Investigating the cognitive underpinnings, behavioural development and fitness consequences of urban life in herring gulls

在法尔茅斯和圣艾夫斯等沿海城镇，人与野生动物之间的冲突非常普遍，在这些城镇，鲱鱼经常被认为会造成噪音、粪便和人类食物盗窃等重大骚乱。虽然鲱鸥的数量在全国范围内都在下降，但公众的看法是，它们在沿海城镇蓬勃发展。令人惊讶的是，目前尚不清楚在沿海城镇繁殖和觅食的鲱鱼是否真的茁壮成长，或者只是在恶劣的情况下发挥最大作用。此外，到目前为止，还没有关于海鸥是否以及如何学会利用人类食物的研究，无论这是一种专门的和适应性的，还是仅仅是机会主义和最后手段类型的觅食策略，以及城市居民是否会产生城市居民的后代。这个项目将研究城市生活对鲱鱼的认知基础、行为发展和健康影响。鲱鱼被认为是一种害虫，在英国是一个主要的保护物种。这个博士项目将通过解决以下问题来增加我们对行为可塑性和认知适应如何允许鲱鱼在人类栖息地中生存和繁荣的理解：a)鲱鱼如何调整它们的行为来利用人类的食物来源？海鸥是否会改变它们的觅食行为，以适应人类食物供应的波动？例如，海鸥是否在旅游旺季或垃圾收集日从海上觅食转向城镇，在试图窃取食物时是否注意人类身份和凝视方向？这些问题将通过使用GPS标签来量化每日和季节性的觅食例程，并通过对记忆进行个体水平的认知测试和学习人类线索来解决。b)鲱鱼如何获得它们的觅食策略？海鸥雏鸟是否会在羽化后跟随它们的父母学习它们的食物，它们是否通过父母在巢中的供应来了解食物，和/或城市海鸥的蛋黄成分与农村海鸥的不同？这些问题将通过稳定同位素分析比较城市和农村的蛋黄和鸡毛组成，并进行交叉培养实验来测试遗传和环境因素在驱动觅食策略方面的相对贡献，以解决这些问题。这名学生还将进行社交学习实验，以测试青少年是否会抄袭父母对新奇食物谜题的解决方案。C)鲱鸥的觅食策略如何影响它们的生存和繁殖成功？城市鲱鱼的繁殖成功率比那些在更自然的栖息地繁殖的鱼更高还是更低，这是否受到人类食物摄入量的影响？这些问题将通过跟踪城市和农村地区海鸥的繁殖成功并将个体的觅食策略与其繁殖产量联系起来来解决。

Human-wildlife conflict is rife in coastal towns such as Falmouth and St. Ives, where herring gulls are often perceived to cause major disturbances in the form of noise, excrement and human food theft. While herring gull populations are in national decline, the public perception is that they are thriving in coastal towns. Surprisingly, it is not known whether herring gulls that breed and forage in coastal towns are actually thriving, or just making the best of a bad situation. In addition, to date no research has been conducted on whether and how gulls may learn to exploit human foods, whether this is a specialist and adaptive, or merely opportunistic and last-resort type of foraging strategy, and whether urban dwellers produce urban-dwelling offspring. This project will investigate the cognitive underpinnings, behavioural development and fitness consequences of urban life in herring gulls - a species considered a pest while of major conservation concern in the UK.This PhD project will increase our understanding of how behavioural plasticity and cognitive adaptations allow herring gulls to survive and thrive in anthropogenic habitats by addressing the following questions:a) How do herring gulls adjust their behaviour to exploit human food sources? Do gulls change their foraging movements to match fluctuations in human food availability? For example, do gulls switch from foraging at sea to towns during the tourist season or on rubbish collection days, and do they pay attention to human identity and gaze direction when attempting to steal food? These questions will be addressed by using GPS tags to quantify daily and seasonal foraging routines, and by conducting individual-level cognitive tests of memory and learning about anthropogenic cues.b) How do herring gulls acquire their foraging strategies? Do gull chicks copy their parents by following them after fledging, do they learn about foods through parental provisioning in the nest, and/or is the egg yolk composition of urban gulls different from those of rural gulls? These questions will be addressed by comparing urban and rural egg yolk and chick feather composition through stable isotope analyses, and conducting cross-fostering experiments to test the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors in driving foraging strategies. The student will also conduct social learning experiments to test whether juveniles copy their parents' solutions to novel food puzzles. c) How do herring gull foraging strategies affect their survival and reproductive success? Do urban herring gulls have higher or lower reproductive success than those breeding in more natural habitats, and is this influenced by dietary intake of human foods? These questions will be addressed by tracking the reproductive success of gulls in urban and rural areas and relating individuals' foraging strategies to their reproductive output.