I will shoot them anyway;)
>>2150048
cowbirds are niggers
never forget
Cowbirds aren't invasive. Parasites are an important part of the ecosystem.
>>2150090
This. Anyone who has a problem with them are overly-emotional, anthropomorphizing retards.
>>2150090
>Cowbirds aren't invasive.
They literally are where I'm from. Granted that has to do with habitat fragmentation, nevertheless they're still considered invasive. they're parasitic and decrease the reproductive success of some of our resident birds. we've documented a decrease in population growth on some of our warblers in our area and it has a direct correlation with the cowbird infestation of the last several decades. why shouldn't i go hunt them? to think there's some grand "everything will work out in the end!" plot to simple selection pressure is the wrong approach.
>>2150117
Just curious, are there any birds in your area in danger of going extinct? On the IUCN red list?
>>2150117
>o think there's some grand "everything will work out in the end!" plot to simple selection pressure is the wrong approach.
It will. Get over it. 10 million years from now you will be gone and the earth won't even be recognizable. Yet there will be life and it will keep revolving. Your lifetime is a literal spec of dust on the time line for mother nature and you stupid hippies can't fathom how pitiful your attempts at saving volatile biological systems are.
>>2150123
that's hard to say. how am i supposed to know? all i can assume is that a declining reproductive rate will lead to extinction unless there's some natural counter from the host species or an intervention from humans (killing off the parasites; restoring natural habitats). we don't seem to be in a rush to restore our marshlands so killing off parasites is not unreasonable
>>2150125
that's a stupid argument. "we're all gonna die anyway so who cares lol". okay, so why do anything at all
>that's hard to say. how am i supposed to know? all i can assume is that a declining reproductive rate will lead to extinction unless there's some natural counter from the host species
Like, say, an evolutionary response to selection pressure?
>>2150131
i'm only validating killing parasites as a response to a neglect in restoring natural habitats by the state. parasitism is not beneficial to an ecosystem, though, unless you can prove to me otherwise
THREADLY REMINDER:
>Humans sometimes engage in cowbird control programs, with the intention of protecting species negatively impacted by the cowbirds' brood parasitism. A study of nests of Bell's vireo highlighted a potential limitation of these control programs, demonstrating that removal of cowbirds from a site may create an unintended consequence of increasing cowbird productivity on that site, because with fewer cowbirds, fewer parasitized nests are deserted, resulting in greater nest success for cowbirds.[15]
DO NOT KILL COWBIRDS.
DO NOT RESPOND TO COWBIRD POSTERS.
HIDE COWBIRD THREADS.
>>2150142
i read about this and it's called avian mob mentality, or something. that's really new research. it's cool stuff, though, and really interesting. basically they're saying that some parasites watch over their hosts from a far. if the host rejects the eggs, the parasite swoops in and retaliates by destroying their nest. that's new research
>because with fewer cowbirds, fewer parasitized nests are deserted nests are deserted, resulting in greater nest success for birds.
there are acceptor and rejector species, acceptors accept cowbird eggs because they haven't been subjected to an evolutionary arms race with them. you're getting into evolutionary equilibrium which proposes that acceptor birds favor parasitism because the benefits of adapting defense don't always outweigh the costs. you see that in birds that nest in cavities or birds that don't really share a similar diet. it's interesting but those who benefit from parasitism aren't the one's in danger of declining reproductivity
>>2150117
https://www.aba.org/birding/v36n4p374.pdf
>>2150139
>parasitism is not beneficial to an ecosystem, though, unless you can prove to me otherwise
It's like predation or disease in that it keeps populations in check. It only is bad if there are too many brood parasites (or if you remove too many brood parasites >>2150142).
Brood parasitism has evolved multiple times in birds and other animals, it is a natural process.
>>2150123
I'm from Hawaii, so...
>>2150195
Should specify, not OP
>>2150125
>>2150048
Is this about that dumb /r9k/ thread?
>>2150195
You have no native animals?
cats.
and a fuck ton of invasive plants are protected here.
>>2150232
All the animals here are either introduced, migratory, or endangered/ extinct. Doesn't help that island species are pretty frail.
>>2150139
>female mosquitoes drink blood to gain enough protein to produce and lay eggs.
>these female mosquitoes spread diseases and parasites (zika virus, bot fly eggs etc. etc. etc.)
>male mosquitoes do not drink blood.
>male mosquitoes survive by pollinating flowers.
>if female mosquitoes are killed off or suffer a major culling then they will be no/little male offspring.
>no/little male offspring means all of the plant species that evolved a symbiotic bond with male mosquitoes will not be pollinated.
>certain species of plants not being pollinated means a potential crash of widespread ecosystems.
There, that's just one fucking example off of the top of my head about how vital a parasitic species can be to the fucking ecosystem.
This is shit I learned in elementary school. What the fuck is wrong with you that you don't know something as simple and basic as this?
>>2150387
avian brood parasitism, anon.
