Ethology最新文献

Lateralization, or the presence of left–right asymmetry, is a widespread phenomenon in vertebrates and has been shown to confer various adaptive advantages, as lateralized individuals tend to outperform non-lateralized ones in specific tasks. In contrast, much less is known about lateralization in invertebrates. Further investigation into lateralization in understudied invertebrate groups is crucial for deepening our understanding of its evolutionary origins. In this study, we evaluated asymmetries during food probing behaviors in two ant species, Lasius niger and Linepithema humile. Overall, both species exhibited asymmetries, favoring either a particular leg or antenna when investigating a sugar drop. Interestingly, L. niger favored the right side, while L. humile favored their left. These results imply the absence of a strong driver for a bias on a specific side preference for food probing in ants, but a potential benefit of lateralization in food probing. Supporting this, individuals fully lateralized on the opposite side of the majority were observed in both species. The collective bias found in both species supports the theory that population-level lateralization may have evolved in species that need to coordinate their behaviors. This study provides novel insights into the lateralization of ant behaviors and highlights the need for further research into its evolutionary drivers.

Many songbird species use individual vocal recognition in their social behaviors. Researchers commonly use individual discrimination tasks, such as operant conditioning Go/No-go tasks, to assess individual vocal recognition. Several black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) vocalizations contain individually distinct features which may be used for individual discrimination. However, not all such vocalizations have been tested for individual recognition with live birds. Additionally, cross vocalization generalization of learned individual discrimination has not been tested. Such generalizability would be advantageous for chickadees, as chickadees often communicate outside of visual contact and use vocal communication to guide their social interactions. Here we test whether black-capped chickadees can discern individual identity of callers in black-capped chickadee chick-a-dee calls. We also aim to answer whether chickadees can generalize learned individual discrimination using chick-a-dee calls to fee-bee songs, and vice versa. Black-capped chickadees were trained to discriminate several chick-a-dee calls or fee-bee songs produced by one male and one female chickadee from those produced by a different male and female in an operant conditioning Go/No-go experiment. We then tested for generalization across vocalization types by presenting birds with recordings from the same four individuals, this time of the opposing vocalization type. Chickadees were able to discriminate between individuals using either chick-a-dee calls or fee-bee songs but were unable to generalize this learning to the opposing vocalization type. While our findings suggest that chickadees can employ individual discrimination within at least two vocalization types, the mechanism by which songs and calls are recognized as belonging to the same individual remains unclear. External contextual cues may play an important role in bridging identity information across those vocalization types.

Gallego-Abenza M, Loretto M-C, Bugnyar T. Decision time modulates social foraging success in wild common ravens, Corvus corax. Ethology 2019; 00:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12986

In the originally published paper, a funding source was omitted from the Acknowledgments. The acknowledgment should read:

This research was partially funded by an Austrian Science Fund (FWF) “DK Cognition and Communication 2”: W1262-B29 (10.55776/W1262).

We apologize for this error.

Sexual polymorphism describes discrete variation among individuals of one sex, often involving conspicuously colored, displaying male morphs and inconspicuous, sneaking male morphs. Sexual polymorphism may be maintained over evolutionary time if the displaying morph is favored by sexual selection and the sneaking morph experiences reduced predation. We tested these ideas using 3D printed models and live males in the sexually polymorphic poeciliid fish, Girardinus metallicus. Females did not prefer the displaying black morph; however, black morphs exhibited more male-male aggression, and dominant black morph males achieved higher mating success than all plain morph males, suggesting a sexual selection advantage. Predatory blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) did not show a preference for either morph, suggesting no plain morph advantage in this regard that would maintain the polymorphism. It is possible that the polymorphism is instead maintained because as black morphs become common, aggressive interference among them causes their fitness to decline, thereby keeping black morphs rare relative to plain morphs, but not eliminating them entirely. Our results underscore the need to further explore the function of the black morph display, as it appears not to be sexually selected via female choice, in contrast to mating displays in similar species.

Behavioral interactions form the basis of social structure within populations. Ecological, demographic, and social factors may affect types of interactions or which individuals spend time near each other. For example, food resource distribution can affect social interactions and, if food resources are clumped, may result in interindividual competition. Social interactions also may be influenced by relatedness since close relatives may engage in more affiliative behaviors with one another because these behaviors may increase their inclusive fitness. We examined the influence of food distribution and relatedness on behavioral interactions in a colony of free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus). Supplemental cat food was presented in a dispersed or clumped manner, and individuals were genotyped at 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci to determine relatedness. We observed the frequency of affiliative, agonistic, and investigatory behaviors and the number of times that individuals were in proximity to each other for 20 adults. We calculated three network metrics to quantify network structure: mean weighted degree, mean eigenvector centrality, and network density. Mean weighted degree and mean eigenvalue centrality were significantly non-random in both the dispersed and clumped food treatments for affiliative behavior. Network metrics for agonistic and investigative behaviors did not differ from random expectations in dispersed or clumped treatments. Network metrics increased between dispersed and clumped food treatments for affiliative but not agonistic or investigative behaviors. All three network metrics for proximity were significantly non-random in the dispersed and clumped treatments and increased between clumped and dispersed food treatments. There was no effect of genetic relatedness on any behavior or proximity, but sex was more important. Same-sex individuals were less likely to have agonistic behaviors when food was dispersed. These results suggest that some cats displayed affiliative behavior toward a subset of conspecific colony members as well as being in closer proximity to some individuals than others.

EXPRESSION OF CONCERN: J. N. Pruitt, A. W. Berning, B. Cusack, T. A. Shearer, M. McGuirk, A. Coleman, R. Y. Y. Eng, F. Armagost, K. Sweeney, and N. Singh, “Precopulatory Sexual Cannibalism Causes Increase Egg Case Production, Hatching Success, and Female Attractiveness to Males,” Ethology 120, no. 5 (2014): 453–462. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12216.

This Expression of Concern is for the above article, published online on 01 March 2014 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), and has been issued by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Wolfgang Goymann, and Wiley-VCH GmbH. The Expression of Concern has been agreed upon after concerns have been raised regarding the validity of the data collected and analysis methods reported in the research conducted by author J. N. Pruitt. The author did not respond to repeated requests to provide the primary data and validate the data collection and analysis methods reported in this study. As we are unable to obtain the original data and analysis, an EOC is warranted to inform and alert the readers.

EXPRESSION OF CONCERN: J.N. Pruitt, K.W. Demes, and D.R. Dittrich-Reed, “Temperature Mediates Shifts in Individual Aggressiveness, Activity Level, and Social Behavior in a Spider,” Ethology 117, no. 4 (2011): 318–325. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2011.01877.x.

This Expression of Concern is for the above article, published online on 07 February 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), and has been issued by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Wolfgang Goymann, and Wiley-VCH GmbH. The Expression of Concern has been agreed after concerns have been raised regarding the validity of the data collected and analysis methods reported in the research conducted by author J.N. Pruitt. The author did not respond to repeated requests to provide the primary data and validate the data collection and analysis methods reported in this study. As we are unable to obtain the original data and analysis, an EOC is warranted to inform and alert the readers.

EXPRESSION OF CONCERN: K. Sweeney, R. D. H Gadd, Z. L. Hess, D. R. McDermott, L. MacDonald, P. Cotter, F. Armagost, J. Z. Chen, A. W. Berning, N. DiRienzo, and J. N. Pruitt, “Assessing the Effects of Rearing Environment, Natural Selection, and Developmental Stage on the Emergence of a Behavioral Syndrome,” Ethology, 119, no. 5 (2013): 436–447. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12081.

This Expression of Concern is for the above article, published online on 15 March 2013 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), and has been issued by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Wolfgang Goymann, and Wiley-VCH GmbH. The Expression of Concern has been agreed upon after concerns have been raised regarding the validity of the data collected and the analysis methods reported in the research conducted by author J.N. Pruitt. The author did not respond to repeated requests to provide the primary data and validate the data collection and analysis methods reported in this study. As we are unable to obtain the original data and analysis, an EOC is warranted to inform and alert the readers.