'Stress and the city': Urban birds...( coping mechanisms in wild animals whi...)

coping mechanisms in wild animals, which are necessary for survival," said Jesko Partecke. Such a reduced hormonal stress response could be ubiquitous and, presumably, necessary for all animals that thrive in ecosystems exposed to frequent anthropogenic disturbances such as those in urban areas. The scientists suggest that the difference in the hormonal stress response between urban and forest blackbirds is genetically determined and probably the result of the extreme selective forces in the city; as a result, those individuals that get along better with the "urban stressors" enhance their prospects of survival in a city.

Why the two groups of birds did not differ in their stress response during their first autumn is still an unanswered question. "One explanation is that the reduced sensitivity of urban blackbirds to stressors occurs later in their life," speculated Partecke. Data obtained from free-ranging birds in their native urban and forest habitats are also inevitably necessary to verify the observed pattern under natural conditions. In addition, future studies are needed to assess the possible adaptive value of an attenuated stress response in urban habitats, by relating survival and fitness data to the trait variation.

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Contact: Dr. Jesko Partecke
partecke@orn.mpg.de
49-815-237-3130
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
1-Sep-2006

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