scholarly journals Gallant geese, fearful flocks? Flock size and heterospecifics alter the escape behaviour of an invasive goose

2018 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelien Deboelpaep ◽  
Pieter-Jan Keleman ◽  
Bram Vanschoenwinkel ◽  
Nico Koedam
Keyword(s):  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Canada Goose ◽  
Flock Size ◽  
Escape Behaviour ◽  
Buffer Zones ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Escape Responses ◽  
Flight Initiation

While escape responses are shown to differ in areas with varying levels of human disturbance, it is not known to what extent these reactions depend on the composition of local species assemblages. We investigated variation in three flight response metrics for the invasive Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) in Belgium in three locations with different human accessibility. Results indicate that heterospecific birds and flock size affected flight initiation distances of the Canada Goose, but that these effects are location-specific. Escape responses were most pronounced in the nature reserve with the lowest human accessibility, and highly reduced in the recreational park. This study illustrates that, when buffer zones are being developed, generalising escape behaviour of birds may lead to potentially dangerous overestimations of their tolerance to human disturbance.

Changes in escape behaviour of black iguanas (Ctenosaura similis) over an anthropogenic disturbance gradient

Behaviour ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Pooja Panwar ◽  
Pilar Angélica Gómez-Ruiz ◽  
Matthew N. Zipple ◽  
Luis Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽  
Escape Behaviour ◽  
Human Presence ◽  
Disturbed Areas ◽  
Disturbance Gradient ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ctenosaura Similis ◽  
Flight Initiation

Abstract Studies on the impact of human activity on animal behaviour are critical for understanding the extent to which humans affect ecological dynamics. Previous studies have found that human presence alters antipredator behaviours, which can be measured by flight initiation distance (FID). We investigated escape behaviour of 96 black iguanas (Ctenosaura similis) across a gradient of human disturbance in six sites inside a protected area in Costa Rica. We used a field experiment to test for effect of human disturbance on FID. We found that individuals from higher disturbance sites had shorter FIDs, meaning that black iguanas from disturbed areas allow closer approaches. This finding is consistent with the prediction that some animals become more habituated to human presence as the degree of human disturbance increases. We propose that black iguanas’ ability to alter their behaviour in response to humans’ presence could make them especially adept at invading new environments.

scholarly journals Individual consistency in flight initiation distances in burrowing owls: a new hypothesis on disturbance-induced habitat selection

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Carrete ◽  
José L. Tella
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Buffer Zones ◽  
Predatory Behaviour ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Individual Consistency ◽  
Flight Initiation

Individuals often consistently differ in personalities and behaviours that allow them to cope with environmental variation. Flight initiation distance (FID) has been measured in a variety of taxa as an estimate of the risk that an individual is willing to take when facing a predator. FID has been used to test life-history trade-offs related to anti-predatory behaviour and for conservation purposes such as to establish buffer zones to minimize human disturbance, given its species-specific consistency. Individual consistency in FID, however, has been largely overlooked. Here we show that, even after controlling for several confounding effects, this behaviour has a strong individual component (repeatability = 0.84–0.92) in a bird species, leaving a small margin for behavioural flexibility. We hypothesize that individuals may distribute themselves among breeding sites depending on their individual susceptibility to human disturbance. This habitat selection hypothesis merits further research, given its implications on both evolutionary and applied ecology research. For example, selection of human-tolerant phenotypes may be promoted through the humanization of habitats occurring worldwide, and when population means instead of individual variability in FID are considered for designing buffer zones to reduce human impacts on wildlife.

scholarly journals Managing human disturbance: factors influencing flight-initiation distance of birds in a West African nature reserve

Ostrich ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bukola Braimoh ◽  
Soladoye Iwajomo ◽  
Mark Wilson ◽  
Adams Chaskda ◽  
Afan Ajang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
West African ◽  
Flight Initiation Distance ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Flight Initiation

scholarly journals Increased Flight Initiation Distance (FID) in Golden Marmots (Marmota caudata aurea) Responding to Domestic Dogs in A Landscape of Human Disturbance

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zaman ◽  
Bryony A. Tolhurst ◽  
Mengyan Zhu ◽  
Guangshun Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Domestic Dogs ◽  
Flight Initiation Distance ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Important Prey ◽  
Escape Responses ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Age And Sex ◽  
Flight Initiation

Humans and dogs initiate measurable escape responses in wild animals including flight initiation distance (FID), with potentially negative consequences. Golden marmots are important prey for endangered carnivores and are subject to human persecution including via marmot baiting with dogs. We quantified FID at four marmot colonies (72 individuals) in the Karakoram range, Pakistan in response to approach by a pedestrian with a leashed dog versus approach by a pedestrian alone (i.e., a control). Additionally, we related FID to background variables of human activity, namely proximity to roads, and presence of other pedestrians in the vicinity of study sites during sampling. We also controlled for potential environmental and social covariates (e.g., group size, age and sex, and colony substrate). Dogs initiated greater FID than pedestrians alone, and there was evidence that roads increased FID. However, these effects were weaker than those of marmot age and colony substrate. FID was greater at lower elevations, but this may reflect the clustering in these zones of human settlements and livestock pasture. Further work is needed elucidate the importance of colony substrate (linked to ease of human persecution), the effect of settlements and pasture, and the impact of increased FID on marmot fitness.

scholarly journals Increasing corvid tolerance to humans in urban ecosystems with increasing latitude

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadezhda Poddubnaya ◽  
Tatyana Korotkova ◽  
Polina Vanicheva
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Flight Initiation Distance ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Alert Distance ◽  
Behaviour Changes ◽  
Hooded Crows ◽  
Flight Initiation

The rapid growth of cities causes behaviour changes in birds in response to urban environmental factors. The avian response to human disturbance has recently been studied by a non-invasive research tool as an alert distance (AD) and a flight initiation distance (FID) assessment. The tolerance of hooded crows (n = 395), jackdaws (n = 394) and rooks (n = 169) to humans was assessed by AD and FID. It was shown that the FID of all species is maximal during the summer, when the parents send clear “danger—fly away” signals to the young and the birds fly away. The AD and FID of the three species reliably correlates with the season. Rooks showed FID species-specificity in seven cities of Eastern Europe. Comparison of the attitude of birds to people in cities that have similarities in human culture showed that tolerance increases with increasing latitude in all species and is statistically significant only in the jackdaw. This should be taken into account in environmental protection measures.

scholarly journals Variation in Human Disturbance Differentially Affects Predation Risk Assessment in Western Gulls

The Condor ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolaas V. Webb ◽  
Daniel T. Blumstein
Keyword(s):  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Important Goal ◽  
Larus Occidentalis ◽  
Predation Risk Assessment ◽  
Santa Monica ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
A Site ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Flight Initiation

Abstract Many studies have demonstrated that birds behave differently in areas with different levels of human disturbance. Studies frequently characterize sites as having an overall level of human disturbance, and compare how birds respond at sites with high and low levels of disturbance. Doing so assumes that disturbance has a fairly constant effect on animals throughout a site. We measured the distance at which individual Western Gulls (Larus occidentalis) moved away from an approaching observer along a stretch of beach on both sides of the Santa Monica Pier, a heavily visited tourist attraction in southern California. We found that these flight initiation distances decreased in areas where more people visited the beach, and specifically in a small area near the pier. We found that flight initiation distance changed very rapidly within a short distance from the pier. Our results indicate that anthropogenic features may leave a “behavioral footprint.” Identifying the scale of such behavioral footprints should be an important goal of studies that seek to reduce anthropogenic impacts on birds. La Variación del Disturbio Humano Afecta Diferencialmente la Percepción del Riesgo de Depredación en Gaviotas Larus occidentalis Resumen. Muchos estudios han demostrado que las aves se comportan de modo diferente en áreas con distintos niveles de disturbio humano. Los estudios frecuentemente caracterizan sitios con base en su nivel general de disturbio y comparan las respuestas de las aves entre lugares con niveles altos y bajos de disturbio. Al hacer esto, se supone que el disturbio tiene un efecto aproximadamente constante sobre los animales a través de un sitio dado. En este estudio medimos la distancia a la cual gaviotas de la especie Larus occidentalis se desplazaron alejándose de un observador a lo largo de un tramo de playa en ambos lados del embarcadero de Santa Monica, una atracción turística muy visitada ubicada en el sur de California. Encontramos que las distancias al observador a las que las aves iniciaron el vuelo disminuyeron en áreas donde más personas visitaron la playa, y específicamente en un área cercana al embarcadero. Las distancias a las que las gaviotas iniciaron el vuelo cambiaron muy rá pidamente en una distancia muy corta desde el puerto, hasta alcanzar una distancia constante. Nuestros resultados indican que las estructuras antropogénicas podrian dejar una “huella comportamental”. Identificar la escala de dichas huellas debería ser un objetivo importante de estudios que tengan como fin reducir el impacto antrópico sobre las aves.

scholarly journals Effects of topography on structuring local species assemblages in a Sri Lankan mixed dipterocarp forest

2012 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruwan Punchi-Manage ◽  
Stephan Getzin ◽  
Thorsten Wiegand ◽  
Rajapandian Kanagaraj ◽  
C. V. Savitri Gunatilleke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Dipterocarp Forest ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Mixed Dipterocarp Forest

Escape behaviour of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) in response to alarm pheromone and vibration

1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 2245-2252 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Clegg ◽  
C. A. Barlow
Keyword(s):  
Host Plant ◽  
Alarm Pheromone ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Escape Behaviour ◽  
Pea Aphids ◽  
Escape Responses

Pea aphids respond most effectively to the threat of a predator by walking away or dropping from their host plant. Simulating threat by using vibration and alarm pheromone, both separately and together, we found no evidence that escape responses are heritable, nor that individual aphids have characteristic escape behaviours. On the contrary, the amount of alarm pheromone influenced responses: the more pheromone, the more likely an immediate and effective escape. Vibration preceding alarm pheromone greatly increased responsiveness to pheromone, and aphids were more responsive to pheromone after vibration when feeding on stems than when feeding on the undersides of leaves.

scholarly journals Effect of human recreation on bird anti-predatory response

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Bötsch ◽  
Selina Gugelmann ◽  
Zulima Tablado ◽  
Lukas Jenni
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Flight Initiation Distance ◽  
Urban Birds ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Human Presence ◽  
Escape Responses ◽  
Human Use ◽  
Predatory Response ◽  
Human Recreation ◽  
Flight Initiation

Wildlife perceive humans as predators, and therefore normally flushes. Flight initiation distance (FID) is the distance a human can approach an animal at a steady pace until it flushes. Recently, several studies showed differences in within-species FID according to human presence by comparing urban and rural habitats, with urban birds showing reduced FIDs. However, urban and rural habitats also differ in structure, which might affect FID. Therefore, in order to understand the real effect of human presence, we investigated whether differences in FID are also present in natural habitats (forests), differing only in the intensity of human use for recreation. We found that human frequentation had a distinct effect on bird escape responses, with shorter FIDs in forests more-heavily frequented by humans than in forests rarely visited by humans. Whether this finding is driven by non-random spatial distribution of personalities (shy vs. bold) or phenotypic plasticity (habituation to humans) cannot be assessed with our data. Studies relying on FIDs should also incorporate human recreation intensity, as this affects the measurements strongly.

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