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CENTRAL LONDON EXTINCTION. “While both urban and rural populations have undergone severe change, it is the decline in city centres which has attracted the most attention. Central London, along with the urban cores of Edinburgh and Glasgow, appears to be reporting near local extinction.” Nobody growing up in London does not recall the sheer abundance of sparrows in parks.” https://lnkd.in/eTu-5Ri View in LinkedIn

REPAIR SYSTEMS. “These results provide evidence that natural selection acts on species when longevity evolves, give insights into adaptive genetic changes associated with the evolution of longevity in mammals, and provide evidence that at least some repair systems are selected for when longevity increases.” https://lnkd.in/eFtw_Ub View in LinkedIn

URBAN SPARROWS. “The situation with sparrows in built-up areas is much more complex, with a gradual decline until about 1990. Since then, a massive decrease has led to almost complete extinction in some urban centres, while in the suburbs and small rural towns, sparrows have decreased little, if at all.” https://lnkd.in/ezA77j7 View in LinkedIn

HALDANE, MEDAWAR, AND WILLIAMS argued, “aging evolves because natural selection becomes inefficient at maintaining function (and fitness) at old age. Their ideas were later mathematically formalized by William D. Hamilton and Brian Charlesworth in the 1960's and 1970's, and today they are empirically well supported.” http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/the-evolution-of-aging-23651151 View in LinkedIn

“FARMLAND SPARROWS decreased by about 60% between 1979 and 1995, but then stabilised at a new, lower level; this decline is attributed to changes in agricultural practices.” https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V96/V96_N09/V96_N09_P439_446_A004.pdf View in LinkedIn

COUNTRY FACTORS. “Factors proposed for the urban House Sparrow decline: predation by hawks and cats; increased bird competition for food; nesting site losses; pollution; lack of insect food; increased pesticide use; smaller colony sizes.” https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V96/V96_N09/V96_N09_P439_446_A004.pdf View in LinkedIn

TWO GROUPS. “There is no evidence of any significant interchange of House Sparrows between farmland and urban populations, and it is almost certain that the factors for the declines are largely unrelated.” https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V96/V96_N09/V96_N09_P439_446_A004.pdf View in LinkedIn

URBAN IMPACT. “In contrast, a gradual decline in urban centres continued, with little change for 50 years from the 1930s, before the urban population went into free-fall in the late 1980s or early 1990s. A gradual and continuing decline is probably also taking place in suburbs and small towns, though it has not yet become catastrophic.” https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V96/V96_N09/V96_N09_P439_446_A004.pdf View in LinkedIn

TWO DYNAMICS. “The situation in farmland appears to be quite distinct from that in urban centres. A major decline in farmland began in the late 1970s, but after a decrease of about 60% the population had stabilised by about 1995.” https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V96/V96_N09/V96_N09_P439_446_A004.pdf View in LinkedIn

URBAN SPARROWS. “Subsequently, a gradual decline from 1945 to 1975 is followed by a rapid decline from about 1990/91 to 2001.” https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V96/V96_N09/V96_N09_P439_446_A004.pdf View in LinkedIn