Face mask-wear did not affect large-scale patterns in escape and alertness of urban and rural birds during the COVID-19 pandemic

Face masks in action: Birds show reduced fear responses to people wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic in three Asian countries

The 2019 zoonotic pandemic (COVID-19), has led to a massive global lockdown that provides a good opportunity to study how wildlife responds to changes in human activity. Wearing a mask after the COVID-19 outbreak was widely used to prevent the spread of the causative pathogen. It has been shown that tree sparrows (Passer montanus) at two sites in south China exhibit reduced fear responses to people with face masks after a period of heavy exposure to them, whereas European studies showed the opposite, with no changes in the behaviour of the birds towards mask wearers in either rural or urban areas. To further study this, from October 2021 to January 2022, we conducted a flight initiation distance (FID) survey in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Xi'an, China for a variety of field bird species by comparing the FID for researchers wearing masks to that for researchers not wearing masks to assess whether wearing masks in public places caused birds to adjust their flight response. Results from the three Asian countries showed that after a period of sustained contact with people wearing masks, in both rural and urban areas, birds were significantly more adapted to them and had a shorter FID to people wearing masks. We suggest that the rapid habituation of birds to people wearing masks with a reduced fear response could have some fitness advantage, allowing them to adapt rapidly to the new environmental conditions induced by COVID-19.

Bird tolerance to humans in open tropical ecosystems

Animal tolerance towards humans can be a key factor facilitating wildlife-human coexistence, yet traits predicting its direction and magnitude across tropical animals are poorly known. Using 10,249 observations for 842 bird species inhabiting open tropical ecosystems in Africa, South America, and Australia, we find that avian tolerance towards humans was lower (i.e., escape distance was longer) in rural rather than urban populations and in populations exposed to lower human disturbance (measured as human footprint index). In addition, larger species and species with larger clutches and enhanced flight ability are less tolerant to human approaches and escape distances increase when birds were approached during the wet season compared to the dry season and from longer starting distances. Identification of key factors affecting animal tolerance towards humans across large spatial and taxonomic scales may help us to better understand and predict the patterns of species distributions in the Anthropocene.

Uncovering the Effects of COVID-19 Mask Wearing on Bird Flight Initiation Distance in Urbanized Areas in the Southern Philippines

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in public and human activities worldwide, including using masks and reducing human interaction. These changes have also affected wildlife behavior, especially in urban areas. However, there is limited understanding of the impact of COVID-19-related human activities, mainly mask wearing, on the behavior of urban bird species. This case is intriguing in the Philippines, where COVID-19 restrictions and mask wearing have been more prolonged than in other countries. We studied two common urban bird species (Geopelia striata and Passer montanus) in Southcentral Mindanao, Philippines, to assess their response to mask wearing by examining their alert distance (AD) and flight initiation distance (FID). We found that birds had a reduced FID to mask wearing, but only significantly in G. striata (Zebra Doves) and not in P. montanus (Eurasian tree sparrow). The effect of the variables related to urbanization on FID was contrasting. For example, ambient noise increased bird vigilance while proximity to roads reduced bird FID in urbanized areas, but their effects were weaker compared to mask wearing. We conclude that mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic is a significant environmental element that alters bird escape responses in urban areas, and the effects may be species-specific.

Are birds more afraid in urban parks or cemeteries? A Latin American study contrasts with results from Europe

The escape behaviour, measured as flight initiation distance (FID; the distance at which individuals take flight when approached by a potential predator, usually a human in the study systems), is a measure widely used to study fearfulness and risk-taking in animals. Previous studies have shown significant differences in the escape behaviour of birds inhabiting cemeteries and urban parks in European cities, where birds seem to be shyer in the latter. We collected a regional dataset of the FID of birds inhabiting cemeteries and parks across Latin America in peri-urban, suburban and urban parks and cemeteries. FIDs were recorded for eighty-one bird species. Mean species-specific FIDs ranged from 1.9 to 19.7 m for species with at least two observations (fifty-seven species). Using Bayesian regression modelling and controlling for the phylogenetic relatedness of the FID among bird species and city and country, we found that, in contrast to a recent publication from Europe, birds escape earlier in cemeteries than parks in the studied Latin American cities. FIDs were also significantly shorter in urban areas than in peri-urban areas and in areas with higher human density. Our results indicate that some idiosyncratic patterns in animal fearfulness towards humans may emerge among different geographic regions, highlighting difficulties with scaling up and application of regional findings to other ecosystems and world regions. Such differences could be associated with intrinsic differences between the pool of bird species from temperate European and mostly tropical Latin American cities, characterized by different evolutionary histories, but also with differences in the historical process of urbanization.

Flight initiation distance and refuge in urban birds

Risk-taking in birds is often measured as the flight initiation distance (FID), the distance at which individuals take flight when approached by a potential predator (typically a human). The ecological factors that affect avian FID have received great attention over the past decades and meta-analyses and comparative analyses have shown that FID is correlated with body mass, flock size, starting distance of the approaching human, density of potential predators, as well as varying along rural to urban gradients. However, surprisingly, only few studies (mainly on reptiles and mammals) have explored effects of different types of refugia and their availability on animal escape decisions. We used Bayesian regression models (controlling for the phylogenetic relatedness of bird species) to explore changes in escape behaviour recorded in European cities in relationship to the birds' distance to the nearest refuge and distance fled to the refuge. In our analyses, we also included information on the type of refuge, built-up and vegetation cover, starting distance, flock size, urbanization level, and type of urban habitat. We found that birds preferred tree refuges over artificial and bush refuges. Birds escaped earlier if the distance to the nearest refuge of any type was longer and if birds fled longer distances to the refuge. FID was shorter when birds used bushes as refugia or landed on the ground after flushing compared to using artificial refugia. Similarly, the distance fled to a refuge was shortest when using bushes, and increased when escaping to artificial substrates and trees. Birds were more timid in suburban than core areas of cities, cemeteries than parks, and in areas with higher bush cover but lower cover of built-up areas and trees. Our findings provide novel information regarding the importance of refuge proximity and type as factors affecting the escape behaviour of urban birds.

Exploring the Effect of the COVID-19 Zoo Closure Period on Flamingo Behaviour and Enclosure Use at Two Institutions

Visitors can influence the behaviour of zoo animals through their auditory and visual presence, with mixed findings of negative, neutral, and positive effects on welfare. This study opportunistically utilised the UK-wide COVID-19 period of zoo closure to investigate the activity and enclosure usage of Greater (Phoenicopterus roseus) and Chilean (P. chilensis) Flamingos housed at two zoos. Flamingo behaviour at both sites was observed during the last week of a three-month closure period and the immediate reopening of the zoos. Photographic data were collected at three timepoints during each observation day. Negative binomial GLMMs compared the behaviour observed during zoo closure to the behaviour observed during zoo reopening, whilst accounting for climatic variables and time of day. Spearman’s correlation identified relationships between behaviour with the number of visitors and weather. Greater Flamingos were not influenced by the reintroduction of visitors to the zoo setting. Chilean Flamingos showed an increase in inactivity and decrease in movement and feeding when the zoo reopened. These possible behavioural responses are better explained by the influence of temperature on the behaviour of Chilean Flamingos and by the correlation between temperature and visitor number, rather than a direct consequence of visitor presence. This research details the multifactorial nature of any potential anthropogenic effects on zoo animal behaviour and highlights the importance of considering environmental variables alongside the measurement of visitor presence or absence.

Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation, the “anthropopause”, of lockdowns and distancing among individuals to reduce the spread of the disease. One of the major problems to surface is the inequality of the educational process in schools. We present a study of high school students who conduct a year-long research project with an academic. We hypothesized that the projects would not be impacted because of the individual manner of study involved. We analyzed the number of research proposals submitted in the years 2015–2021. We compared the data of the pre-epidemic period with the two pandemic years, 2020 and 2021. Our data show that in the years of the pandemic, significantly less research proposals were submitted, and the number of research proposals rejected was lower, but the total number of research proposals approved, or the number of theses submitted, was not significantly different. The research areas in which Israeli high school students conducted research were mostly in the laboratory (63.2%) and agriculture (27.5%), while ecology was relatively insignificant—whether in captivity (3.1%) or the field (5.1%). A new field that is fast becoming of interest is bioinformatics. Research in agriculture was significantly lower during the pandemic period, while there were no differences in the other subjects between the two periods. We conclude that the fewer research proposals submitted suggest that those that did not take the subject seriously enough did not begin the process. This resulted in a lower number of rejections and is substantiated by the fact that an equal number of students that submitted their final theses did not differ from the years before the pandemic. We are optimistic that the truly motivated students will continue to make the effort to be involved in biology science projects over and above their regular school curriculum and in spite of the COVID-19 restrictions and limitations.

Anti Covid-19 face-masks increases vigilance in Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana)

Changes in ecosystems resulting from anthropause caused by Covid-19 relate to both abiotic and biotic factors which have both a positive or negative effect on wildlife. The lockdown was manifested by reduced air and water pollution, lower mortality of animals on the roads, an increase in animals' body condition and reproduction success. On the other hand, the closures lead to an increase in the populations of invasive species or poaching. We studied the behavioural reaction of natural, desert-dwelling Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) on the appearance of a new element in the environment - the facial-masks. We hypothesized that the mask would trigger a response expressed through differences in the vigilance towards a potentially new threat. We applied the flight initiation distance (FID) technique to check the reaction at the approach of a human with a facial-mask and without it. The average FID was 8.8 m and was longer when the observer was wearing a mask (10.7 m) as compared to trials without the mask (6.9 m). Our study indicates that wildlife, even if habituated to human silhouette at a distance, appear to notice unusual accessories when up-close and respond by increased vigilance and what may affect their overall fitness.