Electronic Supplementary Material

The paradox of invasion in birds: Competitive superiority or ecological opportunism?

Daniel Sol, Ignasi Bartomeus & Andrea Griffin

Table S1. Cities, villages and neighborhoods where transects took place.

Location / Latitude / Longitude
Cardiff / -32.55 / 151.39
Charlestown / -32.57 / 151.41
Dudley / -32.59 / 151.43
Gesmond / -32.90 / 151.69
Glenbrook / -33.46 / 150.37
Gosfor / -33.25 / 151.21
Hamilton / -32.54 / 151.45
Harold Myers park / -32.89 / 151.68
Hazelbrook / -33.72 / 150.45
Jesmond / -32.53 / 151.41
Katoomba / -33.43 / 150.19
Kotara / -32.55 / 151.41
Ku-Ring-Gai National park / -33.62 / 151.24
Manly / -33.48 / 151.17
Merewether / -32.56 / 151.44
Nelson bay / -32.43 / 152.8
New Lambton / -32.54 / 151.42
Newcastle east / -32.55 / 151.47
Newcastle west / -32.55 / 151.45
Sydney / -33.51 / 151.12
Wallsend / -32.53 / 151.41

Table S2. Abundance (total number of individuals observed) of each species recorded during the transects in the three habitats studied.

Family / Latin name / English name / Status / Wildland / Suburbs / Urban
Anatidae / Chenonetta jubata / Australian wood duck / Native / 11 / 2 / 6
Accipitridae / Haliaeetus leucogaster / White-bellied sea-eagle / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Ardeidae / Egretta novaehollandiae / White-faced heron / Native / 0 / 0 / 1
Charadriidae / Vanellus miles / Masked lapwing / Native / 0 / 2 / 4
Falconidae / Falco peregrinus / Peregrine falcon / Native / 1 / 1 / 0
Laridae / Larus novaehollandiae / Silver gull / Native / 0 / 0 / 27
Pelecanidae / Pelecanus conspicillatus / Australian pelican / Native / 0 / 0 / 1
Phalacrocoracidae / Phalacrocorax carbo / Phalacrocorax spp. / Native / 0 / 0 / 1
Threskiornithidae / Threskiornis molucca / Australian white ibis / Native / 0 / 0 / 3
Threskiornithidae / Threskiornis spinicollis / Straw-necked ibis / Native / 0 / 6 / 0
Columbidae / Phaps chalcoptera / Common Bronzewing / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Columbidae / Streptopelia chinensis / Spotted turtle-dove / Exotic / 0 / 53 / 25
Columbidae / Geopelia humeralis / Bar-shouldered Dove / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Columbidae / Columba livia / Feral pigeon / Exotic / 1 / 1 / 125
Columbidae / Geophaps lophotes / Crested pigeon / Native / 0 / 24 / 4
Halcyonidae / Dacelo novaeguineae / Laughing kookaburra / Native / 30 / 12 / 2
Megapodiidae / Alectura lathami / Alectura lathami / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Cuculidae / Cacomantis flabelliformis / Fan-tailed cuckoo / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Rallidae / Porphyrio porphyrio / Purple swamphen / Native / 0 / 4 / 0
Rallidae / Gallinula tenebrosa / Dusky moorhen / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Climacteridae / Cormobates leucophaeus / White-throated treecreper / Native / 3 / 0 / 0
Corvidae / Dicrurus bracteatus / Splangled drongo / Native / 0 / 0 / 2
Corvidae / Daphoenositta chrysoptera / Varied sitella / Native / 2 / 0 / 0
Corvidae / Corvus coronoides / Australian raven / Native / 19 / 16 / 12
Corvidae / Grallina cyanoleuca / Magpie-lark / Native / 0 / 11 / 12
Corvidae / Rhipidura fuliginosa / Grey Fantail / Native / 11 / 0 / 0
Corvidae / Strepera graculina / Pied Currawong / Native / 7 / 17 / 4
Corvidae / Rhipidura leucophrys / Willie-wagtail / Native / 0 / 0 / 4
Corvidae / Cracticus nigrogularis / Pied Butcherbird / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Corvidae / Coracina novaehollandiae / Black-faced cuckoo-shrike / Native / 4 / 3 / 4
Corvidae / Psophodes olivaceus / Eastern Whipbird / Native / 12 / 0 / 0
Corvidae / Coracina papuensis / White-bellied cuckoo-shrike / Native / 2 / 0 / 0
Corvidae / Pachycephala pectoralis / Golden Whistler / Native / 5 / 0 / 0
Corvidae / Oriolus sagittatus / Olive-backed oriole / Native / 2 / 0 / 0
Corvidae / Gymnorhina tibicen / Australian magpie / Native / 30 / 37 / 20
Corvidae / Cracticus torquatus / Grey Butcherbird / Native / 7 / 2 / 0
Corvidae / Sphecotheres viridis / Figbird / Native / 0 / 1 / 1
Hirundinidae / Hirundo neoxena / Welcome swallow / Native / 0 / 0 / 7
Maluridae / Malurus cyaneus / Superb fairy-wren / Native / 6 / 0 / 0
Maluridae / Malurus lamberti / Variegated fairy-wren / Native / 18 / 0 / 0
Meliphagidae / Anthochaera carunculata / Red Wattlebird / Native / 10 / 8 / 1
Meliphagidae / Lichenostomus chrysops / Yellow-faced Honeyeater / Native / 9 / 0 / 0
Meliphagidae / Anthochaera chrysoptera / Brush Wattlebird / Native / 1 / 2 / 1
Meliphagidae / Philemon corniculatus / Noisy friabird / Native / 2 / 0 / 0
Meliphagidae / Lichmera indistincta / Brown Honeyeater / Native / 0 / 0 / 1
Meliphagidae / Meliphaga lewinii / Lewin's Honeyeater / Native / 11 / 0 / 0
Meliphagidae / Manorina melanocephala / Noisy Miner / Native / 34 / 110 / 31
Meliphagidae / Manorina melanophrys / Bell miner / Native / 8 / 0 / 0
Meliphagidae / Phylidonyris novaehollandiae / New holland honeyeater / Native / 12 / 0 / 0
Meliphagidae / Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris / Eastern spinebill / Native / 4 / 0 / 0
Menuridae / Menura novaehollandiae / Superb lyrebird / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Pardalotidae / Sericornis frontalis / White-browed Scrubwren / Native / 16 / 0 / 0
Pardalotidae / Acanthiza lineata / Striated Thornbill / Native / 12 / 0 / 0
Pardalotidae / Pardalotus punctatus / Spotted Pardalote / Native / 10 / 0 / 0
Pardalotidae / Acanthiza pusilla / Brown thornbill / Native / 5 / 0 / 0
Pardalotidae / Origma solitaria / Rock warbler / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Passeridae / Passer domesticus / House sparrow / Exotic / 0 / 8 / 49
Passeridae / Neochmia temporalis / Red-browed finch / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Petroicidae / Eopsaltria australis / Eastern yellow robin / Native / 6 / 0 / 0
Petroicidae / Petroica rosea / Rose robin / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Ptilonorhynchidae / Ptilonorhynchus violaceus / Satin bowerbird / Native / 4 / 0 / 0
Pycnonotidae / Pycnonotus jocosus / Red-whiskered bulbul / Exotic / 0 / 4 / 0
Sturnidae / Acridotheres tristis / Common myna / Exotic / 0 / 19 / 189
Sturnidae / Sturnus vulgaris / European starling / Exotic / 0 / 5 / 34
Zosteropidae / Zosterops lateralis / Silvereye / Native / 5 / 0 / 0
Psittacidae / Calyptorhynchus funereus / Calyptorhynchus funereus / Native / 1 / 1 / 0
Psittacidae / Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus / Scaly-breasted lorikeet / Native / 11 / 7 / 0
Psittacidae / Glossopsitta concinna / Musk lorikeet / Native / 7 / 0 / 0
Psittacidae / Platycercus elegans / Crimson rosella / Native / 15 / 0 / 0
Psittacidae / Platycercus eximius / Eastern Rosella / Native / 26 / 33 / 0
Psittacidae / Callocephalon fimbriatum / Gang-gang cockatoo / Native / 0 / 1 / 0
Psittacidae / Cacatua galerita / Sulphur-crested cockatoo / Native / 50 / 12 / 30
Psittacidae / Trichoglossus haematodus / Rainbow lorikeet / Native / 19 / 58 / 14
Psittacidae / Psephotus haematonotus / Red-rumped parrot / Native / 1 / 0 / 0
Psittacidae / Eolophus roseicapillus / Galah / Native / 3 / 7 / 6
Psittacidae / Alisterus scapularis / Australian King parrot / Native / 8 / 0 / 0

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Table S3. Proportion of seconds spent in the centre of the experimental patch as a function of the exotic or native status of the species (n = 274 observations). Gradient and species were random effects. The model on the left is a GLMM with binomial error and logit link. The model on the right is a MCMC GLMM with the same structure of errors. LCL and UCL refer, respectively, to the lower and upper 95% confidence interval.

Fixed effects / Parameter / Std. Error / z / P / Fixed effects / Posterior mean / LCL / UCL / P
Intercept / -10.157 / 6.757 / -1.50 / 0.133 / Intercept** / -21.52 / -55.19 / 15.91 / 0.174
Status / Status
Exotic / 0.000* / - / - / - / Exotic / 0.00 / - / - / -
Native / 11.741 / 7.629 / 1.54 / 0.124 / Native / 20.56 / -20.62 / 60.98 / 0.262
Random effects / Random effects
Species / 165.710 / 12.872 / - / - / Species / 1148.00 / 113.61 / 3013.00 / -
Experimental site / 48.811 / 6.986 / - / - / Experimental site / 236.00 / 26.98 / 576.80 / -

*The significance of the parameters is relative to urbanised exotics, which is set to be zero.

**The prior for the binomial models was: list(R = list(V=1, nu=1e+06), G=list(G1=list(V=1,nu=0), G2=list(V=1,nu=0)))

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Table S4. Frequency of agonistic interactions initiated and won for the eight species most often involved in encounters. Exotic species are identified with an asterisk.

Species / Attacks / Attacked / Chi-Square / P / Wins / Loses / Chi-Square / P
Australian magpie / 39 / 12 / 14.29 / 0.0002 / 40 / 11 / 16.49 / < 0.0001
Common myna* / 8 / 37 / 18.68 / < 0.0001 / 6 / 39 / 24.20 / < 0.0001
Feral pigeon* / 9 / 2 / 4.45 / 0.0348 / 9 / 2 / 4.45 / 0.0348
Noyse miner / 22 / 9 / 5.45 / 0.0196 / 19 / 12 / 1.58 / 0.2087
Crested pigeon / 0 / 7 / 7.00 / 0.0082 / 0 / 7 / 7.00 / 0.0082
Australian raven / 15 / 3 / 8.00 / 0.0047 / 16 / 2 / 10.88 / 0.0010
European starling* / 0 / 6 / 6.00 / 0.0143 / 0 / 6 / 6.00 / 0.0143
Magpie-lark / 2 / 6 / 2.00 / 0.1573 / 3 / 5 / 0.50 / 0.4795

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Table S5. MCMC GLMMs* modelling variation in response to experimental food provisioning (Binomial error, 0 = ignore food, 1 = feed food) and flight distance (Gaussian error) in exotic and native individuals found in either urban or non-urban (suburbs and wildland) habitats. Gradient and species were random effects. LCL and UCL refer, respectively, to the lower and upper 95% confidence interval.

Opportunistic foraging
All species (n = 230 observations) Species > 5 observations (n = 214 observations)
Fixed effects / Posterior mean / LCL / UCL / P / Posterior mean / LCL / UCL / P
Intercept / 3.867 / 1.189 / 6.472 / 0.006 / 3.561 / 0.239 / 6.592 / 0.048
Urbanised exotics / 0.000** / - / - / - / 0.000 / - / - / -
Urbanised natives / -2.401 / -4.954 / 0.362 / 0.080 / -2.187 / -5.518 / 0.782 / 0.168
Non-urbanised birds*** / -4.327 / -6.371 / -2.236 / 0.001 / -4.470 / -6.824 / -2.367 / 0.001
Random effects
Species / 7.275 / 0.997 / 16.63 / - / 11.07 / 1.215 / 30.36 / -
Gradient / 5.912 / 0.000 / 15.21 / - / 123.4 / 0.000 / 16.55 / -
Flight distance
All species (n = 370 observations) Species > 5 observations (n = 334 observations)
Fixed effects / Posterior mean / LCL / UCL / P / Posterior mean / LCL / UCL / P
Intercept / 0.346 / 0.139 / 0.577 / 0.002 / 0.294 / 0.071 / 0.513 / 0.010
Urbanised exotics / 0.000 / - / - / - / 0.000 / - / - / -
Urbanised natives / -0.054 / -0.252 / 0.133 / 0.538 / -0.029 / -0.229 / 0.159 / 0.778
Non-urbanised birds / 0.375 / 0.221 / 0.523 / 0.001 / 0.459 / 0.307 / 0.612 / <0.001
Random effects
Species / 0.139 / 0.061 / 0.227 / - / 0.131 / 0.041 / 0.269 / -

*The prior for the binomial models was: list(R = list(V=1, nu=1e+06), G=list(G1=list(V=1,nu=0), G2=list(V=1,nu=0))); For Gaussian models, this was: list(R=list(V=0.0000001, n=-2), G=list(G1=list(V=0.0000001, n=-2))); The specifications to run the MCMC models were: nitt=500000, burnin=250000, thin=250.

**The significance of the parameters is relative to urbanised exotics, which is set to be zero.

***During model simplification (Crawley 2002), non-urbanised exotic and native species were grouped together as they did not differ in the response variables.

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Figure S1. Abundances (median and percentiles) of the 15 most abundant bird species in the study area. The exotic birds have been identified by their name.

Figure S2. Number of sights of exotic (black dots) and native (white dots) species in the Sydney basin, Australia, based on the two surveys (1977-1981 and 1998-2002) carried out for the Atlas of birds of Australia (http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/our-projects/atlas-birdata.html). The names identify the exotic species investigated in the present study (the feral pigeon is not shown as being so common in cities and villages the number of sightings should have been too high).