Extinction in Free-Ranging Aves in Competition with Sciurus carolinensis

Abstract

Decreasing funding for nonhuman animal research decreases the opportunity for students and researchers to explore the behavior of many species in many contexts. In the long run, this will reduce variability within the experimental analysis of behavior around what species are being researched and what questions are being asked. New technologies, however, offer students and researchers the opportunity to observe the behavior of organisms in everyday environments in cost-effective ways. In this article, a backyard birding setup is described that costs ~US$150 and allows for ongoing data collection of a local backyard bird population (Aves) in feeding competition with eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). In these wild populations, a reversal design demonstrated extinction, class-specific learning rates, interclass competition, and the influence of these on a birder's behavior. This work shows one way the experimental analysis of behavior might be injected with greater variation by students and researchers being alert to and measuring the wildness in our everyday environments.

Keywords: Aves; Sciurus carolinensis; extinction; naturalistic research; playful science.