Pubblicazione scientifica

Urban gulls adapt foraging schedule to human-activity patterns

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
economia circolare e sostenibilità

RIASSUNTO

Numerous animals are able to adapt to temporal patterns in natural food availability, but whether species living in relatively novel environments such as cities can adapt to anthropogenic activity cycles is less well understood. We aimed to assess the extent to which urban gulls have adapted their foraging schedule to anthropogenic food source fluctuations related to human activity by combining field observations at three distinct urban feeding grounds (park, school and waste centre) with global positioning system (GPS) tracking data of gulls visiting similar types of feeding grounds throughout the same city. We found that the birds’ foraging patterns closely matched the timing of school breaks and the opening and closing times of the waste centre, but gull activity in the park appeared to correspond to the availability of natural food sources. Overall, this suggests that gulls may have the behavioural flexibility to adapt their foraging behaviour to human time schedules when beneficial and that this trait could potentially enable them to thrive in cities.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 02/11/2020

AUTORI

SPELT ANOUK
SOUTAR OLIVER
WILLIAMSON CARA
MEMMOTT JANE
SHAMOUN-BARANES JUDY
ROCK PETER
WINDSOR SHANE

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

DEPT AEROSPACE ENG UNIV BRISTOL BRISTOL BS8 1TR UK
SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES UNIV BRISTOL BRISTOL BS8 1TQ UK
INST BIODIVERSITY & ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS UNIV AMSTERDAM AMSTERDAM 1098XH NETHERLANDS

RIVISTA

The Ibis, 163(1), 274-282

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