It is widely assumed that female birds use non-photic supplemental cues, including social factors, to fine-tune timing of egg-laying to local conditions, but our knowledge of the nature of these social cues and how they operate remains limited. We analyzed the relationship between a female’s social environment (nearest neighbor distances, residency, female -and- network familiarity, synchrony) and variation in timing of egg-laying in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) using individual, residual laying date (controlling for annual variation) and temperature-independent residual laying date (accounting for the effect of ambient temperature on laying date). Female social environment varied systematically with overall spatial distribution of nest-boxes (linear vs clumped boxes) but this was not associated with spatial variation in laying date or temperature-independent residual laying date. We found no evidence for any relationships between individual variation in social environment and individual, residual laying date and only weak evidence for any association with individual, temperature-independent residual laying date. The latter was associated with a) nearest neighbor distances in the linear habitat, with females nesting closer to neighbors laying earlier than predicted by temperature, but not in the two clumped habitats, and b) neighbor familiarity: females with an intermediate number of returning females (3/8) laid closest to the predicted date. Finally, despite the fact that synchrony was not associated with other social environment metrics, females with lower laying synchrony among neighbors laid earlier than predicted by temperature. This suggests that some components of the female-female social environment could act as supplemental cues for timing of egg-laying.
{"title":"Timing of egg-laying in relation to a female’s social environment in European starlings","authors":"Kathryn M Leonard, Tony D Williams","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae029","url":null,"abstract":"It is widely assumed that female birds use non-photic supplemental cues, including social factors, to fine-tune timing of egg-laying to local conditions, but our knowledge of the nature of these social cues and how they operate remains limited. We analyzed the relationship between a female’s social environment (nearest neighbor distances, residency, female -and- network familiarity, synchrony) and variation in timing of egg-laying in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) using individual, residual laying date (controlling for annual variation) and temperature-independent residual laying date (accounting for the effect of ambient temperature on laying date). Female social environment varied systematically with overall spatial distribution of nest-boxes (linear vs clumped boxes) but this was not associated with spatial variation in laying date or temperature-independent residual laying date. We found no evidence for any relationships between individual variation in social environment and individual, residual laying date and only weak evidence for any association with individual, temperature-independent residual laying date. The latter was associated with a) nearest neighbor distances in the linear habitat, with females nesting closer to neighbors laying earlier than predicted by temperature, but not in the two clumped habitats, and b) neighbor familiarity: females with an intermediate number of returning females (3/8) laid closest to the predicted date. Finally, despite the fact that synchrony was not associated with other social environment metrics, females with lower laying synchrony among neighbors laid earlier than predicted by temperature. This suggests that some components of the female-female social environment could act as supplemental cues for timing of egg-laying.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"135 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140827496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maider Iglesias-Carrasco, Jiayu Zhang, Daniel W A Noble
Exposure to increased temperatures during early development can lead to phenotypic plasticity in morphology, physiology, and behaviour across a range of ectothermic animals. In addition, maternal effects are known to be important contributors to phenotypic variation in offspring. Whether the two factors interact to shape offspring morphology and behaviour has been barely explored. This is critical since climate change is expected to impact both incubation temperature and maternal resource allocation and stress levels. Using a fully-factorial design, and Bayesian multivariate mixed models, we explored how the manipulation of early thermal environment and yolk-quantity in eggs affected the morphology, performance and antipredator behaviour of two sympatric Australian skink species (Lampropholis delicata and L. guichenoti). We found that juveniles from the hot treatment were larger than those on the cold treatment in L. guichenoti but not L. delicata. Using repeated behavioural measures for individual lizards, we found an interaction between incubation temperature and maternal investment in performance, with running speed being affected in a species-specific way by the treatment. We predicted that changes in performance should influence antipredator responses. In support of this prediction, we found that maternal investment impacted antipredator behaviour, with animals from the yolk-reduced and cold treatment resuming activity faster after a simulated predatory attack in L. delicata. However, the prediction was not supported in L. guichenoti. Our results highlight the importance of exploring the multifaceted role that environments play across generations to understand how different anthropogenic factors will impact wildlife in the future.
{"title":"Maternal investment and early thermal conditions affect performance and antipredator responses","authors":"Maider Iglesias-Carrasco, Jiayu Zhang, Daniel W A Noble","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae035","url":null,"abstract":"Exposure to increased temperatures during early development can lead to phenotypic plasticity in morphology, physiology, and behaviour across a range of ectothermic animals. In addition, maternal effects are known to be important contributors to phenotypic variation in offspring. Whether the two factors interact to shape offspring morphology and behaviour has been barely explored. This is critical since climate change is expected to impact both incubation temperature and maternal resource allocation and stress levels. Using a fully-factorial design, and Bayesian multivariate mixed models, we explored how the manipulation of early thermal environment and yolk-quantity in eggs affected the morphology, performance and antipredator behaviour of two sympatric Australian skink species (Lampropholis delicata and L. guichenoti). We found that juveniles from the hot treatment were larger than those on the cold treatment in L. guichenoti but not L. delicata. Using repeated behavioural measures for individual lizards, we found an interaction between incubation temperature and maternal investment in performance, with running speed being affected in a species-specific way by the treatment. We predicted that changes in performance should influence antipredator responses. In support of this prediction, we found that maternal investment impacted antipredator behaviour, with animals from the yolk-reduced and cold treatment resuming activity faster after a simulated predatory attack in L. delicata. However, the prediction was not supported in L. guichenoti. Our results highlight the importance of exploring the multifaceted role that environments play across generations to understand how different anthropogenic factors will impact wildlife in the future.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140798749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Janice L Yan, Jack R Rosembaum, Selena Esteves, Maggie L Dobbin, Reuven Dukas
Living in groups can provide essential experience that improves sexual performance and reproductive success. While the effects of social experience have drawn considerable scientific interest, commonly used behavioural assays often do not capture the dynamic nature of interactions within a social group. Here, we conducted three experiments using a social network framework to test whether social experience during early adulthood improves the sexual competence of bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) when placed in a complex and competitive group environment. In each experiment, we observed replicate groups of bed bugs comprising previously socialized and previously isolated individuals of the same sex, along with an equal number of standardized individuals of the opposite sex. Regardless of whether we controlled for their insemination history, previously isolated males mounted and inseminated females at significantly higher rates than previously socialized males. However, we found no evidence of social experience influencing our other measures of sexual competence: proportion of mounts directed at females, ability to overcome female resistance, and strength of opposite-sex social associations. We similarly did not detect effects of social experience on our female sexual competence metrics: propensity to avoid mounts, rate of successfully avoiding mounts, opposite-sex social association strength, and rate of receiving inseminations. Our findings indicate that early social experience does not improve sexual competence in male and female bed bugs.
{"title":"Sexual conflict and social networks in bed bugs: effects of social experience","authors":"Janice L Yan, Jack R Rosembaum, Selena Esteves, Maggie L Dobbin, Reuven Dukas","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae030","url":null,"abstract":"Living in groups can provide essential experience that improves sexual performance and reproductive success. While the effects of social experience have drawn considerable scientific interest, commonly used behavioural assays often do not capture the dynamic nature of interactions within a social group. Here, we conducted three experiments using a social network framework to test whether social experience during early adulthood improves the sexual competence of bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) when placed in a complex and competitive group environment. In each experiment, we observed replicate groups of bed bugs comprising previously socialized and previously isolated individuals of the same sex, along with an equal number of standardized individuals of the opposite sex. Regardless of whether we controlled for their insemination history, previously isolated males mounted and inseminated females at significantly higher rates than previously socialized males. However, we found no evidence of social experience influencing our other measures of sexual competence: proportion of mounts directed at females, ability to overcome female resistance, and strength of opposite-sex social associations. We similarly did not detect effects of social experience on our female sexual competence metrics: propensity to avoid mounts, rate of successfully avoiding mounts, opposite-sex social association strength, and rate of receiving inseminations. Our findings indicate that early social experience does not improve sexual competence in male and female bed bugs.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140617221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Variation in cooperative behaviour across mammals is strongly related to the kinship composition of groups. Although the factors affecting average genetic relatedness within groups have been studied, the factors that contribute to the production of different categories of kin remain underexplored. Here, I use a mathematical model to explore the factors that determine the proportion of full siblings, maternal half-siblings, paternal half-siblings, and non-siblings within mammal groups. The results suggest that the production of paternal half-siblings is increased by high male reproductive skew and a female-biased sex ratio, the production of maternal half-siblings is increased by high female reproductive skew and male-biased sex ratio, and that there are two routes to the production of full siblings: either high reproductive skew in both sexes (as seen in cooperatively breeding species) or pair-bond stability within groups of low reproductive skew (as seen in humans). These results broadly correspond to observed variation in sibling composition across mammals.
{"title":"Explaining variation in the kinship composition of mammal groups","authors":"M Dyble","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae032","url":null,"abstract":"Variation in cooperative behaviour across mammals is strongly related to the kinship composition of groups. Although the factors affecting average genetic relatedness within groups have been studied, the factors that contribute to the production of different categories of kin remain underexplored. Here, I use a mathematical model to explore the factors that determine the proportion of full siblings, maternal half-siblings, paternal half-siblings, and non-siblings within mammal groups. The results suggest that the production of paternal half-siblings is increased by high male reproductive skew and a female-biased sex ratio, the production of maternal half-siblings is increased by high female reproductive skew and male-biased sex ratio, and that there are two routes to the production of full siblings: either high reproductive skew in both sexes (as seen in cooperatively breeding species) or pair-bond stability within groups of low reproductive skew (as seen in humans). These results broadly correspond to observed variation in sibling composition across mammals.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140617544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Identifying the evolutionary drivers of sexual signal complexity is a key challenge in the study of animal communication. Among mammals, male bovids and cervids often perform elaborate gestural displays during courtship, consisting of ritualized movements of various parts of the body but the causes underlying interspecific variation in complexity of such displays remain poorly understood. Here we apply the comparative method to investigate which factors may have either promoted or constrained gestural repertoire size. We found that sexual selection was a strong predictor of gestural display complexity in male bovids and cervids. Repertoire size was positively correlated with breeding group size, an indicator of the intensity of sexual selection on males. Moreover, repertoires were larger in species adopting non-territorial and lek breeding mating systems than in species adopting resource-defence territoriality, a finding that can be explained by more emphasis on direct benefits than indirect benefits in resource-defence systems, where male mating success may also be less skewed due to difficulty in monopolising mates. The results also indicate that gestural repertoire size was positively correlated with the number of closely-related species occurring in sympatry. This is consistent with display complexity being selected to facilitate species recognition during courtship and thereby avoid interspecific hybridization. At the same time, repertoire size was negatively associated with male body mass, possibly due to the energetic and mechanical constraints imposed on movements in very large species. By contrast, we found no evidence that the habitat drives selection for complex gestural courtship displays.
{"title":"Sexual Selection And Species Recognition Promote Complex Male Courtship Displays In Ungulates","authors":"Giacomo D’Ammando, Jakob Bro-Jørgensen","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae027","url":null,"abstract":"Identifying the evolutionary drivers of sexual signal complexity is a key challenge in the study of animal communication. Among mammals, male bovids and cervids often perform elaborate gestural displays during courtship, consisting of ritualized movements of various parts of the body but the causes underlying interspecific variation in complexity of such displays remain poorly understood. Here we apply the comparative method to investigate which factors may have either promoted or constrained gestural repertoire size. We found that sexual selection was a strong predictor of gestural display complexity in male bovids and cervids. Repertoire size was positively correlated with breeding group size, an indicator of the intensity of sexual selection on males. Moreover, repertoires were larger in species adopting non-territorial and lek breeding mating systems than in species adopting resource-defence territoriality, a finding that can be explained by more emphasis on direct benefits than indirect benefits in resource-defence systems, where male mating success may also be less skewed due to difficulty in monopolising mates. The results also indicate that gestural repertoire size was positively correlated with the number of closely-related species occurring in sympatry. This is consistent with display complexity being selected to facilitate species recognition during courtship and thereby avoid interspecific hybridization. At the same time, repertoire size was negatively associated with male body mass, possibly due to the energetic and mechanical constraints imposed on movements in very large species. By contrast, we found no evidence that the habitat drives selection for complex gestural courtship displays.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140583374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Human villages in deserts can provide resources in an otherwise stark environment, potentially buffering against extreme environmental conditions. It is thus expected that breeding within these villages would result in higher fitness. However, choosing to raise offspring in these resource-rich environments may have unintended negative consequences. Here, we studied the breeding success of a cooperative breeding bird nesting in habitats with different levels of human disturbance – the Arabian babbler (Argya squamiceps), in the Negev desert of Israel. We recorded 42 breeding attempts from 15 groups between March and July 2022. We examined overall breeding success, brood size, and causes of nest failure. When nestlings were 6-days old we also calculated daily change in body mass and adult provisioning rate. We found that despite higher resource abundance in villages, proximity to villages did not affect provisioning rate, and nestling gained less mass at higher temperatures for all nests. Currently, there is no evidence that human villages are providing oases for nesting babblers. Nevertheless, various conservation interventions (e.g. encouraging residents to keep cats indoors) could improve babblers' overall fitness. Ultimately, we highlight how for some desert specialists, additional resources provided by humans may not do enough to counter potential negative effects.
{"title":"Small-scale land-use change effects on breeding success in a desert-living social bird","authors":"Krista N Oswald, Oded Berger-Tal, Uri Roll","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae023","url":null,"abstract":"Human villages in deserts can provide resources in an otherwise stark environment, potentially buffering against extreme environmental conditions. It is thus expected that breeding within these villages would result in higher fitness. However, choosing to raise offspring in these resource-rich environments may have unintended negative consequences. Here, we studied the breeding success of a cooperative breeding bird nesting in habitats with different levels of human disturbance – the Arabian babbler (Argya squamiceps), in the Negev desert of Israel. We recorded 42 breeding attempts from 15 groups between March and July 2022. We examined overall breeding success, brood size, and causes of nest failure. When nestlings were 6-days old we also calculated daily change in body mass and adult provisioning rate. We found that despite higher resource abundance in villages, proximity to villages did not affect provisioning rate, and nestling gained less mass at higher temperatures for all nests. Currently, there is no evidence that human villages are providing oases for nesting babblers. Nevertheless, various conservation interventions (e.g. encouraging residents to keep cats indoors) could improve babblers' overall fitness. Ultimately, we highlight how for some desert specialists, additional resources provided by humans may not do enough to counter potential negative effects.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140583677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zegni Triki, Tunhe Zhou, Elli Argyriou, Edson Sousa de Novais, Oriane Servant, Niclas Kolm
Some cognitive abilities are suggested to be the result of a complex social life, allowing individuals to achieve higher fitness through advanced strategies. However, most evidence is correlative. Here, we provide an experimental investigation of how group size and composition affect brain and cognitive development in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). For six months, we reared sexually mature females in one of three social treatments: a small conspecific group of three guppies, a large heterospecific group of three guppies and three splash tetras (Copella arnoldi) – a species that co-occurs with the guppy in the wild, and a large conspecific group of six guppies. We then tested the guppies’ performance in self-control (inhibitory control), operant conditioning (associative learning) and cognitive flexibility (reversal learning) tasks. Using X-ray imaging, we measured their brain size and major brain regions. Larger groups of six individuals, both conspecific and heterospecific groups, showed better cognitive flexibility than smaller groups, but no difference in self-control and operant conditioning tests. Interestingly, while social manipulation had no significant effect on brain morphology, relatively larger telencephalons were associated with better cognitive flexibility. This suggests alternative mechanisms beyond brain region size enabled greater cognitive flexibility in individuals from larger groups. Although there is no clear evidence for the impact on brain morphology, our research shows that living in larger social groups can enhance cognitive flexibility. This indicates that the social environment plays a role in the cognitive development of guppies.
一些认知能力被认为是复杂社会生活的结果，使个体能够通过先进的策略获得更高的体能。然而，大多数证据都是相关的。在此，我们通过实验研究了群体大小和组成如何影响河豚（Poecilia reticulata）的大脑和认知发展。在六个月的时间里，我们将性成熟的雌鱼饲养在三个社会处理之一中：一个由三条河豚组成的小型同种群组、一个由三条河豚和三条泼四条鱼（Copella arnoldi）组成的大型异种群组（泼四条鱼是一种在野外与河豚共生的物种）以及一个由六条河豚组成的大型同种群组。然后，我们测试了古比鱼在自我控制（抑制控制）、操作性条件反射（联想学习）和认知灵活性（逆转学习）任务中的表现。通过 X 射线成像，我们测量了它们的大脑大小和主要脑区。由六个个体组成的较大群体（包括同种群体和异种群体）比较小的群体表现出更好的认知灵活性，但在自我控制和操作性条件反射测试中没有差异。有趣的是，虽然社会操纵对大脑形态没有显著影响，但相对较大的端脑与更好的认知灵活性相关。这表明，除了脑区大小之外，还有其他机制使来自较大群体的个体具有更高的认知灵活性。虽然没有明确的证据表明对大脑形态的影响，但我们的研究表明，生活在较大的社会群体中可以提高认知灵活性。这表明，社会环境在河豚的认知发展过程中起着一定的作用。
{"title":"Social complexity affects cognitive abilities but not brain structure in a Poecilid fish","authors":"Zegni Triki, Tunhe Zhou, Elli Argyriou, Edson Sousa de Novais, Oriane Servant, Niclas Kolm","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae026","url":null,"abstract":"Some cognitive abilities are suggested to be the result of a complex social life, allowing individuals to achieve higher fitness through advanced strategies. However, most evidence is correlative. Here, we provide an experimental investigation of how group size and composition affect brain and cognitive development in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). For six months, we reared sexually mature females in one of three social treatments: a small conspecific group of three guppies, a large heterospecific group of three guppies and three splash tetras (Copella arnoldi) – a species that co-occurs with the guppy in the wild, and a large conspecific group of six guppies. We then tested the guppies’ performance in self-control (inhibitory control), operant conditioning (associative learning) and cognitive flexibility (reversal learning) tasks. Using X-ray imaging, we measured their brain size and major brain regions. Larger groups of six individuals, both conspecific and heterospecific groups, showed better cognitive flexibility than smaller groups, but no difference in self-control and operant conditioning tests. Interestingly, while social manipulation had no significant effect on brain morphology, relatively larger telencephalons were associated with better cognitive flexibility. This suggests alternative mechanisms beyond brain region size enabled greater cognitive flexibility in individuals from larger groups. Although there is no clear evidence for the impact on brain morphology, our research shows that living in larger social groups can enhance cognitive flexibility. This indicates that the social environment plays a role in the cognitive development of guppies.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140602554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
João Gabriel Lacerda de Almeida, Gareth Arnott, Paulo Enrique Cardoso Peixoto
A recurrent question in animal contests is whether individuals adopt a self or mutual assessment rule to decide to withdraw from a contest. However, many empirical studies fail to find conclusive support for one of these two possibilities. A possible explanation is that assessment strategies vary between individuals. In the contests of the orb-web spider Trichonephila clavipes, males perform a vibrational display on webs that may escalate to physical contact. Since all individuals perform the vibrational phase and only some of them escalate, we proposed two hypotheses: 1) all individuals perform mutual assessment during the vibrational phase, or 2) some individuals that do not escalate adopt self-assessment, while individuals that escalated adopt mutual assessment. To evaluate these hypotheses, we investigated the relationship between the duration of the vibrational phase and frontal leg length (a proxy of male fight capacity) of loser and winner males in contests that escalated and did not escalate to the physical contact phase. We found a non-significant relationship between duration and losers leg length for both contests that escalate and did not escalate. While we found a positive relationship between duration and winners leg length, particularly in contests that did not escalate. These results do not provide support for mutual assessment or for a mix of different assessment rules among individuals. We suggest that in T. clavipes, the dynamics of the vibrational phase may be explained by two different contest strategies (opponent-only assessment or size-based aggressiveness) that are dependent on intruder motivation to escalate.
{"title":"Vibrating aggression: spider males perform an unusual assessment strategy during contest displays","authors":"João Gabriel Lacerda de Almeida, Gareth Arnott, Paulo Enrique Cardoso Peixoto","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae028","url":null,"abstract":"A recurrent question in animal contests is whether individuals adopt a self or mutual assessment rule to decide to withdraw from a contest. However, many empirical studies fail to find conclusive support for one of these two possibilities. A possible explanation is that assessment strategies vary between individuals. In the contests of the orb-web spider Trichonephila clavipes, males perform a vibrational display on webs that may escalate to physical contact. Since all individuals perform the vibrational phase and only some of them escalate, we proposed two hypotheses: 1) all individuals perform mutual assessment during the vibrational phase, or 2) some individuals that do not escalate adopt self-assessment, while individuals that escalated adopt mutual assessment. To evaluate these hypotheses, we investigated the relationship between the duration of the vibrational phase and frontal leg length (a proxy of male fight capacity) of loser and winner males in contests that escalated and did not escalate to the physical contact phase. We found a non-significant relationship between duration and losers leg length for both contests that escalate and did not escalate. While we found a positive relationship between duration and winners leg length, particularly in contests that did not escalate. These results do not provide support for mutual assessment or for a mix of different assessment rules among individuals. We suggest that in T. clavipes, the dynamics of the vibrational phase may be explained by two different contest strategies (opponent-only assessment or size-based aggressiveness) that are dependent on intruder motivation to escalate.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140583640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tamar Lok, Matthijs van der Geest, Petra de Goeij, Eldar Rakhimberdiev, Theunis Piersma
In most colony-breeding species, biparental care during both egg incubation and chick-rearing is inevitable for successful reproduction, requiring parents to coordinate their nest attendance and foraging time. The extent to which the rhythm of nest attendance is adjusted to temporal and spatial variation in food availability is poorly understood. Here we investigate whether the rhythm of nest attendance interacts with the spatial and temporal availability of foraging habitats in Eurasian spoonbills Platalea leucorodia breeding on Schiermonnikoog, a Dutch Wadden Sea barrier island. Spoonbills are tactile foragers that forage during both day and night in habitats of varying salinity. GPS-tracking combined with acceleration-based behavioral classification of 9 female and 13 male adult spoonbills between 2013 and 2019 revealed that, despite nearby foraging opportunities following a tidal rhythm, nest attendance followed a sex-specific diel rhythm. During incubation and chick-rearing, females attended the nest at night and foraged during the day, while males showed the reverse rhythm. Females made more and shorter foraging trips to, almost exclusively, nearby marine habitats, whereas the larger males often made long trips to forage in more distant freshwater habitats. Before and after breeding, females as well as males foraged primarily at night, suggesting that this is the preferred period of foraging of both sexes. Nevertheless, foraging habitat use remained sex-specific, being most likely explained by size-dependent foraging techniques. To conclude, the sex-specific rhythm of nest attendance is not shaped by the spatial and temporal availability of foraging habitats.
{"title":"Sex-specific nest attendance rhythm and foraging habitat use in a colony-breeding waterbird","authors":"Tamar Lok, Matthijs van der Geest, Petra de Goeij, Eldar Rakhimberdiev, Theunis Piersma","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae020","url":null,"abstract":"In most colony-breeding species, biparental care during both egg incubation and chick-rearing is inevitable for successful reproduction, requiring parents to coordinate their nest attendance and foraging time. The extent to which the rhythm of nest attendance is adjusted to temporal and spatial variation in food availability is poorly understood. Here we investigate whether the rhythm of nest attendance interacts with the spatial and temporal availability of foraging habitats in Eurasian spoonbills Platalea leucorodia breeding on Schiermonnikoog, a Dutch Wadden Sea barrier island. Spoonbills are tactile foragers that forage during both day and night in habitats of varying salinity. GPS-tracking combined with acceleration-based behavioral classification of 9 female and 13 male adult spoonbills between 2013 and 2019 revealed that, despite nearby foraging opportunities following a tidal rhythm, nest attendance followed a sex-specific diel rhythm. During incubation and chick-rearing, females attended the nest at night and foraged during the day, while males showed the reverse rhythm. Females made more and shorter foraging trips to, almost exclusively, nearby marine habitats, whereas the larger males often made long trips to forage in more distant freshwater habitats. Before and after breeding, females as well as males foraged primarily at night, suggesting that this is the preferred period of foraging of both sexes. Nevertheless, foraging habitat use remained sex-specific, being most likely explained by size-dependent foraging techniques. To conclude, the sex-specific rhythm of nest attendance is not shaped by the spatial and temporal availability of foraging habitats.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"102 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140198457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Juliette J Rubin, Jorge L Medina-Madrid, Jay J Falk, Ummat Somjee
Large, conspicuous traits frequently evolve despite increased predator attention, but in some cases, specifically to attract attention. Sexually selected traits provide some of the clearest examples of elaboration, yet natural selection can also be a powerful driver. The matador bug, Anisoscelis alipes (Hemiptera: Coreidae), has large, colorful flags on its legs that, unlike many other coreid species, are not used in reproductive competition. We hypothesized that these flags either a) warn predators of chemical defense, or b) deflect predatory attack to the removable hindlegs. We pitted matador bugs with or without flags and crickets (Acheta domesticus) with or without bug flags experimentally attached to their legs, against live motmot bird predators (Momotus subrufescens and Electron platyrhynchum). Contrary to the deflection hypothesis, almost none of the predatory strikes were directed at hindleg flags. Instead, we found support for the aposematism hypothesis: matador bug flags reduced attacks on palatable crickets, but were unnecessary to prevent predator attack against matador bugs. Palatability studies with naïve chicks (Gallus gallus) further supported a chemical defense hypothesis. Thus, these elaborate hindleg flags serve an aposematic anti-predator function, but in their absence, birds use alternative cues. These findings add to our understanding of the role of predation in driving the evolution of elaborate morphological structures.
大而显眼的特征经常是在捕食者越来越关注的情况下进化而来的，但在某些情况下，是专门为了吸引注意力而进化而来的。性选择特征提供了一些最明显的例子，但自然选择也可能是一个强大的驱动力。斗牛士蝽（Anisoscelis alipes）（半翅目：核心科）的腿上有五颜六色的大旗，与许多其他核心科物种不同的是，这些旗帜并不用于生殖竞争。我们假设，这些旗帜要么是 a) 警告捕食者注意化学防御，要么是 b) 将捕食者的攻击转移到可移动的后腿上。我们将有或没有虫旗的斗牛士蝽和腿上实验性地挂有或没有虫旗的蟋蟀（Acheta domesticus）与活的鸻鸟类捕食者（Momotus subrufescens和Electron platyrhynchum）进行了对比。与偏转假说相反，几乎没有捕食性攻击是针对后腿旗帜的。相反，我们发现了捕食性假说的支持：斗牛士虫的旗帜减少了对适口蟋蟀的攻击，但却没有必要阻止捕食者对斗牛士虫的攻击。对天真雏鸡（Gallus gallus）的适口性研究进一步支持了化学防御假说。因此，这些精心制作的后腿旗具有抗捕食者的启示功能，但如果没有这些后腿旗，鸟类就会使用其他线索。这些发现加深了我们对捕食在驱动复杂形态结构进化中的作用的理解。
{"title":"The matador bug’s elaborate flags deter avian predators","authors":"Juliette J Rubin, Jorge L Medina-Madrid, Jay J Falk, Ummat Somjee","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arae019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae019","url":null,"abstract":"Large, conspicuous traits frequently evolve despite increased predator attention, but in some cases, specifically to attract attention. Sexually selected traits provide some of the clearest examples of elaboration, yet natural selection can also be a powerful driver. The matador bug, Anisoscelis alipes (Hemiptera: Coreidae), has large, colorful flags on its legs that, unlike many other coreid species, are not used in reproductive competition. We hypothesized that these flags either a) warn predators of chemical defense, or b) deflect predatory attack to the removable hindlegs. We pitted matador bugs with or without flags and crickets (Acheta domesticus) with or without bug flags experimentally attached to their legs, against live motmot bird predators (Momotus subrufescens and Electron platyrhynchum). Contrary to the deflection hypothesis, almost none of the predatory strikes were directed at hindleg flags. Instead, we found support for the aposematism hypothesis: matador bug flags reduced attacks on palatable crickets, but were unnecessary to prevent predator attack against matador bugs. Palatability studies with naïve chicks (Gallus gallus) further supported a chemical defense hypothesis. Thus, these elaborate hindleg flags serve an aposematic anti-predator function, but in their absence, birds use alternative cues. These findings add to our understanding of the role of predation in driving the evolution of elaborate morphological structures.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"110 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140150521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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