creation effects flock of birds download

Hence, there is an urgent need for research that can be directly translated to wildlife management and conservation practices.īehaviour is an important mechanism by which animals flexibly cope with environmental challenges, including environmental variation 5. Consequently, animals, including those in open tropical ecosystems, will increasingly occur and interact under novel abiotic and biotic conditions that differ from those under which they evolved. Human activities have modified many habitats and ecological communities and will continue to do so throughout the Anthropocene. Human-induced environmental changes are significant threats to biodiversity on Earth, driving widespread and substantial population declines and local extinctions of animals in the wild 4. Their exploitation leads to habitat degradation, fragmentation, pollution, land conversion of natural areas through agriculture, pastoralism, hunting, extensive tourism, and other anthropogenic influences, including climate change 2, 3. Despite being crucial for human livelihoods, these ecosystems are increasingly threatened by increasing human demands for resources. The biota in these ecosystems form an essential component of global biodiversity. Open tropical ecosystems such as savannahs, grasslands, and shrublands are globally extensive, encompassing many emblematic and iconic life forms 1. Identification of key factors affecting animal tolerance towards humans across large spatial and taxonomic scales may help us to better understand and predict the patterns of species distributions in the Anthropocene. In addition, larger species and species with larger clutches and enhanced flight ability are less tolerant to human approaches and escape distances increase when birds were approached during the wet season compared to the dry season and from longer starting distances. Using 10,249 observations for 842 bird species inhabiting open tropical ecosystems in Africa, South America, and Australia, we find that avian tolerance towards humans was lower (i.e., escape distance was longer) in rural rather than urban populations and in populations exposed to lower human disturbance (measured as human footprint index). Nature Communications volume 14, Article number: 2146 ( 2023)Īnimal tolerance towards humans can be a key factor facilitating wildlife–human coexistence, yet traits predicting its direction and magnitude across tropical animals are poorly known.

Bird tolerance to humans in open tropical ecosystems

Creation effects flock of birds download