Common, Boring Species can be Cool Too!

For my ornithology class we had a midterm paper that was a species account. We could choose any species we wanted and we would also have to present to the class. Of course most of us in the class have chosen charismatic, exotic or endangered species. Only one of my friends has chosen a common, everyday bird we see the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). Once we were done with the assignment and the presentations, my professor had made an interesting comment.

Male Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). Photo by William H. Majoros 

His comment was that he does not understand why in the years he has been teaching, none of the students he has taught usually never a "common" or "boring" species like a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), a European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and/or the American Robin (Turdus migratorius). While he understood the attraction of exotic/rare/endangered/charismatic species in all vertebrate sciences, my professor made a interesting point in that more common and everyday species are just as complex and exciting to research with. He went further saying how meticulous European Starlings are when it comes to foraging in a flock where each individual has their own space. Or how House Sparrows peck baby bluebirds to death by putting a hole in their skull, or the different dialects of American Robins.

I never really have thought about this before but once he mentioned it I have been thinking about this ever since. Indeed science is a never ending space of knowledge. Sometimes we might be surprised in what we find in common species that was never seen before. For example domesticated cattle or even deer would consume bird nests containing young (Furness, 1988 and Nack & Ribic, 2005) or the complex coevolution between humans and dogs (Schleidt, 2003). In fact domesticated (or at least those we keep as pets) animals in general are just as fascinating as their wild relatives (if not, more!); sometimes majority of the information of the biology, evolution, development and the behavior of our vertebrates comes from mostly common animals (such as lab rodents, chickens, Zebra Finches, catfish). They can even warn us about the state of the planet; if a common everyday species like the Red-winged Blackbird is all of sudden declining in the overall population, that is something to be concern about (Blackwell & Dolbeer, 2001). That is why students and friends in my school often choose to work on more common species for not only the connivence but also the potential data we can obtain!

In essence it goes to show that every species - no matter what they are - are important for not only preserving biodiversity but also for research as well!

References

• Blackwell, B. F., & Dolbeer, R. A. (2001). Decline of the red-winged blackbird population in Ohio correlated to changes in agriculture (1965-1996). The Journal of wildlife management, 661-667.
• Furness, R. W. 1988. Predation on ground-nesting seabirds by island populations of red deer Cervus elaphus and sheep Ovis. Journal of Zoology 216, 565-573.
• Nack, J. L. & Ribic, C. A. 2005. Apparent predation by cattle at grassland bird nests. The Wilson Bulletin 117, 56-62.
• Schleidt, W. M., & Shalter, M. D. (2003). Co-evolution of humans and canids. Evol. Cogn, 9, 57-72.