1. Correlation does not imply causation: decline of house sparrow overshadowed by electromagnetic radiation.
- Author
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Nath, Anukul, Singha, Hilloljyoti, and Lahkar, Bibhuti Prasad
- Subjects
ENGLISH sparrow ,ELECTROMAGNETIC radiation ,ELECTROMAGNETIC fields ,LIFE history theory ,TREE houses - Abstract
The persisting growth of wireless telecommunication technology causes increased electrosmog. Exposure to wide-ranging radiofrequency electromagnetic fields is thought to be a concern for all living organism across the globe. Several studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of electromagnetic radiation on various organisms, including the risk of electromagnetic radiation on birds, but the results have been inconclusive. Here, we investigated if there is any impact of electromagnetic radiation on the abundance and habitat use of sympatric House Sparrow and Tree Sparrow in Guwahati City, India. In addition, we did a comparative analysis of previous work that had been conducted on the possible effects of EMR on wild birds in field conditions. We collected sparrow abundance in selected urbanized habitats temporally over a period of two years in 45 locations and spatially covering 168 locations in the eastern part of Guwahati City. Point counts were carried out, and successively we measured the electromagnetic radiation along with other ecological factors that could influence the habitat usage of the species. It was observed that ecological factors had a major role in explaining the fine-scale habitat use of sparrows in Guwahati, but electromagnetic radiation had no impact. We found that House Sparrows had a quadratic relationship and Tree sparrows had a negative association with increasing urbanization. Studies carried out in the past on the impacts of electromagnetic radiation on birds outside the lab conditions had not considered other ecological factors, which could also influence the life history needs of the species. Therefore, future studies on the impact of EMR must also include species specific requirements. Based on our current knowledge, we can infer that low levels of EMR in the field (in urban settings) in cities around the globe are unable to induce thermal effects and so have no impact on sparrows and associated urban avifauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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