Living fast, dying young: anthropogenic habitat modification influences the fitness and life history traits of a cooperative breeder

Abstract

Modification of natural habitats can lead to an ecological trap, as animals can maladaptively select lower-quality habitats over natural landscapes. Modified habitats reduce group size and prevalence, the success of dispersing individuals, and breeding success. However, little is known about how these effects on fitness affect the sociality of cooperative breeding species, which may be particularly susceptible to habitat modification. Here we show that the selection of anthropogenically modified habitats negatively affects the fitness, which has consequences in the life history traits of a cooperative breeder. We used data collected during six years from a monitored population of Arabian babblers (Argya squamiceps) and found that groups living in modified habitats breed more than those in natural habitats but that juvenile and adult survival in modified habitats was lower. Individuals living in modified habitats acquired dominance earlier than individuals from natural habitats. Males in modified habitats also dispersed earlier than those from natural habitats. Our results suggest that modified habitats entail an ecological trap for Arabian babblers, which adjusts their life history traits as a response. Understanding the adaptation of social and cooperative breeding species to habitat modification is the first step for mitigating the processes behind human-related population declines.