Urban blackbirds have shorter telomeres.

ABSTRACT: Urbanization, one of the most extreme human-induced environmental changes, represents a major challenge for many organisms. Anthropogenic habitats can have opposing effects on different fitness components, for example, by decreasing starvation risk but also health status. Assessment of the net fitness effect of anthropogenic habitats is therefore difficult. Telomere length is associated with phenotypic quality and mortality rate in many species, and the rate of telomere shortening is considered an integrative measure of the 'life stress' experienced by an individual. This makes telomere length a promising candidate for examining the effects of urbanization on the health status of individuals. We investigated whether telomere length differed between urban and forest-dwelling common blackbir

SUBMITTER: Ibanez-Alamo JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5897618 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature