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Urbanization Alters Bird Behavior
城镇化改变鸟类习性
Two centuries ago, blackbirds typically lived out their lives in forest habitats. Today, the birds are one of the most common avian urban species. Researchers have shown that urban and rural blackbirds already differ from one another in their songs, the timing of reproduction and their risk of diseases. But could the country blackbird and its city cousin now have different personalities?
两个世纪前黑鹂鸟首先离开它们丛林中的老家生活。现在，它们是最常见的城市鸟种。研究人员通过研究发现城市黑鹂和农村黑鹂在歌声，繁育时间和得病风险上都不一样了。但是它们会不会性格也有所不同呢？
Scientists in Germany collected and hand-raised 28 urban birds and 25 from the country nearby. The researchers tested the birds to determine whether they approached or avoided new objects in a familiar environment. They performed the study three times over a year to see if the traits persisted.
德国的科学家收集并亲手抚养了28只城市黑鹂和25只农村黑鹂。研究人员测试了这些鸟，观察它们在熟悉环境中对陌生事物的态度。它们一年中做了三次这种实验，观察这些特点是不是恒定的。
And the urban birds avoided new objects near their feeders for significantly longer than did their rural relatives. The study appears in the journal Global Change Biology.
城市黑鹂比农村黑鹂更排斥陌生事物。研究发表在《全球变迁生物学》杂志上。
The researchers say these personality differences may be related to genetic micro-evolutionary changes. And that the findings demonstrate two things. One is that urban and rural differences can be tested in a controlled experiment. The second is that blackbirds and many other species may be quickly evolving new behaviors in response to our rapidly urbanizing world.
研究人员表示，这些个性差异可能与基因上的微小变异有关。研究说明了两点。一点是城市黑鹂和农村黑鹂能在控制变量实验中测试。另一个是黑鹂和其他物种或许能快速适应我们快速城镇化的世界。
—Cynthia Graber
