Mentor/s
Emily Levy
Participation Type
Poster
Abstract
You are what you eat: Integrative effects of food supplementation on native and invasive backyard birds Alexandria Lovasi, Lena Seerosh, Cassandra Vallon, Vita Pivtorak, Emily J Levy Environmental factors during an organism’s early life can cause dramatic long-term effects. While these early-life effects have long been documented, we lack an integrative and comparative understanding how early-life environments get ‘under the skin’ to affect traits like behavior, morphology, physiology, fitness. Food availability is a particularly interesting early-life factor because all organisms must allocate energy toward the body's many developing systems, and limited energy results in developmental trade-offs. To assess the trade-offs associated with food availability, my research group will conduct a comparative field experiment in native versus invasive birds that tests the effects of food supplementation on nestling behavior, growth, physiology, and survival. We hypothesize that both native and invasive species will experience a release from energy constraints when supplemented with extra food, as evidenced by gains in all traits (detailed below). We also hypothesize that invasive species will benefit more from food supplementation compared to native species, indicative of the success of invasive species across diverse and changing habitats. To test these hypotheses, we will establish control and food-supplemented nests of wild Eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) and house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Supplemented nests will receive mealworms throughout nestling development. We will collect data on nestling behavior, breathing rate, growth, immune function, metabolism, oxidative stress, and survival to compile an integrative understanding of the effects of food supplementation across species. Integrative and comparative experiments of wild animals will advance our understanding of the wide-ranging phenotypes affected by food availability, and how evolution has shaped these responses across species.
College and Major available
Biology
Academic Level
Undergraduate student
Location
Digital Commons & West Campus West Building University Commons
Start Day/Time
4-25-2025 12:00 PM
End Day/Time
4-25-2025 2:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Prize Categories
Most Scholarly Impact or Potential, Best Visuals, Most Creative
You are what you eat: Integrative effects of food supplementation on native and invasive backyard birds.
Digital Commons & West Campus West Building University Commons
You are what you eat: Integrative effects of food supplementation on native and invasive backyard birds Alexandria Lovasi, Lena Seerosh, Cassandra Vallon, Vita Pivtorak, Emily J Levy Environmental factors during an organism’s early life can cause dramatic long-term effects. While these early-life effects have long been documented, we lack an integrative and comparative understanding how early-life environments get ‘under the skin’ to affect traits like behavior, morphology, physiology, fitness. Food availability is a particularly interesting early-life factor because all organisms must allocate energy toward the body's many developing systems, and limited energy results in developmental trade-offs. To assess the trade-offs associated with food availability, my research group will conduct a comparative field experiment in native versus invasive birds that tests the effects of food supplementation on nestling behavior, growth, physiology, and survival. We hypothesize that both native and invasive species will experience a release from energy constraints when supplemented with extra food, as evidenced by gains in all traits (detailed below). We also hypothesize that invasive species will benefit more from food supplementation compared to native species, indicative of the success of invasive species across diverse and changing habitats. To test these hypotheses, we will establish control and food-supplemented nests of wild Eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) and house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Supplemented nests will receive mealworms throughout nestling development. We will collect data on nestling behavior, breathing rate, growth, immune function, metabolism, oxidative stress, and survival to compile an integrative understanding of the effects of food supplementation across species. Integrative and comparative experiments of wild animals will advance our understanding of the wide-ranging phenotypes affected by food availability, and how evolution has shaped these responses across species.
Students' Information
Alexandria Lovasi, Honors, Biology Major, Class of 2025
Lena Seerosh, Honors, Neuroscience Major, Class of 2026.