Contrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities

Abstract The ubiquitous activity of humans is a fundamental feature of urban environments affecting local wildlife in several ways. Testing the influence of human disturbance would ideally need experimental approach, however, in cities, this is challenging at relevant spatial and temporal scales. Th...

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Autores principales:	Gábor Seress, Krisztina Sándor, Ernő Vincze, Ivett Pipoly, Boglárka Bukor, Nóra Ágh, András Liker
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/80b2ea792c004190976e95f7d9141705
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:80b2ea792c004190976e95f7d91417052021-12-02T17:51:16ZContrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities10.1038/s41598-021-96858-82045-2322https://doaj.org/article/80b2ea792c004190976e95f7d91417052021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96858-8https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The ubiquitous activity of humans is a fundamental feature of urban environments affecting local wildlife in several ways. Testing the influence of human disturbance would ideally need experimental approach, however, in cities, this is challenging at relevant spatial and temporal scales. Thus, to better understand the ecological effects of human activity, we exploited the opportunity that the city-wide lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic provided during the spring of 2020. We assessed changes in reproductive success of great tits (Parus major) at two urban habitats affected strikingly differently by the ‘anthropause’, and at an unaffected forest site. Our results do not support that urban great tits benefited from reduced human mobility during the lockdown. First, at one of our urban sites, the strongly (− 44%) reduced human disturbance in 2020 (compared to a long-term reference period) did not increase birds’ reproductive output relative to the forest habitat where human disturbance was low in all years. Second, in the other urban habitat, recreational human activity considerably increased (+ 40%) during the lockdown and this was associated with strongly reduced nestling body size compared to the pre-COVID reference year. Analyses of other environmental factors (meteorological conditions, lockdown-induced changes in air pollution) suggest that these are not likely to explain our results. Our study supports that intensified human disturbance can have adverse fitness consequences in urban populations. It also highlights that a few months of ‘anthropause’ is not enough to counterweight the detrimental impacts of urbanization on local wildlife populations.Gábor SeressKrisztina SándorErnő VinczeIvett PipolyBoglárka BukorNóra ÁghAndrás LikerNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Gábor Seress Krisztina Sándor Ernő Vincze Ivett Pipoly Boglárka Bukor Nóra Ágh András Liker Contrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities
description	Abstract The ubiquitous activity of humans is a fundamental feature of urban environments affecting local wildlife in several ways. Testing the influence of human disturbance would ideally need experimental approach, however, in cities, this is challenging at relevant spatial and temporal scales. Thus, to better understand the ecological effects of human activity, we exploited the opportunity that the city-wide lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic provided during the spring of 2020. We assessed changes in reproductive success of great tits (Parus major) at two urban habitats affected strikingly differently by the ‘anthropause’, and at an unaffected forest site. Our results do not support that urban great tits benefited from reduced human mobility during the lockdown. First, at one of our urban sites, the strongly (− 44%) reduced human disturbance in 2020 (compared to a long-term reference period) did not increase birds’ reproductive output relative to the forest habitat where human disturbance was low in all years. Second, in the other urban habitat, recreational human activity considerably increased (+ 40%) during the lockdown and this was associated with strongly reduced nestling body size compared to the pre-COVID reference year. Analyses of other environmental factors (meteorological conditions, lockdown-induced changes in air pollution) suggest that these are not likely to explain our results. Our study supports that intensified human disturbance can have adverse fitness consequences in urban populations. It also highlights that a few months of ‘anthropause’ is not enough to counterweight the detrimental impacts of urbanization on local wildlife populations.
format	article
author	Gábor Seress Krisztina Sándor Ernő Vincze Ivett Pipoly Boglárka Bukor Nóra Ágh András Liker
author_facet	Gábor Seress Krisztina Sándor Ernő Vincze Ivett Pipoly Boglárka Bukor Nóra Ágh András Liker
author_sort	Gábor Seress
title	Contrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities
title_short	Contrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities
title_full	Contrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities
title_fullStr	Contrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities
title_full_unstemmed	Contrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities
title_sort	contrasting effects of the covid-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/80b2ea792c004190976e95f7d9141705
work_keys_str_mv	AT gaborseress contrastingeffectsofthecovid19lockdownonurbanbirdsreproductivesuccessintwocities AT krisztinasandor contrastingeffectsofthecovid19lockdownonurbanbirdsreproductivesuccessintwocities AT ernovincze contrastingeffectsofthecovid19lockdownonurbanbirdsreproductivesuccessintwocities AT ivettpipoly contrastingeffectsofthecovid19lockdownonurbanbirdsreproductivesuccessintwocities AT boglarkabukor contrastingeffectsofthecovid19lockdownonurbanbirdsreproductivesuccessintwocities AT noraagh contrastingeffectsofthecovid19lockdownonurbanbirdsreproductivesuccessintwocities AT andrasliker contrastingeffectsofthecovid19lockdownonurbanbirdsreproductivesuccessintwocities
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Contrasting effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban birds’ reproductive success in two cities

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