Gulls are taking over our European cities

Coastal cities in Europe are swarmed with gulls, to the annoyance of many of those cities’ inhabitants. Gulls (Larus spp.) are naturally cliff-nesting species, but are able to thrive in urban areas because of the high food availability, the suitable climate, the similarity of nest substrate, lesser risk of predation and the presence of conspecifics... Continue Reading →

How Gull-ible can we be around urban Larus?

The weather on the northern hemisphere is getting warmer which means beach days are approaching. Every beach dweller can confirm that seagulls (Larus sp.) can be very cunning and cheeky in order to steal food. Is this their ancestral behaviour or has this evolved with the rising of urban areas? Pavlova and Wronski (2020) studied... Continue Reading →

New Lit Alert: Urban colonies are less aggressive but forage more than their forest counterparts in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi

Urban colonies are less aggressive but forage more than their forest counterparts in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi L Jacquier, M Molet, C Doums Abstract Urbanization imposes new constraints on organisms, leading to changes in various traits including behaviour. In particular, foraging and aggressive behaviours are often affected by urbanization. In eusocial species, behaviour can be defined at the... Continue Reading →

New Lit Alert: Artificial light at night alters diurnal and nocturnal behavior and physiology in green anole lizards

Artificial light at night alters diurnal and nocturnal behavior and physiology in green anole lizards Laura A.Taylor, Christopher J. Thawley, Olive R.Pertuit, Abigail J.Dennis, Isabela R.Carson, ChenTang, Michele A.Johnson Abstract Artificial light at night (ALAN) disrupts biological rhythms across widely diverse organisms. To determine how energy is allocated by animals in different light environments, we investigated the... Continue Reading →

New Lit Alert: No evidence for innate differences in tadpole behavior between natural, urbanized, and invasive populations

No evidence for innate differences in tadpole behavior between natural, urbanized, and invasive populations
Max Mühlenhaupt, James Baxter-Gilbert, Buyisile G. Makhubo, Julia L. Riley & John Measey
Abstract

Animals are increasingly challenged to respond to novel or rapidly changing habitats due to urbanization and/or displacement outside their native range by humans. Behavioral differences, such as increased boldness (i.e., propensity for risk-taking), are often observed in animals persisting in novel environments; however, in many cases, it is unclear how these differences arise (e.g., through developmental plasticity or evolution) or when they arise (i.e., at what age or developmental stage). In the Guttural Toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis), adult urban toads from both native and invasive ranges are bolder than conspecifics in natural habitats. Here, we reared Guttural Toad tadpoles in a common garden experiment and tested for innate differences in boldness across their development and between individuals whose parents and lineage came from rural-native, urban-native, and urban-invasive localities (i.e., origin populations). Tadpoles did not differ in their boldness or in how their boldness changed over ontogeny based on their origin populations. In general, tadpoles typically became less bold as they aged, irrespective of origin population. Our findings indicate that differences in boldness in free-living adult Guttural Toads are not innate in the tadpole stage and we discuss three possible mechanisms driving phenotypic divergence in adult boldness for the focus of future research: habitat-dependent developmental effects on tadpole behavior, decoupled evolution between the tadpole and adult stage, and/or behavioral flexibility, learning, or acclimatization during the adult stage.

New Lit Alert: Consistency and plasticity of risk-taking behaviour towards humans at the nest in urban and forest great tits, Parus major

Consistency and plasticity of risk-taking behaviour towards humans at the nest in urban and forest great tits, Parus major Vincze, Ernő, Veronika Bókony, László Zsolt Garamszegi, Gábor Seress, Ivett Pipoly, Csenge Sinkovics, Krisztina Sándor, and András Liker Abstract Urban animals often show bolder behaviour towards humans than their nonurban conspecifics. However, it is unclear to... Continue Reading →

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