Humans are shaping environments at an accelerating rate.
Humans are shaping environments at an accelerating rate. Indeed, one of the most important current topics of research is the capacity of animals to adapt to human-induced environmental change and how that change affects the expression of animal traits.
With the help of data collected on a little over one hundred animal species, researchers from the University of Helsinki and Lancaster University studied which behavioural traits are the most sensitive to human-induced environmental change, and to which human-induced changes in the environment animals respond the most sensitively. From the largest to the smallest, the groups of organisms included in the study were fish, birds, crustaceans and mammals. In addition, insects, amphibians and lizards were represented.
All the behavioural traits included in the study – aggression, activity, boldness, sociability and exploration of their environment – changed markedly due to environmental change brought about by humans.
“The biggest change was seen in the animals’ activity in exploring their environment. Animals have a strong response to all forms of environmental change, but climate change engendered the greatest change in animal behaviour,” says Postdoctoral Researcher Petri Niemelä from the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki.
Read more at University of Helsinki
Image: The ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres) is a marine wader bird, here pictured on a seashore occupied by human settlement at Whitby, UK. (Credit: Petri Niemelä)
