Building use by urban commensal avifauna in Melbourne central business district, Australia

Pike, Melissa; Spennemann, Dirk H. R.; Watson, Maggie J.

doi:10.1080/01584197.2017.1331706

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The built environment of urban areas has a close enough resemblance to the original habitat of the rock dove (Columba livia), that is, natural cliffs (Larson et al 1999); it provides a very suitable synanthropic habitat for feral pigeons (Columba livia f. urbana) (Rose et al 2006), The success of feral pigeons in urban settings has been attributed to a range of factors, including the lack or low levels of predation (Sol et al 1998); the ready availability of building ledges, overhangs, bridge structures and so on, that simulate natural spaces for nesting (Savard & Falls 1981;Hetmański et al 2011;Przybylska et al 2012), roosting (Sacchi et al 2002;Ali et al 2013) and perching (Pike et al 2016b); the relative non-specificity of nesting materials required (Goodwin 1960;le Roux et al 2013); lack of cold-stress in winter due to urban heat domes (Dobeic et al 2011); a ready food supply during winter (Jokimaki & Suhonen 1998); and the ability of pigeons to utilise the high protein content of human food sources (Ciminari et al 2005).…”

Section: Urban Pigeonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Roosting sites tend to be spaces that are protected from the elements such as bridges, underpasses, parking garages, attics and other roof spaces, bell towers and the like. Perches, on the other hand, tend to be parapets, window ledges, cornices and other architectural elements (Pike et al 2016b). As these sites are being used for a considerable period of time by a large number of birds with the same birds returning to the same roosts (Murton et al 1972a), the accumulation of droppings can be significant.…”

Section: How Often and When Do Pigeons Defecate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dietary habits of urban pigeons (Columba livia) and implications of excreta pH – a review

Spennemann¹,

Watson²

2017

European Journal of Ecology

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Pigeons are considered to be urban pests, causing untold damage to buildings and potentially impacting the health of humans who come into contact with them or their faeces. Pigeon faecal matter has been implicated in both health impacts and building damage, with the acidity of the excreta playing an important role. Purpose of the Review. This paper is a wide-ranging review of the chemical processes of excreta in the pigeon to aid our understanding of the potential problems of pigeons to buildings and human amenity in the urban space. The natural pH of pigeons is shown to vary based on the bird's and age as well as reproductive stage. Key findings of the review. The influences of the altered diet between the rock dove (the wild progenitor of the feral pigeon) and the feral pigeon are detailed, indicating that the human-based diet of urban pigeons most likely causes the feral pigeon excreta to be more acidic than the rock dove excreta. This higher acidity is due in part to diet, but also to potential increases in faecal and/or uric acid volumes due to the low quality of humanbased diets. Again, this area of interest is highly data deficient due to the few number of studies and unspecified dietary intake before pH measurement. Implications of the review. Humans are increasingly concerned about pigeon populations (and presumably their accumulated faeces) in the urban space, and control comprises a large part of the interaction between humans and feral pigeons. This review provides a greater understanding of feral pigeons and the true effects of their excreta. INTRODUCTION ABSTRACTColumba livia; pH; Foraging; Diet; Excreta KEYWORDS

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Section: Urban Pigeonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: How Often and When Do Pigeons Defecate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary habits of urban pigeons (Columba livia) and implications of excreta pH – a review

Spennemann¹,

Watson²

2017

European Journal of Ecology

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“…These new urban landscapes with their entirely novel environment provide for new ecological resources (i.e., shelter, nesting site and food) and are rapidly filled with commensal, commonly invasive animal species (G. C. Smith & Carlile, 1993;Williams et al, 2006;A. C. M. Smith & Munro, 2010;Shazali et al, 2016;Pike et al, 2017;. Additionally, resources provided by the novel environment are The contribution of the Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) to the winter diet of frugivores in novel ecosystems utilised by species that arrive from surrounding areas to forage on fruit-bearing plants and human refuse in urban spaces and return to their external roots at night (Bass, 1996;Guix, 2007;Washburn et al, 2013;Jankowiak et al, 2016;Santana & Armstrong, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The contribution of the Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) to the winter diet of frugivores in novel ecosystems

Spennemann

2019

European Journal of Ecology

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With the increasing expansion in urban areas, many species have adapted to utilising horticulturally used plants as alternate or augmentary food sources, in particular, during winter – when native foods are largely absent. Ornamental palms, particularly Canary Island Date Palms, fruit continuously during most of the year and thus provide a stable food supply. Based on observational, metric and bio-chemical data, this paper examines the role Canary Island Date Palms can and do play in the nutrition of frugivorous animals, in particular, for birds. It demonstrates that with its nearly year-round provisioning of drupes, the palm plays a major role as a ‘staple’ and backup food source for several species.

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“…In Australia, it is still a major disease (Currie, Connors, & Krause, 1994) but high prevalence reported in India as well (Kristensen, 1991). In northern Australia, a community study reported that 87% of the scabatic children with in first year of life encountered other diseases as well (Pike, Spennemann, & Watson, 2017). The prevalence of scabies is about 2.6% in Egypt (Hegazy, Darwish, Abdel-Hamid, & Hammad, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Therapeutic potential of medicinal plants for the management of scabies

Akram

Riaz

Noreen

et al. 2019

Dermatologic Therapy

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Sarcoptes scabiei (S. scabiei), a parasite mite which causes scabies disease resulting in serious public health concern. The long-term scabies disease can lead to complications such as septicemia, acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, heart disease, and secondary infections. Timely treatment to the affected patients is required to control the disease and get rid of the causative agent. Delayed diagnosis and inappropriate treatment can lead to serious consequences. The most common treatment strategy is the use of allopathic medicines which can immediately relieve the patient but have the drawback of side effects. The safe and cost-effective alternative treatment strategy is the use of medicinal plants which have beneficial therapeutic potential against variety of diseases due to the presence of many bioactive phytoconstituents with no or minimal side effects. For the present review, the published articles describing scabies disease and its phytotherapeutic modalities were searched through different data bases including Google Scholar, PubMed, Medline, and ScienceDirect using the keywords like S. scabiei, prevalence of scabies disease, and phytotherapy of scabies. A large number of medicinal plants, such as Melaleuca alternifolia, Curcuma longa, Azadirachta indica, Rosmarinus officinalis, Capsicum annuum, Cinnamomum camphor, Solanum nigrum, and Eupatorium perfoliatum, have been reviewed for the promising future treatments of scabies. All the studied plants have many bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic effects against scabies and can be utilized for therapeutic purposes for this disease. This literature study has limitations because of the lack of sufficient data due to limited pre-clinical trials in this particular area. This review provides a baseline to explore the therapeutic potential of these medicinal plants against skin diseases. However, extensive studies are required to identify, authenticate, and characterize the bioactive compounds present in these plants which may lead to value addition in pharmaceutical industries providing the cost-effective way of treatment with minimal side effects. K E Y W O R D S

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Building use by urban commensal avifauna in Melbourne central business district, Australia

Cited by 18 publications

References 26 publications

Dietary habits of urban pigeons (Columba livia) and implications of excreta pH – a review

Dietary habits of urban pigeons (Columba livia) and implications of excreta pH – a review

The contribution of the Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) to the winter diet of frugivores in novel ecosystems

Therapeutic potential of medicinal plants for the management of scabies

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