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Bold or shy? Examining the risk-taking behavior and neophobia of invasive and non-invasive house sparrows. Behavior provides a useful framework for understanding specialization, with animal personality aiding our understanding of the invasiveness of birds. Invasions imply dispersion into unknown areas and could require changes in behavior or spatial clustering based on personality. Reduced neophobia and increased exploring behavior could allow individuals to colonize new areas as they test and use non-familiar resources. Here, we hypothesized that house sparrow (Passer domesticus) individuals from invasive populations would exhibit bolder behavior than in non-invasive populations. We assessed risk taking and neophobia in male house sparrows in Barcelona (where it is considered native) and in Mexico City (where it has become widely invasive), captured in two different habitats, urban and non-urban. We assessed latency to enter an experimental cage and to explore it, and latency to feed and feeding time in the presence of a novel object. We found that sparrows from Mexico City, both from urban and non-urban areas, were quicker to enter the experimental cage than the sparrows from Barcelona. The time it took the birds to start exploring the cage gave a similar result. We found no differences between cities or habitats in the latency to feed and feeding time while exposed to a novel object. Our results partially support the view that the invader populations from Mexico City are bolder than those from Barcelona. Behavior is an important component of plasticity and its variability may have an important effect on adaptation to local situations. Future studies should disentangle the underlying mechanisms that explain the different personalities found in populations of different regions, contrasting populations of different densities, and taking different food availability scenarios into account.

We compared old and young male house sparrows to see how postcopulatory traits attribute to old male passerines achieving most extra-pair paternity.

The role of commensal birds in the epidemiology of pathogens in poultry farms remains unclear. Our study aimed to identify potential key species for interactions with domestic ducks on one free-range duck farm in southwest France. Methods combined direct individual observations on duck outdoor foraging areas, network analysis, and general linear mixed models of abundances. Results showed a wide diversity of wild bird species visiting foraging areas, heavily dominated in frequency by White wagtails (Motacilla alba) and Sparrows (Passer domesticus and Passer montanus). These also were the only species seen entering duck premises or perching on drinkers in the presence of ducks. Moreover, White wagtails were the species most frequently observed on the ground and in close proximity to ducks. Network analysis suggested the role of White wagtails and Sparrows in linking ducks to other wild birds on the farm. The abundance of White wagtails was positively associated with open vegetation, with the presence of ducks and particularly in the afternoon, while the abundance of Sparrows was positively associated only with the fall-winter season. By precisely characterising interactions, the study was able to identify few wild bird species which should be prioritized in infectious investigations at the interface with poultry., Scientific Reports, 12, ISSN:2045-2322

Bacteria are known to influence animals’ health and fitness. Those bacteria that inhabit the skin and organs of vertebrates, in particular, are a pool of horizontal and vertically transmitted bacteria, e.g., avian mothers can transfer bacterial strains to eggshells through the reproductive tract, therefore, the reduction of vertical transmission to protect host offspring, is an important issue. In this context the female immune system might play an important role in avoiding the vertical transmission of potentially pathogenic bacteria. Here we investigate the relationship between the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and cultivable eggshell bacteria originating from the female urogenital tract, in a captive population of house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Hence, we predict that females with more variable MHC complex will transfer a smaller quantity of bacteria onto the eggshells. Our results show a negative relationship between the number of functional MHC alleles and bacteria that grow in a selective medium. This is, to date, the first study demonstrating the role of female MHC diversity on eggshell bacteria and hence, may suggest the potential influence of maternal MHC on hatching success and offspring survival.

11 Pág.. Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA), Vector-borne diseases, especially those transmitted by mosquitoes, have severe impacts on public health and economy. West Nile virus (WNV) and avian malaria parasites of the genus Plasmodium are mosquito-borne pathogens that may produce severe disease and illness in humans and birds, respectively, and circulate in an endemic form in southern Europe. Here, we used field-collected data to identify the impact of Culex pipiens, Cx. perexiguus and Cx. modestus, on the circulation of both WNV and Plasmodium in Andalusia (SW Spain) using mathematical modelling of the basic reproduction number (R0 ). Models were calibrated with field-collected data on WNV seroprevalence and Plasmodium infection in wild house sparrows, presence of WNV and Plasmodium in mosquito pools, and mosquito blood-feeding patterns. This approach allowed us to determine the contribution of each vector species to pathogen amplification. Overall, 0.7% and 29.6% of house sparrows were positive to WNV antibodies and Plasmodium infection, respectively. In addition, the prevalence of Plasmodium was higher in Cx. pipiens (2.0%), followed by Cx. perexiguus (1.8%) and Cx. modestus (0.7%). Three pools of Cx. perexiguus were positive to WVN. Models identified Cx. perexiguus as the most important species contributing to the amplification of WNV in southern Spain. For Plasmodium models, R0 values were higher when Cx. pipiens was present in the population, either alone or in combination with the other mosquito species. These results suggest that the transmission of these vector-borne pathogens depends on different Culex species, and consequently, their transmission niches will present different spatial and temporal patterns. For WNV, targeted surveillance and control of Cx. perexiguus populations appear as the most effective measure to reduce WNV amplification. Also, preventing Culex populations near human settlements, or reducing the abundance of these species, are potential strategies to reduce WNV spillover into human populations in southern Spain., This study was funded by projects CGL2015-65055-P and PGC2018-095704-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, P11-RNM-7038 from the Junta de Andalucía, and CP13/00114 from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. MF was funded by a FPU grant and a Juan de la Cierva 2017 Formación contract (FJCI-2017-34394) from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and partially financed by a grant from the Spanish Society of Ethology and Evolutionary Ecology (SEEEE Research Grant, Call 2017). JMP was funded by a 2017 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation. The BBVA Foundation accepts no responsibility for the opinions, statements and contents included in the project and/or the results thereof, which are entirely the responsibility of the authors. We are grateful to Alberto Pastoriza, Manuel Vázquez, Manolo Lobón, Óscar González, Carlos Moreno, Cristina Pérez, Esmeralda Pérez, Juana Moreno Fernández and Antonio Magallanes Martín de Oliva for their help during the fieldwork and with mosquito capture and identification, and to Isabel Martín, Francisco M. Miranda, Olaya García, María del Carmen Barbero Ameller, Laura Herrero and Antonio Sanz for their help with the laboratory analyses.

From the northernmost tip of Scandinavia to the southernmost corner of Patagonia, and across six continents, house sparrows (Passer domesticus) inhabit most human-modified habitats of the globe. With over 7,000 articles published, the species has become a workhorse for not only the study of self-urbanized wildlife, but also for understanding life history and body size evolution, sexual selection and many other biological phenomena. Traditionally, house sparrows were studied for their adaptations to local biotic and climatic conditions, but more recently, the species has come to serve as a focus for studies seeking to reveal the genomic, epigenetic and physiological underpinnings of success among invasive vertebrate species. Here, we review the natural history of house sparrows, highlight what the study of these birds has meant to bioscience generally, and describe the many resources available for future work on this species.

During the last decades a rise in urbanization rates has taken place worldwide. It is expected that by 2050, 68% of the world population will live in urban areas. This is an important threat to biodiversity since urbanization results in a loss and fragmentation of the natural habitat and it can cause the extinction of several species. Impacts of the urbanization development cause changes in habitat, food resources, predators and competitors, and end up affecting the biology of bird populations present in urban areas. According to the SEO / BirdLife organization, the population of common sparrow (Passer domesticus) in Spain has suffered a decline of 21% from 2008 to 2018. In other European cities there is practically no individual of this specie. Factors such as the absence of cavities to nesting or the reduction of food quality, associated with the loss of vegetation in urban areas, have been the main causes of the decline on its population. In this study, we wanted to compare reproductive success of breeding birds couples in two mediums: natural and urbanized, and therefore to observe whether impacts of urbanization have any effect on the bird populations living in the Montilivi Campus area, where in 2018 60 nest boxes were placed. The data of the occupation of the nest boxes, the laying date, the clutch size, the physical condition and the development of the chicks were taken. An unexpected low proportion of occupied nest boxes resulted in a very low number of data, which reduced the obtaining of reliable and significant results. Finally, there were no significant differences between the reproductive parameters of the couples that had occupied nest boxes located in the natural environment and those who occupied nest boxes located in an urbanized one. The area considered as an urban one by this study, in fact, doesn’t present the proper characteristics of an urban area or its effects, but rather corresponds to a suburban area. Apart from what has just been mentioned, the little distance between the natural area and the urbanized area may have been another cause of the results obtained, as well as the low number of samples

Background Exploratory behaviour is one of the best-investigated behavioural traits. However, little is known about how differences in familiarity, i.e. in the knowledge and previous experience with a companion can influence the exploration of a novel environment. However, to our knowledge, such a critical feature of the social environment has never been the target of a study relating it to exploratory behaviour in birds. Here we examined if familiarity with a conspecific could affect behavioural responses of individuals confronted with a novel environment. We recorded the latency to land on the ground, latency to feed, time spent feeding and number of sectors visited of 48 female and 48 male house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in an indoor aviary in three contexts: alone (individual context), with an unfamiliar and with a familiar same-sex companion. Results House sparrows landed sooner on the ground when in the familiar context than when in the individual context. Birds in unfamiliar pairs followed each other less than familiar birds, but this difference diminished with time spent exploring. Moreover, males and females differed in their behavioural responses in the unfamiliar context. Females with a familiar companion landed sooner than when they were paired with an unfamiliar conspecific, whereas only the presence of a companion but not familiarity reduced males latency to land on the ground. Finally, when considering the unfamiliar context males had shorter latencies to forage and thus spent more time eating than females. Conclusions The presence or absence of a companion and its familiarity with the focal individual influenced differently the behavioural responses of male and female house sparrows in a novel environment. As house sparrows are strongly sociable, the influence of the social environment is likely to be of paramount importance to understand the selective pressures acting on them, particularly in recently colonized areas with ephemeral food sources. Our results shed light on the complex influence that the social environment has on the behavioural responses of a cosmopolitan bird.

Background The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) has undergone dramatic population declines in many parts of Europe. It has been widely hypothesised that a lack of cavity nest sites has contributed to this decline. However the idea of the House Sparrow being nest site limited is somewhat incompatible with the long history of nest site plasticity in the species. Methods The nest-site selection in a population of non-native House Sparrows introduced to Australia from Europe just over 150 years ago was characterised. The prevalence of non-cavity nesting was quantified, and nest-site selection in terms of landscape and nesting structure were described. Results Flexible nesting behaviors were reported over a range of different landscapes and a surprisingly high rate of nesting in vegetation (43%) was documented. Most nests found in vegetation were not in cavities, but were woven into the foliage and supported by branches and stems. Conclusion The high rate of vegetation nesting indicates that in this introduced population, the House Sparrow is unlikely to be constrained by cavity-nest site availability. The high degree of nest site plasticity in the Australian population may suggest that European House Sparrows have the potential to shift away from their proclivity for cavity nests. Future work in Europe should examine the incidence of non-cavity nesting in House Sparrows more closely, and perhaps reconsider the idea that House Sparrows are nest-site constrained.

Background Exploratory behaviour is one of the best-investigated behavioural traits. However, little is known about how differences in familiarity, i.e. in the knowledge and previous experience with a companion can influence the exploration of a novel environment. However, to our knowledge, such a critical feature of the social environment has never been the target of a study relating it to exploratory behaviour in birds. Here we examined if familiarity with a conspecific could affect behavioural responses of individuals confronted with a novel environment. We recorded the latency to land on the ground, latency to feed, time spent feeding and number of sectors visited of 48 female and 48 male house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in an indoor aviary in three contexts: alone (individual context), with an unfamiliar and with a familiar same-sex companion. Results House sparrows landed sooner on the ground when in the familiar context than when in the individual context. Birds in unfamiliar pairs followed each other less than familiar birds, but this difference diminished with time spent exploring. Moreover, males and females differed in their behavioural responses in the unfamiliar context. Females with a familiar companion landed sooner than when they were paired with an unfamiliar conspecific, whereas only the presence of a companion but not familiarity reduced males latency to land on the ground. Finally, when considering the unfamiliar context males had shorter latencies to forage and thus spent more time eating than females. Conclusions The presence or absence of a companion and its familiarity with the focal individual influenced differently the behavioural responses of male and female house sparrows in a novel environment. As house sparrows are strongly sociable, the influence of the social environment is likely to be of paramount importance to understand the selective pressures acting on them, particularly in recently colonized areas with ephemeral food sources. Our results shed light on the complex influence that the social environment has on the behavioural responses of a cosmopolitan bird. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12983-018-0267-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Ecologists frequently use physiological tools to understand how organisms cope with their surroundings but rarely at macroecological scales. This study describes spatial variation in corticosterone (CORT) levels in feathers of invasive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) across their range in Mexico and evaluates CORT–climate relationships with a focus on temperature and precipitation. Samples were collected from 49 sites across Mexico. Feather CORT (CORTf) was measured using methanol-based extraction and radioimmunoassay. Relationships between CORTf and spatial and climate variables were examined using simple linear regressions. Ordination was used on climate data, CORTf was plotted against the resulting axes, and univariate regression trees were used to identify important predictors of CORTf. Universal kriging interpolation was used to illustrate spatial variation in CORTf across Mexico. Correlations with ordination axes showed that high CORTf was associated with low precipitation during the rainy season and low dry season temperatures. Specifically, CORTf was negatively related to May precipitation and January and July minimum temperatures, and positively related to April deuterium excess and June minimum temperatures. CORTf was higher in second-year birds compared to after-hatch years and after-second years. House sparrows had higher CORTf levels in the hot, dry, north-central region of Mexico, and CORTf was negatively related to temperature and precipitation. House sparrows molt primarily from August–September but climate conditions throughout the year were important predictors of CORTf, suggesting that conditions outside of molt can carry over to influence energetics during feather growth. These data suggest that dry conditions are challenging for house sparrows in Mexico, supporting previous work showing that precipitation is an important predictor of broad-scale CORT variation. This work highlights the utility of CORTf for evaluating the influence of physiology on current avian range limits; furthermore, these data may allow us to predict future changes in species distributions.

Parasites have the capacity to affect animal populations by modifying host survival, and it is increasingly recognized that infectious disease can negatively impact biodiversity. Populations of the house sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) have declined in many European towns and cities, but the causes of these declines remain unclear. We investigated associations between parasite infection and house sparrow demography across suburban London where sparrow abundance has declined by 71% since 1995. Plasmodium relictum infection was found at higher prevalences (averaging 74%) in suburban London house sparrows than previously recorded in any wild bird population in Northern Europe. Survival rates of juvenile and adult sparrows and population growth rate were negatively related to Plasmodium relictum infection intensity. Other parasites were much less prevalent and exhibited no relationship with sparrow survival and no negative relationship with population growth. Low rates of co-infection suggested sparrows were not immunocompromised. Our findings indicate that P. relictum infection may be influencing house sparrow population dynamics in suburban areas. The demographic sensitivity of the house sparrow to P. relictum infection in London might reflect a recent increase in exposure to this parasite.

Both neutral and adaptive evolutionary processes can cause population divergence, but their relative contributions remain unclear. We investigated the roles of these processes in population divergence in house sparrows (Passer domesticus) from Romania and Bulgaria, regions characterized by high landscape heterogeneity compared to Western Europe. We asked whether morphological divergence, complemented with genetic data in this human commensal species, was best explained by environmental variation, geographic distance, or landscape resistance—the effort it takes for an individual to disperse from one location to the other—caused by either natural or anthropogenic barriers. Using generalized dissimilarity modeling, a matrix regression technique that fits biotic beta diversity to both environmental predictors and geographic distance, we found that a small set of climate and vegetation variables explained up to ~30% of the observed divergence, whereas geographic and resistance distances played much lesser roles. Our results are consistent with signals of selection on morphological traits and of isolation by adaptation in genetic markers, suggesting that selection by natural environmental conditions shapes population divergence in house sparrows. Our study thus contributes to a growing body of evidence that adaptive evolution may be a major driver of diversification.

Birds frequently signal different qualities by plumage colouration, mainly during mating. However, plumage colouration is determined during the moult, and therefore it would indicate the quality of individual birds during the moult, not its current quality. Recent studies, however, suggest that birds could modify plumage colouration by using cosmetic preen oil. In this study, I show that bib colouration is related to uropygial gland size and body condition in male house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Moreover, I conducted an experiment in which a group of sparrows were inoculated with an antigen, mimicking an illness. In control birds, short-term changes in bib colouration were related to both body condition and change in uropygial gland size. Therefore, birds that spent more preen oil (thus, reducing uropygial gland size), showed a greater colouration change. However, bib colouration did not change with use of preen oil in experimental birds inoculated with the antigen. That is, the simulated illness cancelled the effect of preen oil on bib colouration. Given that the experiment did not affect preen oil production, this finding suggests that the immune challenge provoked a change in the composition of preen oil, affecting its cosmetic properties. In short, the results of this study suggest that (1) male house sparrows produce cosmetic preen oil that alters the colouration of their bibs; (2) the more effort in preening, the more change in bib colouration; and (3) in this way, bib colouration has the potential to signal current health status, since less healthy birds showed less capacity to change bib colouration.

Background Animals have developed a wide range of defensive mechanisms against parasites to reduce the likelihood of infection and its negative fitness costs. The uropygial gland is an exocrine gland that produces antimicrobial and antifungal secretions with properties used as a defensive barrier on skin and plumage. This secretion has been proposed to affect the interaction between avian hosts and their ectoparasites. Because uropygial secretions may constitute a defense mechanism against ectoparasites, this may result in a reduction in prevalence of blood parasites that are transmitted by ectoparasitic vectors. Furthermore, other studies pointed out that vectors could be attracted by uropygial secretions and hence increase the probability of becoming infected. Here we explored the relationship between uropygial gland size, antimicrobial activity of uropygial secretions and malaria infection in house sparrows Passer domesticus. Methods A nested-PCR was used to identify blood parasites infection. Flow cytometry detecting absolute cell counting assessed antimicrobial activity of the uropygial gland secretion Results Uninfected house sparrows had larger uropygial glands and higher antimicrobial activity in uropygial secretions than infected individuals. We found a positive association between uropygial gland size and scaled body mass index, but only in uninfected sparrows. Female house sparrows had larger uropygial glands and higher antimicrobial activity of gland secretions than males. Conclusion These findings suggest that uropygial gland secretions may play an important role as a defensive mechanism against malaria infection.

Urbanization, characterized by the rapid growth of human development and resource consumption, not only replaces preexisting habitats but can also convert entire landscapes and their associated ecological services. As a result, these areas provide researchers with opportunities to study how wildlife species respond to novel habitat scenarios. In Chapter 1, we directly compared the House Sparrow’s (Passer domesticus) success among different habitat typologies in its native and non-native distributions. We related their numbers to environmental variables describing vegetation structure, urban infrastructure, and human activity. Our results are not only consistent with previous reports but also reveal some useful insights for the development of population management tools. In Chapter 2, we assessed the feasibility of using Google Street View as an ecological tool for gathering environmental data in different urban areas and typologies. Our results provide an optimistic look for GSV’s utilization as a powerful tool in the field of ecology.

House sparrow nestlings are fed primarily on insects during the first 3 days of their life, and seeds become gradually more important afterwards. We tested whether developmental changes in size and functional capacity of the digestive tract in young house sparrows are genetically hard-wired and independent of diet, or can be modified by food type. Under laboratory conditions, we hand-fed young house sparrows with either a starch-free insect-like diet, based mainly on protein and fat, or a starch- containing diet with a mix of substrates similar to that offered to older nestlings in natural nests when they are gradually weaned from an insect to a seed diet. Patterns of overall development in body size and thermoregulatory ability, and in alimentary organ size increase, were relatively similar in house sparrow nestlings developing on both diets. However, total intestinal maltase activity, important in carbohydrate breakdown, was at least twice as high in house sparrow nestlings fed the starch-containing diet (P

Ho do parents resolve their conflict over parental care? The classical "sealed-bid" model of biparental care suggested that parents use a fixed best effort given the partner's effort. Alternatively, parents may "negotiate" their actual effort until the efforts of both partners settle down to limiting values, but in this case, the resulting efforts will not be the best responses to one another. Consequently, under the best response scenario, the response of 1 parent to the removal of its mate can be predicted from the response to a reduction in its partner's effort, whereas the "negotiation" model predicts that such an extrapolation will underestimate the effort of a parent caring alone. We tested this prediction in free-living house sparrows (Passer domesticus). We experimentally manipulated the males' parental care as follows: males' care in group 1) was reduced by using a capture--handling--release stress protocol, 2) stopped by removing the male, and 3) left as control. In response to these manipulations, control females kept their feeding rate constant, whereas male-stressed-released females showed a moderate increase of feeding rate. When this response was extrapolated to zero male effort, their effort was still significantly lower than the observed effort of male-removed females. These results suggest that females may use the negotiation rule to determine their actual parental effort. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

Se estudian las tendencias poblacionales de tres especies de aves granívoras, el gorrión común (Passer domesticus), el jilguero europeo (Carduelis carduelis) y el verderón común (Carduelis chloris), las cuales nidifican en un área agrícola dedicada al cultivo de naranjos en el este de la Península Ibérica. De forma complementaria, también se estudian la abundancia de gorrión común en la provincia de Teruel y las poblaciones reproductoras de verderón común en otras áreas agrícolas situadas en Castellón, Valencia y Alicante. Se analizan los aspectos de la ecología reproductiva de las dos especies de carduelinos: inicio de la estación reproductora, variación estacional del tamaño de puesta, dieta de los pollos del verderón común, éxito reproductor y productividad. Los resultados obtenidos muestran variaciones poblacionales de las tres especies que corresponden a tendencias poblacionales negativas en un periodo de 41 años. Ninguna de las tres especies se reproduce en los últimos años del periodo de estudio en los huertos de naranjos controlados. Estas extinciones locales podrían tener sus causas en los cambios en el manejo agrícola de los huertos que forman el área de estudio, al disminuir la disponibilidad de alimento, pues las especies de plantas que forman parte de las dietas de los pollos de los carduelinos son muy escasas o estaban ausentes a finales de los años 90 del pasado siglo. Los resultados obtenidos para el gorrión común en la provincia Teruel muestran la relación de la especie con superficies de cultivos herbáceos. Por otro lado, las poblaciones reproductoras de verderón común son más abundantes en áreas donde los manejos agrícolas son tradicionales. Ambos resultados apoyan la idea de la relación entre los recursos alimentarios y el declive de estos recursos por las nuevas prácticas agrícolas. Además, los aspectos reproductivos estudiados para las poblaciones de las dos especies de carduelinos, tienen implicaciones en el reclutamiento de pollos para las poblaciones nidificantes siguientes. No se encuentra un avance en el inicio de las temporadas reproductoras pese al aumento de temperatura registrado en el área de estudio, por lo que no podrían aumentar el número de intentos reproductores. Las poblaciones de ambas especies presentan una variación estacional de los tamaños de puesta que sigue un patrón de puesta múltiple y, cuando los inicios son tardíos, tienden al patrón de puesta simple para maximizar el número de descendientes. El éxito reproductor y la producción de volanderos han disminuido para ambas especies a lo largo del periodo de estudio. El número de volanderos no se ajusta al patrón del tamaño de puesta, por lo que las poblaciones de ambas especies no son capaces de predecir factores como la depredación o cambios drásticos en la disponibilidad de alimento. The population trends of three granivorous species, House sparrow (Passer domesticus), European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and European greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), that breed in an agricultural area of orange groves in eastern Spain, were investigated. Moreover, the abundance of the House sparrow in the province of Teruel and the breeding populations of the European greenfinch in other agricultural areas of eastern Spain were also surveyed. Aspects of the breeding ecology of both cardueline species were researched: onset of the breeding season, seasonal variation of clutch size, nestling diet of the European greenfinch, breeding success and productivity. The results show that variations in all three breeding populations occurred during the last 41 years in the orange groves of eastern Spain. The population trends were negative and none of the species breeds nowadays in the area surveyed. The causes of these local extinctions could be changes in the agricultural management of the orchards that belongs to the study area. These changes could affect the food availability since the seed-bearing plants used to feed the nestlings of both cardueline species, were scarce or not present in the study area at the end of the last century. Regarding the House sparrow, the results of the province of Teruel show the importance of the surfaces dedicated to cereal, leguminous, tubers, sunflowers and fallow lands. Also, the breeding populations of European greenfinch were more abundant in areas where the agricultural management does not include practices related to the intensification. Both results, suggests that food supply, modified due to changes in the agricultural practices, could lead to declines in the populations. Moreover, the breeding aspects of the cardueline species have consequences on the recruitment of individuals to the next breeding populations. An advance in the onset of the breeding season was not found, despite the increased temperatures in the study area; hence, the number of breeding attempts cannot be increased. Both species present a seasonal variation of the clutch size typical of multi-brooded species; nevertheless, when the breeding season starts late, the single-brooded pattern was detected. The breeding success and the productivity have decreased during the study period. The seasonal variation of the number of fledglings is not similar to the variation of the clutch size; this difference suggests that predation and drastic changes in food availability are not predicted.

The stress response is highly variable among individuals, but the causes of this variation remain largely unknown. In response to stressors, vertebrates secrete elevated levels of glucocorticoids which enhance survival, but concurrently interfere with reproduction. We tested the hypothesis that individuals flexibly modulate their stress response with respect to the reproductive value of their brood in free-living house sparrows ( Passer domesticus ). We experimentally increased or decreased clutch size during the nestling period and found that parents tending enlarged clutches responded less strongly to a stressor than those tending reduced clutches. In addition, we examined whether individuals responded less strongly to a stressor as the breeding season progressed and future reproductive opportunities declined. We found that the stress response decreased with breeding date during the birds' first breeding attempt, but it remained constant during their second breeding attempt. Within-individual variability in the stress response was related to the brood size manipulations the birds received in their two consecutive breeding attempts. These results provide the first experimental support for the hypothesis that individuals actively modulate their stress response with respect to the value of current reproduction.

Nestling begging in the absence of parents may reflect ‘‘false alarms’’ due to cognitive constraints or signaling activity toward nest mates (sibling negotiation). According to signal detection theory, cognitive constraints should result in both false alarms (begging in the absence of parents or to inappropriate stimuli) and misses (failure to beg during parental visits). In our study of house sparrows, nestling begging in the absence of parents comprised up to 50% of the begging events at the nest and was more frequent at an early age and among hungrier (lower ranked) nestlings. In contrast, the probability of begging during parental visits was constantly high (80% or more), suggesting that the rate of misses must have been low even at an early age. These results have 2 main implications. First, the observation that begging in the absence of parents decreases with nestling age favors the cognitive constraints hypothesis over functional explanations such as the sibling negotiation hypothesis. Second, the low proportion of ‘‘misses’’ among young nestlings suggests that nestling respond to their cognitive constraints by using low decision criteria (a ‘‘quick on the trigger’’ strategy) that increases the frequency of false alarms but minimizes costly misses. Key words: cognitive constraints, false alarm, nestling begging, Passer domesticus, signal detection theory. [Behav Ecol]

Passer domesticus halfae Meinertzhagen Passer domesticus halfae Meinertzhagen, 1921: 67 (Wadi Halfa). Now Passer domesticus niloticus Nicoll and Bonhote, 1909. See Hartert, 1928: 198; Dickinson, 2003: 716; and Summers-Smith, 2009: 793–794. LECTOTYPE: AMNH 718632, adult male, collected on Wadi Halfa, 21.55N, 31.20E (Times Atlas), Sudan, on 21 February 1904, from the N.C. Rothschild, Henley, and Wollaston Collection. From the Rothschild Collection. COMMENTS: When Meinertzhagen named this form, he noted that the type was a male in the Rothschild Collection from Wadi Halfa and that he measured five males. Six males, all with the same data, came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection; none of the original labels is marked ‘‘type’’ by Meinertzhagen. AMNH 718632 bears the Rothschild type label, indicating that it was the intended type, and it was so cataloged at AMNH. Therefore, in order to remove the ambiguity associated with all specimens bearing the same data, I hereby designate AMNH 718632 the lectotype of Passer domesticus halfae. The five paralectotypes are: AMNH 718633–718637, all males, Wadi Halfa, 21 February 1904, from the N.C. Rothschild, Henley, and Wollaston Collection., Published as part of Lecroy, Mary, 2014, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 12. Passeriformes: Ploceidae, Sturnidae, Buphagidae, Oriolidae, Dicruridae, Callaeidae, Grallinidae, Corcoracidae, Artamidae, Cracticidae, Ptilonorhynchidae, Cnemophilidae, Paradisaeidae, And Corvidae, pp. 1-165 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2014 (393) on page 6, DOI: 10.1206/885.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4629954, {"references":["Meinertzhagen, R. 1921. [Col. R. Meinertzhagen exhibitted a new form of the House-sparrow from the Sudan: -]. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 41: 67.","Hartert, E. 1928. Types of birds in the Tring Museum. C. Additional and overlooked types. Novitates Zoologicae 34: 189 - 230.","Dickinson, E. C. 2003. The Howard and Moore complete checklist of the birds of the world, 3 rd ed. London: Christopher Helm, 1039 pp.","Summers-Smith, J. D. 2009. Family Passeridae (Old World Sparrows), species accounts. In J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott and D. Christie (editors). Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 14, Bush shrikes to Old World sparrows: 793 - 813. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 893 pp, 51 pls., photographs."]}

Passer domesticus biblicus Hartert Passer domesticus biblicus Hartert, 1904a: 149 (Sueme). Now Passer domesticus biblicus Hartert, 1904a. See Hartert, 1919: 158; Dickinson, 2003: 716; and Summers-Smith, 2009: 793–794. LECTOTYPE: AMNH 718377, male, collected at Sueme, Palestine, on 2 April 1897, by Bacher and purchased from W. Schlüter (no. 143). From the Rothschild Collection. COMMENTS: Hartert cited Schlüter’s number and date of collection of the type in the original description, but this does not distinguish it from the only other Schlüter specimen that came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection, as both specimens were collected on the same date and are numbered ‘‘143.’’ AMNH 718377 bears the Rothschild type label, filled in by Hartert with reference to the original description, and the original label bearing Schlüter’s no. 143 is marked ‘‘Type.’’ It is without question Hartert’s intended type and was so cataloged at AMNH. I hereby designate AMNH 718377 the lectotype of P.d. biblicus in order to remove the ambiguity and confirm Hartert’s original intent. The second specimen is the paralectotype: AMNH 718378 (Schlüter no. 143), male, collected at Sueme, Palestine, on 2 April 1897 by Bacher. No other specimens of this form in the Rothschild Collection were collected before the publication of biblicus., Published as part of Lecroy, Mary, 2014, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 12. Passeriformes: Ploceidae, Sturnidae, Buphagidae, Oriolidae, Dicruridae, Callaeidae, Grallinidae, Corcoracidae, Artamidae, Cracticidae, Ptilonorhynchidae, Cnemophilidae, Paradisaeidae, And Corvidae, pp. 1-165 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2014 (393) on page 5, DOI: 10.1206/885.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4629954, {"references":["Hartert, E. 1904 a. Die Vogel der Palaarktischen Fauna, vol. 1, part 2: 113 - 240. Berlin: R. Friedlander und Sohn.","Hartert, E. 1919. Types of birds in the Tring Museum. B. Types in the general collection. Novitates Zoologicae 26: 123 - 178.","Dickinson, E. C. 2003. The Howard and Moore complete checklist of the birds of the world, 3 rd ed. London: Christopher Helm, 1039 pp.","Summers-Smith, J. D. 2009. Family Passeridae (Old World Sparrows), species accounts. In J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott and D. Christie (editors). Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 14, Bush shrikes to Old World sparrows: 793 - 813. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 893 pp, 51 pls., photographs."]}

We examined the effect of patch size and competitor number on aggression among house sparrows, Passer domesticus, foraging at patches of seven different sizes in a doubling series (0.014, 0.029, 0.058, 0.116, 0.230, 0.462, and 0.922 m 2 ). Contrary to our expectations, the birds did not defend an entire patch, even when it was small as 0.014 m 2 . The frequency of aggression among the birds decreased gradually with increasing patch size, in contrast to the step decline predicted by resource defense theory. Moreover, the birds fought more frequently and more intensely as competitor density increased. Both results are consistent with the predictions of a modified hawk-dove model for shared patches. Females were more aggressive and fed at a higher rate than did males. The proportion of females increased as patch size decreased, and aggression became more frequent and intense. Even when patches are shared, patch size has an important effect on the frequency and intensity of foraging competition and the size and composition of foraging groups. Key words: aggression, competitor density, hawk-dove, interference, patch size, Passer domesticus, resource defense, truncated phenotypic distribution. [Behav Ecol 15:412–418 (2004)]

Predation risk may affect the allocation priorities of limiting resources by potential prey. Investment in immune function should receive reduced priority, when hosts are exposed to predators because of the costs of immune function. We tested this hypothesis by randomly exposing adult house sparrows, Passer domesticus, to either a cat, Felis catus, or a rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, for 6 h while assessing their ability to raise a T-cell--mediated immune response to a challenge with phytohemagglutinin. Sparrows exposed to a cat had a significant reduction of, on average, 18% and 36% in T-cell response in two different experiments compared with sparrows that were exposed to a rabbit. In a field experiment with a barn owl, Tyto alba, or a rock dove, Columba livia, placed next to a nest-box during laying, we found a mean reduction in T-cell--mediated immune response of 20%. In males, the reduction in cell-mediated immune response owing to cat exposure increased with increasing size of the badge, which is a secondary sexual character, but only during the breeding season. In a third experiment, house sparrows were either exposed to a barn own, T. alba, or a rock dove, C. livia, and development of malarial infections was recorded during the following 6 weeks. Individual sparrows exposed to a predator had a higher prevalence and intensity of Haemoproteus malarial infection than did control individuals. Therefore, exposure to predators reduced their ability of hosts to cope with parasitism mediated through effects on immune function. Copyright 2004.

We studied the immune response of wild House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) experimentally challenged with different doses of inactivated Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine. We evaluated within-individual cell-mediated and humoral responses in birds kept in outdoor aviaries, over a 6-wk period. Nonbreeding adult House Sparrows developed a significant humoral response to NDV experimental vaccination within 1 wk postchallenge, as measured by hemagglutination inhibition assay; values increased until week 4 and persisted until week 6. Differences among treatments appeared by week 1, with individuals challenged with the highest dose (0.2 mL) eliciting a higher humoral response than the rest (n = 18). By week 4, all individuals vaccinated displayed an increased humoral response, with individuals challenged with the highest dose remaining significantly above responses of individuals vaccinated with the middle dose (0.1 mL, n = 14), but not the lowest dose (0.05 mL, n = 15). The middle and lowest dose responded similarly and significantly different from controls (n = 23). Differences persisted through week 6 postchallenge. Cell-mediated responses were independent of the experimental treatment. All individuals experienced a rise in granulocyte concentration, whereas lymphocyte and monocyte concentrations decreased, most likely as a result of captivity. Adult wild House Sparrows immunochallenged with inactivated NDV vaccine developed a specific humoral response, highlighting the utility of this technique in immunologic and evolutionary ecology studies in wild birds.

Vertebrate mothers transfer diverse compounds to developing embryos that can affect their development and final phenotype (i.e., maternal effects). However, the way such effects modulate offspring phenotype, in particular their immunity, remains unclear. To test the impact of maternal effects on offspring development, we treated wild breeding house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in Sevilla, SE Spain with Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine. Female parents were vaccinated when caring for first broods, eliciting a specific immune response to NDV. The immune response to the same vaccine, and to the PHA inflammatory test were measured in 11-day-old chicks from their following brood. Vaccinated chicks from vaccinated mothers developed a stronger specific response that was related to maternal NDV antibody concentration while rearing their chicks. The chicks' carotenoid concentration and total antioxidant capacity in blood were negatively related to NDV antibody concentration, whereas no relation with PHA response was found. Specific NDV antibodies could not be detected in 11- day-old control chicks from vaccinated mothers, implying that maternally transmitted antibodies are not directly involved but may promote offspring specific immunity through a priming effect, while other immunity components remain unaffected. Maternally transmitted antibodies in the house sparrow are short-lived, depend on maternal circulation levels and enhance pre-fledging chick specific immunity when exposed to the same pathogens as the mothers

Small populations are likely to have a low genetic ability for disease resistance due to loss of genetic variation through inbreeding and genetic drift. In vertebrates, the highest genetic diversity of the immune system is located at genes within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Interestingly, parasite-mediated selection is thought to potentially maintain variation at MHC loci even in populations that are monomorphic at other loci. Therefore, general loss of genetic variation in the genome may not necessarily be associated with low variation at MHC loci. We evaluated inter- and intrapopulation variation in MHC genotypes between an inbred (Aldra) and a relatively outbred population (Hestmannøy) of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in a metapopulation at Helgeland, Norway. Genomic (gDNA) and transcribed (cDNA) alleles of functional MHC class I and IIB loci, along with neutral noncoding microsatellite markers, were analyzed to obtain relevant estimates of genetic variation. We found lower allelic richness in microsatellites in the inbred population, but high genetic variation in MHC class I and IIB loci in both populations. This suggests that also the inbred population could be under balancing selection to maintain genetic variation for pathogen resistance.

6 pages; International audience; The short- and long-term consequences of developmental conditions on fitness have received growing attention because the environmental conditions during early life may influence growth, condition at independence, recruitment, reproductive success or survival. We tested here, in a natural house sparrow population, if early conditions during nestling stage affected the stress response of the birds (i) shortly after fledging and (ii) next year, during their first breeding. We experimentally manipulated brood size to mimic different rearing conditions, creating reduced (-2 chicks) and enlarged broods (+2 chicks), while in a third group brood size was not manipulated. Nestling nutrition state decreased with post-manipulation brood sizes as indicated by lower body mass. Fledglings with higher body mass at the age of ten days showed lower stress response than birds that were leaner at the same age. Fledglings reared in large broods showed a higher response to stress protocol than chicks from small broods, and this effect was in significant interaction with the age of fledglings at capture. This interaction indicates that the effects of the brood size became gradually smaller as the fledglings grew older and were further from their nestling period. The effects of early conditions vanished by the next year: the stress response of adult first time breeders was unrelated to the brood size they fledged from. These results suggest that stress response may reflect the actual state of an individual, rather than its developmental history.

In the Autumn of 1979, bird observations were made in the Azores during a marine biological expedition within the scope of the CANCAP-Project of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie. Six out of the nine islands of the archipelago were visited

Seed rice was treated with 0.25% methiocarb to test its effectiveness as a blackbird repellent in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana in the spring of 1975. Two replications of 3 treated and 3 untreated plots showed 68% more seedlings in treated plots (2,393) than in untreated plots (1,429). Half as many birds (chiefly redwing blackbirds, Agelaius phoeniceus, were recorded in treated (1.18/min) as in untreated plots (2.39/min).

In the Autumn of 1979, bird observations were made in the Azores during a marine biological expedition within the scope of the CANCAP-Project of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie. Six out of the nine islands of the archipelago were visited

The conservation of Egyptian wildlife is discussed. Control measures are reviewed for rodents and birds, especially the house sparrow. Because of the high dam, permanent irrigation has resulted in Arvicanthis becoming a more serious invader of rural buildings.

Methods of controlling domestic pigeons, European starlings, and house sparrows are discussed in detail, with emphasis on urban bird problems. Trapping, exclusion, and roost dispersal by means of frightening devices (pyrotechnic tools such as cracker shells and fuse ropes, in particular) and roost sprays are described in detail. For capture of pigeons, both cage traps and cannon nets are described, with illustrations provided. Case studies are provided of successful dispersal of starling roosts by use of sprays formulated with aqueous ammonia and a wetting agent. Brief mention of use of avicides is included.