COVID19-induced reduction in human disturbance enhances fattening of an overabundant goose species

LeTourneux, Frédéric; Grandmont, Thierry; Broin, Frédéric Dulude‐de; Martin, Marie-Claude; Lefebvre, Josée; Kato, Akira; Bêty, Joël; Gauthier, Gilles; Legagneux, Pierre

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.108968

Cited by 24 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Unfortunately, we could not properly explore the between-years variation in detectability patterns due to sample size constraints. Urban birds during lockdown may have shown this detectability peak at dawn, typical of non-urban habitats, because of a rapid behavioural response to adjust to the new environmental conditions imposed by the COVID-19 measures [64][65][66][67][68]. Birds rely heavily on acoustic communication.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid behavioural response of urban birds to COVID-19 lockdown

et al. 2021

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Biodiversity is threatened by the growth of urban areas. However, it is still poorly understood how animals can cope with and adapt to these rapid and dramatic transformations of natural environments. The COVID-19 pandemic provides us with a unique opportunity to unveil the mechanisms involved in this process. Lockdown measures imposed in most countries are causing an unprecedented reduction of human activities, giving us an experimental setting to assess the effects of our lifestyle on biodiversity. We studied the birds' response to the population lockdown by using more than 126 000 bird records collected by a citizen science project in northeastern Spain. We compared the occurrence and detectability of birds during the spring 2020 lockdown with baseline data from previous years in the same urban areas and dates. We found that birds did not increase their probability of occurrence in urban areas during the lockdown, refuting the hypothesis that nature has recovered its space in human-emptied urban areas. However, we found an increase in bird detectability, especially during early morning, suggesting a rapid change in the birds’ daily routines in response to quieter and less crowded cities. Therefore, urban birds show high behavioural plasticity to rapidly adjust to novel environmental conditions, such as those imposed by the COVID-19.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid behavioural response of urban birds to COVID-19 lockdown

et al. 2021

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“…Recent studies to date report a mixed picture of the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic lockdown on wildlife biological variation (Table 1). Out of a prevalence of behavioural studies (largely reporting a presence or absence of particular species during the lockdown period, Table1), only three studies present phenotype or fitness data, specifically in the leatherback turtle 33 , the greater snow goose 36 and the common swift 32 . Thus, Manenti et al 32 report an increase in clutch size in the common swift in Italy during the pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the majority of studies reporting the impact of human lockdown on wildlife during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic relate to behavioural traits, data on the impact on animal life-history and / or reproductive traits remains very scarce 32,33,36 : in fact, despite the presumed beneficial effects of lockdown on urban wildlife, only two studies (out of the 13 here described) to date report a positive association between reproductive traits and implemented lockdown measures (e.g., increased hatching success in Leatherback sea turtles Dermochelys coriacea 33 , and increased clutch size in common swifts Apus apus 32 ). The implications of the "Anthropause" on wildlife life-history variation in urban populations remain therefore largely unexplored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breeding in the pandemic: short-term lockdown restrictions do not alter reproductive decisions and avian life-history traits in a European capital city

Corsini¹,

Jagiełło²,

Walesiak³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Humans are transforming natural habitats into managed urban green areas and impervious surfaces with unprecedented pace. Yet the effects of human presence per se on animal life-history traits are rarely tested. This is particularly true in cities, where human presence is often indissociable from urbanisation itself. The onset of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, along with the resulting lockdown restrictions, offered a unique, “natural experiment” context to investigate wildlife responses to a sudden reduction of human activities. We analysed four years of avian breeding data collected in a European capital city to test whether lockdown measures altered nestbox occupancy and life-history traits in two urban adapters: great tits (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Lockdown measures, which modulated human presence, did not influence any of the life-history traits inferred. In contrast, tree cover, a distinct ecological attribute of the urban space, positively influenced clutch size, a key avian life-history and reproductive trait. This highlights the importance of habitat and food webs over human activity on animal reproduction in cities. We discuss our results in the light of other urban wildlife studies carried out during the pandemic, inviting the scientific community to carefully interpret all lockdown - associated shifts in biological traits.

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“…Urban birds during lockdown may have shown this detectability peak at dawn, typical of non-urban habitats, because of a rapid behavioural response to adjust to the new environmental conditions imposed by the COVID-19 measures [64-68]. Birds rely heavily on acoustic communication.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid behavioural response of urban birds to COVID-19 lockdown

Gordo

Brotons

Herrando

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Biodiversity is threatened by the current exponential growth of urban areas. However, it is still poorly understood how animals can cope with and adapt to these rapid and dramatic transformations of natural environments. The COVID-19 pandemic provides us with a unique opportunity to unveil the adaptive mechanisms involved in this process. Lockdown measures imposed in most countries are causing an unprecedented reduction of human activities giving us an experimental setting to assess the effects of our lifestyle on biodiversity. We studied the birds’ response to the Spanish population lockdown by using more than 200,000 bird records collected by a citizen science project. We compared the occurrence and detectability of birds during the spring 2020 lockdown with baseline data from previous years in the same urban areas and dates. We found that birds did not increase their probability of occurrence in urban areas during the lockdown, refuting the hypothesis that nature has recovered its space in human emptied urban areas. However, we found an increase in bird detectability, especially during early morning, suggesting a rapid change in the birds’ daily routines in response to quitter and less crowded cities. In conclusion, urban birds show high behavioral plasticity to rapidly adapt to novel environmental conditions, as those imposed by the COVID-19.

show abstract

COVID19-induced reduction in human disturbance enhances fattening of an overabundant goose species

Cited by 24 publications

References 44 publications

Rapid behavioural response of urban birds to COVID-19 lockdown

Rapid behavioural response of urban birds to COVID-19 lockdown

Breeding in the pandemic: short-term lockdown restrictions do not alter reproductive decisions and avian life-history traits in a European capital city

Rapid behavioural response of urban birds to COVID-19 lockdown

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