![]() ![]() ![]() picnic refuse), while counts of other species (e.g. rooks and gulls) increased over the short term as humans spent more time at parks, possibly due to human-sourced food resources (e.g. When humans spent more time at home, over half of affected species had lower counts, perhaps resulting from the disturbance of birds in garden habitats. Using Google human mobility data and 872 850 bird observations, we determined that during lockdown, human mobility changes resulted in altered habitat use in 80% (20/25) of our focal bird species. We hypothesized that short-term daily and long-term seasonal changes in human mobility might result in changes in bird habitat use, depending on the mobility type (home, parks and grocery) and extent of change. In the United Kingdom, COVID-19 lockdown restrictions resulted in sudden, drastic alterations to human activity. Human activities may impact animal habitat and resource use, potentially influencing contemporary evolution in animals. We also identify future opportunities to utilize this species as a model for avian invasion research, which will inform our understanding of species’ rapid evolution in response to environmental change. In this review, we describe population dynamics across the native and invasive ranges, identify putatively selected traits that may influence the starling’s spread, and suggest possible determinants of starling success world-wide. Especially informative is the comparison between Australian and North American invasions, because these populations colonized novel ranges concurrently and exhibit shared signals of selection despite distinct population histories. ![]() Coupling the rich studies of life history and more recent explorations of genomic variation among invasions, we illustrate how eco-evolutionary dynamics shape the invasion success of this long-studied and widely distributed species. Native to the Palearctic, the starling has been intentionally introduced to North and South America, South Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, enabling us to explore species traits that may contribute to its invasion success. Nevertheless, not all species showed the same patterns, suggesting different strategies in their thermoregulatory adaptations to seasonal environments.įew invasive birds are as globally successful as the Common or European Starling ( Sturnus vulgaris ). Our findings support the idea that physiological adjustments might enhance the resilience of Mediterranean songbirds to environmental changes, with short-term benefits by saving energy and water under thermally stressful conditions. Finally, body mass increased by 5% during winter, a pattern similar to that found in many northern temperate species. ![]() Moreover, songbirds increased (by 11%) evaporative water loss within the thermoneutral zone during summer, while its rate of increase above the inflection point of evaporative water loss (i.e., the slope of evaporative water loss versus temperature) decreased by 35% during summer - a value well above that reported for other temperate and tropical songbirds. The magnitude of these changes was within the lower values found in songbirds from northern temperate areas. Overall, songbirds increased whole-animal (by 8%) and mass-adjusted (by 9%) basal metabolic rate and decreased (by 56%) thermal conductance below the thermoneutral zone during winter. Here, we assessed seasonal (winter vs summer) adjustments in key thermoregulatory traits in eight Mediterranean-resident songbirds. Addressing the patterns of variation in thermal traits is crucial to better predict the potential effects of climate change on organisms. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |