Inter-individual variability in fear of humans and relative brain size of the species are related to contemporary urban invasion in birds |
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Authors: | Carrete Martina Tella José L |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Conservation Biology,
Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain.; 2. Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural
Systems, University Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain.;University of Utah, United States of America |
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Abstract: | BackgroundUrbanization is the most prevailing cause of habitat transformation
worldwide, differing from others by its intense levels of human activity.
Despite its obvious impact on wildlife, it is still unclear why and how some
species are able to adapt to urban settings. One possibility is that fear of
humans and vehicles could preclude most species from invading cities.
Species entering urban environments might be those that are more tolerant of
human disturbance (i.e., tame species). Alternatively or in
addition, urban invaders could be a fraction of variable
species, with “tame” individuals invading urban
habitats and other individuals remaining in rural areas.MethodologyUsing the contemporary urban invasion by birds in a recently established
South American city, we tested both hypotheses by relating interspecific
differences in invasiveness to their flight initiation distances (i.e., the
distances at which birds flee from approaching cars, FID), as well as to
their relative brain size (RBS), a correlate of measures of behavioral
flexibility.Principal FindingsUrban invasiveness was not significantly related to species'' average
rural FIDs but positively related to their RBS and inter-individual
variability in FID. Moreover, FIDs were consistently lower in urban than in
rural conspecifics, and the FIDs of urban individuals were within the
lower-range distribution of their rural conspecifics. RBS indirectly
influenced urban invasion through its positive effect on inter-individual
variability in FID.Conclusions/SignificanceUrban invaders do not appear to be individuals from apparently
tame species, but rather tame
individuals from species with a variable response regarding fear of people.
Given the positive relationship between RBS and inter-individual variability
in FID, our results suggest that behavioural flexibility should be regarded
as a specific trait encompassing variability among individuals. Further
research is needed to ascertain the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying
the relationship between brain size and inter-individual variability in
behavioural traits. |
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