Human activity can influence the gut microbiota of Darwin's finches in the Galapagos

Date:  April 25, 2019

Source:  University of Connecticut

In the Galapagos Islands, Darwin's finches drawn to junk food are experiencing changes in their gut microbiota and their body mass as compared to finches that don't encounter human food, according to a new University of Connecticut study.

The study of Darwin's Finches, published today in Molecular Ecology, builds upon a study on the effects of human activity on finch diet in the same location, says Sarah Knutie, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UConn.

Researchers studied fecal samples and body mass data from female finches, who are the main caretakers for nestlings, or baby birds. They collected the fecal samples from birds in urban areas, where they would encounter human food, and in rural areas, where they were less likely to encounter human food, and used those to characterize the birds' gut microbiota.

Previous studies have shown that finch populations living near humans recognized human food as food, whereas the finches living in areas with less human activity don't recognize human food as something they can eat.

In total, researchers studied close to 100 finches, focusing on breeding female small ground finches (Geospiza fuliginosa) and medium ground finches (Geospiza fortis) in March 2016 on the eastern coast of Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

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Swans hunt for junk food in Lake District town after tourists told to stop feeding them

Sky News 8 March 2019

Swans have been raiding a Lake District town's bins for junk food after tourists were warned to stop feeding it to them.

The birds have been waddling nearly half a mile from Lake Windermere to Bowness-on-Windermere, where they have been scavenging for scraps outside a Tesco supermarket and fast food outlets.

It comes after signs were erected - by an unknown person - urging visitors against throwing fast food or bread to the birds.

Residents are understood to be concerned that the swans could now be hit by cars or attacked by dogs, and that their large size could be intimidating to pedestrians, particularly small children.

Marian Jones, a ranger for the Lake District National Park Authority, said: "One of the reasons swans and other birds are attracted to Bowness is because they're being fed.

"Unfortunately, this can cause health problems for the birds and make them tame, which can put them at risk from traffic and dogs.

"To protect these birds and reduce the risk of accidents, we advise people to not feed them."

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said swans in public spaces can often suffer from serious vitamin deficiencies due to people feeding them bread.

RSPB spokeswoman Annabel Rushton told Sky News: "Fast food should not be fed to swans. Just like us humans, it is not good for them and its grease can get stuck to their feathers making it difficult for them to preen, which they need to do to keep their feathers waterproof.

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Darwin's finches have developed a taste for junk food, and it may be impacting their evolution

December 5, 2018 by Umass Boston Office Of Communications, University of Massachusetts Boston

A UMass Boston professor and his colleagues have published new research showing that feeding on human junk food may be altering the course of evolution in Darwin's finches.

Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Biology Luis De León says feeding on human foods is weakening natural selection on ground finch beaks, which is what drives the formation of new species in the wild. These findings, published in the journal Evolutionary Applications, suggest that the seemingly harmless activity of feeding birds might be altering the course of evolution in the iconic Darwin's finches in the Galápagos islands.

"If we continue to feed finches, we're not only affecting the individual species, but the processes that lead to the formation of new species," De León said. "We're getting in the way of evolution."

Galápagos finches are famed for being the inspiration behind Charles Darwin's pioneering work on evolution. They are an example of adaptive radiation, an evolutionary process that produces new species from a single, rapidly diversifying lineage. Their common ancestor arrived on the Galápagos about two million years ago, and since then Darwin's finches have evolved into more than a dozen recognized species differing in body size, beak shape, and feeding behavior.

De León and fellow researchers from UMass Amherst, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, McGill University, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology were on Santa Cruz Island when they found two forms of medium ground finches—a small and large version—while studying beak size at an isolated, pristine site.

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