Arid
DOI10.1007/s00265-017-2304-6
The effects of urbanization and human disturbance on problem solving in juvenile house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus)
Cook, Meghan O.; Weaver, Melinda J.; Hutton, Pierce; McGraw, Kevin J.
通讯作者McGraw, Kevin J.
来源期刊BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
ISSN0340-5443
EISSN1432-0762
出版年2017
卷号71期号:5
英文摘要

Urbanization exposes wildlife to unfamiliar environments, including novel structures and food sources. Adapting to such anthropogenic conditions may require superior innovation and problem-solving skills (e. g., for navigating, foraging). Human presence in urban areas is a particular biotic challenge that may impact problem-solving capabilities in wildlife. Urban animals may be superior problem solvers in the face of human disturbance, due to familiarity with- and reduced fear ofhumans. Alternately, rural animals may be better innovators if heightened fear responses from unfamiliar humans facilitate problem solving. Here, we studied the relationship between human disturbance, urbanization, and the ability to solve a novel foraging problem in wild-caught juvenile house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). This songbird is a successful urban dweller and native of the American desert southwest. In captivity, juvenile finches from urban and rural populations were presented with a novel foraging task (sliding a lid covering their typical food dish) and then exposed to regular periods of high or low human disturbance over several weeks before again being presented with the task. We found that rural, high-disturbance birds showed reduced task performance compared to highly disturbed urban finches. This is consistent with the hypothesis that urban birds are less affected by human disturbance due to habituation or adaptation. Additionally, we found that the best behavioral predictor of solving success was related to visual inspection of the problem and that urban low-disturbance birds exhibited this behavior more than rural high-disturbance birds. Overall, these findings suggest that urbanization and habituation to humans predict avian response to novel problems.


Significance statement


As Earth’s landscapes become more urbanized, wildlife is exposed to many new anthropogenic challenges. In particular, animals in cities may have to locate food in unique ways and/or cope with increased human presence. We tested the effects of urbanization and human disturbance on problem solving in juveniles of a common urban and rural songbird (the house finch, H. mexicanus). We found that, when subjected to high levels of human disturbance, urban birds outperformed rural conspecifics on a novel foraging task (sliding open a lid to uncover food). We also found that task focus (i.e., average bout length of inspecting the dish) was an important predictor of problem solving. Our results suggest that acclimation to humans may be important for the superior behavioral performance of urban house finches and ultimately their colonization of many North American cities.


英文关键词Foraging Human impacts Urban ecology Behavioral plasticity
类型Article
语种英语
国家USA
收录类别SCI-E ; SSCI
WOS记录号WOS:000401148300009
WOS关键词GREAT TITS ; BIRDS ; URBAN ; PERFORMANCE ; SPARROWS ; SUCCESS ; POPULATIONS ; BEHAVIORS ; RESPONSES
WOS类目Behavioral Sciences ; Ecology ; Zoology
WOS研究方向Behavioral Sciences ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Zoology
来源机构Arizona State University
资源类型期刊论文
条目标识符http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/197768
作者单位Arizona State Univ, Sch Life Sci, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA
推荐引用方式
GB/T 7714
Cook, Meghan O.,Weaver, Melinda J.,Hutton, Pierce,et al. The effects of urbanization and human disturbance on problem solving in juvenile house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus)[J]. Arizona State University,2017,71(5).
APA Cook, Meghan O.,Weaver, Melinda J.,Hutton, Pierce,&McGraw, Kevin J..(2017).The effects of urbanization and human disturbance on problem solving in juvenile house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus).BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY,71(5).
MLA Cook, Meghan O.,et al."The effects of urbanization and human disturbance on problem solving in juvenile house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus)".BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY 71.5(2017).
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