The Italian sparrow is a hybrid species, resulting from the hybridization of Spanish sparrow and House sparrow. While superficially similar, these species differ in the distribution and proximity to humans and urban environments among other things. Interestingly, the proportion of Spanish and House sparrow DNA making up the genomes of Italian sparrows differs among different Mediterranean islands. This variation in behaviour and gene composition presents an opportunity for us to study the effect of both genetic ancestry and anthropogenic history has on the behaviours of the birds in captivity.
DURATION: 30-60 credits
STARTING DATE: flexible
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
A driver’s licence and ability to drive an automatic car will be required for this project as the experimental work will take place at Stensoffa field station. No prior experience handling or caring for songbirds is required.
PROJECT EXAMPLE:
While house sparrows are a common sight in most cities, Spanish sparrows are mostly found outside of urban areas and are less accustomed to human interaction and disturbance. We are therefore interested to investigate if this difference in association with humans is associated with differences in the birds’ general behaviours or ability to learn using a standardized set of behavioural assays. Additionally, we want to compare the behaviour of these two species with the Italian sparrow that is a hybrid of the other two and see if their behaviour is intermediary, or more exaggerated than the parent species. By leveraging natural variation in the proportion of the parental species genome in the hybrids, we aim to identify how different genetic regions may be associated with differences in behaviour. This project will involve care of, as well as close monitoring and recording of a captive population of wild caught sparrows at the beautiful Stensoffa field station.
CONTACT DETAILS:
Anna Runemark: anna.runemark@biol.lu.se
Kalle Tunström: kalle.tunstrom@biol.lu.se
Alex Lawrence: alex.lawrence@biol.lu.se