Mismatch Between Risk and Response May Amplify Lethal and Non-lethal Effects of Humans on Wild Animal Populations

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Abstract

Human activity has rapidly transformed the planet, leading to declines of animal populations around the world through a range of direct and indirect pathways. Humans have strong numerical effects on wild animal populations, as highly efficient hunters and through unintentional impacts of human activity and development. Human disturbance also induces costly non-lethal effects by changing the behavior of risk-averse animals. Here, we suggest that the unique strength of these lethal and non-lethal effects is amplified by mismatches between the nature of risk associated with anthropogenic stimuli and the corresponding response by wild animals. We discuss the unique characteristics of cues associated with anthropogenic stimuli in the context of animal ecology and evolutionary history to explore why and when animals fail to appropriately (a) detect, (b) assess, and (c) respond to both benign and lethal stimuli. We then explore the costs of over-response to a benign stimulus (Type I error) and under-response to a lethal stimulus (Type II error), which can scale up to affect individual fitness and ultimately drive population dynamics and shape ecological interactions. Finally, we highlight avenues for future research and discuss conservation measures that can better align animal perception and response with risk to mitigate unintended consequences of human disturbance.

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Defaunation in the Anthropocene.

Rodolfo Dirzo, Hillary S Young, Mauro Galetti … (2014)

We live amid a global wave of anthropogenically driven biodiversity loss: species and population extirpations and, critically, declines in local species abundance. Particularly, human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of global environmental change. Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25% average decline in abundance. Invertebrate patterns are equally dire: 67% of monitored populations show 45% mean abundance decline. Such animal declines will cascade onto ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Much remains unknown about this "Anthropocene defaunation"; these knowledge gaps hinder our capacity to predict and limit defaunation impacts. Clearly, however, defaunation is both a pervasive component of the planet's sixth mass extinction and also a major driver of global ecological change. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Temporal Variation in Danger Drives Antipredator Behavior: The Predation Risk Allocation Hypothesis

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Evolution and behavioural responses to human-induced rapid environmental change

Andrew Sih, Maud Ferrari, David J Harris (2011)

Almost all organisms live in environments that have been altered, to some degree, by human activities. Because behaviour mediates interactions between an individual and its environment, the ability of organisms to behave appropriately under these new conditions is crucial for determining their immediate success or failure in these modified environments. While hundreds of species are suffering dramatically from these environmental changes, others, such as urbanized and pest species, are doing better than ever. Our goal is to provide insights into explaining such variation. We first summarize the responses of some species to novel situations, including novel risks and resources, habitat loss/fragmentation, pollutants and climate change. Using a sensory ecology approach, we present a mechanistic framework for predicting variation in behavioural responses to environmental change, drawing from models of decision-making processes and an understanding of the selective background against which they evolved. Where immediate behavioural responses are inadequate, learning or evolutionary adaptation may prove useful, although these mechanisms are also constrained by evolutionary history. Although predicting the responses of species to environmental change is difficult, we highlight the need for a better understanding of the role of evolutionary history in shaping individuals’ responses to their environment and provide suggestion for future work.