Unnatural History: Is a Paradigm Shift of Natural History in 21St Century

Ibis (2018), 160, 475–480 doi: 10.1111/ibi.12555 Viewpoint recreation, human health and food security (Tewksbury et al. 2014). Documentation of natural history has declined across disciplines (Greene & Losos 1988, Noss 1996, Wilcove & Eisner 2000), which is concerning, as Unnatural history: is a it has underpinned 21st century science (Tewksbury et al. 2014, Barrows et al. 2016). Furthermore, across paradigm shift of natural disciplines, there is a disconnect between the value and history in 21st century relevance of natural history in 21st century science (Bar- rows et al. 2016). Birds have reaped the benefits of ornithology needed? being the most prominent, widespread and long-standing COREY T. CALLAGHAN,1* JOHN M. MARTIN1,2 pursuit of this activity. Yet, there has also been a decline RICHARD T. KINGSFORD1 & DANIEL M. BROOKS3 in documenting the natural history of birds, while there 1Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, has been a simultaneous increase in citizen science, pre- Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, senting a potential opportunity for natural history obser- Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia vations to be documented. 2Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Birds are conspicuous, ecologically diverse, occur Macquaries Road, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia worldwide and are better known than other vertebrate 3Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Houston Museum groups (Whelan et al. 2015), partly because of the long- of Natural Science, 5555 Hermann Park Drive, standing tradition of natural history. More than a cen- ‘ Houston, TX 77030-1799, USA tury ago, avian natural history focused on habits, songs, [and] nesting’ (Ridgway 1901), contrasting a scientificor technical ornithology at the time, which encompassed structure and classification of birds. Today, the former is Natural history, across disciplines, is essential for the con- rarely practised by professional ornithologists, whereas tinuation of science, especially as we attempt to identify the latter is predominantly focused on novel hypothesis- the myriad of threats that biodiversity faces in this rapidly driven research (Bijlsma et al. 2014). This is due to both changing world. Recording the natural history of birds is the popularity of birds as model organisms for testing perhaps the most prominent, widespread and long-stand- hypotheses and the fact that grants, publishing and ing pursuit of this activity. Yet, there is a distinct decrease tenure favour discrete studies which are more easily in publishing of natural history in the ornithological associated with the research progression of ornitholo- fi sciences. Concomitantly, the natural history information gists. This change is evidenced by shifts in scienti c pub- being published is often in small and regional journals, lications from incidental or qualitative observations to less accessible by the global ornithological community. focused question-driven or quantitative studies (e.g. We argue that historical natural history needs a modern Emu: Yarwood et al. 2014, Bird Study: Bibby 2003). fi reinvigoration, and should focus on placing natural his- High-impact scienti c journals generally seek heavily tory observations in the context of an anthropogenically focused hypothesis-driven research, using increasingly altered world – ‘unnatural history’. This includes, but is sophisticated modelling (Bijlsma et al. 2014). Impor- not limited to, behavioural adaptations, novel diet tantly, we realize the fundamental role that hypothesis- choices, hybridization and novel adaptations to urbaniza- driven research plays in answering questions in biology. fi tion. Here, we elaborate on natural history’s place in This rigorous science provides signi cant insights into modern ornithology, how this relates to citizen science management and conservation of species, including and the potential cost of ignoring it. Ultimately, increased birds. However, we feel it is worth revisiting the com- accessibility of natural history observations, encourage- plementary role of natural history in ornithology to bet- ment of amateur ornithologists’ participation in profes- ter understand its role in the conservation and sional societies (and vice versa) and targeted citizen management of avian populations in the 21st century. science projects are potential mechanisms by which to We feel all natural history observations are worth cre- reinvigorate natural history in 21st century ornithology. dence, and previous commentaries have highlighted that only a third of all bird species are well known (Xiao Natural history is broadly defined as the observation and et al. 2016). However, specifically, we argue that those description of the natural world (Bartholomew 1986, observations which are placed in the context of a rapidly Herman 2002, Greene 2005, Schmidly 2005) and has altering world are of great significance, i.e the ‘unnatu- contributed enormously to conservation, management, ral’ history of a species, regardless of current baseline information. Especially in the Anthropocene era, it is *Corresponding author. more important than ever that we maximize the contri- Email: [email protected] bution of natural history and citizen science to increase Twitter: @callaghanct our understanding of the world. © 2018 British Ornithologists’ Union 476 C.T. Callaghan et al. We examine the place of natural history in modern between plasticity and brain size in avian species bene- ornithology, delineate what we mean by unnatural his- fited enormously from data compiled from ‘short notes’ tory, the decline of natural history and the potential cost of novel feeding behaviours in ornithological journals of ignoring it, and propose potential mechanisms by (Lefebvre et al. 1997, 1998). From a conservation per- which to reinvigorate natural history. We discuss the spective, there are seldom sufficient natural history necessity of systematic scientific investigation to capture observations of the invasion of non-native species, the plethora of bird behaviours outside the specific including negative or positive interactions (e.g. range of scientific inquiry of a study. hybridization, direct and indirect competition, and pre- dation) with native flora and fauna, to provide a basis for management action. For instance, the paucity of NATURAL HISTORY IN THE 21ST observations that Baker et al. (2015) use to summarize CENTURY threats from introduced birds to native avifauna high- Natural history, in the traditional sense of the term, lights our point. Undoubtedly, many more anecdotal has had significant impacts in ornithology. For instance, observations have been observed by amateurs than the natural history observations of New Caledonian Crows authors were able to find in the literature. Corvus moneduloides, published as a letter to Nature Other natural history observations provide good (Hunt 1996), fundamentally shifted our understanding examples of how this pursuit may contribute to a broad of tool use and cognitive function of birds. Yet, there understanding of avian ecology in a changing world is currently an increasing gap between natural history (Table 1). Such examples illustrate the importance and observations and focused science, risking opportunities need for natural history in ornithology today. for understanding how avian species are adapting or failing to cope with the myriad threats that face them UNNATURAL HISTORY (e.g. urbanization, agricultural intensification, non- native introductions and climate change). Placing Here, we recommend an approach to natural history in current natural history observations in this context is the 21st century, termed unnatural history: the often critical for understanding the extent of threats to cer- opportunistic observation and description of avifauna tain species. For example, innovative behaviours are placed in the context of a rapidly altered and changing world, often used as a measure of behavioural flexibility and their adaptive or maladaptive behaviours, generally at (Lowry et al. 2013) and thus as a predictor of the abil- an individual level. This could include innovative beha- ity of a species to adapt to current threats. Short, vioural adaptations, novel diet choices, hybridization, descriptive notes documenting adaptive or maladaptive phenological changes in response to a warming climate, behaviours in response to a novel and changing envi- non-native interactions with native species and novel ronment (i.e. natural history) have made a significant adaptations to urbanization (see Table 1 for selected contribution to our understanding. The relationship examples). The popularity and commitment to citizen Table 1. Examples of natural history observations of novel or interesting bird behaviours within a rapidly changing world. Category Observation Citation Novel foraging Great-tailed Grackles Quiscalus mexicanus feeding on dead bugs from licence Grabrucker and plates Grabrucker (2010) Novel prey items of raptors documented by a professional photographer Sergo and Shine (2015) Sugar packet opening by Noisy Miners Manorina melanocephala Delgado and Correa-H (2015) Anthropogenic First nesting record of Florida Scrub Jay Aphelocoma coerulescens using an Miller (2015) nesting anthropogenic nest-site Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus nests contain high amounts of anthropogenic debris Witteveen et al. (2017) Ground-nesting birds using green roofs in Switzerland Baumann 2006, Unusual and noteworthy nesting records for Guatemala Eisermann and Brooks (2006) Anthropogenic light Shorebirds using anthropogenic light to

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