Seasonal patterns of habitat selection of the House Sparrow Passer domesticus in the urban landscape of Valencia (Spain)

Abstract

The habitat selection and the factors influencing the distribution of the House Sparrow Passer domesticus in the municipality of Valencia (76 km 2 ) were studied during the winter and breeding season. House Sparrows positively selected urban parks and gardens, patches of derelict land and horticultural fields; they avoided the built-up habitat and the orange groves. In the urban landscape, the abundance of sparrows peaked in areas providing intermediate cover of the built-up habitat; it was positively driven by the amount of park land per unit area, and negatively by the size of urban parks. Our results suggest that the conservation and habitat enhancement of even the smallest parks and gardens are likely key factors in addressing the decline of the House Sparrow in many cities.

Space invaders: House Sparrow densities along three urban-agricultural landscapes

“…Given that 8 of the 12 environmental variables we assessed showed significant relationships with House Sparrow numbers, it is clear that vegetation structure, urban infrastructure, and human activity are related to changes in their abundance, consistent with previous studies that have reported some of these variables related with House Sparrow numbers in urban areas (Murgui 2009). Yet, the types of variables and scenarios related to variations in House Sparrow numbers differed importantly among cities.…”

“…Similar patterns of habitat relationships have also been reported in this species' native European distribution (Mason 2006, Chamberlain et al 2007, Tratalos et al 2007, Murgui 2009, Murgui and Macías 2010, García-Rodríguez 2011, Šálek et al 2015, where variables associated with vegetation, but not specifically with urbanization, have been shown to drive their numbers. The declines of native House Sparrow populations have been recorded in both urban and agricultural areas, although the processes are seemingly different.…”

“…This pattern in sparrow density shows that its numbers and invasive success are not homogeneous throughout urban territories and are not solely due to latitude or productivity but possibly more to specific landscape-and local-scale environmental variables (e.g., Kark et al 2007). In such a case, this would resemble some of the patterns observed in its native areas (Murgui 2009(Murgui , Šálek et al 2015.…”

“…We established our study sites in urban, e.g., residential or commercial, and agricultural land-uses, because the House Sparrow's native and nonnative distributions are generally limited to these types of areas (Cramp 1998, Anderson 2006, Lowther and Cink 2006, Murgui 2009). Specifically, for each urban area, we assessed House Sparrow numbers between five land classes: (1) intra-urban high urbanization; (2) intra-urban low urbanization; (3) peri-urban high urbanization; (4) peri-urban low urbanization; and (5) agricultural.…”

Gut Bacterial Diversity of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) Inferred by 16S rRNA Sequence Analysis

“…Washes containing both lysed and suspended cells were combined after the DNA extraction and 1 μL of RNase was added. This was followed by three repeated extractions with phenol-chlorophorm-isoamyl alcohol (25:24:1) and the DNA was precipitated with ice-cold 96% ethanol [49]. All samples were stored at −70°C until the PCR amplification step.…”