Social implications of human food subsidies on wildlife populations

Kristina B Beck, Mauricio Cantor, Damien R. Farine, Thomas Mueller

Human activities—intentionally or not—generate a variety of novel food sources that wild animals exploit. On land and in water, human food sources can profoundly alter intraspecific interactions with cascading effects on population dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Yet, despite their growing ecological relevance, the role of human food subsidies in shaping intraspecific interactions remains underexplored. We propose a novel framework that highlights how key characteristics of human food—such as high abundance, predictability, increased proximity to humans, and dietary composition—shape social interactions. Specifically, we discuss how individual-level changes in fitness, time allocation, movement, and social choices can shape group size and composition, the quantity and quality of social interactions, as well as the social structure, with implications for social transmission (of stress, information, or diseases), selection, and development. Collectively, these alterations highlight the broad social implications that intentional and unintentional human food subsidies can have for ecological and evolutionary processes in wildlife populations.