Biologists have long known that inbreeding can be detrimental. Inbreeding results in less genetic variation, making species more vulnerable if changes occur that require them to adapt.
Evolution
Jul 30, 2020
0
24
Most bird species are slow to change their tune, preferring to stick with tried-and-true songs to defend territories and attract females. Now, with the help of citizen scientists, researchers have tracked how one rare sparrow ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 2, 2020
0
606
Researchers at the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Valencia as well as the University of Alicante have found a new reason for the decrease in the number of sparrows (Passer ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 20, 2020
0
14
In 1890, a New York bird enthusiast released several dozen starlings in Central Park. No one knows for sure why Eugene Schieffelin set the birds aloft, but he may have been motivated by a sentimental desire to make the American ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 23, 2020
0
4
Few singers reach their sunset years with the same voice they had in younger days. Singing sparrows are no different. Duke University-led research reveals that elderly swamp sparrows don't sound quite like they used to—nor ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 18, 2020
0
175
The invader, puffed out into the shape of a ball, fluttered one wing straight up in the air. He sang constantly and softly, incomplete songs in rapid succession. The defender, silent, hunched his shoulders in a menacing attitude, ...
Ecology
Dec 13, 2019
0
16
Researchers are a step closer to solving the puzzle of why older male sparrows are more successful at mating and producing chicks.
Plants & Animals
Sep 27, 2019
0
103
Light pollution can extend by 41% how long sparrows are infectious with West Nile virus, which could make it more likely that they transmit the lethal disease to mosquitoes and on to people, a new study from researchers in ...
Ecology
Jul 24, 2019
0
11
London's house sparrows (Passer domesticus) have plummeted by 71% since 1995, with new research suggesting avian malaria could be to blame.
Ecology
Jul 17, 2019
0
356
In nature, as in life, there's often more than one way to solve a problem. That includes the evolutionary process. A new study in Evolution Letters finds that different bird species in the same challenging environment—the ...
Ecology
Jul 17, 2019
0
4
