[Nhcoll-l] Looking for possible literature on human trash

[Peter H Wimberger]

Hi Steven -
What is a good use?  One could argue that bears, gulls, corvids and other species make good use of human trash by eating it, and that many sessile marine invertebrates use trash as their substrate, and other aquatic creatures by living inside bottles and cans, but I have a feeling that is not what you are looking for...


·         Crows and Ravens collect shiny human made objects to decorate nests and possible to gift to each other (and even friendly humans?) - See John Marzluff's work (summary of some of this in Gifts of the Crow)

·         Crows and Ravens have been observed to use human trash (lids, other plastic) as sleds to slide down snow or even "wind surf"

·         I have seen caddisfly cases that have incorporated trash pieces

·         House Finches and House Sparrows incorporate smoked cigarette butts in their nests to repel ectoparasites (see below) ---

·         Many birds incorporate thread, plastic, ribbons and other trash and domestic animal hair into their nests.  There are some great examples of these in some of the beautiful  photos in Eggs and Nest put out by the WFVZ (Purcell, Hall and Corado), or they nest inside of discarded cans or other objects.

Sua´rez-Rodrı´guez M, Lo´pez-Rull I, Garcia CM. 2012 Incorporation of cigarette butts into nests reduces nest ectoparasite load in urban birds: new ingredients for an old recipe? Biol Lett 20120931.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0931

Abstract:

Birds are known to respond to nest-dwelling parasites by altering behaviours.
Some bird species, for example, bring fresh plants to the nest, Q1
which contain volatile compounds that repel parasites. There is evidence
that some birds living in cities incorporate cigarette butts into their nests,
but the effect (if any) of this behaviour remains unclear. Butts from
smoked cigarettes retain substantial amounts of nicotine and other compounds
that may also act as arthropod repellents. We provide the first
evidence that smoked cigarette butts may function as a parasite repellent
in urban bird nests. The amount of cellulose acetate from butts in nests of
two widely distributed urban birds was negatively associated with the
number of nest-dwelling parasites. Moreover, when parasites were attracted
to heat traps containing smoked or non-smoked cigarette butts, fewer parasites
reached the former, presumably due to the presence of nicotine.
Because urbanization changes the abundance and type of resources upon
which birds depend, including nesting materials and plants involved in
self-medication, our results are consistent with the view that urbanization
imposes new challenges on birds that are dealt with using adaptations
evolved elsewhere.


Sounds like a fun project.
Best,

Peter Wimberger
Albertson Distinguished Professor, Biology
Director, Slater Museum of Natural History
University of Puget Sound
Tacoma, WA 98416
253 879-2784
http://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/




From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Eastwood, Rodney
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2013 1:07 PM
To: Steven Jasinski
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Looking for possible literature on human trash

Hi Steven,

Bower birds in Australia make use of 'blue' trash.  http://www.oceanwideimages.com/categories.asp?cID=204&p=3

Rod.
***************************************
Rod Eastwood, PhD
Museum of Comparative Zoology
Harvard University
26 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Cell:   +1 617 999 8724
Fax:   +1 617 495 5667

Email:   eastwood at fas.harvard.edu<mailto:eastwood at fas.harvard.edu>
****************************************

On Aug 1, 2013, at 3:52 PM, Steven Jasinski wrote:


Hi, I know this seems a bit of an odd request on this mailing list, but I've been coming up empty and hoping someone out there has a better chance with any possible knowledge on this subject. I'm looking for any literature on the good use of human trash by animals. I figure there is probably some things out there by marine animals, but I'm looking more for those by terrestrial or freshwater animals, and preferably tetrapods. If no one can come up with anything that will still be ok. I'm sure its been observed before, just not sure if anything has ever been reported.


Thanks,

          ~Steven

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steven E. Jasinski
Curator of Paleontology and Geology
State Museum of Pennsylvania

Graduate Studies - Paleontology conc.
Department of Biology
East Tennessee State University



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