TY - JOUR TI - The house sparrow in the service of basic and applied biology AU - Hanson, Haley E AU - Mathews, Noreen S AU - Hauber, Mark E AU - Martin, Lynn B A2 - King, Stuart RF A2 - Rodgers, Peter A2 - Ravinet, Mark VL - 9 PY - 2020 DA - 2020/04/28 SP - e52803 C1 - eLife 2020;9:e52803 DO - 10.7554/eLife.52803 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52803 AB - From the northernmost tip of Scandinavia to the southernmost corner of Patagonia, and across six continents, house sparrows (Passer domesticus) inhabit most human-modified habitats of the globe. With over 7,000 articles published, the species has become a workhorse for not only the study of self-urbanized wildlife, but also for understanding life history and body size evolution, sexual selection and many other biological phenomena. Traditionally, house sparrows were studied for their adaptations to local biotic and climatic conditions, but more recently, the species has come to serve as a focus for studies seeking to reveal the genomic, epigenetic and physiological underpinnings of success among invasive vertebrate species. Here, we review the natural history of house sparrows, highlight what the study of these birds has meant to bioscience generally, and describe the many resources available for future work on this species. KW - Passer domesticus KW - house sparrow KW - natural history KW - invasive species KW - model organisms JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -