Practically all animals are affected by humans, especially in urban areas. Although most species respond negatively to urbanization, some thrive in human-dominated settings. A central question in urban ecology is why some species adapt well to the presence of humans and others do not. We show that Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) nesting on the campus of a large university rapidly learn to assess the level of threat posed by different humans, and to respond accordingly. In a controlled experiment, we found that as the same human approached and threatened a nest on 4 successive days, mockingbirds flushed from their nest at increasingly greater distances from that human. A different human approaching and threatening the nest identically on the fifth day elicited the same response as the first human on the first day. Likewise, alarm calls and attack flights increased from days 1-4 with the first human, and decreased on day 5 with the second human. These results demonstrate a remarkable ability of a passerine bird to distinguish one human from thousands of others. Also, mockingbirds learned to identify individual humans extraordinarily quickly: after only 2 30-s exposures of the human at the nest. More generally, the varying responses of mockingbirds to intruders suggests behavioral flexibility and a keen awareness of different levels of threat posed by individuals of another species: traits that may predispose mockingbirds and other species of urban wildlife to successful exploitation of human-dominated environments.individual recognition ͉ nest defense ͉ nest predation ͉ urban ecology ͉ urban wildlife M ore than half of the world's human population lives in urban environments (1). Both the proportion and total number of humans in cities are expected to grow, increasingly impacting wildlife (2-6). It is often obvious why some nondomesticated species are negatively affected by urbanization (e.g., habitat destruction) (5, 7). Much more puzzling is how other species have been able to adjust to the presence of humans and become ''urban exploiters' ' (3, 5, 8). Among birds, behavioral flexibility and innovation are hypothesized predictors of success in urban environments (5, 7, 9). Such hypotheses are notoriously difficult to test with controlled experiments.Nesting behavior provides an opportunity to test reactions of birds to humans in an unusually standardized manner. Nest predation is especially important, because eggs and nestlings are highly vulnerable; for passerine species, most mortality occurs in the nest (10, 11). Also, defense behavior is costly, because it entails risks to the parents, detracts from their foraging time, and draws attention to the nest (12). Therefore, the ability of a species to recognize and respond appropriately to different types of nest predators in a new environment may help explain why some species are able to successfully reproduce among humans and others are not. We experimentally tested the hypothesis that Northern Mockingbirds, an abundant species in urban settings of eas...
Th e northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos is a native species that is more abundant in urban than non-urban habitats (i.e. an urban-positive species). Abundance alone, however, is not an accurate index of habitat quality because urban habitats could represent ecological traps (attractive sink habitat) for urban-positive species. We compared mockingbird nesting productivity, apparent survival, and decision rules governing site fi delity in urban and rural habitats. If the higher abundance of mockingbirds in urban habitats is driven by higher quality urban habitat, then we predicted that productivity of urban mockingbirds would exceed the estimated source-sink threshold and productivity of non-urban mockingbirds. If, on the other hand, urban habitats act as ecological traps, productivity would be lower in urban habitats and would fall below the estimated source-sink threshold. Productivity of urban pairs exceeded that of non-urban pairs and more than off set estimated adult mortality, which makes urban habitat a likely source habitat. Apparent adult survival was higher in urban habitats than in non-urban habitats, although this could be driven by dispersal more than mortality. Decision rules also appeared to diff er between urban and non-urban populations. Females in urban habitats with successful nests were more likely to return than those with unsuccessful nests, whereas return rates of females in nonurban habitats were unrelated to nesting success and may be more related to nesting habitat availability. We conclude that urban habitats do not act as ecological traps that lure mockingbirds into sink habitat and that increased breeding productivity contributes to their success in urban habitats.
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