Anthropogenic materials used by birds to nest in an urban landscape of Costa Rica

Abstract

Throughout the Anthropocene, urbanization has changed the environment for birds, modifying the types and abundance of available materials to build their nests. Discarded plastics and other anthropogenic materials are very abundant in urbanized and agricultural areas and are being used by birds to build nests, constituting a potential threat to them. Objective: To evaluate the materials used for several species of birds living in an urbanized environment. Methods: We evaluated the composition of 20 nests of several species of birds found in the campus of Universidad Nacional. Results: 52.6% of nests contained some sort of waste classified in 13 types of anthropogenic materials, where the most common were wool, strings and thread. The species with the highest percentage of nest weight comprised by anthropogenic material was Campylorhynchus rufinucha Conclusions: Our results demonstrates the widespread use of anthropogenic waste as nesting material.

Keywords

• Anthropocene
• Nest
• Plastic waste
• Pollution
• Wildlife-human interactions