Does urbanization cause stress in wild birds during development? Insights from feather corticosterone levels in juvenile house sparrows ( Passer domesticus ) - CNRS - Centre national de la recherche scientifique Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Ecology and Evolution Année : 2019

Does urbanization cause stress in wild birds during development? Insights from feather corticosterone levels in juvenile house sparrows ( Passer domesticus )

Résumé

Urban landscapes are associated with abiotic and biotic environmental changes thatmay result in potential stressors for wild vertebrates. Urban exploiters have physiological,morphological, and behavioral adaptations to live in cities. However, there isincreasing evidence that urban exploiters themselves can suffer from urban conditions,especially during specific life‐history stages. We looked for a link between thedegree of urbanization and the level of developmental stress in an urban exploiter(the house sparrow, Passer domesticus), which has recently been declining in multipleEuropean cities (e.g., London, UK). Specifically, we conducted a large‐scale study andsampled juvenile sparrows in 11 urban and rural sites to evaluate their feather corticosterone(CORT) levels. We found that juvenile feather CORT levels were positivelycorrelated with the degree of urbanization, supporting the idea that developinghouse sparrows may suffer from urban environmental conditions. However, we didnot find any correlation between juvenile feather CORT levels and body size, mass,or body condition. This suggests either that the growth and condition of urban sparrowsare not impacted by elevated developmental CORT levels, or that urban sparrowsmay compensate for developmental constraints once they have left the nest.Although feather CORT levels were not correlated with baseline CORT levels, wefound that feather CORT levels were slightly and positively correlated with the CORTstress response in juveniles. This suggests that urban developmental conditions maypotentially have long‐lasting effects on stress physiology and stress sensitivity in thisurban exploiter.

Dates et versions

hal-02015548 , version 1 (12-02-2019)

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Erika Beaugeard, Francois Brischoux, Pierre-Yves Henry, Charline Parenteau, Colette Trouve, et al.. Does urbanization cause stress in wild birds during development? Insights from feather corticosterone levels in juvenile house sparrows ( Passer domesticus ). Ecology and Evolution, 2019, 9 (1), pp.640-652. ⟨10.1002/ece3.4788⟩. ⟨hal-02015548⟩
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