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Brønderslev, Denmark

Moller A.P.,University Paris - Sud | Diaz M.,CSIC - National Museum of Natural Sciences | Flensted-Jensen E.,Cypresvej 1 | Grim T.,Palacky University | And 6 more authors.
Oecologia | Year: 2012

Living organisms generally occur at the highest population density in the most suitable habitat. Therefore, invasion of and adaptation to novel habitats imply a gradual increase in population density, from that at or below what was found in the ancestral habitat to a density that may reach higher levels in the novel habitat following adaptation to that habitat. We tested this prediction of invasion biology by analyzing data on population density of breeding birds in their ancestral rural habitats and in matched nearby urban habitats that have been colonized recently across a continental latitudinal gradient. We estimated population density in the two types of habitats using extensive point census bird counts, and we obtained information on the year of urbanization when population density in urban habitats reached levels higher than that of the ancestral rural habitat from published records and estimates by experienced ornithologists. Both the difference in population density between urban and rural habitats and the year of urbanization were significantly repeatable when analyzing multiple populations of the same species across Europe. Population density was on average 30 % higher in urban than in rural habitats, although density reached as much as 100-fold higher in urban habitats in some species. Invasive urban bird species that colonized urban environments over a long period achieved the largest increases in population density compared to their ancestral rural habitats. This was independent of whether species were anciently or recently urbanized, providing a unique cross-validation of timing of urban invasions. These results suggest that successful invasion of urban habitats was associated with gradual adaptation to these habitats as shown by a significant increase in population density in urban habitats over time. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

Diaz M.,CSIC - National Museum of Natural Sciences | Moller A.P.,University Paris - Sud | Flensted-Jensen E.,Cypresvej 1 | Grim T.,Palacky University | And 6 more authors.
PLoS ONE | Year: 2013

All animals flee from potential predators, and the distance at which this happens is optimized so the benefits from staying are balanced against the costs of flight. Because predator diversity and abundance decreases with increasing latitude, and differs between rural and urban areas, we should expect escape distance when a predator approached the individual to decrease with latitude and depend on urbanization. We measured the distance at which individual birds fled (flight initiation distance, FID, which represents a reliable and previously validated surrogate measure of response to predation risk) following a standardized protocol in nine pairs of rural and urban sites along a ca. 3000 km gradient from Southern Spain to Northern Finland during the breeding seasons 2009-2010. Raptor abundance was estimated by means of standard point counts at the same sites where FID information was recorded. Data on body mass and phylogenetic relationships among bird species sampled were extracted from the literature. An analysis of 12,495 flight distances of 714 populations of 159 species showed that mean FID decreased with increasing latitude after accounting for body size and phylogenetic effects. This decrease was paralleled by a similar cline in an index of the abundance of raptors. Urban populations had consistently shorter FIDs, supporting previous findings. The difference between rural and urban habitats decreased with increasing latitude, also paralleling raptor abundance trends. Overall, the latitudinal gradient in bird fear was explained by raptor abundance gradients, with additional small effects of latitude and intermediate effects of habitat. This study provides the first empirical documentation of a latitudinal trend in anti-predator behavior, which correlated positively with a similar trend in the abundance of predators. © 2013 Díaz et al.

Oecologia | Year: 2015

Many animals have adapted to the proximity of humans and thereby gained an advantage in a world increasingly affected by human activity. Numerous organisms have invaded novel areas and thereby increased their range. Here, we hypothesize that an ability to thrive in urban habitats is a key innovation that facilitates successful establishment and invasion. We test this hypothesis by relating the probability of establishment by birds on oceanic islands to the difference in breeding population density between urban and nearby rural habitats as a measure of urbanization in the ancestral range. This measure was the single-most important predictor of establishment success and the only statistically significant one, with additional effects of sexual dichromatism, number of releases and release effort, showing that the ability to cope with human proximity is a central component of successful establishment. Because most invasions occur as a consequence of human-assisted establishment, the ability to cope with human proximity will often be of central importance for successful establishment. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Diaz M.,CSIC - National Museum of Natural Sciences | Cuervo J.J.,CSIC - National Museum of Natural Sciences | Grim T.,Palacky University | Flensted-Jensen E.,Cypresvej 1 | And 6 more authors.
Behavioral Ecology | Year: 2015

Animal populations are currently under pressure from multiple factors that include human land use and climate change. They may compensate for such effects by reducing, either by habituation or by natural selection, the distance at which they flee from humans (i.e., flight initiation distance), and this adaptation may improve their population trends. We analyzed population trends of common breeding birds in relation to flight initiation distance and geographical location (latitude, longitude, and marginality of the breeding distribution) across European countries from Finland in the north to Spain in the south while also considering other potential predictors of trends like farmland habitat, migration, body size, and brain size. We found evidence of farmland, migratory, and smaller-sized species showing stronger population declines. In contrast, there was no significant effect of relative brain size on population trends. We did not find evidence for main effects of flight initiation distance and geographical location on trends after accounting for confounding and interactive effects; instead, flight initiation distance and location interacted to generate complex spatial patterns of population trends. Trends were more positive for fearful populations northward, westward, and (marginally) toward the center of distribution areas and more negative for fearless populations toward the south, east, and the margins of distribution ranges. These findings suggest that it is important to consider differences in population trends among countries, but also interaction effects among factors, because such interactions can enhance or compensate for negative effects of other factors on population trends. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology.

Soler J.J.,CSIC - Estacion Experimental De Zonas Aridas | Soler J.J.,University of Granada | Peralta-Sanchez J.M.,CSIC - Estacion Experimental De Zonas Aridas | Peralta-Sanchez J.M.,University of Granada | And 4 more authors.
Naturwissenschaften | Year: 2012

Parasite-mediated selection may affect the evolution of cognitive abilities because parasites may influence development of the brain, but also learning capacity. Here, we tested some predictions of this hypothesis by analyzing the relationship between complex behaviours (feeding innovations (as a measure of behavioural flexibility) and ability to detect foreign eggs in their nests (i.e. a measure of discriminatory ability)) and abundance of microorganisms in different species of birds. A positive relationship would be predicted if these cognitive abilities implied a larger number of visited environments, while if these skills favoured detection and avoidance of risky environments, a negative relationship would be the prediction. Bacterial loads of eggshells, estimated for mesophilic and potentially pathogenic bacteria (i.e. Enterococcus, Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae), were used as a surrogate of probability of contact with pathogenic bacteria. We found that bird species with higher feeding innovation rates and rejection rates of experimental brood parasitic eggs had higher density of bacteria on their eggshells than the average species. Since the analysed groups of microorganisms include pathogenic bacteria, these results suggest that both feeding innovation and ability to recognize foreign eggs are costly and highlight the importance of parasite-mediated selection in explaining the evolution of cognitive abilities in animals. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

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