How much does it matter where you are born, or whether you are heavy or light, if you are a house sparrow?
How much does it matter where you are born, or whether you are heavy or light, if you are a house sparrow? Researcher Kenneth Aase calculates what the future looks like for these grey-brown feather balls – and hopefully other species, too.
Researchers are trying to understand why some wild species do better than others over time, as the environment changes.
NTNU researcher Kenneth Aase’s research focuses on a new mathematical approach that could shed light on this question, which in turn could move us closer to understanding the loss of biological diversity.
Aase is a statistician and a PhD research fellow at NTNU’s Department of Mathematical Sciences. He is associated with the GPWILD project, funded by a European Research Council Consolidator Grant. The project involves using biology and mathematics to understand more about a species’ adaptive evolutionary potential, and relies on genetic and body data from tens of thousands of house sparrows who live in the northern Norwegian district of Helgeland.
Read More: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Image: The house sparrow is about 15 centimeters long and weighs about 25–35 grams. It has brown and black striped upperparts and gray undersides. The male has a black throat patch and gray skullcap, while the female has a brown skullcap. (Credit: Photo: Thor Harald Ringsby, NTNU)
