Personality effects on spatial learning: Comparisons between visual conditions in a weakly electric fish
Abstract
Recent research has explored links between cognition and personality, with prominent hypotheses proposing that personality drives consistent individual differences in cognitive function. These hypotheses particularly expect bolder individuals to be faster, but less accurate, as a trade‐off in cognitive function. However, cognitive processes are typically interconnected and defined in more complex terms than simply speed and accuracy. Here, we present evidence that personality‐based differences in learning rates are a result of differences in decision‐making during training in a two‐alternative forced‐cho...
Source: Ethology - June 13, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Kyriacos Kareklas, Robert W. Elwood, Richard A. Holland Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Spread of false alarms in foraging flocks of house sparrows
Abstract
In group‐foraging species with no alarm signals, the sudden departure of neighbours can be used to inform the rest of the group about the detection of a threat. However, sudden departures are ambiguous because they can be triggered by factors unrelated to predator detection. We evaluated how animals react to the sudden departure of neighbours in groups of foraging house sparrows (Passer domesticus). We focussed on false alarms that occurred for no apparent reasons to us because predation attempts were not frequent. Three factors can explain how the sudden departure of a neighbour can influence reaction times, na...
Source: Ethology - June 9, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Hakima Boujja ‐Miljour, Patrick A. Leighton, Guy Beauchamp Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
The ontogeny of personality traits in the desert funnel ‐web spider, Agelenopsis lisa (Araneae: Agelenidae)
In this study, we test for behavioral trait consistency and behavioral syndromes across six time points during ontogenetic development in the desert funnel‐web spider (Agelenopsis lisa). Our results indicate behavioral traits generally lack consistency (repeatability) within life stages and across ontogeny. However, penultimate males and mature females do exhibit noticeable mean‐level changes, with greater aggressive responses toward prey, shorter latencies to explore their environment and in the exhibition of risk‐averse responses to predatory cues. These traits also show high repeatability. Some trait correlations ...
Source: Ethology - June 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Jennifer M. Bosco, Susan E. Riechert, Brian C. O'Meara Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Condition explains individual variation in mobbing behavior
Abstract
During mobbing, individuals approach predators with the apparent aim of reducing the risk of predation. The intensity of mobbing may depend on the costs and benefits of this behavior, which likely vary among individuals and between different social contexts. We studied whether Dark‐eyed junco male mobbing behavior is related to social environment, individual condition, and age during experimentally induced mobbing events. Based on risk‐taking theory, we predicted that individuals with high residual reproductive value—younger individuals and those in better condition—would show weaker mobbing behavior. We a...
Source: Ethology - June 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Mikus Abolins ‐Abols, Ellen D. Ketterson Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
The effects of cultural drift on geographic variation in echolocation calls of the Chinese rufous horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus)
Abstract
Drift, selection, or their combined effects commonly drive geographic variation in traits. Clarifying the relative roles of each process is a long‐standing research goal in evolutionary biology. Acoustic signals of bats are a phenotypic characteristic that plays an important role in social organization and species recognition. We extensively sampled the Chinese rufous horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) throughout China and Vietnam and reconstructed a species phylogeny to better understand the patterns and causes of the geographic variation of acoustic signals. Our results showed that the resting frequency (RF) ...
Source: Ethology - June 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Lifen Xie, Keping Sun, Tinglei Jiang, Sen Liu, Guanjun Lu, Longru Jin, Jiang Feng Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Validation of 2D ‐animated pictures as an investigative tool in the behavioural sciences: A case study with a West African cichlid fish, Pelvicachromis pulcher
Abstract
Virtual stimuli represent an increasingly popular tool in the study of animal behaviour. Modern techniques have the potential to simplify and improve traditional experiments using live stimuli. However, the increasing availability of diverse techniques is associated with problems and limitations. Although many new methods have been developed, their validation remains largely untested. In the present study, we therefore performed two experiments to test whether 2‐D animations of predators and conspecifics elicit biologically appropriate behavioural responses in male rainbow kribs, Pelvicachromis pulcher. Individu...
Source: Ethology - June 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Ulrike Scherer, Jean ‐Guy J. Godin, Wiebke Schuett Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
The role of the model in mate ‐choice copying in female zebra finches
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that zebra finch females copy the mate choice of other females by choosing a mate of the same phenotype as the one chosen by another female (model). Little is known about the influence of the model female on the mate choice of the observing female. Therefore, we investigated the role of the model female in mate‐choice copying by manipulating her phenotype. Test females could choose between an unadorned male and an artificially adorned male, that is, wearing a red feather on the forehead. During a 2h observation period, test females could observe a single male in one cage and a male–...
Source: Ethology - May 17, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Nina Kniel, Katharina M üller, Klaudia Witte Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
What drives patrolling behaviour by nasute termites? A model and an empirical assessment
Abstract
Animals have evolved a number of antipredator strategies, which can reflect both intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to predation risk. In many termite species, a chemically armed soldier caste known as “nasute” engages in patrols upon breaching of foraging galleries, suggesting an adaptive response to imminent risk of mortality. However, the drivers of this collective behaviour are poorly understood. Here, I describe and test a qualitative model of patrolling behaviour upon gallery breaching by the arboreal termite Nasutitermes corniger (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae). Patrolling behaviour is postulated to...
Source: Ethology - May 12, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Pedro A. C. L. Pequeno Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Low temperatures during ontogeny increase fluctuating asymmetry and reduce maternal aggression in the house mouse, Mus musculus
Abstract
Maternal aggression is behavior displayed by post‐partum lactating female mice toward unfamiliar conspecifics, presumably as a defense against infanticide. A variety of perinatal stressors can impair maternal care in adulthood. Previous studies on associations between developmental perturbations and maternal aggression have produced mixed results. To address this issue, we employed a proxy for developmental instability, namely fluctuating asymmetry (FA) to further elucidate the relationship between low temperature stress and maternal aggression. FA, small, random deviations from perfect symmetry in bilateral cha...
Source: Ethology - May 12, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Zeynep Benderlioglu, Eliot Dow Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Eavesdropping in solitary large carnivores: Black bears advance and vocalize toward cougar playbacks
Abstract
Large carnivore behavioral responses to the cues of their competitors are rarely observed, but may mediate competition between these top predators. Playback experiments, currently limited to interactions involving group‐living large carnivores, demonstrate that attending to cues indicative of the immediate presence of heterospecific competitors plays a substantial role in influencing competition among these species. Group‐living species vocalize regularly to signal to one another, and competitors can readily “eavesdrop” on these acoustic cues. Solitary large carnivores also vocalize to conspecifics, but mu...
Source: Ethology - May 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Justin P. Suraci, Michael Clinchy, Devin J. Roberts, Liana Y. Zanette Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Alarm call ‐based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits
Abstract
Morphological resemblance of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus to the Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus has been regarded as an example of predator mimicry. Common hosts could distinguish parasites as the result of coevolution, while rare hosts or non‐hosts may mistake cuckoos for hawks because rare hosts or non‐hosts behave similarly when faced with these two species. Birds usually produce alarm calls in addition to showing behavioral responses when in danger. However, previous studies of identification by rare hosts or non‐hosts of sparrowhawks usually lacked experimental evidence of alarm calls. Great ...
Source: Ethology - May 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Jiangping Yu, Xiaoying Xing, Yunlei Jiang, Wei Liang, Haitao Wang, Anders Pape M øller Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Problem ‐solving skills are linked to parental care and offspring survival in wild house sparrows
Abstract
Individuals within a population often exhibit consistent differences in important behavioral traits such as parental care. One interesting, yet largely unexplored explanation for the existence of these consistent differences among parents is the idea that cognitive differences between individuals could lead to between‐individual variation in parenting behavior. I used a wild population of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to test the nature of the relationship between aspects of cognitive ability (problem‐solving performance and learning) and parental care behavior, both measured in the wild. Furthermore, bec...
Source: Ethology - May 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Daniel P. Wetzel Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Within ‐patch oviposition site shifts by spider mites in response to prior predation risks decrease predator patch exploitation
In this study, we examined micro‐oviposition shift by the herbivorous mite Tetranychus kanzawai in response to the predatory mite, Neoseiulus womersleyi, by testing its effects on predator patch exploitation in situations where predatory mites were free to disperse from prey patches. Adult T. kanzawai females construct three‐dimensional webs on leaf surfaces and usually lay eggs under the webs; however, females that have experienced predation risks, shift oviposition sites onto the webs even in the absence of current predation risks. We compared the predation of eggs on webs deposited by predator‐experienced females...
Source: Ethology - May 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Hatsune Otsuki, Shuichi Yano Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Male –male interactions and male mating success in the leafhopper Aphrodes makarovi
Abstract
In mating systems based on substrate‐borne vibrations, sexual communication often involves a reciprocal exchange of species‐ and sex‐specific vibrational signals and male is searching for a stationary female. In the leafhopper Aphrodes makarovi, female reply is essential for successful location of the female and its variable duration directly affects male's costs associated with signalling and searching. We studied male and female behaviour in a trio situation (two males and one female), and our results show that male–male competition had important effects on male mating success. Females replied equally to...
Source: Ethology - May 1, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Anka Kuhelj, Meta Virant ‐Doberlet Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
Relationship quality affects fission decisions in wild spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi)
Abstract
Fission–fusion dynamics are thought to be mainly a response to differential availability of food resources. However, social factors may also play a role. Here, we examined whether the quality of social relationships between group members affects fission decisions. During 21 months, we collected data on social interactions and fission events of 22 spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) living in a community in the protected area of Otoch Ma'ax Yetel Kooh, Yucatan, Mexico. By entering seven indexes of social interactions into a principal component analysis, we obtained three components of relationship quality, which w...
Source: Ethology - April 19, 2017 Category: Zoology Authors: Laura Busia, Colleen M. Schaffner, Filippo Aureli Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research
