Pub Date : 2024-01-09DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10256
Keith W. Sockman, Susan M. Lyons, Samuel P. Caro
The trill elements of many bird species’ songs have been hypothesized as honest signals of performance. However, the breadth of receiver responses to variation in the signaller’s trill performance is unknown. We exposed wild male Lincoln’s sparrows (Melospiza lincolnii) to two song treatments, one with low- and another with high-performance trills. We found no effect of treatment on measures of agonistic behaviour and song length. However, relative to the subjects’ trills following the high-performance treatment, those following the low-performance treatment were elevated in performance due to trill types with high frequency bandwidth in the third trill of songs. Treatment also affected trill duration through its syllable count in a manner that varied by the song’s trill number. Thus, the performance of a signal to which a receiver is exposed drives plasticity in his own performance in sequence-specific manner. Males may showcase their own performance in the presence of lower-performing rivals.
{"title":"Vocal performance of one affects that of another","authors":"Keith W. Sockman, Susan M. Lyons, Samuel P. Caro","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10256","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The trill elements of many bird species’ songs have been hypothesized as honest signals of performance. However, the breadth of receiver responses to variation in the signaller’s trill performance is unknown. We exposed wild male Lincoln’s sparrows (Melospiza lincolnii) to two song treatments, one with low- and another with high-performance trills. We found no effect of treatment on measures of agonistic behaviour and song length. However, relative to the subjects’ trills following the high-performance treatment, those following the low-performance treatment were elevated in performance due to trill types with high frequency bandwidth in the third trill of songs. Treatment also affected trill duration through its syllable count in a manner that varied by the song’s trill number. Thus, the performance of a signal to which a receiver is exposed drives plasticity in his own performance in sequence-specific manner. Males may showcase their own performance in the presence of lower-performing rivals.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"73 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139445021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-02DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10254
S. Popovs, Maris Munkevics, Tatjana Krama, Ronalds Krams, Ē. Sļedevskis, G. Trakimas, Krists Zants, Tatjana Grigorjeva, V. Mizers, Vadims Kolbjonoks, Priit Jõers, I. Krams
Stress caused by predator exposure can lead to various behavioural, physiological, stoichiometric, and biochemical changes in prey. Prior research has shown that growth under predation stress can cause the development of a diabetes-like biochemical phenotype in fruit flies. Exposure to predator risk during larval development decreases flies’ walking activity, improving their antipredator strategies. However, it is unclear which elements of walking behaviour make flies less conspicuous to predators. This study shows that fruit flies () grown with spiders walk shorter distances, accelerate faster and spend more time in a state of motion without movement (i.e., stomping in place) than control flies (). Under predation risk, adult flies grown with spiders survived better than control flies. We suggest that motions without movement may resemble sickness behaviour for predators, which we propose as the main reason for their better survival under direct exposure to predator attacks.
{"title":"Explaining the survival of the sickest: altered walking patterns are linked with improved adult survival in Drosophila melanogaster grown with predators during larval development","authors":"S. Popovs, Maris Munkevics, Tatjana Krama, Ronalds Krams, Ē. Sļedevskis, G. Trakimas, Krists Zants, Tatjana Grigorjeva, V. Mizers, Vadims Kolbjonoks, Priit Jõers, I. Krams","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10254","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Stress caused by predator exposure can lead to various behavioural, physiological, stoichiometric, and biochemical changes in prey. Prior research has shown that growth under predation stress can cause the development of a diabetes-like biochemical phenotype in fruit flies. Exposure to predator risk during larval development decreases flies’ walking activity, improving their antipredator strategies. However, it is unclear which elements of walking behaviour make flies less conspicuous to predators. This study shows that fruit flies () grown with spiders walk shorter distances, accelerate faster and spend more time in a state of motion without movement (i.e., stomping in place) than control flies (). Under predation risk, adult flies grown with spiders survived better than control flies. We suggest that motions without movement may resemble sickness behaviour for predators, which we propose as the main reason for their better survival under direct exposure to predator attacks.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"36 18","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139389699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-02DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10255
Katrina M. Gardner, D. Mennill, Amy E.M. Newman, S. Doucet
Animals use colouration to serve diverse functions including camouflage, thermoregulation, and communication. Recent research has revealed that many anurans exhibit drastic colour changes and growing evidence supports that these changes are sexually selected signals. Male yellow toads, Incilius luetkenii, exhibit dynamic sexual dichromatism, changing from mud-brown to lemon-yellow during their brief breeding events. Toads darken when isolated in captivity, which is hypothesized to be a stress response, although the mechanisms driving this change have yet to be experimentally investigated. We confined breeding toads to small terrariums for four hours and predicted that colour and corticosterone levels would change in isolation. We found that toads darkened during isolation, but that corticosterone levels did not change with colour. Our correlational results suggest that corticosterone is not the main driver of colour change in yellow toads and highlight avenues for future research that may enhance our understanding of colour change in anurans.
{"title":"Stress, corticosterone, and colour-change in a toad with dynamic sexual dichromatism","authors":"Katrina M. Gardner, D. Mennill, Amy E.M. Newman, S. Doucet","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10255","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Animals use colouration to serve diverse functions including camouflage, thermoregulation, and communication. Recent research has revealed that many anurans exhibit drastic colour changes and growing evidence supports that these changes are sexually selected signals. Male yellow toads, Incilius luetkenii, exhibit dynamic sexual dichromatism, changing from mud-brown to lemon-yellow during their brief breeding events. Toads darken when isolated in captivity, which is hypothesized to be a stress response, although the mechanisms driving this change have yet to be experimentally investigated. We confined breeding toads to small terrariums for four hours and predicted that colour and corticosterone levels would change in isolation. We found that toads darkened during isolation, but that corticosterone levels did not change with colour. Our correlational results suggest that corticosterone is not the main driver of colour change in yellow toads and highlight avenues for future research that may enhance our understanding of colour change in anurans.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"117 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139391537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rubella is a vaccine-preventable disease and is the leading cause of congenital disabilities. This study was performed to identify the congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) patients before and after the Rubella Vaccination Campaign in the Outpatient Unit of the Audiology Department at Dr. Soetomo General Hospital Surabaya. This was a descriptive study that used secondary data from a CRS surveillance case investigation form and medical records from 2015 to 2020 at Dr. Soetomo Hospital. A total of 346 suspected CRS cases were included in this study. According to the final classification, 145 (41.9%) patients had clinical CRS, 65 (18.8%) had confirmed CRS, and 136 (39.3%) had discarded CRS. The majority of the suspected cases were in the < 1-month age group (27.4%). Hearing loss was the most prevalent symptom in both the pre and post-rubella vaccination campaign (RVC) introduction periods campaign among groups. A patient with suspected CRS clinical signs.
{"title":"A Study Prevalence of Congenital Rubella Syndrome Cases Before and After Rubella Vaccination Campaign.","authors":"Nyilo Purnami, Hayyu Fath Rachmadhan, In Seok Moon, Mondastri Korib Sudaryo","doi":"10.1007/s12070-023-03882-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12070-023-03882-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rubella is a vaccine-preventable disease and is the leading cause of congenital disabilities. This study was performed to identify the congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) patients before and after the Rubella Vaccination Campaign in the Outpatient Unit of the Audiology Department at Dr. Soetomo General Hospital Surabaya. This was a descriptive study that used secondary data from a CRS surveillance case investigation form and medical records from 2015 to 2020 at Dr. Soetomo Hospital. A total of 346 suspected CRS cases were included in this study. According to the final classification, 145 (41.9%) patients had clinical CRS, 65 (18.8%) had confirmed CRS, and 136 (39.3%) had discarded CRS. The majority of the suspected cases were in the < 1-month age group (27.4%). Hearing loss was the most prevalent symptom in both the pre and post-rubella vaccination campaign (RVC) introduction periods campaign among groups. A patient with suspected CRS clinical signs.</p>","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"145 1","pages":"2913-2920"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10645922/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86600279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Researchers often measure the flight initiation distance (FID) of a selected individual to represent the FID of the whole groups which may vary with their flight order (the sequence to flee) and their spatial position within a group. In this study, we examined FID of all individuals in small bird flocks in urban environments when approached by an investigator. We found that individuals’ FID did not vary with their flight orders within these flocks. Moreover, the FID of the nearest individual, often used as a proxy for the entire flock, did not differ from the average FID of all flock members. This suggests that the conventional method of measuring the nearest individual’s FID to represent is a valid approximation for representing the behaviour of the entire flock in similar contexts. These results have important implications for understanding anti-predator strategies in group-living animals and can inform future studies in this field.
{"title":"Flight order does not influence individuals’ flight initiation distance in small bird flocks","authors":"Jin-Ming Zhao, Hong-Chuang Liu, Si-Yu Li, Yi-Hang Ding, Jun-Jie Wang, Yan Zhang","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10253","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10253","url":null,"abstract":"Researchers often measure the flight initiation distance (FID) of a selected individual to represent the FID of the whole groups which may vary with their flight order (the sequence to flee) and their spatial position within a group. In this study, we examined FID of all individuals in small bird flocks in urban environments when approached by an investigator. We found that individuals’ FID did not vary with their flight orders within these flocks. Moreover, the FID of the nearest individual, often used as a proxy for the entire flock, did not differ from the average FID of all flock members. This suggests that the conventional method of measuring the nearest individual’s FID to represent is a valid approximation for representing the behaviour of the entire flock in similar contexts. These results have important implications for understanding anti-predator strategies in group-living animals and can inform future studies in this field.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"3 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139272505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-13DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10251
Anja Probst, Eva Ringler, Birgit Szabo
Abstract The optimal foraging theory posits that animals aim to maximize energy intake while minimizing predation and handling costs during foraging. Most observed animal behaviour supports this theory, but occasional deviations provide insights into the ecological factors that shape foraging decisions. We tested prey-size preference using a two-choice test between different prey sizes in tokay geckos. We expected geckos to prefer larger prey and decision latencies to be longer when discrimination was more difficult and when small prey was offered. Geckos preferred larger prey when the size difference was large, although decision latency remained consistent. This aligns with prior research on sit-and-wait predators. Together with previous findings showing freezing behaviour after prey capture in tokay geckos, our findings suggest a strong influence of predator avoidance on foraging decisions opening up a new avenue for future research investigating the link between decision making and predator avoidance in tokay geckos.
{"title":"Prey size preference in the tokay gecko (Gekko gecko)","authors":"Anja Probst, Eva Ringler, Birgit Szabo","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10251","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The optimal foraging theory posits that animals aim to maximize energy intake while minimizing predation and handling costs during foraging. Most observed animal behaviour supports this theory, but occasional deviations provide insights into the ecological factors that shape foraging decisions. We tested prey-size preference using a two-choice test between different prey sizes in tokay geckos. We expected geckos to prefer larger prey and decision latencies to be longer when discrimination was more difficult and when small prey was offered. Geckos preferred larger prey when the size difference was large, although decision latency remained consistent. This aligns with prior research on sit-and-wait predators. Together with previous findings showing freezing behaviour after prey capture in tokay geckos, our findings suggest a strong influence of predator avoidance on foraging decisions opening up a new avenue for future research investigating the link between decision making and predator avoidance in tokay geckos.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"123 26","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136352262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-10DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10252
Christoph Randler, Nadine Kalb, Mylène Dutour
Abstract Many bird species defend their territories against conspecifics during the breeding season. Although some temperate species have been observed to defend territories outside of the breeding season, such cases are rarely noted in the literature, and it remains largely unknown which environmental factors influence such behaviour. In this study, we investigated non-breeding territorial behaviour in the Eurasian nuthatch ( Sitta europaea ). Territorial responses were elicited with a simulated territory intrusion (playbacks of calls combined with a wooden model of nuthatch) in autumn, winter and spring. Territorial responses did not differ between autumn and winter but differed between the autumn/winter and spring; they declined until about mid-December (winter) and increased after that into the spring. We found an increase in territorial responses with increasing photoperiod (day length) in autumn and with decreasing ambient temperature during spring. Our study provides novel evidence about non-breeding territorial behaviour in temperate birds and indicates that this behaviour is influenced by environmental factors.
{"title":"Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) responses towards simulated territorial intrusion (STI) vary in strength during the non-breeding season — a matter of temperature and photoperiod?","authors":"Christoph Randler, Nadine Kalb, Mylène Dutour","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10252","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10252","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Many bird species defend their territories against conspecifics during the breeding season. Although some temperate species have been observed to defend territories outside of the breeding season, such cases are rarely noted in the literature, and it remains largely unknown which environmental factors influence such behaviour. In this study, we investigated non-breeding territorial behaviour in the Eurasian nuthatch ( Sitta europaea ). Territorial responses were elicited with a simulated territory intrusion (playbacks of calls combined with a wooden model of nuthatch) in autumn, winter and spring. Territorial responses did not differ between autumn and winter but differed between the autumn/winter and spring; they declined until about mid-December (winter) and increased after that into the spring. We found an increase in territorial responses with increasing photoperiod (day length) in autumn and with decreasing ambient temperature during spring. Our study provides novel evidence about non-breeding territorial behaviour in temperate birds and indicates that this behaviour is influenced by environmental factors.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"98 51","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135092048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-10DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10250
Simon P. Tkaczyk, Douglas P. Chivers, Karen L. Wiebe
Abstract Parent birds may alter incubation rhythms in response to predation risk but few studies have examined the recovery time immediately after exposure to a predator. Here, we examined incubation rhythms in mountain bluebirds ( Sialia currucoides ) in response to a simulated nest predator, a taxidermy-mounted squirrel. We used data loggers (iButtons) to measure the recess (off-bout) length, recess rate, and constancy of incubation and found no relationship between incubation rhythms and female age, body size and aggressiveness. Incubating females reacted to the predator by reducing nest visitation rates and increasing recess length but did not change incubation constancy. Instead, constancy was negatively associated with ambient temperature. Changes in incubation behaviour lasted about 48 h before returning to pre-exposure patterns. Our results suggest that modifying incubation rhythms is costly for female birds and the demand to regulate egg temperature efficiently limits the length of behavioural responses to the threat of nest predation.
{"title":"Shifting incubation rhythms in response to predation risk and the length of the response in mountain bluebirds","authors":"Simon P. Tkaczyk, Douglas P. Chivers, Karen L. Wiebe","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10250","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10250","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Parent birds may alter incubation rhythms in response to predation risk but few studies have examined the recovery time immediately after exposure to a predator. Here, we examined incubation rhythms in mountain bluebirds ( Sialia currucoides ) in response to a simulated nest predator, a taxidermy-mounted squirrel. We used data loggers (iButtons) to measure the recess (off-bout) length, recess rate, and constancy of incubation and found no relationship between incubation rhythms and female age, body size and aggressiveness. Incubating females reacted to the predator by reducing nest visitation rates and increasing recess length but did not change incubation constancy. Instead, constancy was negatively associated with ambient temperature. Changes in incubation behaviour lasted about 48 h before returning to pre-exposure patterns. Our results suggest that modifying incubation rhythms is costly for female birds and the demand to regulate egg temperature efficiently limits the length of behavioural responses to the threat of nest predation.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"98 47","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135092052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The extreme divergence of phenotypes between two closely related terrestrial gastropods, Karaftohelix editha and K. gainesi (Camaenidae, Stylommatophora), has been suggested as a result of anti-predator adaptations because K. editha and K. gainesi showed shy and bold anti-predator behaviours, respectively. In this study, we measured the crawling speeds in the laboratory and the exploration (the crawled distances during every 6 h) and the activity (the active/inactive statuses) in the field for each species. As a result, K. gainesi crawled faster under ordinary conditions and moreover upregulated its crawling speed 1.21–1.28 times after the stimulus. The activity pattern of K. editha was typical of nocturnal species, but K. gainesi remained active even under daylight. These results might suggest that K. editha and K. gainesi were deemed as shy/inactive and bold/active species, respectively, and that behavioural syndromes existed between shyness–boldness and activity personalities.
{"title":"The divergence of mobility and activity associated with anti-predator adaptations in land snails","authors":"Yuta Morii, Ryota Kimura, Rion Sato, Nana Shiobara, Honoka Maeda, Kaede Nakagawa, Ririka Ito, Reiichi Ueki","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10249","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10249","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The extreme divergence of phenotypes between two closely related terrestrial gastropods, Karaftohelix editha and K. gainesi (Camaenidae, Stylommatophora), has been suggested as a result of anti-predator adaptations because K. editha and K. gainesi showed shy and bold anti-predator behaviours, respectively. In this study, we measured the crawling speeds in the laboratory and the exploration (the crawled distances during every 6 h) and the activity (the active/inactive statuses) in the field for each species. As a result, K. gainesi crawled faster under ordinary conditions and moreover upregulated its crawling speed 1.21–1.28 times after the stimulus. The activity pattern of K. editha was typical of nocturnal species, but K. gainesi remained active even under daylight. These results might suggest that K. editha and K. gainesi were deemed as shy/inactive and bold/active species, respectively, and that behavioural syndromes existed between shyness–boldness and activity personalities.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136069688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-24DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10248
Amber Thatcher, Nathan Insel
Abstract When establishing new peer relationships, animals may explore different modes of interaction, testing-out dominance roles, reciprocation of affiliation, and responses to investigation. This exploration is potentially risky, as higher variability may be counterproductive to establishing expectations and trust. There is therefore a tradeoff between exploration within a new social relationship and maintaining predictable, ‘safe’ behaviours, raising questions about how animals differ in how they engage with strangers. The Chilean degu offers an opportune case study to investigate novel social situations, as females form relationships relatively rapidly with unrelated peers. We presented degu dyads with a series of 20 min ‘reunion’ sessions and found that session-to-session variability in stranger females is, in fact, lower than in cagemates, and lower than stranger or cagemate males. Reduced variability was observed only after an initial social exposure, suggesting it was a feature of new relationships rather than novelty. There was no evidence that groups differed in predictability of behaviours within a reunion. It is known that in the wild, female degus differ from males by readily forming cooperative relationships with unrelated individuals. The data therefore raise the possibility that animals predisposed to cooperation might also show reduced behavioural variability across encounters with new individuals. This work offers new results and methods for considering strategies animals use to cope with social uncertainty.
{"title":"In female degus, reunions are less variable when relationships are new","authors":"Amber Thatcher, Nathan Insel","doi":"10.1163/1568539x-bja10248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10248","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract When establishing new peer relationships, animals may explore different modes of interaction, testing-out dominance roles, reciprocation of affiliation, and responses to investigation. This exploration is potentially risky, as higher variability may be counterproductive to establishing expectations and trust. There is therefore a tradeoff between exploration within a new social relationship and maintaining predictable, ‘safe’ behaviours, raising questions about how animals differ in how they engage with strangers. The Chilean degu offers an opportune case study to investigate novel social situations, as females form relationships relatively rapidly with unrelated peers. We presented degu dyads with a series of 20 min ‘reunion’ sessions and found that session-to-session variability in stranger females is, in fact, lower than in cagemates, and lower than stranger or cagemate males. Reduced variability was observed only after an initial social exposure, suggesting it was a feature of new relationships rather than novelty. There was no evidence that groups differed in predictability of behaviours within a reunion. It is known that in the wild, female degus differ from males by readily forming cooperative relationships with unrelated individuals. The data therefore raise the possibility that animals predisposed to cooperation might also show reduced behavioural variability across encounters with new individuals. This work offers new results and methods for considering strategies animals use to cope with social uncertainty.","PeriodicalId":8822,"journal":{"name":"Behaviour","volume":"44 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135316810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：