Telomeres are the little protective DNA “ jacket ” at the end of chromosome , and telomere length has been linked to lifespan , aging , and cancer . According to a newBiology Lettersstudy , growing up in urban environments shortens the telomere length of songbird .
Living in urban area has its pros and cons . There ’s more aura , swooning , and noise pollution , but there ’s often more opportunities . For wildlife , that includes cozier temperatures , nooks and crannies for breeding , and a profuseness of human food ( though this is typically crushed quality than innate intellectual nourishment ) . flock of studies have found that early - sprightliness stipulation have lifelong implications , but less is known about development in urban environment .
To study the impact of city life on wildlife , a team led by Lund University ’s Pablo Salmón conducted a “ cross - fostering ” experiment using urban and rural nestlings of cracking pap ( Parus major ) living in southerly Sweden . They placed two - day - old city - yield doll into the nest boxes of country parents and res publica skirt into the care of metropolis parent . The squad weighed and measure out the chick when they were 15 days honest-to-goodness , and a 100 - microliter blood sampling was taken in Holy Order to measure the lengths of their telomeres . Because telomeres shorten each time the cell divides , telomere distance is think to be an indicator of longevity . In wild populations , telomere length correlate with both lifespan and survival .
The squad found that great tits raised in the city had short telomere , and it does n’t weigh where they were born . Overall , telomere distance differ by 10.7 per centum between the habitat : Urban nestlings raised in the body politic had 11 percentage prospicient telomeres than their non - fostered sibling , while rural nestlings rear in the city had 10.4 percent shorter telomeres than their non - fostered siblings .
This is the first study to show that develop up in an urban surround shortens telomere length . For make grow birds at least , city living for a menstruation as brief as just two calendar week enforce challenge – such as strain , contamination , and difference in diet – that come with potentially irreversible effects .
