Prozac in food chain proves depressing news for starlings
THE sound of starlings singing for a mate could vanish from the British countryside because of high levels of antidepressants in the environment, a study suggests.
York University has discovered that male starlings sing less to females who have consumed diluted concentrations of fluoxetine, which is sold as Prozac.
In 2016, there were 64.7 million prescriptions for antidepressants in the UK, and once they pass through the human body they often end up in sewage treatment systems or waterways.
The research focused on birds that ate worms, maggots and flies at sewage treatment plants that were found to contain traces of many different drugs, including antidepressants.
After measuring levels of Prozac at the plants, the team fed similar amounts to captured starlings and found that it made them less attractive to the opposite sex.
Dr Kathryn Arnold, of the University of York’s environment department, said: “Here is the first evidence that low concentrations of an antidepressant can disrupt the courtship of songbirds.
“This is important because animals that are slow to find a mate often won’t get to breed. With many wildlife populations in decline, we have to ask whether more could be done to remove chemical contaminants like pharmaceuticals from our sewage.”
Long-term monitoring by the British Trust for Ornithology shows that starling numbers have fallen by 66per cent in Britain since the mid-1970s, and it is now listed as a bird of high conservation concern.
The new study, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and published in the journal Chemosphere, also found that males were increasingly aggressive towards females that ingested Prozac. Instead of courting them, they were more likely to chase, peck or claw the female starlings.