<title>Neophilia, aggressiveness and insecticide-treated dispenser material use in Darwin's finches</title>
</titles>
<publisher>:none</publisher>
<publicationYear>2024</publicationYear>
<descriptions>
<descriptiondescriptionType="Other">On the Galápagos Islands, Darwin’s finches are threatened by an invasive parasite, the avian vampire fly, Philornis downsi. Avian vampire fly larvae develop in the base of the nest where they feed on the blood and tissue of developing nestlings, causing high mortality. We deployed dispensers filled with insecticide-treated nesting material, a conservation method that has been found to decrease parasite load and increase fledging success, and investigated if differences in neophilia and aggressiveness affected treated material use. We tested the response of nesting Darwin’s finches to a novel object (neophilia, N = 102 individuals) and simulated territory intrusion (aggressiveness, N = 58 individuals), and dismantled their nests once inactive to measure the amount of treated material used.</description>