Hinfluences severe disease-mediated population declines in two of the most common garden bird species in Great Britain.

ABSTRACT: The influence of supplementary feeding of wildlife on disease transmission and its consequent impacts on population dynamics are underappreciated. In Great Britain, supplementary feeding is hypothesised to have enabled the spread of the protozoan parasite, Trichomonas gallinae, from columbids to finches, leading to epidemic finch trichomonosis and a rapid population decline of greenfinch (Chloris chloris). More recently, chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), has also declined markedly from the second to fifth commonest bird in Britain. Using citizen science data, we show that both declines were driven primarily by reduced adult survival, with the greatest reductions occurring in peri-domestic habitats, where supplementary food provision is common. Post-mortem examinations showed a proportional in

SUBMITTER: Hanmer HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9445085 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature