Meet our grantees
Wild Animal Initiative funds academic research on high-priority questions in wild animal welfare.
The goal of our grants program is to fund research that deepens scientific knowledge of the welfare of wild animals in order to better understand how to improve the welfare of as many wild animals as possible, regardless of what causes the threats to their well-being.
We showcase our grantees and their projects here and continuously update this page as new projects are added.
Development of novel measures of welfare in juvenile European starlings exposed to nutritional stress
Grantee: Melissa Bateson
Institution: Newcastle University
Project summary
Nutritional stress causes massive mortality in juvenile European starlings and has lifetime welfare consequences for survivors. The aim of this project is to identify the metabolic “fingerprint” of nutritional stress in starling nestlings and to validate molecular biomarkers that can be used to assess the welfare of wild starlings. This project will use untargeted metabolomics to identify multiple novel biomarkers of exposure to nutritional stress. This “fingerprint” will be validated by testing whether it predicts gold-standard behavioral measures of adult affective experience in a cohort of laboratory-raised birds. The aim will be to identify an applicable panel of metabolites that can be measured from feathers and guano.
Grantee: Melissa Bateson
Institution: Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $60,000
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Starlings (Sturnidae sp.)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, ornithology
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
Juveniles of passerine species such as the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) experience massive mortality, much of which is caused by direct or indirect effects of nutritional stress. Of birds that survive, many will bear the “scars” of early-life stress that have consequences for their welfare. The aim of this project is to identify the metabolic “fingerprint” of nutritional stress in starling nestlings and to validate sensitive and non-invasive molecular biomarkers that can be used to assess the welfare of wild starlings.
This group has been developing the hypothesis that biomarkers of biological age not only predict future morbidity and mortality, but also reflect the quality of an animal’s cumulative lifetime experience. Existing metrics of biological age, particularly telomere length, require invasive blood samples, and measurements are imprecise, meaning that large sample sizes are currently required to obtain significant effects in epidemiological studies. Estimating biological age based on measuring multiple age-related biomarkers (as is typical in the human aging literature) is likely to be more reliable than using telomere length alone.
This project will use untargeted metabolomics to identify multiple novel biomarkers of exposure to nutritional stress in nestling starlings. This “fingerprint” will be validated by testing whether it predicts gold-standard behavioral measures of adult affective experience in a cohort of laboratory-raised birds. Metabolomics measures thousands of small molecules in one biological sample and can be performed on a range of tissues including blood, hair, and urine. The aim will be to identify an applicable panel of metabolites that can be measured cheaply and easily from feathers and the uric acid component of guano.
Why we funded this project
This project should introduce a novel indicator of long-term welfare that is less invasive, requires fewer resources, and is potentially more reliable than similar existing methods. The PI is a world leader in the field of animal behavior and is the main originator of using biological aging to understand long-term animal welfare, especially in non-model species. For that reason, we are especially confident in this work being high-quality and having great academic reach and influence.
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It takes guts to grow in the city: the role of the gut microbiome in the welfare of juvenile urban birds
Grantee: Pablo Capilla-Lasheras
Institution: University of Glasgow
Project summary
Approximately 30 million blue tits hatch every year in UK cities, but around 63% die as juveniles. One reason for this may be that juvenile birds in urban habitats tend to have low-quality diets, causing stunted growth and increased early-life mortality. Research suggests that gut microbiome composition may contain indicators of an animal’s welfare, but this has received little attention in a wild animal context. This project will combine telomere attrition, begging behavior, and other health metrics with a study of juvenile birds’ gut microbiomes to investigate how to improve the welfare of juvenile blue tits in urban areas. It will also test the potential for gut microbiome enrichment to improve the life experience of juvenile birds in urban habitats.
Grantee: Pablo Capilla-Lasheras
Institution: University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $59,052
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, population ecology, animal welfare science, ornithology, animal behavior
Research location: United Kingdom
Publications
Reid, R., et al. (2024). The impact of urbanization on health depends on the health metric, life stage and level of urbanization: a global meta-analysis on avian species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 291(2027). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.0617
Project summary
Amongst the novel stressors that wildlife face in cities, shifts in diet are prevalent and have negative consequences for welfare, particularly in juveniles. Research clearly shows that juvenile birds in urban habitats have low-quality diets, causing stunted growth and increased early-life mortality. For example, in the UK alone, approximately 30 million blue tits hatch every year in cities, but around 63% of them die as juveniles. This project will study juvenile blue tits and investigate how to improve their welfare in urban areas using an integrative approach that will combine metrics of animal welfare with the study of gut microbiomes. Human and captive animal studies suggest that the gut microbiome composition may contain indicators of an animal’s welfare, but this has received little attention in a wild animal context. This study will combine a physiological welfare indicator (telomere attrition), a behavioral welfare indicator (begging behavior), and other health metrics with a study of juvenile birds’ gut microbiomes to link poor-quality urban diets, gut microbiome composition, and welfare. The project will also test a potential near-term dietary intervention (gut microbiome enrichment) to improve the life experience of juvenile birds growing in urban habitats.
Why we funded this project
Welfare is shaped by, and in turn influences, numerous aspects of an animal’s phenotype. Individual welfare indicators offer only limited insights, but combining indicators across multiple domains is thought to be extremely important for triangulating affective state, or “true” welfare. Because the gut microbiome represents a partially distinct domain, understanding how it relates to welfare could therefore strengthen all of our other indicators when they are used in combination. We were especially interested in this project due to the inclusion of an intervention experiment that could be implemented in the near future. Finally, this project will support an early-career researcher with an interest in wild animal welfare.
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Density-Dependent Welfare in Wild Bird Social Networks: Linking resource distributions with disease dynamics
Grantee: Joshua Firth
Institution: University of Oxford
Project summary
This project will investigate how various potential density-dependent drivers of welfare interact and influence net welfare in two species of tit. Population density is expected to be directly related to infectious disease transfer and increased competition, but also to covary with processes that are potentially beneficial to welfare. The study will use historical data to determine how the relationship between population density and individual welfare is shaped by infectious disease, body condition, and mortality risk. The investigators will then manipulate density experimentally to test model outputs and determine potential causal links.
Grantee: Josh Firth
Institution: University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $99,466
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Great tits (Parus major), blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal behavior, community ecology, infectious disease, population ecology, ornithology, bio/eco-informatics, ecological modeling, animal welfare science
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
This project seeks to understand the interplay among various potential density-dependent drivers of positive and negative welfare impacts to determine net welfare related to aggregation (increased density) in wild birds (two species of tit). Infectious disease transfer and increased competition, both likely to reduce welfare, are expected to be directly related to population density. However, population density also covaries with processes that are potentially beneficial to welfare, such as congregation around areas that provide high nutrition, various social benefits, opportunities for increased cooperation, or access to social information. The study will use long-term datasets to empirically determine how the relationship between population density and individual welfare is shaped by infectious disease, including the density-dependent relationship with disease spread. Additionally, using historical data, the project will test how population density, mediated by social contact, environment, and disease, determines individuals’ body condition and mortality risk. Based on the results of this observational phase of the study, the investigators will then manipulate density experimentally, to test model outputs and determine potential causal links.
Why we funded this project
This project brings two unique advantages. First, the investigators have access to a population that has been subject to intensive monitoring for decades, meaning that much of the relevant ecological context is known and there is historical data to analyze retrospectively. Secondly, in part due to this long-term monitoring, the birds are tagged and observed at feeding stations equipped with RFID tags/readers that allow for experimental manipulation of the density and identity of birds feeding at particular stations. By empirically testing density-dependent models of welfare, the project could provide an increased understanding of the interplay among population density, infectious disease, and various social and environmental characteristics, and in doing so, identify drivers of welfare in wild birds.
