between 1910 and the 1970s (Robbins 1973;Schrey et al 2011).…”

Section: Study Species and Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…House sparrows spread across the majority of Mexico between 1910 and the 1970s (Robbins 1973;Schrey et al 2011). Their success as an invasive species has been partly attributed to the fact that they are generalist feeders and human commensals (Lowther and Cink 2006). The human population of Mexico has increased rapidly since the 1940s, and the percentage of the population living in urban areas increased from 35.1% in 1940to 78% in 2010(United Nations 2012.…”

Section: Study Species and Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, we expected to see negative relationships between CORT f and both elevation and latitude. We predicted that CORT f would be negatively related to temperatures and precipitation levels during the molt period, defined as August-September (Casto 1974 ;Lowther and Cink 2006). This relationship with temperature could reflect direct effects of cool temperatures on energetic demands or indirect effects of temperature on food availability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large‐scale spatial variation in feather corticosterone in invasive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in Mexico is related to climate

Treen

Hobson

Marchant

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Ecologists frequently use physiological tools to understand how organisms cope with their surroundings but rarely at macroecological scales. This study describes spatial variation in corticosterone (CORT) levels in feathers of invasive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) across their range in Mexico and evaluates CORT–climate relationships with a focus on temperature and precipitation. Samples were collected from 49 sites across Mexico. Feather CORT (CORTf) was measured using methanol-based extraction and radioimmunoassay. Relationships between CORTf and spatial and climate variables were examined using simple linear regressions. Ordination was used on climate data, CORTf was plotted against the resulting axes, and univariate regression trees were used to identify important predictors of CORTf. Universal kriging interpolation was used to illustrate spatial variation in CORTf across Mexico. Correlations with ordination axes showed that high CORTf was associated with low precipitation during the rainy season and low dry season temperatures. Specifically, CORTf was negatively related to May precipitation and January and July minimum temperatures, and positively related to April deuterium excess and June minimum temperatures. CORTf was higher in second-year birds compared to after-hatch years and after-second years. House sparrows had higher CORTf levels in the hot, dry, north-central region of Mexico, and CORTf was negatively related to temperature and precipitation. House sparrows molt primarily from August–September but climate conditions throughout the year were important predictors of CORTf, suggesting that conditions outside of molt can carry over to influence energetics during feather growth. These data suggest that dry conditions are challenging for house sparrows in Mexico, supporting previous work showing that precipitation is an important predictor of broad-scale CORT variation. This work highlights the utility of CORTf for evaluating the influence of physiology on current avian range limits; furthermore, these data may allow us to predict future changes in species distributions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Species and Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Species and Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Large‐scale spatial variation in feather corticosterone in invasive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in Mexico is related to climate

Treen

Hobson

Marchant

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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A trade‐off model for immunocompetence: The potential contribution of immunological regulation in invasive vertebrate success

Poirier

2019

J Exp Zool Pt A

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Invasive species have become a prolific environmental issue, second only to climate change, yet many of the phenomena that facilitate invasive success are not well understood (Phillip & Shine, Proc. Roy. Soc. B, 273, 1545-1550. The combination of several generalist life-history traits, certain physiological mechanisms, and environmental conditions is thought to play a significant role in invasion success. The ability to undergo fitness trade-offs-to reallocate nutritional and energetic resources towards processes that increase reproduction, growth, and dispersal-is also thought to be an adaptive quality of many invasive species. Due to their inherent flexibility, phenotypically plastic traits in particular are often targeted for fitness reallocations.Immune function, for example, is determined by a highly plastic phenotype, which is crucial for combating a diverse array of pathogens. When active, immune function also demands extensive resources from the host. Laboratory and field studies suggest that certain aspects of the immune system are more costly than others, though, and that its components can be regulated independent of one another. In invasive species undergoing fitness trade-offs, costly innate inflammatory responses are often downregulated, while antibody-mediated responses may be enhanced. A combination of fixed physiological responses and environmentally induced trade-offs are thought to regulate the immune system, though the relationship between these facets of regulation is still an area of active research. The field of ecoimmunology, then, has emerged in effort to understand the phenomena by which individual immune regulation can drive (and be driven by) species-level ecology and evolution, and therefore be linked to invasive success (Downs et al., 2014. Integr. Compar. Biol., 54, 340-352).adaptive, cell-mediated, ecoimmunology, enemy-release hypothesis, fitness trade-offs, humoral, immunocompetence, inflammatory response, innate, invasive species

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Seed and feeder use by birds in the United States and Canada

2013

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More people feed birds and other wildlife than hunt and fish combined. Despite its popularity, many bird-feeding traditions lack scientific data. We examined seed and feeder use by wild birds in the United States and Canada, and how seed use may change by season and geographic region. Between 2005 and 2008, 173 individuals from 38 states and 3 provinces in Canada made 20,077, 45-minute observations at bird feeders, recording 106 species and 1,282,424 bird visits. Of the 10 seed types most commonly used in bird seed blends, 3 are most attractive to birds: black-oil sunflower, medium sunflower chips, and white proso millet. Other seeds such as red milo are less attractive. Chickadees (Poecile spp.), nuthatches (Sitta spp.), and larger finches (Carpodacus spp.) were most abundant at black-oil sunflower, smaller finches (Carduelis spp.) were most abundant at Nyjer 1 (Wild Bird Feeding Institute, Chicago, IL) and sunflower chips, and sparrows (Spizella spp.) were most abundant at white proso millet. Bird-feeding traditions have been widely reported in books, magazines, newspaper articles, and websites. These traditions are often conflicting and have not been verified empirically. Studies such as this can be used to develop scientifically based recommendations that can lead to a better bird-feeding experience and that attract fewer species with known negative ecological consequences. Ó 2013 The Wildlife Society.

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House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Cited by 38 publications

References 0 publications

Large‐scale spatial variation in feather corticosterone in invasive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in Mexico is related to climate

Large‐scale spatial variation in feather corticosterone in invasive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in Mexico is related to climate

A trade‐off model for immunocompetence: The potential contribution of immunological regulation in invasive vertebrate success

Seed and feeder use by birds in the United States and Canada

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