From ground-hugging to groundbreaking: How a unique tomato mutation could transform sustainable agriculture

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BOYCE THOMPSON INSTITUTE

 

IMAGE: ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT BTI CARMEN CATALÁ AND BTI POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER PHILIPPE NICOLAS EXAMINE TOMATOES GROWING IN A BTI GREENHOUSE. view more 

CREDIT: BTI

ITHACA, NY, July 7, 2023 - Tomatoes are a staple in diets worldwide and an essential part of sustainable agriculture. Now, scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) have reported groundbreaking insights into a long-known tomato mutation, unlocking the potential for enhanced fruit quality and stress resistance. 
 
"What started as curiosity about an intriguing mutant has blossomed into a potentially transformative discovery for sustainable agriculture," said lead researcher Carmen Catalá, an adjunct assistant professor at BTI and Senior Research Associate in the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell. 
 
The investigation, published in the Journal of Experimental Botany, focused on decoding the mystery of a tomato mutant called "adpressa," first discovered in the 1950s. The mutant garnered attention because of an unusual characteristic: adpressa plants are unable to sense gravity. These plants often grow close to the ground rather than upward toward the sky; hence, their name conveys a habit of being flat (adpressed) against the soil. 
 
The team led by Catalá, including BTI postdoctoral researchers Philippe Nicolas and Richard Pattison, began by uncovering the precise genetic change causing this fascinating effect. They found that the mutation blocks the synthesis of starch, which is a storage form of sugar.  
 
The team pushed further, using the mutation to investigate fundamental questions about fruit biology. They discovered that the mutant shows major transcriptional and metabolic adjustments, including increased levels of soluble sugars and enhanced growth. More surprisingly was the discovery of complete resistance to blossom-end rot (BER), a physiological disorder causing deterioration of fruit's cell membranes and a dry, black, and sunken area on the bottom of the tomatoes. 
 
Often noticed by gardeners and commercial growers, BER incidence is difficult to predict but has been directly related to environmental stresses such as temperature or irregular watering. BER also affects other fruits and vegetables, including peppers, squash, cucumber, and melon. Although this complex disorder has been intensively studied, mechanisms underlying BER development are not fully understood.
 
"Our findings with the adpressa mutant are quite promising. Contrary to what was previously thought, the lack of starch did not alter fruit development and ripening. In fact, adpressa fruits were slightly larger and accumulated more sugars during growth. The most remarkable discovery is the resistance to blossom-end rot. These findings open new avenues for improving fruit yield and quality, especially under stressful environmental conditions," noted Nicolas. 
 
The research team at BTI collaborated with scientists from the Max Planck Institute in Germany, the Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora" in Málaga, Spain, and the US Department of Agriculture. Together, they utilized advanced genomic and metabolic analysis tools to study how the mutation affects fruit development. 
 
"The intricate connection we observed between sugar metabolism and resistance to cellular damage in fruit tissues is particularly fascinating. This study reveals the potential for engineering or breeding tomatoes that can better withstand environmental challenges," said Nicolas.
 
The team is now working on understanding why these mutants are resilient against abiotic stresses and expect to find target genes or compounds with an essential role in BER resistance. 
 
"We hope this discovery will lead to novel approaches in creating plants resistant to blossom-end rot and other types of stress-induced damage," said Catalá. "Not only would it benefit gardeners and commercial growers, but it would have a significant impact in countries with adverse growing conditions, where small farmers do not have the resources to protect their crops from environmental challenges such as drought." 

About Boyce Thompson Institute
Founded in 1924, the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) is a premier plant biology and life sciences research institution located in Ithaca, New York. BTI scientists conduct investigations into fundamental research with the goals of increasing food security, improving environmental sustainability, and making basic discoveries that will enhance human health. Throughout this work, BTI is committed to inspiring and educating students and to providing advanced training for the next generation of scientists. BTI is an independent nonprofit research institute that is affiliated with Cornell University. For more information, please visit BTIscience.org.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Experimental Botany

DOI

10.1093/jxb/erad212 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Starch deficiency in tomato causes transcriptional reprogramming that modulates fruit development, metabolism, and stress responses

Doom-and-gloom climate news may scare but also encourage audiences

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PENN STATE

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A team of Penn State researchers investigated how seeing frightening news about climate change day after day may shape the way people feel about the phenomenon and how willing they are to take action to address it.

Christofer Skurka, Jessica Myrick and graduate student Yin Yang found that seeing bad news about climate change can make people more afraid over time, but it also may encourage audiences to think about what society can do to address the problem. They published the results of two separate studies in an article titled “Fanning the flames or burning out? Testing competing hypotheses about repeated exposure to threatening climate change messages,” which appeared in the journal Climatic Change. 

“The public is surrounded by media coverage about climate change, and this messaging tends to be negative in tone, focusing on the threats that climate change poses to human prosperity and ecological health,” said Skurka, the paper’s lead author and an assistant professor of media studies in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. “We know from years of research in the field of communication that media messaging can impact our emotions, our beliefs and, in turn, sometimes our behavior.”

The first study involved exposing participants to three days of negative news stories about climate change. A follow-up study consisted of participants reading negative news headlines about climate change in the form of Twitter posts for seven consecutive days.

“We found that three days in a row of reading doom-and-gloom news stories about climate change was linked to greater fear and less hope, which can potentially hurt an audience’s attitude that they can do anything to tackle the problem,” said Myrick, the Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Health Communication and co-funded faculty member of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment. “However, our follow-up study had people look only at headlines and not full news stories for a longer period of seven days in a row. In that study, we found that fear peaked after a few days and then held steady.”

The researchers reported that over time, people who repeatedly saw climate change headlines started to feel like they could do more to affect change and that the topic of climate change was important.

“You would think that as people are repeatedly exposed to threatening climate news devoid of solutions content that their efficacy beliefs will decrease over time,” Skurka said. “We saw the opposite pattern in our second study. People’s efficacy beliefs increased over time. In other words, the more exposure people had to these threatening news stories each day, they were increasingly likely to think that they can make a difference in addressing climate change.”

Skurka said one possibility is that as the public copes with unpleasant feelings about the enormous threat climate change presents, they may convince themselves that they have control over the situation, which translates into greater efficacy beliefs that their actions will make a difference. 

“Our findings suggest that people have gotten used to doom-and-gloom reporting around climate change and what may be more important for motivating them to take action is that they see coverage of it on a daily basis,” Myrick said. “This is called an agenda-setting effect, where a topic that is covered more often in the news is then viewed as more important by people who consume the news.”

According to Skurka, decades of research in communication and psychology show that under certain circumstances, fear can be motivating.

“We found that people exposed to the high-threat headlines, which tended to evoke more fear, generally expressed greater intentions to share the information than people exposed to the low-threat headlines, which means there may be an advantage to evoking fear,” Skurka said. “However, people’s responses over time were essentially the same regardless of whether they were shown the high-threat or low-threat news headlines. That tells us that when it comes to over-time responses to repeated media exposure, simply mentioning climate change in the news activates pre-existing emotions and thoughts associated with climate change.”

Myrick added that this does not mean that fear-appeals should be used for all climate change communication. Instead, the more important factor may be communicating hope and solutions.

“For communication to be most impactful, people need to feel like there is still something we can do about it to make a difference,” Myrick said. “That should hopefully motivate reporters and strategic communicators to include information about solutions to climate change in their messaging.”

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JOURNAL

Climatic Change

DOI

10.1007/s10584-023-03539-8 

Art that integrates data visualizations can help bridge the US political divide over climate change

Researchers have shown that combining climate data with visually engrossing art can make data more meaningful to viewers and bridge political divides related to climate science.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

 

IMAGE: A PAINTING BY DIANE BURKO ENTITLED "SUMMER HEAT, 2020" DEPICTS RED, ORANGE AND BLUE MOTIFS OF WILDFIRES AND MELTING GLACIERS THAT OVERLAP WITH MAPS THAT APPEAR TO DRIP OVER A GRAPH OF GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS. RESEARCH FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON HAS SHOWN THAT COMBINING CLIMATE DATA WITH VISUALLY ENGROSSING ART CAN MAKE DATA MORE MEANINGFUL TO VIEWERS AND BRIDGE POLITICAL DIVIDES RELATED TO CLIMATE SCIENCE. view more 

CREDIT: DIANE BURKO

MADISON – Communicating science to a general audience can be challenging. Successfully conveying research on polarizing topics such as climate change can be even more difficult.

But a new study from University of Wisconsin–Madison researcher Nan Li shows that intentionally integrating art with data visualizations can help non-expert audiences more meaningfully engage with climate change while also bridging political divides in ways that data alone cannot. In fact, data graphs on their own can exacerbate political division on climate change.

As an assistant professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication, Li studies how innovative visual representations of science can shape people's understanding and opinions about various scientific issues. Li teamed up with Isabel Villanueva, Thomas Jilk and Dominique Brossard from UW–Madison and Brianna Rae Van Matre from EcoAgriculture Partners to survey the responses of people across the political spectrum to a painting by Diane Burko entitled “Summer Heat, 2020.”  

The painting depicts red, orange and blue motifs of wildfires and melting glaciers that overlap with maps that appear to drip over a graph of global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. It’s not just art and science side-by-side or pretty colors added to a graph; the two are combined to tell a larger story that makes people stop and think about climate change.

Li thinks this intentional integration of the data into the piece of art is part of its success.

“In order for art to maximize its potential as a tool for public engagement, you really need to use it as a catalyst for triggering self-reflection,” Li says. “People use this piece of art as a starting point to think about what this all means to themselves.”

For the study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, 671 survey participants from across the U.S. were divided into groups and shown four different presentations of the painting and data it contains: the original painting, a detailed version of the graph it includes, a simplified version of that same graph and an edited version of the painting with a detailed graph.

In the first iteration of the survey, participants were instructed ahead of time to reflect on the meaning of and emotions evoked by the visuals. Survey participants who saw the paintings reported stronger positive emotions — like happiness, awe, inspiration and hope — than participants who were shown just the graphs.

The researchers then used a digital editing tool to represent what it would look like if “Summer Heat, 2020” and other visuals were posted to an Instagram feed. The caption contained more details about the painting and facts about climate change.

Participants felt the artwork post was as credible a source of information as the data graphs post. Li says this finding supports the idea that galleries aren’t the only way these kinds of artwork can be successful, but that bringing them to a larger audience through social media is beneficial as well.

In general, when people see graphs about climate change, whether they identify as liberal or conservative influences how they perceive the relevance of the issue. But in the new study, Li’s team saw that the gap between political affiliations was reduced when survey participants saw the painting in a social media format. In other words, when liberals and conservatives both see artistic representations of climate data rather than data alone, they are more likely to share the perception that climate change is relevant to them.

Another iteration of the survey did not instruct participants to reflect on the meaning and emotions the visuals inspired before seeing them. Participants viewed the simulated Instagram posts and then later reported their perceived relevance of climate change. This time, participants’ perceived relevance of climate change was equally polarized along their political ideology despite the different visuals they were shown. To Li, this suggests that priming people for introspection is important for breaking down political barriers.

While the findings are exciting, Li also recognizes this case study is very specific. The study is limited to the use of one painting in one style from one artist.

Moving forward, she and her team hope to complete additional studies that tease out what element of a piece makes communicating the scientific information more successful. They want to expand the study to consider reactions to other styles by artists from other backgrounds and survey reactions of people in other countries. Li and her team also highlight that it’s important for scientists and artists to be aware of their audience’s interest level in art and recognize that not everyone will react emotionally or cognitively to a piece in the same way.

Even though communicating these polarizing concepts can be challenging, Li believes in the ability of art to bridge the gap between a lay audience and scientific data.

“When you show art, I think it sort of makes people think, ‘Hey, wait a minute. What is this all about?’” Li says. “It fills in people's imaginative deficit of what data means without taking a lecturing approach. It actually engages people to explore the meaning themselves.”

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JOURNAL

Communications Earth & Environment

DOI

10.1038/s43247-023-00856-9 

ARTICLE TITLE

Artistic representations of data can help bridge the US political divide over climate change

From bad to worse: h=How micro- and meso-plastics collect heavy metals

Surface cracks and biofilms on plastic particles might help spread pollution

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: (A-C) AND (K-M) SHOW POLYSTYRENE FOAM PARTICLES COLLECTED FROM THE ENVIRONMENT AND AS MANUFACTURED, RESPECTIVELY, IMAGED AT DIFFERENT MAGNIFICATIONS USING SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM). (D-E) AND (N-O) SHOW THE COMPOSITION OF THE SAME TWO TYPES OF PARTICLES, AS FOUND FROM ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY. view more 

CREDIT: TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

Tokyo, Japan – A team led by researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University studied how microplastics in the environment accumulate heavy metals. As the microplastics spread, so do their toxic cargo. Focusing on polystyrene foam, they collected particles along a river running through Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. They found significant levels of heavy metals accumulated on the particles, reflecting local land use and industries, as well as surface features like holes and biofilms which help pollutants collect.

The spread of plastic debris into the natural environment is an ecological disaster. As plastic waste makes its way into both terrestrial and marine environments, much of it through mismanagement, particles get weathered and break down, gradually becoming too small to be easily collected and separated. Being lightweight, low density and highly resilient, they spread extremely rapidly. Though they are largely chemically inert, scientists are now finding that they can also be effective vectors for whatever might be absorbed on them, including deadly pollutants. Much research is now underway on what sorts of toxins they might help transport, and how they do that.

A team led by Dr Batdulam Battulga, an affiliated researcher of the Department of Geography of Tokyo Metropolitan University now in the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and Professor Masayuki Kawahigashi from Tokyo Metropolitan University have been examining the properties of polystyrene foam particles collected at various locations along the Tuul River running through Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Due to continued development of the capital city, plastic waste arising from construction materials has become ubiquitous in the environment, particularly polystyrene foam used in insulation. The tiny fragments were subjected to a range of diagnostics to ascertain how they had changed, and what they now contained. They found a range of metallic contaminants that are not present in the original material, particularly large amounts of copper and chromium. Strong signals were found for metals associated with specific land uses or industries in the city, such as chemicals used in glass and ceramic manufacture and pollutant enriched sediments from wastewater treatment plants.

They also looked in detail at the physical properties of the particles themselves. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the particles showed that exposure to the environment had significantly changed the surface properties of the particles, creating fractures, holes, and pits. Many of the images also showed mineral crystal particles, showing how the roughened surface could become home to inorganic pollutants absorbed from the environment. They also found traces of biofilms, layers of bacteria which adhere to surfaces. Such films are known to develop electric charges and chemical groups on their surfaces which can effectively absorb metallic contaminants. Combined with the stronger accumulation of metals in meso-sized (5-20mm) particles than in micro-sized (<5mm) particles, the team concluded that these surface features played a key role in the collection of heavy metals on plastic debris.

Through insights into the mechanism by which metals are adsorbed onto plastic fragments, the team hope to get to grips with the scope of the impact of plastic pollutants in our environment, and the hidden dangers they might pose.

This work was supported by a Tokyo Metropolitan Government Advanced Research Grant, Grant Number R4-2.

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JOURNAL

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

DOI

10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115100 

ARTICLE TITLE

Plastic-associated metal(loid)s in the urban river environments of Mongolia

Strawberry fields forever? Strawberry production leaves long-term plastic pollution

Reports and Proceedings

GOLDSCHMIDT CONFERENCE

 

IMAGE: POLYETHYLENE MULCHED STRAWBERRY FIELDS, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA view more 

CREDIT: SEETA SISTLA

Researchers have found that the plastic mulch used to support the growth of Californian strawberries sheds large quantities of plastic mulch fragments. These particles have been shown to negatively impact soil qualities, casting doubt on the long-term viability of their use. The findings from the survey are likely to apply world-wide to plastic use in agricultural production.

Presenting their work at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference in Lyon, postdoctoral researcher Dr Ekta Tiwari (from Sistla group at California Polytechnic State University) said “What we are seeing a huge quantity of macroplastic plastic material – particles bigger than 5mm across -being shed where the mulch is used to enhance strawberry production. These can remain in the soil for decades or longer”.

Plastics, such as polyethylene, are increasingly used in agriculture, for example in polytunnels. Plastic mulch films are extensively used in agriculture, where they provide a range of benefits. They are tucked in around the base of the plant, which can help control weeds and pathogens, reduce water evaporation, and prevent soil splashing on fruit (which is particularly important for strawberries).

The mulch is applied in rows and then removed after the crop’s seasonal production is complete. However, even careful land stewardship by farmers does not ensure all the plastic is removed because fragments get left behind and adhere to the soil during removal.  After decades of annual plastic mulch application and removal, the researchers observed the accumulation of plastic fragments within farm soils, even in really well-managed fields. The researchers looked for macroplastics, which are plastic pieces more than 5mm across.

Ekta Tiwari continued “We carried out a systematic survey of strawberry fields after the seasonal removal of these plastic film. We found that the distribution was fairly uniform. On field surfaces alone, we found up to 213,500 macroplastic particles per hectare. That doesn’t include subsurface particles, which we did not survey. In addition, we are currently analysing the same soil samples for microplastics, which are smaller particles, less than 5mm across; these are not yet included in our findings”.

Note: A hectare is 10,000 square metres. For comparison, an average professional soccer playing pitch is around 7100 square metres.

Most of the particles are polyethylene (identified using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy).  In preliminary findings, the researchers found that as the levels of macroplastic pollution increased, soil moisture content, microbial respiration, and plant-available nitrogen declined.

Dr. Tiwari added “The plastic mulch provides benefits, but at the expense of long-term soil quality. It’s difficult and expensive to remove these particles from the soil, so once they are there they can stay there indefinitely”.

We tend to think that strawberries are simply things to be enjoyed, but this shows that even something as delicious as fresh strawberries can come with a cost to the environment. We are working with the manufacturers to see if we can mitigate these costs”.

There are alternatives to using polyethylene mulches, such as biodegradable plastic mulches, or natural mulches such as straw, but these choices come with an economic l cost.  However, the use of plastics in agriculture is also increasingly regulated, see for example European Union information at https://environment.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2021-09/Agricultural%20Plastics%20Final%20Report.pdf

Commenting, Professor Sean Schaeffer (Department of Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science, University of Tennessee, USA) said: 

“Plastics, and plastic mulches in particular, are vital to maintain agricultural production. They are used for various purposes including soil moisture retention, soil warming/cooling, as well as weed or pest control. Agricultural plastic use is increasing worldwide, with California being the largest user of agricultural plastic in the US. Research on the fate and transport of plastics in soil and water systems is relatively recent, so studies like this are vital to increasing our understanding of the scope the plastic problem. We currently know relatively little about the distribution, size, and types of plastic in soils in the largest states, both in land area and in agricultural production”.

This is an independent comment, Professor Schaeffer was not involved in this work.

This work is ongoing and has not yet been peer-reviewed. The researchers are currently evaluating the level of microplastic pollution (particles smaller than 5mm) left by plastic mulches. This study provides baseline data to understand the extent of plastic pollution in the U.S. agriculture system and can help improve land management practices by assessing the biogeochemical consequences of plastic accumulation in agricultural soils.

The Goldschmidt Conference is the world’s main geochemistry conference. It is a joint congress of the European Association of Geochemistry and the Geochemical Society (US). It takes place in Lyon, France, from 9-14 July. Almost 5000 delegates are expected to attend. https://conf.goldschmidt.info/goldschmidt/2023/goldschmidt/2023/meetingapp.cgi

ENDS

Bees get week early wakeup call from warming climate

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF READING

Warmer springs are causing British bees to wake up earlier, a new study has found, threatening the pollination of crops such as apples and pears.

The research – which is believed to be the largest of its kind in Great Britain – found that for every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature caused by climate change, wild bees, such as bumblebees, emerge from their nests 6.5 days earlier on average.

As spring starts earlier and bees emerge closer to the start of the year, they may lose sync with the plants on which they depend, meaning there may be less food for them to consume. This means bees may not have the energy to pollinate crops effectively, or may miss crop blossom completely.

PhD researcher Chris Wyver, of the University of Reading’s School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, led the study, which is published today (Monday, 10 July) in Ecology and Evolution.

He said: “Rising temperatures are making life tougher for bees. Warmer conditions mean bees emerge from hibernation earlier, but there may not be enough food to provide energy for them when they start buzzing about.

“Matching wake-up dates with plant flowering is vital for newly emerged bees because they need to find pollen and nectar to increase their chances of survival and produce offspring. A mismatch means bees cannot pollinate effectively.

“Less natural pollination could lead to farmers needing to use managed honeybees, meaning greater costs, which may be passed on to consumers. We could see even more expensive apples, pears and vegetables in supermarkets as a result.”

Four decades of data

The study examined 88 different species of wild bees over a period of 40 years, using more than 350,000 individual recordings that showed shifts in emergence dates, both over time and in relation to temperature.

Data showed that some bees emerge earlier than others as different species of bee respond differently to the changing temperature. On average, the 88 species are emerging 4 days earlier per decade.

With winters projected to be between 1 and 4.5°C warmer and up to 30% wetter by 2070, according to the Met Office, spring is likely to continue to start earlier and bees will continue to become active earlier in the year.

The shift in bee emergence will also have a greater effect on plants that are heavily dependent on pollination, such as apple trees, which may not be ready to flower by the time hibernation ends.

FruitWatch

Like with bee emergence dates, understanding how climate change affects when flowers bloom on crops is also important because it can affect how well they are pollinated.

To learn more about when fruit trees flower, Chris and colleagues from the University of Reading and Oracle for Research have set up FruitWatch, a project that encourages people to report when fruit trees in their gardens, at their parks or allotments, start to flower. The submissions – of which more than 6,500 have been received in two years - will help the research team develop a greater understanding of the role climate change has on the flowering of fruit trees and pollination from bees.

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JOURNAL

Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1002/ece3.10284. 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Climate-driven phenological shifts in emergence dates of British bees

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Jul-2023

Beak shape can predict nest material use in the world’s birds, study finds

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

 

IMAGE: A ZEBRA FINCH (TAENIOPYGIA GUTTATA) HANDLING NEST MATERIAL view more 

CREDIT: SHOKO SUGASAWA

The material a bird selects for its nest depends on the dimensions of its beak, according to researchers.

Using data on nest materials for nearly 6,000 species of birds, a team based at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews utilised random forest models, a type of machine learning algorithm, to take data from bird beaks and try to predict what nest materials that species might use.

They found a surprisingly strong correlation. Using only information on beak shape and size, they were able to correctly predict broad nest material use in 60% of species, rising to 97% in some cases.

These findings, published today in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, include a careful exploration of these models, investigating the ecological and evolutionary context behind these relationships. For example, not every species has the same access to all nest material types, which also affects these results.

The study’s lead author, Dr Catherine Sheard of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences said: “We know a lot about primate hands, but not as much about how other animals use their limbs and mouths to manipulate objects. We’ve very excited about the potential applications of our findings, to further explore how beak shape may have co-evolved with other aspects of nest building or other functions.”

Dr Shoko Sugasawa, senior author of the study, based at the University of St Andrews, added: “Most animals, including birds, do not have hands like ours, but manipulating objects like nest material and food is such a crucial part of their lives. Our finding is the first step to reveal possible interactions between the evolution of beaks and manipulation like nest building, and helps us better understand how animals evolved to interact with the world with or without hands”.

The team are now working on a project documenting anthropogenic nest material in the world’s birds, trying to understand what type of birds put human-made material (like plastic, wire, or cigarette butts) in their nests. They are in particular looking to see whether this would be linked to urban-dwelling birds.

“I’m also interested in how beak shape relates to other properties of the nest, including overall nest structure,” added Dr Sheard, “such as whether birds build nests with walls, or a roof.”

A Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) building a nest

CREDIT

Shoko Sugasawa

Paper

‘Beak shape and nest material use in birds’ by Catherine Sheard, Sally E. Street, Caitlin Evans, Kevin N. Lala, Susan D. Healy, and Shoko Sugasawa in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

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JOURNAL

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Beak shape and nest material use in birds

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Jul-2023

PLASTIC POLLUTION

Man-made materials in nests can bring both risks and benefit for birds

Man-made materials are widespread in birds’ nests

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BANGOR UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: WHITE STORK NEST INCORPORATING PLASTIC view more 

CREDIT: ZUZANNA JAGIELLO

We all discard a huge amount of plastic and other man-made materials into the environment, and these are often picked up by birds. New research has shown that 176 bird species around the world are now known to include a wide range of anthropogenic materials in their nests. All over the world, birds are using our left-over or discarded materials. Seabirds in Australia incorporate fishing nets into their nests, ospreys in North America include baler twine, birds living in cities in South America add cigarette butts, and common blackbirds in Europe pick up plastic bags to add to their nests.

This material found in birds’ nests can be beneficial say researchers. For example, cigarette butts retain nicotine and other compounds that repel ectoparasites that attach themselves to nestling bird’s skin and suck blood from them. Meanwhile, there are suggestions that harder man-made materials may help to provide structural support for birds’ nests, while plastic films could help provide insulation and keep offspring warm. Despite such potential benefits, it is important to remember that such anthropogenic material can also be harmful to birds.

This research was published in a special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B on “The evolutionary ecology of nests: a cross-taxon approach”. The special issue was jointly organised by Mark Mainwaring, a Lecturer in Global Change Biology in the School of Natural Sciences at Bangor University.

Mark Mainwaring said,
“The special issue highlights that the nests of a wide range of taxa – from birds to mammals to fish to reptiles – allow them to adapt to human-induced pressures. Those pressures range from the inclusion of anthropogenic materials into their nests through to providing parents and offspring with a place to protect themselves from increasingly hot temperatures in a changing climate.”

Anthropogenic materials sometimes harm birds. Parents and offspring sometimes become fatally entangled in baler twine. Meanwhile, offspring sometimes ingest anthropogenic material after mistaking it for natural prey items. Finally, the inclusion of colourful anthropogenic materials into nests attracts predators to those nests who then prey upon the eggs or nestlings. This means that we need to reduce the amount of plastic and other anthropogenic material that we discard.

The lead author of the study, Zuzanna Jagiełło who is based at the Poznań University of Life Sciences in Poland, added,
“A wide variety of bird species included anthropogenic materials into their nests. This is worrying because it is becoming increasingly apparent that such materials can harm nestlings and even adult birds”. Zuzanna Jagiełło also went on to say that “more studies are needed to gain a more complete understanding of how many bird species worldwide include such materials into their nests for us to fully comprehend the extent of the problem.”

The second author of the study, Jim Reynolds, a researcher in the Centre for Ornithology at the University of Birmingham in the UK, remarked,

“In a rapidly urbanizing world which we share with many different animal taxa, it is not surprising that birds use our discarded materials in their nests. Although much needs to be understood about how plastics, for example, impact birds, it is exciting that birds, through their high mobility and breeding biology, may prove to be potent biomonitors of environmental anthropogenic material pollution.”

White stork chick entangled in plastic incorporated in its nest.

Plastic incorporated in a white stork nest.

CREDIT

Zuzanna Jagiello

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JOURNAL

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rstb.2022.0156 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

ARTICLE TITLE

Why do some bird species incorporate more anthropogenic materials into their nests than others?

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Jul-2023