Jessica Burnett Is the House Sparrow our Canary in the Urban Coal Mine?

Jessica Burnett Author

03/04/2016 Added

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Second Place in the Doctorate category of the 2016 School of Natural Resources Elevator Speech Contest. Jessica is a doctoral candidate seeking a degree in Natural Resource Sciences with a specialization in Applied Ecology.

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[00:00:00.423]We're probably all familiar with
[00:00:01.840]the canary in the coalmine.
[00:00:04.021]If miners noticed that their caged canary coworkers
[00:00:06.644]kicked the bucket while they were underground,
[00:00:08.604]they knew it was time to get the hell out of dodge or die.
[00:00:11.982]I am most passionate about identifying
[00:00:14.167]and understanding the patterns of nature
[00:00:15.872]that occur in areas where humans thrive, cities.
[00:00:19.343]Generally, my research asks questions like
[00:00:21.629]which wildlife species die, survive
[00:00:24.159]or thrive in urban areas and why?
[00:00:27.062]To approach questions like this,
[00:00:28.813]I work with a delightful, yet gang-like group
[00:00:31.635]of bird species some people like to call trash birds
[00:00:34.815]and you probably already guessed it.
[00:00:36.395]My favorite trash bird species is the house sparrow.
[00:00:39.621]Now historically, the house sparrow
[00:00:41.200]thrived where ever humans are.
[00:00:43.406]From your family farm to the downtown McDonald's dumpsters,
[00:00:46.901]they were there.
[00:00:48.166]However, the house sparrow seem
[00:00:49.607]to be losing its ability to coexist alongside humans.
[00:00:53.293]Over the past 20 or 30 years,
[00:00:54.896]the house sparrow's been declining in cities worldwide
[00:00:57.740]and researchers just don't know why.
[00:01:00.572]Have any of you heard that old joke?
[00:01:02.220]How many PhDs does it take to screw in a light bulb?
[00:01:05.238]Well, in the case of the declining house sparrow,
[00:01:07.745]it's taken at least 30 years worth.
[00:01:10.045]My master's thesis research at
[00:01:11.646]the University of Florida took me down that path,
[00:01:13.981]trying to understand why they're declining in cities.
[00:01:16.825]Generally, I found that house sparrows
[00:01:18.601]aren't doing so good in our backyards
[00:01:20.783]and I found evidence suggesting
[00:01:22.420]that house sparrows may be responding
[00:01:24.404]negatively to an increase in canopy cover.
[00:01:27.366]In other words, the more trees
[00:01:28.944]there are in your neighborhood
[00:01:30.117]and the bigger those trees are,
[00:01:31.662]the worst off this bird may be.
[00:01:34.123]Now, I know that none of us probably
[00:01:35.841]agree that the house sparrow is
[00:01:37.279]the most majestic species alive,
[00:01:39.844]but I hope that we can agree that
[00:01:41.123]the house sparrow represents something pretty important
[00:01:43.583]and that is the ability of other
[00:01:45.250]species to live alongside us.
[00:01:47.211]Now, it's really easy to assume
[00:01:49.172]that we as humans are alone in
[00:01:50.716]these urban jungles we call cities,
[00:01:52.654]but we are in fact drivers and passengers
[00:01:55.393]in the many processes occurring in nature
[00:01:58.145]and because urbanization directly affects these processes,
[00:02:01.732]it's vital that we identify which wildlife species die,
[00:02:05.563]survive or thrive in urban areas and why.
[00:02:09.627]So the next time you're feeling disconnected from nature,
[00:02:12.587]I suggest going downtown, dropping a Dorito on the ground
[00:02:16.210]and watching a couple of house sparrows
[00:02:17.713]fight it out over that Dorito
[00:02:19.315]and ask yourself this question,
[00:02:21.233]is the house sparrow the canary in our urban coalmine?
[00:02:24.493]Thank you.

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Jessica Burnett Is the House Sparrow our Canary in the Urban Coal Mine?

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