Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing

Feral cat colonies in cities improve the wellbeing of people who feed and care for them, but they can have negative effects on biodiversity due to the predatory behaviour of cats. We analyse the effect of the presence of the 1171 colonies of feral cats reported for the city of Madrid (Spain) on the...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Díaz Esteban, Mario, Fernández, Jonatan, Page, Alicia
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::dafb6ca807e98f9ff8f5b36ff36a6eec
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/266511
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Behaviour
Ecology of fear
Management
Predation risk
id ES_992afeea6ffcc0a58ca7883d08e71352
oai_identifier_str oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::dafb6ca807e98f9ff8f5b36ff36a6eec
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeingDíaz Esteban, MarioFernández, JonatanPage, AliciaBehaviourEcology of fearManagementPredation riskFeral cat colonies in cities improve the wellbeing of people who feed and care for them, but they can have negative effects on biodiversity due to the predatory behaviour of cats. We analyse the effect of the presence of the 1171 colonies of feral cats reported for the city of Madrid (Spain) on the flight escape distances (FIDs) of birds to approaching human observers under standardized conditions. Location of cat colonies was obtained from maps maintained by the city authorities. The FID is a behavioural trait that integrates effects on bird's fearfulness of exposure to predation, disturbance, and physiological and reproductive needs. Shorter flight distances are associated with less exposure to predators and disturbance and better access to food and mates. Shorter FIDs are also associated to higher abundances and more positive population trends, at least in Spain. Mean FIDs of 694 birds of 34 species measured in nine city areas in the spring of 2021 were 10% longer in zones with colonies of feral cats than in neighbouring paired zones without colonies but similar regarding other factors potentially affecting FIDs (i.e. urban landscape structure). Birds were 33% higher above ground in zones with colonies, with no significant effects of perching higher on bird fleeing behaviour. Cat colonies were therefore increasing the fearfulness of individual birds and, presumably, downgraded their population trends. Compromising bird conservation with wellness effects of cat colonies on citizens at the city scale will thus imply the maintenance of colony-free areas, especially for ground-foraging birds. In addition, provision of perches for its use as temporal refuges around colonies might reconcile positive and negative effects at local scales.This paper is a contribution to the project URBILAND (PID2019-107423GA-I00) financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Peer reviewedElsevierMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]202220222022info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/266511reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglés#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/PID2019-107423GA-I00https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722014942Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:digitalcsic_::dafb6ca807e98f9ff8f5b36ff36a6eec2026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing
title Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing
spellingShingle Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing
Díaz Esteban, Mario
Behaviour
Ecology of fear
Management
Predation risk
title_short Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing
title_full Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing
title_fullStr Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing
title_full_unstemmed Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing
title_sort Cat colonies and flight initiation distances of urban birds: Dealing with conflicting sources of citizen wellbeing
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Díaz Esteban, Mario
Fernández, Jonatan
Page, Alicia
author Díaz Esteban, Mario
author_facet Díaz Esteban, Mario
Fernández, Jonatan
Page, Alicia
author_role author
author2 Fernández, Jonatan
Page, Alicia
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Behaviour
Ecology of fear
Management
Predation risk
topic Behaviour
Ecology of fear
Management
Predation risk
description Feral cat colonies in cities improve the wellbeing of people who feed and care for them, but they can have negative effects on biodiversity due to the predatory behaviour of cats. We analyse the effect of the presence of the 1171 colonies of feral cats reported for the city of Madrid (Spain) on the flight escape distances (FIDs) of birds to approaching human observers under standardized conditions. Location of cat colonies was obtained from maps maintained by the city authorities. The FID is a behavioural trait that integrates effects on bird's fearfulness of exposure to predation, disturbance, and physiological and reproductive needs. Shorter flight distances are associated with less exposure to predators and disturbance and better access to food and mates. Shorter FIDs are also associated to higher abundances and more positive population trends, at least in Spain. Mean FIDs of 694 birds of 34 species measured in nine city areas in the spring of 2021 were 10% longer in zones with colonies of feral cats than in neighbouring paired zones without colonies but similar regarding other factors potentially affecting FIDs (i.e. urban landscape structure). Birds were 33% higher above ground in zones with colonies, with no significant effects of perching higher on bird fleeing behaviour. Cat colonies were therefore increasing the fearfulness of individual birds and, presumably, downgraded their population trends. Compromising bird conservation with wellness effects of cat colonies on citizens at the city scale will thus imply the maintenance of colony-free areas, especially for ground-foraging birds. In addition, provision of perches for its use as temporal refuges around colonies might reconcile positive and negative effects at local scales.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2022
2022
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/266511
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/266511
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/PID2019-107423GA-I00
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722014942
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869414252300730368
score 15,198674

Registos relacionados