Meeting Abstract
Birds choose their nesting materials from a wide variety of options for a range of reasons. One of these reasons may be to control the microbial environment within the nest. While there have been various studies on the relationship between nesting materials and presence of parasitic hosts, few studies have attempted to show relationships with bacterial growth. In this study we compare the antimicrobial activity of several common nesting materials (e.g., red pepper, cedar, lavender, straw, etc.). Each nesting material was ground to ensure consistency and then sterilized with UV light. Sterilized samples were added to nutrient broth containing a known quantity of Escherichia coli. After incubation, we performed serial dilutions and plated appropriate dilutions. We used eosin methylene blue agar plates to allow for selection and differentiation of E. coli. We calculated survival of E. coli for each nesting material and identified correlations between growth and antimicrobial activity. We will discuss initial results from our studies as well as implications for nest-structure and microbial ecology.
