Bird tolerance to humans in open tropical ecosystems

Mikula, Peter; Tomášek, Oldřich; Romportl, Dušan; Aikins, T. K.; Avendaño, Jorge Enrique; Braimoh-Azaki, Bukola D. A.; Chaskda, Adams A.; Cresswell, Will; Cunningham, Susan J.; Dale, Svein; Favoretto, Gabriela Rodrigues; Floyd, Kelvin S.; Glover, Hayley K.; Grim, Tomáš; Henry, Dominic A. W.; Holmern, Tomas; Hromada, Martin; Iwajomo, Soladoye B.; Lilleyman, Amanda; Magige, Flora J.; Martin, Rowan O.; Maximiano, Marina Franco de Almeida; Nana, Eric Djomo; Ncube, Emmanuel; Ndaimani, Henry; Nelson, Emma; Niekerk, Johann H van; Pienaar, Carina; Piratelli, Augusto João; Pistorius, Penny; Radkovic, Anna; Reynolds, Chevonne; Shanungu, Griffin; Siqueira, Paulo Ricardo Baier; Tarakini, Tawanda; Tejeiro-Mahecha, Nattaly; Thompson, Michelle L.; Wamiti, Wanyoike; Wilson, Mark W.; Tye, Donovan R. C.; Tye, Nicholas D.; Vehtari, Aki; Tryjanowski, Piotr; Weston, Michael A.; Blumstein, Daniel T.; Albrecht, Tomáš

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-37936-5

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…For example, some animals increased their abundances in humandominated landscapes, moved to new areas, or shifted the timing and character of their activities; some of these effects were area-or species-specific [10,11,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] To persist in urban habitats, wild animals must increase their tolerance to humans and human disturbance [24,25]. Indeed, on a gradient from natural to urban environments animals seem more tolerant of humans, where human densities are high and human-wildlife interactions are generally harmless [24,[26][27][28][29]. Additionally, within cities animal tolerance to humans seems to increase with increasing level of human presence (hereafter "human presence") but the association is often weak [30][31][32][33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we explored how the COVID-19 shutdowns altered avian tolerance towards humans across parks of five cities in five countries (Finland -Rovaniemi, Poland -Poznan, Czechia -Prague, Hungary -Budapest, Australia -Melbourne). During the breeding seasons before the COVID-19 shutdowns (before March 2020) and during the COVID-19 shutdowns (2020-2021), we measured avian tolerance towards humans by quantifying flight initiation distance, which is the distance from an approaching human at which a bird escapes [26,28,[35][36][37][38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Urban birds’ tolerance towards humans was largely unaffected by increased variation in human levels due to COVID-19 shutdowns

Mikula

Bulla

Blumstein³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically altered human activities, potentially relieving human pressures on urban-dwelling animals. Here, we evaluated whether birds from five cities in five countries (Czech Republic - Prague, Finland - Rovaniemi, Hungary - Budapest, Poland - Poznan, and Australia - Melbourne) changed their tolerance towards human presence (measured as flight initiation distance) during the COVID-19 shutdowns. We collected 6369 flight initiation distance estimates for 147 bird species and found that birds tolerated approaching humans to a similar level before and during the COVID-19 shutdowns. Moreover, during the shutdowns, bird escape behaviour did not consistently change with the level of governmental restrictions (measured as the stringency index). Hence, our results indicate that birds do not flexibly and quickly adjust their escape behaviour to the reduced human presence; in other words, the breeding populations of urban birds examined might already be tolerant of human activity and perceive humans as relatively harmless.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban birds’ tolerance towards humans was largely unaffected by increased variation in human levels due to COVID-19 shutdowns

Mikula

Bulla

Blumstein³

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Flight tests elicit a response among subjects, but do not require trapping or handling, minimizing stress to subject animals and disturbance to the local habitat. Flight tests have been an integral component of a range of studies addressing diverse research questions related to energetic influences on behavior, behavioral strategies in reproduction, behavioral adaptations to local environmental conditions, species distributions based on interactions between behavior and habitat, and behavioral responses to climate change ( Shuai et al, 2019 , 2022 ; Pereira et al, 2020 ; Satterfeld and Johnson, 2020 ; Stamoulis et al, 2020 ; Díaz et al, 2021 ; Hamao et al, 2021 ; Ventura et al, 2021 ; Mikula et al, 2023 ).…”

Section: Temperamentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, in areas with high human population density, animals can become acclimated to people and flee at shorter distances during flight tests ( Ekanayake et al, 2022 ). In some cases, influences of human activity on results of flight tests can be applied to understanding human-wildlife coexistence and can provide insights into behavioral responses to environmental changes caused by anthropogenic activity ( Pettit et al, 2021 ; Mikula et al, 2023 ).…”

Section: Temperamentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal-friendly behavioral testing in field studies: examples from ground squirrels

Nunes

2023

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Field studies of behavior provide insight into the expression of behavior in its natural ecological context and can serve as an important complement to behavioral studies conducted in the lab under controlled conditions. In addition to naturalistic observations, behavioral testing can be an important component of field studies of behavior. This mini review evaluates a sample of behavioral testing methods in field studies to identify ways in which behavioral testing can be animal-friendly and generate ethologically relevant data. Specific examples, primarily from studies of ground squirrels, are presented to illustrate ways in which principles of animal-friendly behavioral testing can be applied to and guide testing methods. Tests conducted with animals in their natural habitat and that elicit naturally occurring behavioral responses can minimize stress and disturbance for animals, as well as disruption of the larger ecosystem, and can have high ethological validity. When animals are trapped or handled as part of a study, behavioral testing can be incorporated into handling procedures to reduce overall disturbance. When behavior is evaluated in a testing arena, the arena can be designed to resemble natural conditions to increase the ethological relevance of the test. Efforts to minimize time spent in testing arenas can also reduce disturbance to animals. Adapting a behavioral test to a species or habitat conditions can facilitate reduced disruption to subjects and increased ethological relevance of the test.

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“…Birds that inhabit the same strata as dogs, which are dependent on appropriate escape responses, should also show fine-scale discrimination. Any such discrimination is of interest from applied and evolutionary perspectives [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leash Status of Approaching Dogs Mediates Escape Modality but Not Flight-Initiation Distance in a Common Urban Bird

Barnett

Dongen

Plotz

et al. 2023

Birds

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Controversy exists around owned dogs’ impacts in public open spaces, with concerns about dogs’ impact on wildlife, including birds. Leashing dogs in public open spaces offers a tractable way of reducing dogs’ deleterious impacts on birds. Although dogs in public spaces are often unleashed, some dogs roam freely, whilst other unleashed dogs remain close to their owners. It is currently unknown whether birds can perceive and incorporate subtle differences in the leash status of approaching, but non-roaming, dogs into their escape decisions. We compare escape responses of a common urban bird, the magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca, in parks in Melbourne, Australia, to standardized approaches by a walker and a dog, which was either leashed or not leashed (but with the dog at the same distance from the walker). Flight-initiation distances, the distance between the lark and dog when escape commenced, did not vary between treatments. However, the unleashed dog evoked more intense responses (mostly flying away) than the leashed dog (mostly walking away). Thus, this species appears to perceive unleashed dogs as especially threatening, independent of their roaming behavior. Our findings suggest that leashing may be an effective way to reduce dog disturbance to wildlife, even for non-roaming dogs.

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Bird tolerance to humans in open tropical ecosystems

Cited by 18 publications

References 64 publications

Urban birds’ tolerance towards humans was largely unaffected by increased variation in human levels due to COVID-19 shutdowns

Urban birds’ tolerance towards humans was largely unaffected by increased variation in human levels due to COVID-19 shutdowns

Animal-friendly behavioral testing in field studies: examples from ground squirrels

Leash Status of Approaching Dogs Mediates Escape Modality but Not Flight-Initiation Distance in a Common Urban Bird

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