'Ripple effects' of urban environmental characteristics on cognitive performances in Eurasian red squirrels
View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.Urban environments stress wildlife, impacting cognitive abilities like problem-solving. This study shows human disturbance and green space influence Eurasian red squirrels
Area Of Science
- Urban Ecology
- Animal Behavior
- Cognitive Ecology
Background
- Urban expansion increases wildlife presence in human-dominated landscapes.
- Urban environmental factors, including human disturbance, can induce stress and affect wildlife cognition.
- The ripple effect hypothesis suggests urban stressors may impact related cognitive traits beyond problem-solving.
Purpose Of The Study
- To test the ripple effect hypothesis in urban Eurasian red squirrels.
- To investigate how direct human disturbance, indirect human disturbance, green coverage, and population size affect generalization and memory.
- To determine direct and indirect influences of urban characteristics on cognitive performance.
Main Methods
- Studied Eurasian red squirrels across 11 urban sites with varying environmental characteristics.
- Assessed performance in generalization (applying learned solutions to novel problems) and memory (recalling solutions after a delay) tasks.
- Correlated urban environmental factors with task success rates, solving efficiency, and latencies.
Main Results
- Direct and indirect human disturbance negatively impacted generalization and memory success rates at the population level.
- Increased direct human disturbance and reduced green coverage enhanced individual solving efficiency.
- Indirect human disturbance showed an individual-level indirect effect on generalization performance by reducing initial problem-solving latency.
Conclusions
- Urban environmental characteristics act as stressors, significantly shaping cognitive performance in Eurasian red squirrels.
- Results partially support the ripple effect hypothesis, demonstrating broader impacts on cognition than previously understood.
- Understanding these cognitive adaptations is crucial for wildlife persistence in urban ecosystems.

