The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land.
Disturbance
Hummingbirds
Territorial behavior
Urban ecology
Weekend effect
Journal
PeerJ
ISSN: 2167-8359
Titre abrégé: PeerJ
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101603425
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
2023
2023
Historique:
received:
31
10
2022
accepted:
03
02
2023
entrez:
6
3
2023
pubmed:
7
3
2023
medline:
8
3
2023
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
By changing the circumstances in which animals make their behavioral decisions, weekly cycles of human activity might cause changes in wildlife behavior. For example, when there is more human activity in a location, animals may become more vigilant, which can decrease the time they spend foraging, or roam farther from home, leading to increased home range size. Overall, there has been little exploration of how animal species living in locations that have undergone land use change are affected by the temporal dynamics of human activity levels. In this study, we aimed to analyze the effect of the weekend on agricultural activities and hummingbird territorial activity. We examined differences between weekdays and weekends in factors previously shown to follow weekly cyclical patterns, such as pedestrian presence, traffic, and the presence of domestic animals. We hypothesized that territorial hummingbirds would respond to these weekly cycles of human activity by altering their behavior. We studied Broad-tailed hummingbird territories in forested areas that had been transformed to agriculture lands in central Mexico. We evaluated whether territorial individuals changed their behaviors ( We found that the level of agriculture-related human activities showed a weekly cycle at our study site. On weekdays there was higher traffic of pedestrians, cyclists, dogs, farm animals and vehicles, compared to the weekends. Hummingbirds responded to these weekday-weekends differences by changing their territorial behavior. Compared to weekends, on weekdays hummingbirds showed a decrease in defense (number of chases) as well as the use of their territory (number of flowers visited), which allowed increased access to intruders (number of visited flowers by intruders). Our findings suggest that variation in agriculture-related human activities between weekdays and weekends can alter the territorial behavior of hummingbirds. Behavioral shifts seem to be related to these human activity cycles, leading hummingbirds to reduce chases and feeding during weekdays when human activity is highest, but increasing both behaviors during times of minimal disturbance.
Sections du résumé
Background
By changing the circumstances in which animals make their behavioral decisions, weekly cycles of human activity might cause changes in wildlife behavior. For example, when there is more human activity in a location, animals may become more vigilant, which can decrease the time they spend foraging, or roam farther from home, leading to increased home range size. Overall, there has been little exploration of how animal species living in locations that have undergone land use change are affected by the temporal dynamics of human activity levels. In this study, we aimed to analyze the effect of the weekend on agricultural activities and hummingbird territorial activity. We examined differences between weekdays and weekends in factors previously shown to follow weekly cyclical patterns, such as pedestrian presence, traffic, and the presence of domestic animals. We hypothesized that territorial hummingbirds would respond to these weekly cycles of human activity by altering their behavior.
Methods
We studied Broad-tailed hummingbird territories in forested areas that had been transformed to agriculture lands in central Mexico. We evaluated whether territorial individuals changed their behaviors (
Results
We found that the level of agriculture-related human activities showed a weekly cycle at our study site. On weekdays there was higher traffic of pedestrians, cyclists, dogs, farm animals and vehicles, compared to the weekends. Hummingbirds responded to these weekday-weekends differences by changing their territorial behavior. Compared to weekends, on weekdays hummingbirds showed a decrease in defense (number of chases) as well as the use of their territory (number of flowers visited), which allowed increased access to intruders (number of visited flowers by intruders).
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that variation in agriculture-related human activities between weekdays and weekends can alter the territorial behavior of hummingbirds. Behavioral shifts seem to be related to these human activity cycles, leading hummingbirds to reduce chases and feeding during weekdays when human activity is highest, but increasing both behaviors during times of minimal disturbance.
Identifiants
pubmed: 36874969
doi: 10.7717/peerj.14953
pii: 14953
pmc: PMC9983423
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e14953Informations de copyright
©2023 Mendiola-Islas et al.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors declare there are no competing interests.
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