Science

New York and Boston pigeons don’t mix due to the ample green space between the cities, study finds


Battle of the birds! Study finds New York and Boston pigeons do not mix because ample green space between the cities keeps them from migrating

  • The rivalry between  New York and Boston has been found in the cities’ pigeons
  • Experts discovered genetic differences in the birds along the east coast
  • There is interbreeding of pigeons starting in Virginia up to southern Connecticut
  • But the birds are not migrating south because of a lack of urbanization 

The rivalry between New York and Boston is primarily focused around sports, but a new study reveals it has carried over into the animal kingdom.

Researchers found interbreeding among pigeons living in the Eastern Seaboard, while those that call New England home had their own genetic cluster.

The discovery was made after biologists sampled the blood of hundreds of birds along the east coast and found connections in Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and New York.

However, distinct differences were seen in birds starting in northern Connecticut and up through Boston.

The experts believe this is due to reduced urbanization that leaves rural green space in Connecticut that is keeping the pigeons from crossing over into New York City.

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Researchers found interbreeding among pigeons living on the Eastern Seaboard, while those that call New England home had their own genetic cluster. The discovery was made after biologists sampled hundreds of birds along the east coast and found connections in Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and New York (pictured)

Researchers found interbreeding among pigeons living on the Eastern Seaboard, while those that call New England home had their own genetic cluster. The discovery was made after biologists sampled hundreds of birds along the east coast and found connections in Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and New York (pictured)

The study was conducted by Elizabeth Carlen, a biologist at Fordham University, who took a road trip from Virginia to Providence, Rhode Island, the New York Times reported.

Along this journey she captured pigeons with a net gun and took hundreds of blood samples.

Following the analyses, Carlen determined that the birds living in Virginia to the southern area of Connecticut showed signs of interbreeding.

But she and her co-author found it changed the more north they traveled – there was a ‘distinct pigeon supercity’ that began in Providence and continued up into Boston.

New York and Boston are less than 200 miles apart, but this area lacks urbanization and is keeping pigeons from crossing over into the rival cities. Satellite maps of artificial light at night highlights the gap between the two metropolitan areas

New York and Boston are less than 200 miles apart, but this area lacks urbanization and is keeping pigeons from crossing over into the rival cities. Satellite maps of artificial light at night highlights the gap between the two metropolitan areas

‘We performed ddRAD‐Seqon 473 samples, recovered 35,200 SNPs, and then used multiple evolutionary clustering analyses to investigate population structuring,’ the team wrote in the study published in the Wiley Online Library.

‘These analyses revealed that pigeons formed two genetic clusters – a northern cluster containing samples from Boston and Providence and a southern cluster containing all other samples.’

‘This substructuring is possibly due to reduced urbanization across coastal Connecticut that separates Boston and Providence from New York and mid‐Atlantic cities.’

Carlen told the New York Times that the findings were surprising, as she had hypothesized that each city had a separate population.

The results may be due to one pigeon finding ‘an out-of-town mate every generation’ to explain how cities like Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and New York can have so many genetic similarities, she said.

However, distinct differences were seen in birds starting in northern Connecticut and up through Boston (pictured). The experts believe this is due to reduced urbanization in Connecticut that is keeping the pigeons from crossing over into New York City

However, distinct differences were seen in birds starting in northern Connecticut and up through Boston (pictured). The experts believe this is due to reduced urbanization in Connecticut that is keeping the pigeons from crossing over into New York City

New York and Boston are less than 200 miles apart, but this area lacks urbanization and is keeping pigeons from crossing over into the rival cities. 

‘We found that pairs of pigeons within 25 km are highly related and that beyond 50 km, pigeons are no more related than they would be at random, the team wrote in the study.

‘Our analysis detected higher‐than‐expected gene flow under an isolation by distance model within each city.’

‘We conclude that the extreme urbanization characteristic of the Northeastern megacity is likely facilitating gene flow in feral pigeons.

 



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