Behavioral Causes, Ecological Consequences, and Management Challenges Associated with Wildlife Foraging in Human-Modified Landscapes.

Gaelle Fehlmann,M Justin O'Riain,Andrew J King,Ines Fürtbauer

doi:10.1093/biosci/biaa129

Gaelle Fehlmann, M Justin O'Riain + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa129

Copy DOI

Abstract

Humans have altered up to half of the world's land surface. Wildlife living within or close to these human-modified landscapes are presented with opportunities and risks associated with feeding on human-derived foods (e.g., agricultural crops and food waste). Understanding whether and how wildlife adapts to these landscapes is a major challenge, with thousands of studies published on the topic over the past 10 years. In the present article, we build on established theoretical frameworks to understand the behavioral causes of crop and urban foraging by wildlife. We then develop and extend this framework to describe the multifaceted ecological consequences of crop and urban foraging for the individuals and populations in which they arise, with emphasis on social species for which interactions with people are, on balance, negative (commonly referred to as raiding species). Finally, we discuss the management challenges faced by urban and rural land managers, businesses, and government organizations in mitigating human–wildlife conflicts and propose ways to improve the lives of both wildlife and humans living in human-modified landscapes and to promote coexistence.

Highlights

Up to 50% of the Earth’s land surface has been modified by human activities, with 12% dedicated to crops (Ramankutty et al 2008) and nearly 1% to cities (Liu et al 2014)
We have reviewed the consequences of crop and urban foraging on several aspects of biology and there is a general positive impact on individual’s fitness and population dynamics, these can have broader consequences at a community level
We proposed that foraging in human-modified landscapes results in a rapid dietary change but presents a novel selective pressure that may lead to important changes in key behavioral traits such as movement patterns, activity, and energy budgets to social dynamics within groups and life history traits

Summary

Method Examples Limitations Costs

Population Removal of Identifying control individuals or problem groups individuals. Note: Considerations and positive (+) and negative (-) outcomes associated with the various aspects or processes related to the management strategies. Why some species are currently colonizing or recolonizing human-altered landscapes (Carter and Linnell 2016, Bruskotter et al 2017) Despite these changes, conflicts between wildlife and people emerge as a result of negative interaction that can cause economic loss (e.g., crop depredation or damage to properties; Ogada et al 2003), disruptive behaviors (e.g., dissemination of trash when foraging on discards Belant 1997, Kaplan et al 2011, Flint et al 2016), or increased anxiety (e.g., when the encounter of the wild species result in a risk for humans; Beamish 2009, Lewis et al 2015, Acharya et al 2016). Collaboration between these two endeavors will ensure that mitigation strategies have the best chance of success (Atwood and Breck 2012, Carter and Linnell 2016)

Conclusions

Findings

References cited