Animal conflicts escalate in a warmer world

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2023-05, Vol.871, p.161789-161789, Article 161789
• Main Authors: Fattorini, Niccolò, Lovari, Sandro, Franceschi, Sara, Chiatante, Gianpasquale, Brunetti, Claudia, Baruzzi, Carolina, Ferretti, Francesco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aggression; Animal conflicts; Animals; Climate Change; Drought; Ecosystem; Female; Global Warming; Herbivory; Mammals; Plants; Resource competition
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161789

The potential for climate change to affect animal behaviour is widely recognized, yet its possible consequences on aggressiveness are still unclear. If warming and drought limit the availability of food resources, climate change may elicit an increase of intraspecific conflicts stemming from resource competition. By measuring aggressivity indices in a group-living, herbivorous mammal (the Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata) in two sites differing in habitat quality, and coupling them with estimates of plant productivity, we investigated whether harsh climatic conditions accumulated during the growing season influenced agonistic contests at feeding via vegetation-mediated effects, and their interaction with the site-specific habitat quality. We focused on females, which exhibit intra-group contest competition to access nutritious food patches. Accounting for confounding variables, we found that (1) the aggression rate between foraging individuals increased with the warming accumulated over previous weeks; (2) the probability to deliver more aggressive behaviour patterns toward contestants increased with decreasing rainfall recorded in previous weeks; (3) the effects of cumulative warming and drought on aggressivity indices occurred at time windows spanning 15–30 days, matching those found on vegetation productivity; (4) the effects of unfavourable climatic conditions via vegetation growth on aggressivity were independent of the site-specific habitat quality. Simulations conducted on our model species predict a ~50 % increase in aggression rate following the warming projected over the next 60 years. Where primary productivity will be impacted by warming and drought, our findings suggest that the anticipated climate change scenarios may trigger bottom-up consequences on intraspecific animal conflicts. This study opens the doors for a better understanding of the multifactorial origin of aggression in group-living foragers, emphasising how the escalation of agonistic contests could emerge as a novel response of animal societies to ongoing global warming. [Display omitted] •Climate change influences animal behaviour, yet effects on aggression are unknown.•We tested cumulative effects of warming/drought on aggression, in a wild herbivore.•Warming/drought increased aggression at feeding through vegetation-mediated effect.•Simulations predicted 50 % increase in aggression by 2080 due to accumulated warming.•Climate change may exacerbate intraspecific confl