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，人类与野生动物的冲突很普遍，在那里，鲱鱼鸥经常被认为以噪音、粪便和人类食物盗窃的形式造成重大干扰。虽然鲱鱼鸥的数量在全国范围内呈下降趋势，但公众的看法是，它们在沿海城镇正蓬勃发展。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鸥是否真的在茁壮成长，还是只是在糟糕的情况下尽力而为。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，这是一种专门的和适应性的觅食策略，还是仅仅是机会主义的和最后的觅食策略，以及城市居民是否会产生城市居民的后代。该项目将调查城市生活中鲱鱼鸥的认知基础、行为发展和健康后果——鲱鱼鸥是一种被认为是有害生物的物种，同时也是英国主要的保护问题。本博士项目将通过解决以下问题，加深我们对行为可塑性和认知适应性如何使银鸥在人类栖息地生存和繁衍的理解：a)银鸥如何调整其行为以利用人类食物来源？海鸥是否会改变它们的觅食动作来适应人类食物供应的波动？例如，在旅游季节或垃圾收集日，海鸥是否会从海上觅食转向城镇，它们在试图偷窃食物时是否会注意人类的身份和目光方向？这些问题将通过使用GPS标签来量化日常和季节性的觅食程序，并通过进行个人水平的记忆认知测试和学习有关人为线索来解决。b)银鸥是如何获得它们的觅食策略的？雏鸟在羽翼未丰后是否跟随父母，是否通过父母在巢中提供食物来学习食物，以及/或者城市海鸥的蛋黄成分是否与农村海鸥不同？这些问题将通过稳定同位素分析比较城市和农村蛋黄和鸡毛的组成，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中的相对贡献。这名学生还将进行社会学习实验，以测试青少年是否会模仿父母对新奇食物谜题的解决方案。c)银鸥的觅食策略如何影响它们的生存和繁殖成功？城市鲱鱼鸥的繁殖成功率比那些在自然栖息地繁殖的海鸥高还是低，这是否受到人类食物饮食摄入量的影响？这些问题将通过追踪城市和农村地区海鸥的繁殖成功以及将个体的觅食策略与其繁殖产出联系起来来解决。

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.