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Urbanisation-associated shifts in the avian metabolome within the annual cycle

Watson, Hannah LU ; Nilsson, Jan Åke LU ; Smith, Einar LU ; Ottosson, Filip LU ; Melander, Olle LU orcid ; Hegemann, Arne LU ; Urhan, Utku LU and Isaksson, Caroline LU orcid (2024) In Science of the Total Environment 944.
Abstract

While organisms have evolved to cope with predictable changes in the environment, the rapid rate of current global change presents numerous novel and unpredictable stressors to which organisms have had less time to adapt. To persist in the urban environment, organisms must modify their physiology, morphology and behaviour accordingly. Metabolomics offers great potential for characterising organismal responses to natural and anthropogenic stressors at the systems level and can be applied to any species, even without genomic knowledge. Using metabolomic profiling of blood, we investigated how two closely related species of passerine bird respond to the urban environment. Great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus residing in... (More)

While organisms have evolved to cope with predictable changes in the environment, the rapid rate of current global change presents numerous novel and unpredictable stressors to which organisms have had less time to adapt. To persist in the urban environment, organisms must modify their physiology, morphology and behaviour accordingly. Metabolomics offers great potential for characterising organismal responses to natural and anthropogenic stressors at the systems level and can be applied to any species, even without genomic knowledge. Using metabolomic profiling of blood, we investigated how two closely related species of passerine bird respond to the urban environment. Great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus residing in urban and forest habitats were sampled during the breeding (spring) and non-breeding (winter) seasons across replicated sites in southern Sweden. During breeding, differences in the plasma metabolome between urban and forest birds were characterised by higher levels of amino acids in urban-dwelling tits and higher levels of fatty acyls in forest-dwelling tits. The suggested higher rates of fatty acid oxidation in forest tits could be driven by habitat-associated differences in diet and could explain the higher reproductive investment and success of forest tits. High levels of amino acids in breeding urban tits could reflect the lack of lipid-rich caterpillars in the urban environment and a dietary switch to protein-rich spiders, which could be of benefit for tackling inflammation and oxidative stress associated with pollution. In winter, metabolomic profiles indicated lower overall levels of amino acids and fatty acyls in urban tits, which could reflect relaxed energetic demands in the urban environment. Our metabolomic profiling of two urban-adapted species suggests that their metabolism is modified by urban living, though whether these changes represent adaptative or non-adaptive mechanisms to cope with anthropogenic challenges remains to be determined.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Anthropogenic change, Birds, Ecological metabolomics, Environmental change, Metabolomics, Urbanisation
in
Science of the Total Environment
volume
944
article number
173624
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85196041041
  • pmid:38821291
ISSN
0048-9697
DOI
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173624
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7f741baf-652c-4983-95d1-00a962c6f488
date added to LUP
2024-08-23 13:17:14
date last changed
2024-08-27 13:27:43
@article{7f741baf-652c-4983-95d1-00a962c6f488,
  abstract     = {{<p>While organisms have evolved to cope with predictable changes in the environment, the rapid rate of current global change presents numerous novel and unpredictable stressors to which organisms have had less time to adapt. To persist in the urban environment, organisms must modify their physiology, morphology and behaviour accordingly. Metabolomics offers great potential for characterising organismal responses to natural and anthropogenic stressors at the systems level and can be applied to any species, even without genomic knowledge. Using metabolomic profiling of blood, we investigated how two closely related species of passerine bird respond to the urban environment. Great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus residing in urban and forest habitats were sampled during the breeding (spring) and non-breeding (winter) seasons across replicated sites in southern Sweden. During breeding, differences in the plasma metabolome between urban and forest birds were characterised by higher levels of amino acids in urban-dwelling tits and higher levels of fatty acyls in forest-dwelling tits. The suggested higher rates of fatty acid oxidation in forest tits could be driven by habitat-associated differences in diet and could explain the higher reproductive investment and success of forest tits. High levels of amino acids in breeding urban tits could reflect the lack of lipid-rich caterpillars in the urban environment and a dietary switch to protein-rich spiders, which could be of benefit for tackling inflammation and oxidative stress associated with pollution. In winter, metabolomic profiles indicated lower overall levels of amino acids and fatty acyls in urban tits, which could reflect relaxed energetic demands in the urban environment. Our metabolomic profiling of two urban-adapted species suggests that their metabolism is modified by urban living, though whether these changes represent adaptative or non-adaptive mechanisms to cope with anthropogenic challenges remains to be determined.</p>}},
  author       = {{Watson, Hannah and Nilsson, Jan Åke and Smith, Einar and Ottosson, Filip and Melander, Olle and Hegemann, Arne and Urhan, Utku and Isaksson, Caroline}},
  issn         = {{0048-9697}},
  keywords     = {{Anthropogenic change; Birds; Ecological metabolomics; Environmental change; Metabolomics; Urbanisation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Science of the Total Environment}},
  title        = {{Urbanisation-associated shifts in the avian metabolome within the annual cycle}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173624}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173624}},
  volume       = {{944}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}