Broad Audience Title

How is urbanization affecting the reproductive success of birds?

Scientific Title

Parasites and plastic waste: The effects of anthropogenic nesting materials and ectoparasite loads on House Wren nestlings

By Christina Seymour
Biomedicine/Biosystems
iCons Year 4
2018
Executive Summary 

In an increasingly urban world, birds are being faced with new reproductive challenges. This study focused on examining how anthropogenic nesting materials and ectoparasite levels are affecting the health levels of House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) nestlings on an urban to rural gradient. Anthropogenic nesting materials were observed to decrease with increasing levels of urbanization, likely due to differences at the microhabitat level between urban and rural sites. Urbanization had no significant effect on nest ectoparasite levels. Nestlings tended to have slightly higher growth levels in nests with higher amounts of anthropogenic nesting materials. Ectoparasite load was observed to be positively correlated with nestling growth levels, suggesting that nestling health could be determining ectoparasite load, as nests with larger nestlings provide increased food availability for ectoparasites. Further study is necessary to determine the net effects of anthropogenic materials and ectoparasite loads on the health levels of nestlings in highly urbanized areas. This information holds important conservation value for various avian species, as it would determine how increasing interactions between humans and wildlife are affecting the reproductive success of native bird species.

Problem Keywords 
house wren
urbanization
bird reproduction
Scientific Keywords 
Troglodytes aedon
anthropogenic nesting materials

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