Urbanization and the evolution of behavior in thrushes

• Grant number: 20/12211-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2021
• End date: April 08, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Marco Aurelio Pizo Ferreira
• Grantee: Augusto Florisvaldo Batisteli
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Urbanization drives severe and permanent changes in the structure of habitats, harming local biodiversity. Besides constituting a selective barrier that hampers the persistence of most species, the urban environment is usually associated to the domain of certain phenotypes. Animal personality is an important aspect behind individual behavioral patterns, and there is evidence that certain lineages are more able to deal with unknown threats and explore alternative resources in disturbed habitats. However, a few studies tested whether the dominance of certain personalities in urban settings results from microevolution. Using free-living adults of a widely distributed Brazilian thrush, the Pale-Breasted Thrush Turdus leucomelas (Vieillot 1818), we aim to experimentally test the hypothesis that urban populations show differences in personality in relation to those of non-disturbed sites, being a) more tolerant to human proximity; b) more aggressive against conspecifics; c) less neophobic; d) more explorative; and e) more prone to the consumption of new food items. We also hypothesize that such differences accrue from microevolution. To test this hypothesis, we will hand-raise chicks from nests on the two habitats (urban and non-disturbed), and repeat part of the experiments made with free-living thrushes under controlled conditions. This project includes the participation of undergraduate and graduate students and the collaboration between researchers from multiple universities from Brazil and Spain. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

HADDAD, RENAN N. M.; BATISTELI, AUGUSTO F.; IBANEZ-ALAMO, JUAN DIEGO; PIZO, MARCO A.. Sexual division of nestling parental care in the Pale-breasted Thrush (Turdus leucomelas). JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY, v. N/A, p. 10-pg., 2023-08-12. (20/12211-0)

RENAN N. MEDEIROS HADDAD; AUGUSTO F. BATISTELI; JUAN D. IBAÑEZ-ÁLAMO; MARCO A. PIZO. Post-fledging parental care in the pale-breasted thrush, Turdus leucomelas (Passeriformes: Turdidae). Zoologia, v. 41, 2024-04-29. (20/12211-0)