Neophilia, innovation and learning in an urbanized world: a critical evaluation of mixed findings

Griffin, Andrea S.; Netto, Keilah G.; Peneaux, Chloe

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.01.004

Cited by 88 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…There were no patterns observed in the duration of foraging events in rural habitats across the seasons, but there was a small increase in number of individuals per event after November. The slight increase in number of individuals in rural areas could reflect increased familiarity with the feeder, particularly if rural groups are initially more neophobic of novel foraging opportunities (Griffin, Netto, & Peneaux, ); thus, after the initial introduction of the feeder in November, the rural groups might show an increased willingness to use and rely on the feeder, whereas urban individuals are likely already utilizing similar feeders. Another non‐mutually exclusive explanation is that conditions become more difficult in rural habitats in winter, while urban individuals will have access to numerous other supplementary feeding sources throughout winter (Tryjanowski et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization and the temporal patterns of social networks and group foraging behaviors

Jones

Evans

Morand‐Ferron

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Urbanization causes dramatic and rapid changes to natural environments, which can lead the animals inhabiting these habitats to adjust their behavioral responses. For social animals, urbanized environments may alter group social dynamics through modification of the external environment (e.g., resource distribution). This might lead to changes in how individuals associate or engage in group behaviors, which could alter the stability and characteristics of social groups. However, the potential impacts of urban habitat use, and of habitat characteristics in general, on the nature and stability of social associations remain poorly understood. Here, we quantify social networks and dynamics of group foraging behaviors of black‐capped chickadees ( N = 82, Poecile atricapillus ), at four urban and four rural sites weekly throughout the nonbreeding season using feeders with radio frequency identification of individual birds. Because anthropogenic food sources in urban habitats (e.g., bird feeders) provide abundant and reliable resources, we predicted that social foraging associations may be of less value in urban groups, and thus would be less consistent than in rural groups. Additionally, decreased variability of food resources in urban habitats could lead to more predictable foraging patterns (group size, foraging duration, and the distribution of foraging events) in contrast to rural habitats. Networks were found to be highly consistent through time in both urban and rural habitats. No significant difference was found in the temporal clumping of foraging events between habitats. However, as predicted, the repeatability of the clumping of foraging events in time was significantly higher in urban than rural habitats. Our results suggest that individuals living in urban areas have more consistent foraging behaviors throughout the nonbreeding season, whereas rural individuals adjust their tactics due to less predictable foraging conditions. This first examination of habitat‐related differences in the characteristics and consistency of social networks along an urbanization gradient suggests that anthropic habitat use results in subtle modifications in social foraging patterns. Future studies should examine potential implications of these differences for variation in predation risk, energy intake, and information flow.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization and the temporal patterns of social networks and group foraging behaviors

Jones

Evans

Morand‐Ferron

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…After establishment, lizards might have already learnt which resources are safe, and selection will once again favour high neophobia and low risk‐taking (Bókony et al., ; Sol et al., ). Previous studies on neophobia in urban animals showed mixed results, and therefore, it is still unclear whether there is a general effect of urbanization on neophobia or not (Audet et al., ; Bókony et al., ; Candler & Bernal, ; Griffin et al., ; Miranda et al., ; Tryjanowski et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Urban populations should therefore show reduced neophobia, especially as the least neophobic individuals will benefit from finding new resources in the city, such as artificial bird feeders (Audet et al, 2015;Miranda et al, 2013;Sol, Griffin, Bartomeus, & Boyce, 2011;Sol et al, 2013;Tryjanowski et al, 2016). Neophobia might also be reduced in many species due to a lower abundance of their normal arthropod prey (Faeth et al, 2005;Griffin et al, 2017). On the other hand, novelty might be associated with danger (e.g., poisonous new food; Sol et al, 2011), which may lead to urban animals behaving more neophobic (Mettke-Hofmann et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, novelty might be associated with danger (e.g., poisonous new food; Sol et al, 2011), which may lead to urban animals behaving more neophobic (Mettke-Hofmann et al, 2002). Studies on the effect of urbanization on neophobia have yielded mixed results (Audet et al, 2015;Griffin et al, 2017;Miranda et al, 2013). Behavioural differences between urban and rural animals might also be a consequence of non-random dispersal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hunt or hide: How insularity and urbanization affect foraging decisions in lizards

et al. 2018

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Foraging decisions should reflect a balance between costs and benefits of alternative strategies. Predation risk and resource availability in the environment may be crucial in deciding how cautious individuals should behave during foraging. These costs and benefits will vary in time and context, meaning that animals should be able to adjust their foraging behaviour to new or altered environments. Studying how animals do this is essential to understand their survival in these environments. In this study, we investigated the effect of both insularity and urbanization on risk‐taking and neophobia during foraging in the Dalmatian wall lizard (Podarcis melisellensis). Small islets tend to have both a lower number of predators and less resources. Therefore, islet populations were expected to show more risk‐taking behaviour and less neophobia in a foraging context. Previous studies on behaviour of urban lizards have yielded inconsistent results, but due to a lack of both predators and arthropod prey in urban habitats, we expected urban lizards to also take more risks and behave less neophobic. We sampled several inhabited and uninhabited locations on Vis (Croatia) and surrounding islets. Risk‐taking behaviour was tested by measuring the latency of lizards to feed in the presence of a predator model, and neophobia by measuring the latency to feed in the presence of a novel object. We found that islet lizards do indeed take more risks and were less vigilant, but not less neophobic. Urban and rural lizards did not differ in any of these behaviours, which is in sharp contrast with previous work on mammals and birds. The behavioural differences between islet and island lizards were novel, but not unexpected findings and are in line with the theory of “island tameness”. The effect of urbanization on the behaviour of animals seems to be more complex and might vary among taxa.

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“…Finally, urban individuals may show behavioral differences with nonurban individuals (i.e., bold personality, reduced antipredator behavior, and decreased fear to humans) (Charmantier et al., ; Griffin et al., ; Lapiedra, Chejanovski, & Kolbe, ; Samia, Nakagawa, Nomura, Rangel, & Blumstein, ; Sepp et al., ; Sol et al., ; see also Atwell et al., ). However, we found no support to the “habituation‐induced stress response hypothesis.” Species inhabiting natural, rural, and urban locations, and individuals of the same species in rural and urban locations, showed similar BR at handling.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breath rate of passerines across an urbanization gradient supports the pace‐of‐life hypothesis and suggests diet‐mediated responses to handling stress

Liang

Luo

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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The pace‐of‐life hypothesis predicts no impact of urbanization on stress responses. Accordingly, several studies have been inconsistent in showing differences in breath rate (BR), a proxy of acute stress responses to handling in passerines, between rural and urban areas. However, this evidence is limited to a single bird species and a limited geographic region (SW Europe). No study addressed whether this pattern is also apparent in other species or regions, such as in tropical environments, or whether it is dependent on the level of diet specialization, given that diet restriction and change influence stress responses. Here, we tested whether there were differences in BR between habitats and diet groups using eight highly diverse passerine assemblages experiencing different levels of anthropogenic disturbance (i.e., natural, rural, and urban locations) in SW China. We predicted that insectivores and herbivores (frugivores, nectarivores, and seed‐eating species) would show higher BR than omnivores. We also predicted no differences in BR among habitat types. BR was a moderately repeatable trait, which showed a negative relationship with body mass and a positive relationship with the time of the day. We also recorded a relatively strong phylogenetic bias in the expression of this trait. Confirming our predictions, our results showed no differences in BR among natural, rural, and urban locations. Similarly, within species, there were no differences in BR between rural and urban locations. However, we also found that herbivores showed higher BR than omnivores. Overall, our results provide support to the pace‐of‐life hypothesis, but suggest acute stress responses can be diet‐mediated, which may help to explain the marked decline of specialized trophic guilds around the world in response to anthropogenic disturbance.

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Neophilia, innovation and learning in an urbanized world: a critical evaluation of mixed findings

Cited by 88 publications

References 70 publications

Urbanization and the temporal patterns of social networks and group foraging behaviors

Urbanization and the temporal patterns of social networks and group foraging behaviors

Hunt or hide: How insularity and urbanization affect foraging decisions in lizards

Breath rate of passerines across an urbanization gradient supports the pace‐of‐life hypothesis and suggests diet‐mediated responses to handling stress

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