The Effect of Human Presence and Human Activity on Risk Assessment and Flight Initiation Distance in Skinks

McGowan, Marilyn M.; Patel, Priya; Stroh, Jolie D.; Blumstein, Daniel T.

doi:10.1111/eth.12281

Cited by 31 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Nevertheless, there is also increasing evidence that some species fail to habituate to human presence and show increased stress in anthropogenic areas (Blumstein , McGowan et al . ). For instance, some bird species exposed to frequent human contact appear to show fear‐derived physiological stress (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Increased behavioural responses to human disturbance in breeding Burrowing Owls Athene cunicularia

Moroni

Crivelaro

Soares

et al. 2017

Ibis

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Human disturbance may have several negative impacts on bird biology. Although some species may habituate to human presence, other species do not show any signs of habituation, and may even be sensitized or affected by human disturbance. Furthermore, anthropogenic effects on bird behaviour rarely have been explored to address the alteration of frequencies of aggressive and fear-associated behaviours. Such behavioural approaches may provide substantial data for bird conservation and management. Therefore, we assessed whether human disturbance disrupts the normal behaviour of Burrowing Owls Athene cunicularia. Specifically, we assessed whether guarding parents exhibited aggressive and fearful behaviours differentially in areas where human contact was more common. Burrowing Owls showed increased frequencies of threat displays in sites with more people walking by the nests, but not fear behaviours. These results suggest that different domains of behaviour (aggression vs. fear) may respond differently to human disturbance. We highlight the importance of quantifying a wide range of behavioural acts as indicators of bird stress in studies of anthropogenic impact.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Blumstein , McGowan et al . , Carrete et al . ) may thus represent good models for the study of the impact of humans on wildlife behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased behavioural responses to human disturbance in breeding Burrowing Owls Athene cunicularia

Moroni

Crivelaro

Soares

et al. 2017

Ibis

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“…Humans in cities seldom pose direct threat to free‐living animals like birds (Clucas & Marzluff, ); thus, greater risk‐taking (e.g., reduced avoidance) toward humans can be advantageous in urban habitats. Reduced flight responses have been observed in many urban animals (Samia, Nakagawa, Nomura, Rangel, & Blumstein, ), including birds (Carrete & Tella, ; Møller et al, ; Myers & Hyman, ; Vincze et al, ), mammals (McCleery, ; Uchida, Suzuki, Shimamoto, Yanagawa, & Koizumi, ), and reptiles (Lapiedra, Chejanovski, & Kolbe, ; McGowan, Patel, Stroh, & Blumstein, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great tits take greater risk toward humans and sparrowhawks in urban habitats than in forests

et al. 2019

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Urban animals often take more risk toward humans than their non‐urban conspecifics do, but it is unclear how urbanization affects behavior toward non‐human predators. Responses to humans and non‐human predators may covary due to common mechanisms enforcing a phenotypic correlation. However, while increased tolerance toward humans may be advantageous for urban animals, reduced vigilance toward non‐human predators that can pose actual threat may be costly. Therefore, urban animals may benefit from showing specific responses to different threat levels, such as humans versus non‐human predators, or hostile versus non‐hostile humans. To test these alternatives, we compared responses (latencies to return to nest) of urban and forest‐breeding great tits (Parus major) to familiar hostile and unfamiliar humans as well as one of their common predators, the sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus). We found that urban birds were more risk‐taking toward both humans and sparrowhawk than forest birds. However, responses to sparrowhawk did not correlate with responses to humans either within or across habitats. This suggests that higher risk‐taking of urban compared to forest‐dwelling great tits toward sparrowhawk may be threat‐specific response to lower predation risk rather than a spillover effect of increased tolerance to humans. Furthermore, birds responded similarly to unfamiliar and familiar (potentially dangerous) humans in both habitats, suggesting that great tits may not adjust their risk‐taking to the threat represented by individual humans. These findings indicate that urban birds may flexibly adjust their risk‐taking to certain, but not all, types of threat.

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“…Habituation refers to stimulus repetition due to sustained exposure that results in an individual becoming inattentive towards an object or situation that initially conveyed important cues (Rankin et al, ; Shulgina, ). This kind of behaviour is often developed towards humans for animals inhabiting areas with human activity (McGowan, Patel, Stroh, & Blumstein, ; Rodriguez‐Prieto, Fernández‐Juricic, Martín, & Regis, ; Samia, Nakagawa, Nomura, Rangel, & Blumstein, ; Samuni, Mundry, Terkel, Zuberbühler, & Hobaiter, ). The risk allocation hypothesis (Lima & Bednekoff, ) predicts that if animals experience frequent or prolonged high‐risk events, they must make a trade‐off between antipredator behaviour and fitness‐increasing activity and reduce the antipredator behaviour to meet its needs for food and rest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human habituation reduces hyrax flight initiation distance in Serengeti

et al. 2019

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Many animal populations are exposed to disturbance originating from human activities. In response to human disturbance, certain animals display a variety of potentially costly behavioural responses, such as increased antipredator behaviour or relocation to new areas. In contrast, other animals seemingly thrive in the presence of humans and benefit from human‐derived resources. Flight initiation distance (FID: the distance between predator and prey when prey starts to flee) is a measure commonly used to assess animals’ tolerance to humans. In this study, we tested how FID changes in relation to human presence in two hyrax species in Serengeti National Park. Hyraxes living on kopjes (rock outcrops) among human settlements showed a significantly shorter FID than hyraxes living on kopjes without human settlements. In addition, we found that hyraxes feeding before the experiment had shorter FID than hyraxes resting or being vigilant, and hyraxes disturbed during the early morning had shorter FID than hyraxes disturbed during late morning. We did not find any significant effects of group size or species composition on FID. Our results suggest that hyraxes living in the presence of humans are habituated and are not adversely affected by human settlements.

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The Effect of Human Presence and Human Activity on Risk Assessment and Flight Initiation Distance in Skinks

Cited by 31 publications

References 51 publications

Increased behavioural responses to human disturbance in breeding Burrowing Owls Athene cunicularia

Increased behavioural responses to human disturbance in breeding Burrowing Owls Athene cunicularia

Great tits take greater risk toward humans and sparrowhawks in urban habitats than in forests

Human habituation reduces hyrax flight initiation distance in Serengeti

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