Urban landscape relationships with song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) population structure and connectivity and human health and behavior

Urbanization converts native vegetation to novel land cover types, which may affect population connectivity. I studied this relationship in Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) at 18 sites in the Seattle, WA, metropolitan region. Genetic differentiation was best predicted by resistance distances in which resistance to dispersal was linearly related to age of development and a second set of resistance distances in which high and medium urbanization were 100 times more resistant than vegetation land covers. My results suggest that urban development reduced population connectivity for Song Sparrows. The relation to development age suggests that genetic differentiation in the urban system has not yet reached equilibrium, so the effects of connectivity loss will increase.;Urbanization can decrease habitat quality that can result in source-sink population dynamics I combined a study of demographic rates with genetic methods to study source-sink population dynamics in Song Sparrows. I estimated juvenile and adult survival from mark-recapture analysis and fecundity from territory success and fledgling counts. Directional gene flow was investigated by several genetic methods. The trend in Song Sparrow relative abundance revealed an intrinsic rate of increase of −7.8% annually, and four of 15 sampled populations had finite rates of increase (λ) significantly less than one. Net immigration estimated from genetic assignments was negatively correlated with λ. Net immigration or λ were not correlated with landscape or local habitat metrics. Genetic methods suggest that gene flow is common throughout the region, and Song Sparrows exhibit source-sink population dynamics.;I collaborated with an interdisciplinary team to examine the influence of destinations within walking distance and vegetation on walking trips and body mass index (BMI) for residents of Seattle, WA. We measured accessibility and greenness, and self-reported destinations, natural features, walking trips, BMI were measured through a postal survey. Objective accessibility was related to walking trips per month, as was subjective greenness. In areas with high accessibility, BMI was lower in areas that had more greenness. Objective and subjective measurements of accessibility and greenness led to an understanding of variation among walking trips and BMI in different neighborhoods.