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

人类与野生动物的冲突在法尔茅斯和圣伊韦斯等沿海城镇很普遍，在那里，银鸥经常被认为以噪音、排泄物和盗窃人类食物的形式造成重大干扰。虽然银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，我们不知道在沿海城镇繁殖和觅食的银鸥是否真的兴旺起来，或者只是在恶劣的环境中尽力而为。此外，到目前为止，还没有研究海鸥是否以及如何学会利用人类的食物，这是否是一种专门和适应性的觅食策略，或者仅仅是机会主义和最后手段，以及城市居民是否会产生城市居民的后代。该项目将研究银鸥的认知基础、行为发展和城市生活对银鸥健康的影响。银鸥是一种在英国被认为是有害生物的物种，同时也是主要的保护对象。该博士项目将通过解决以下问题，增加我们对银鸥行为可塑性和认知适应性如何使其在人类栖息地生存和繁荣的理解：a）银鸥如何调整它们的行为以利用人类的食物来源？海鸥会改变它们的觅食动作来适应人类食物供应的波动吗？例如，在旅游季节或垃圾收集日，海鸥会从海上觅食转向城镇吗？当它们试图偷食物时，它们会注意人类的身份和视线方向吗？这些问题将通过使用GPS标签来量化每日和季节性觅食例程，并通过进行个人水平的记忆和学习人为线索的认知测试来解决。B）银鸥如何获得它们的觅食策略？海鸥幼鸟是否会在羽翼未丰后跟随父母模仿父母，是否会通过父母在巢中提供的食物来学习食物，以及/或者城市海鸥的蛋黄成分与农村海鸥的蛋黄成分不同？这些问题将通过比较城市和农村的蛋黄和鸡羽毛成分，通过稳定同位素分析，并进行交叉培养实验，以测试驱动觅食策略的遗传和环境因素的相对贡献来解决。学生还将进行社会学习实验，以测试青少年是否复制他们的父母的解决方案，以新颖的食物难题。c）银鸥的觅食策略如何影响它们的生存和繁殖成功？城市银鸥的繁殖成功率比那些在更自然的栖息地繁殖的银鸥高还是低，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率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.