Bitter fruits of hard labour: diet metabarcoding and telemetry reveal that urban songbirds travel further for lower-quality food

Oecologia
Crinan JarrettAndreanna J Welch

Abstract

Rapidly increasing urbanisation requires mitigation against associated losses of biodiversity and species abundance. In urban-breeding birds, altered food availability for nestlings is thought to reduce reproductive success compared to forest populations. To compensate for shortages of preferred foods, urban parents could increase their search effort for optimal diets or provision other foods. Here, we used telemetry and faecal metabarcoding on blue tits from one urban and one forest populations to compare parental effort and comprehensively describe nestling diet. Urban parents travelled on average 30% further than those in the forest, likely to offset limited availability of high-quality nestling food (i.e. caterpillars) in cities. Metabarcoding, based on a mean number of 30 identified taxa per faeces, revealed that the diets of urban chicks were nonetheless substantially shifted to include alternative foods. While in the forest caterpillars comprised 82 ± 11% of taxa provisioned to nestlings, in the city they constituted just 44 ± 10%. Pre-fledging chick mass as well as offspring numbers were lower in urban than in forest-reared broods. Thus, at least in our comparison of two sites, the hard labour of urban parents did not f...Continue Reading

References

Jun 10, 2006·Ecology·Bruce A Robertson, Richard L Hutto
Mar 25, 2011·Molecular Ecology Resources·Matt R K ZealeGareth Jones
Apr 13, 2011·Molecular Ecology Resources·Ella BowlesAndrew W Trites
Apr 23, 2014·Molecular Ecology Resources·Laurence J ClarkeAlan Cooper
May 20, 2014·Ecology Letters·Daniel SolOriol Lapiedra
Jan 15, 2015·Nucleic Acids Research·Melanie SchirmerChristopher Quince
Jun 7, 2016·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Jelmer M SamploniusChristiaan Both
Aug 4, 2016·Genome Génome / Conseil National De Recherches Canada·Tomas Roslin, Sanna Majaneva
Mar 16, 2017·Scientific Reports·Hannah WatsonCaroline Isaksson
Sep 25, 2017·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Virginie DemeyrierArnaud Grégoire
Oct 29, 2017·Global Change Biology·Péter BatáryDan E Chamberlain
Mar 23, 2018·Biology Letters·Juan Diego Ibáñez-ÁlamoSimon Verhulst
Apr 22, 2018·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Gábor SeressAndrás Liker
Oct 24, 2018·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Desirée L NarangoPeter P Marra
Dec 7, 2018·Ecology and Evolution·Avalon C S Owens, Sara M Lewis

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Sep 29, 2020·Scientific Reports·Davide Baldan, Jenny Q Ouyang

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR

Software Mentioned

ggplot2
Sigloc
BLAST
STATS
Geosphere
lme4
R
Sumaclust
VideoLAN
MASS

Related Concepts

Trending Feeds

COVID-19

Coronaviruses encompass a large family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as more serious diseases, such as the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19; formally known as 2019-nCoV). Coronaviruses can spread from animals to humans; symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties; in more severe cases, infection can lead to death. This feed covers recent research on COVID-19.

Blastomycosis

Blastomycosis fungal infections spread through inhaling Blastomyces dermatitidis spores. Discover the latest research on blastomycosis fungal infections here.

Nuclear Pore Complex in ALS/FTD

Alterations in nucleocytoplasmic transport, controlled by the nuclear pore complex, may be involved in the pathomechanism underlying multiple neurodegenerative diseases including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia. Here is the latest research on the nuclear pore complex in ALS and FTD.

Applications of Molecular Barcoding

The concept of molecular barcoding is that each original DNA or RNA molecule is attached to a unique sequence barcode. Sequence reads having different barcodes represent different original molecules, while sequence reads having the same barcode are results of PCR duplication from one original molecule. Discover the latest research on molecular barcoding here.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease characterized by unexplained disabling fatigue; the pathology of which is incompletely understood. Discover the latest research on chronic fatigue syndrome here.

Evolution of Pluripotency

Pluripotency refers to the ability of a cell to develop into three primary germ cell layers of the embryo. This feed focuses on the mechanisms that underlie the evolution of pluripotency. Here is the latest research.

Position Effect Variegation

Position Effect Variagation occurs when a gene is inactivated due to its positioning near heterochromatic regions within a chromosome. Discover the latest research on Position Effect Variagation here.

STING Receptor Agonists

Stimulator of IFN genes (STING) are a group of transmembrane proteins that are involved in the induction of type I interferon that is important in the innate immune response. The stimulation of STING has been an active area of research in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Here is the latest research on STING receptor agonists.

Microbicide

Microbicides are products that can be applied to vaginal or rectal mucosal surfaces with the goal of preventing, or at least significantly reducing, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. Here is the latest research on microbicides.