In the last few decades, the populations of several wild bird species decreased dramatically worldwide. This is due to many factors associated with urbanization, including habitat loss, fragmentation, pollution, and other environmental stressors. It was shown that the average reproductive performance is lower in polluted areas, also in a recent review pointed out that 82% of the studies documented pollution-induced fitness reduction in birds. Many studies were shown that the clutch size does not vary among polluted and non-polluted areas, however, the hatching rate can be lower in polluted areas than in non-polluted areas. It was shown in medical studies that in a highly polluted area the percentage of sperm DNA fragmentation (measurement for DNA damage) can be above 30%, which can lead to miscarriage in women or lead to infertility in men. Since sperm DNA damage can cause miscarriage and infertility, it can be one of the causes of hatching failure in birds. However, it has been shown in humans that sperm DNA damage can cause infertility, we do not know whether pollution can affect sperm DNA integrity in bird populations. Therefore, the aim of this project is to investigate the effect of urbanisation caused pollution on sperm DNA integrity in Great tit Parus major comparing urban and a rural populations.
Main supervisor: Caroline Isaksson – caroline.isaksson@biol.lu.se
Co-supervisor: Zsófia Tóth – zsofia.toth@biol.lu.se