How close can we get? Tolerance to human approximation of invasive doves vs. native doves

Human disturbance might be perceived as a threat by animals and interfere in their vital activities. Urbanisation generates changes in habitat structure that allows only a low number of species to adapt, which results in a decrease of species richness and an increase of the abundance of a few dominant species. To survive in urbanised areas, animals need to be highly tolerant to human approximation. One key characteristic of successful invasive species is their high behavioural plasticity. This plasticity could translate to higher chances of surviving in urbanised areas and becoming tough competitors for native species. The Eurasian collared-dove is a successful invader in Europe, it arrived to México during the nineties and has been spreading in the country since. We compared its tolerance to human approximation to that of the already well-established feral pigeon and other native species in agricultural and urban sites. We found the Eurasian collared-dove is less tolerant to humans than the feral pigeon, but more tolerant than native species. Also, we observed that birds showed higher tolerance to humans in urban areas than in agricultural sites, regardless of the species. Interestingly, feral pigeons restrained their distribution to human settlements, and acting as a counterpart, common ground doves were only found in rural sites. However, the Eurasian collared-dove was present also in agricultural areas, which could suggest the Eurasian collared-dove represents a higher threat than the feral pigeon for native species in our study area. We highlight the importance to further understand the behavioural traits that could promote the Eurasian collared-dove invasion to better design management plans for dove diversity in urban areas.