Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Human activities—intentionally or not—generate a variety of novel food sources that wild animals exploit. On land and in water, human food sources can profoundly alter intraspecific interactions with cascading effects on population dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Yet, despite their growing ecological relevance, the role of human food subsidies in shaping intraspecific interactions remains underexplored. We propose a novel framework that highlights how key characteristics of human food—such as high abundance, predictability, increased proximity to humans, and dietary composition—shape social interactions. Specifically, we discuss how individual-level changes in fitness, time allocation, movement, and social choices can shape group size and composition, the quantity and quality of social interactions, as well as the social structure, with implications for social transmission (of stress, information, or diseases), selection, and development. Collectively, these alterations highlight the broad social implications that intentional and unintentional human food subsidies can have for ecological and evolutionary processes in wildlife populations.
DOI: 10.32942/x21d2t
Authors: Kristina Beck, Mauricio Cantor, Damien Farine, Thomas Mueller
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4414419315
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: