An Approach to Distinguish between Plasticity and Non-random Distributions of Behavioral Types Along Urban Gradients in a Wild Passerine Bird

Sprau, Philipp; Dingemanse, Niels Jeroen

doi:10.3389/fevo.2017.00092

Cited by 49 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This agrees with numerous studies showing that urban animals take more risk toward humans than non‐urban animals (Samia et al, ). Personality‐dependent habitat choice may be an important driver of this difference, as a recent study on great tits found that the distribution of individuals in an urban–suburban area was explained by their risk‐taking toward humans, but the birds did not flexibly adjust their avoidance behavior to the level of urbanization (Sprau & Dingemanse, ). Nevertheless, we cannot exclude the possibility that habituation or other forms of behavioral plasticity play a major role in the greater risk‐taking responses in urban great tits compared to conspecifics living in forests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may happen by differential colonization, when cities are colonized by a subset of individuals that have above‐average general risk‐taking (Møller, ), for example, due to differences in pace‐of‐life syndromes (Charmantier, Demeyrier, Lambrechts, Perret, & Grégoire, ; Sol et al, ). Also, local microevolutionary adaptation in cities may lead to intrinsic differences in general risk‐taking between urban and non‐urban populations (Carrete & Tella, ; Holtmann, Santos, Lara, & Nakagawa, ; Sprau & Dingemanse, ). Furthermore, habituation to human disturbance may also be transferred to other type of threats, resulting in reduced general risk‐taking (McCleery, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

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

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Alternatively, the relationship between urbanization and EPO occurrence might be non-causal. For example, individuals with different behavioral types can differ in their habitat choice (Holtmann et al, 2017;Sprau and Dingemanse, 2017) and the propensity to engage in EPF can vary between females as part of their personality (Forstmeier, 2007;Forstmeier et al, 2014;Wolak et al, 2018). It is thus possible that a tendency for promiscuity is associated with the behavioral traits that facilitate settlement in cities, such as innovative problem solving and exploratory behavior (Bókony et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher Frequency of Extra-Pair Offspring in Urban Than Forest Broods of Great Tits (Parus major)

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urbanization increasingly changes the ecological conditions for wild animal populations, influencing their demography, reproduction, and behavior. While studies on the ecological consequences of urbanization frequently document a reduced number and poorer body condition of offspring in urban than in non-urban bird populations, consequences for other components of reproduction are rarely investigated. Mating with partners outside the social pair-bond is widespread in birds, and although theory predicts that the occurrence of extra-pair fertilizations (EPF) may be sensitive to the altered ecological conditions of cities, the effect of urbanization on EPF is poorly known. Here we used data from two urban and two forest populations collected over 3 years to test whether the frequency of extra-pair offspring (EPO) in great tit broods differed between the habitats. We found that significantly more broods contained EPO in urban habitats (48.9%) than in forests (24.4%). In broods with EPO, the number and proportion of EPO was similar in urban and forest broods. These results suggest that females that live in urban habitats are more likely to engage in EPF than those living in forests. Urban environments may either provide more spatiotemporal opportunities to EPF because of higher breeding density, and/or enhance motivation for EPF to increase fertility in polluted environments. In addition, females with higher propensity to engage in EPF may more likely settle in urban habitats.

show abstract

“…Nevertheless, whatever the direction of the effects, they are likely to influence aspects of behavior, physiology, and life history of urban-dwellers in their coping response to the urban environment (Tuomainen and Candolin, 2012;Sprau and Dingemanse, 2017). Consequently, stress-responses, i.e., the behavioral and physiological means by which animals cope with environmental stress, play an important role in local adaptation (Badyaev, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Great Tits (Parus major) Show Higher Distress Calling and Pecking Rates than Rural Birds across Europe

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Environmental change associated with urbanization is considered one of the major threats to biodiversity. Some species nevertheless seem to thrive in the urban areas, probably associated with selection for phenotypes that match urban habitats. Previous research defined different "copying styles" in distress behavior during the handling of birds. These behaviors vary along a continuum from "proactive" to "reactive" copers. By studying avian distress behaviors we aimed to broaden our understanding of the relationship between coping styles and urbanization. Using a large-scale comparative study of seven paired rural and urban sites across Europe, we assayed distress behaviors during handling of urban and rural-dwelling populations of the great tit Parus major. We detected no consistent pairwise differences in breath rate between urban and rural habitats. However, urban great tits displayed more distress calling (fear screams) and higher pecking rate (handling aggression) than rural birds. These findings suggest that urban great tits have a more proactive coping strategy when dealing with stressful conditions. This finding is in line with previous studies implying that urban great tits are more explorative, less neophobic, and display shorter flight distances than their rural counterparts, representing further aspects of the same "proactive," coping strategy. Future research should investigate whether reported differences in distress behavior are due to local adaption caused by natural selection or due to phenotypic plasticity.

show abstract

An Approach to Distinguish between Plasticity and Non-random Distributions of Behavioral Types Along Urban Gradients in a Wild Passerine Bird

Cited by 49 publications

References 50 publications

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

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

Higher Frequency of Extra-Pair Offspring in Urban Than Forest Broods of Great Tits (Parus major)

Urban Great Tits (Parus major) Show Higher Distress Calling and Pecking Rates than Rural Birds across Europe

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About