The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land
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...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2023-02-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/14953.pdf |
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| author | Verónica Mendiola-Islas Carlos Lara Pablo Corcuera Pedro Luis Valverde |
| author_facet | Verónica Mendiola-Islas Carlos Lara Pablo Corcuera Pedro Luis Valverde |
| author_sort | Verónica Mendiola-Islas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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 (i.e., chases of intruders, foraging within their territory, number of intruders allowed to forage in the territory) in response to variation between weekdays and weekends in the number of pedestrians, cyclists, dogs, farm animals and vehicles. 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:21:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0e683a70df264e6a8bbe7b698636e225 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:21:30Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-0e683a70df264e6a8bbe7b698636e2252023-12-03T11:37:08ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592023-02-0111e1495310.7717/peerj.14953The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural landVerónica Mendiola-Islas0Carlos Lara1Pablo Corcuera2Pedro Luis Valverde3Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa, Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud, Ciudad de México, MéxicoCentro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, San Felipe Ixtacuixtla, Tlaxcala, MexicoDepartamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México, MéxicoDepartamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México, MéxicoBackground 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 (i.e., chases of intruders, foraging within their territory, number of intruders allowed to forage in the territory) in response to variation between weekdays and weekends in the number of pedestrians, cyclists, dogs, farm animals and vehicles. 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.https://peerj.com/articles/14953.pdfDisturbanceHummingbirdsTerritorial behaviorUrban ecologyWeekend effect |
| spellingShingle | Verónica Mendiola-Islas Carlos Lara Pablo Corcuera Pedro Luis Valverde The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land PeerJ Disturbance Hummingbirds Territorial behavior Urban ecology Weekend effect |
| title | The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land |
| title_full | The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land |
| title_fullStr | The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land |
| title_full_unstemmed | The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land |
| title_short | The behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land |
| title_sort | behavior of broad tailed hummingbirds is altered by cycles of human activity in a forested area converted into agricultural land |
| topic | Disturbance Hummingbirds Territorial behavior Urban ecology Weekend effect |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/14953.pdf |
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