Usage of Nest Materials of House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) Along an Urban to Rural Gradient in Coimbatore, India

Abstract

The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a widely distributed bird species found throughout the world. Being a species which has close association with humans, they chiefly nest on man-made structures. Here we describe the materials used by the house sparrow for making nests along an urban to rural gradient. For the current study, we selected the Coimbatore to Anaikatty road (State Highway-164), a 27 km inter-state highway, which traverses along an urban core to rural outstretch of Coimbatore. Of the 30 nests observed, 15 nests were from the rural, 8 were from the suburban, and 7 were from the urban areas. The nests had two distinct layers, specifically the structural layer and the inner lining. In the current study, we identified 11 plant species, 2 types of animal matter, and 6 types of anthropogenic matter, including plastic pieces and fine rope. The amount of anthropogenic materials in the nest formation varied along the gradients. The usage of anthropogenic materials was high in urban areas (p<0.05) whereas it did not differ at the sub-urban regions (p>0.05). A gradual decrease in the usage of plant matter towards the urban area was noticed (p<0.05). This study explicitly documents the links between nest material usage along an urban to rural gradient, in a human associated bird.

Urbanisation and nest building in birds: a review of threats and opportunities

“…In this context, nest composition has received increasing attention recently (Table 2). Several studies have highlighted a change in nesting materials along an urbanisation gradient (e.g., Wang et al 2009;Radhamany et al 2016;Reynolds et al 2016), while others did not find such effects (e.g., Townsend and Barker 2014;Hanmer et al 2017), suggesting that nest design may exhibit species-specific or even city-specific differences. It is also possible that the latter studies failed to find changes in nest composition because they considered too small a variation in human activities along their urbanisation gradient by including urban and intensively agricultural areas but not natural areas for comparisons.…”

“…It is also possible that the latter studies failed to find changes in nest composition because they considered too small a variation in human activities along their urbanisation gradient by including urban and intensively agricultural areas but not natural areas for comparisons. The main changes in nest composition are associated with an increased use of anthropogenic nesting materials and a reduction in natural materials, especially native plants (Wang et al 2009;Radhamany et al 2016). Increased use of other components such as feathers as nesting materials have also been described (e.g., Reynolds et al 2016).…”

“…Through a series of manipulative and observational studies, researchers were able to prove that the use of cigarette butts by a common Mexican urban species, the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus), fulfils all three of the characteristics of self-medication behaviour as described by Clayton and Wolfe (1993): (1) they are detrimental to parasites (Suárez-Rodríguez et al 2013), (2) they are actively selected by birds (Suárez-Rodríguez and Macías Garcia 2017), and (3) they increase their fledging success (Suárez-Rodríguez and Macías Garcia 2014). The use of cigarette butts is not just restricted to House Finches in Mexico (Suárez-Rodríguez and Macías Garcia 2017), and has been found in other species such as House Sparrows in North America (Suárez-Rodríguez et al 2013 and Asia (Radhamany et al 2016), suggesting that it might be a general behavioural innovation for urban-adapted species. In contrast, Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), a species that does not use cigarette butts as nest constituents, in the town of Reading, UK using more anthropogenic nesting material had larger numbers of fleas (Siphonaptera) within their nest contents (Hanmer et al 2017).…”

“…According to Hansell (2000), there are four main parts/structures in nests: attachment, outer (decorative) layer, structural layer and lining. Apart from the study of Radhamany et al (2016), investigations of how urban environments impact nest design either quantify materials without distinction (e.g., Wang et al 2009;Sohi and Kler 2017) or are focused exclusively on changes to the nest lining (e.g., Suárez-Rodríguez et al 2013), paying very little attention to other structures. This is probably a consequence of anthropogenic nesting materials being more commonly used as lining material, although some taxa such as thrushes (Turdidae) seem to use them as structural material as well (Biddle et al 2016).…”

Factors determining the occurrence of anthropogenic materials in nests of the white stork Ciconia ciconia

“…Collection of debris may be modified by several other factors. In terrestrial species, the number of anthropogenic materials used to construct the nest can be correlated with the level of urbanisation (Wang et al 2009 ; Radhamany et al 2016 ). However, the use of anthropogenic materials in nests may also be triggered by mating behaviour, e.g.…”