Abstract Understanding at which spatial scales anthropogenic selection pressures operate most strongly is a prerequisite for efficient conservation and management of urban biodiversity. Heterogeneity in findings on the strength and direction of urbanization effects may result from a lack of consensus on which spatial scales are most adequate when studying biotic effects of urbanization. Therefore, here, using the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) as model, we test the hypothesis that more than one spatial scale will explain variation among phenotypic stress markers. By applying a unique hierarchical sampling design enabling us to differentiate between local and regional effects of urbanization, we here show that the strength and direction of relationships with the percentage of built-up area – a simple structural measure of urbanization - vary among phenotypic stress markers and across the spatial range over which urbanization is measured. While inverse relationships with scaled body mass and bill height of adult house sparrows (Passer domesticus) were strongest when the degree of urbanization was quantified at city-level, similar relationships with corticosterone concentrations in feathers were only detected at the scale of individual home ranges. In contrast, tarsus length, wing length, and two measures of feather development were not significantly related to urbanization at any spatial scale. As the suite of phenotypic stress markers applied in this study revealed signatures of urbanization over a broad spatial range, we conclude that measures aimed at mitigating impacts of urbanization on free-ranging populations should best be implemented at multiple spatial scales too.

中文翻译：

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城市化的表型特征是尺度相关的：对典型城市剥削者的多特征研究

摘要 了解人为选择压力在哪些空间尺度上作用最强是有效保护和管理城市生物多样性的先决条件。关于城市化效应的强度和方向的研究结果的异质性可能是由于在研究城市化的生物效应时，对于哪种空间尺度最合适缺乏共识。因此，在这里，使用麻雀（Passerdomesticus）作为模型，我们检验了多个空间尺度将解释表型应激标记之间变化的假设。通过应用独特的分层抽样设计，我们能够区分城市化的本地和区域影响，我们在这里表明，与建成区百分比的关系的强度和方向 - 城市化的简单结构测量 - 在表型压力标记之间以及在测量城市化的空间范围内变化。虽然在城市级别量化城市化程度时，成年家麻雀 (Passerdomesticus) 的体重和喙高度的反比关系最强，但仅在个体家庭范围的尺度上检测到与羽毛中皮质酮浓度的类似关系。相比之下，跗骨长度、翅膀长度和羽毛发育的两个指标在任何空间尺度上都与城市化没有显着相关性。由于本研究中应用的一系列表型压力标记揭示了广泛空间范围内的城市化特征，