Predictable food supplies induce plastic shifts in avian scaled body mass

Hudin, Noraine Salleh; Strubbe, Diederik; Teyssier, Aimeric; Neve, Liesbeth De; White, Joël; Janssens, Geert; Lens, Luc

doi:10.1093/beheco/arw108

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Cities may provide urban-dwelling species with favorable foraging opportunities, at least for adults, which appears to contradict the common finding that urban sparrows are often leaner than rural ones ( Bókony et al, 2012 ; Meillère et al, 2015 ; Salleh Hudin et al, 2016 ). Yet, experimental studies suggest that the lower body condition of urban sparrows likely reflects a plastic response to more predictable food supplies, trading-off with predation risk ( Dulisz et al, 2016 ; Salleh Hudin et al, 2016 ). In line with this, no differences in GBW or feather quality were found between urban and rural house sparrows [( Meillère et al, 2017 ; Salleh Hudin et al, 2016 ), this study], two traits assumed to be affected by diet quality ( Pap et al, 2008 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Earlier studies found evidence for increased baseline and stress-induced plasma glucocorticoid concentrations due to captivity, even when sampled after several weeks ( Cyr and Romero, 2008 ; Marra et al, 1995 ; Fischer et al, 2018 ). Diet treatments mimicked either a rural or an urban diet, and diet analysis confirmed that both regimes significantly differed in key nutrients [full details in Salleh-Hudin et al, (2016) ]. Captive individuals can thereby be predicted to experience the highest chronic stress when supplied with a diet that deviates most strongly from their natural one.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do wild-caught urban house sparrows show desensitized stress responses to a novel stressor?

et al. 2018

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While urbanization exposes individuals to novel challenges, urban areas may also constitute stable environments in which seasonal fluctuations are buffered. Baseline and stress-induced plasma corticosterone (cort) levels are often found to be similar in urban and rural populations. Here we aimed to disentangle two possible mechanisms underlying such pattern: (i) urban environments are no more stressful or urban birds have a better ability to habituate to stressors; or (ii) urban birds developed desensitized stress responses. We exposed wild-caught urban and rural house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to combined captivity and diet treatments (urban versus rural diet) and measured corticosterone levels both in natural tail feathers and in regrown homologous ones (cortf). Urban and rural house sparrows showed similar cortf levels in the wild and in response to novel stressors caused by the experiment, supporting the growing notion that urban environments are no more stressful during the non-breeding season than are rural ones. Still, juveniles and males originating from urban populations showed the highest cortf levels in regrown feathers. We did not find evidence that cortf was consistent within individuals across moults. Our study stresses the need for incorporating both intrinsic and environmental factors for the interpretation of variation in cortf between populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do wild-caught urban house sparrows show desensitized stress responses to a novel stressor?

et al. 2018

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“…In this study, no significant differences were observed between populations from rural and strongly urbanized habitats, however, individuals from suburban populations had a higher SMI compared to urban populations (and to a lesser extent rural ones). Body condition has earlier been associated with stress response and overall health [ 9 , 30 ], though environmental factors such as habitat coverage [ 8 ], predictability of food supply and quality [ 10 ], presence of predators [ 8 ] have been hypothesized to influence the body condition of the birds. Suburban habitats in Flanders are typically characterized by strongly connected hedges and bushes, which are generally considered good habitat for house sparrows, allowing for a higher foraging efficiency compared to more fragmented highly urbanized or rural habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of urbanization on host-pathogen interactions, using Yersinia in house sparrows as a model

et al. 2017

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Urbanization strongly affects biodiversity, altering natural communities and often leading to a reduced species richness. Yet, despite its increasingly recognized importance, how urbanization impacts on the health of individual animals, wildlife populations and on disease ecology remains poorly understood. To test whether, and how, urbanization-driven ecosystem alterations influence pathogen dynamics and avian health, we use house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and Yersinia spp. (pathogenic for passerines) as a case study. Sparrows are granivorous urban exploiters, whose western European populations have declined over the past decades, especially in highly urbanized areas. We sampled 329 house sparrows originating from 36 populations along an urbanization gradient across Flanders (Belgium), and used isolation combined with ‘matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization- time of flight mass spectrometry’ (MALDI-TOF MS) and PCR methods for detecting the presence of different Yersinia species. Yersinia spp. were recovered from 57.43% of the sampled house sparrows, of which 4.06%, 53.30% and 69.54% were identified as Y. pseudotuberculosis, Y. enterocolitica and other Yersinia species, respectively. Presence of Yersinia was related to the degree of urbanization, average daily temperatures and the community of granivorous birds present at sparrow capture locations. Body condition of suburban house sparrows was found to be higher compared to urban and rural house sparrows, but no relationships between sparrows’ body condition and presence of Yersinia spp. were found. We conclude that two determinants of pathogen infection dynamics, body condition and pathogen occurrence, vary along an urbanization gradient, potentially mediating the impact of urbanization on avian health.

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“…Conversely, if perceived starvation risk is higher, body masses will increase to reduce starvation risk. Corroboration of these predictions comes from multiple field and laboratory studies on passerine birds (Cuthill, Maddocks, Weall, & Jones, 2000;Hudin et al, 2016;Witter, Swaddle, & Cuthill, 1995).…”

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Can starlings use a reliable cue of future food deprivation to adaptively modify foraging and fat reserves?

et al. 2018

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Keywords:anticipatory foraging associative learning body mass fat regulation food intake unpredictable fasting winter storm Regulation of mass in small birds is based on simultaneously minimizing starvation and predation risk, but the mechanisms birds use to assess starvation risk are still debated. While we know that birds anticipate periods of unpredictable food availability/energy expenditure (e.g. the winter and night) by increasing their fat reserves, we do not know whether this anticipation involves learning. This study investigated whether birds could learn to use a light cue that predicted a period of food unavailability, to adaptively regulate their foraging and/or body weight. Sixteen captive starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, were subjected to 42 days of an irregular schedule of food deprivation that involved depriving them of food for 5 h on 20 pseudorandomly chosen days. Birds were randomly allocated to two treatment groups for which a 30 min period of reduced ambient light either provided perfect information (Predictable) or no information (Unpredictable) about upcoming food deprivation. Both groups of birds increased their dawn body mass over the period of the experiment, consistent with a response to unpredictable food deprivation. However, no differences in either foraging behaviour or dawn body mass emerged between the groups, suggesting that the Predictable birds were unable to learn to use the light cue to initiate anticipatory foraging ahead of food deprivation. Furthermore, both groups immediately decreased their foraging behaviour in response to the onset of the light cue, suggesting that starlings do not have an evolved anticipatory foraging response to low light levels. Further work is needed to test alternative cues and designs before any general conclusions can be drawn regarding the flexibility of anticipatory foraging.

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Predictable food supplies induce plastic shifts in avian scaled body mass

Cited by 15 publications

References 66 publications

Do wild-caught urban house sparrows show desensitized stress responses to a novel stressor?

Do wild-caught urban house sparrows show desensitized stress responses to a novel stressor?

Effects of urbanization on host-pathogen interactions, using Yersinia in house sparrows as a model

Can starlings use a reliable cue of future food deprivation to adaptively modify foraging and fat reserves?

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