Ethology最新文献

{"title":"Are scientific journals delaying doctoral theses?","authors":"Wolfgang Goymann","doi":"10.1111/eth.13507","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13507","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In case you are surprised, such email messages are not uncommon. In fact, the first such email I received was quite effective in exerting moral pressure on me as an editor. The message attempted to hold me accountable for the timely submission of a thesis. Presumably, this even comes with a kind of obligation to also accept the manuscript, no matter how crappy it might be. Otherwise, I as editor would be responsible for a doctoral student's failure, thereby possibly ending a promising scientific career. But is this really so?</p><p>Editors of reputable scientific journals have an ethical obligation to readers and authors to accept and publish manuscripts on the basis of scientific quality and merit. Therefore—after an initial screening to assess the overall suitability for the journal—manuscripts must be peer-reviewed. Based on the reviewers' comments and the editor's own assessment, the editor then decides whether to accept the manuscript, whether it needs some revision, or whether it should be rejected. The possibility to reject a manuscript is essential in this process—unless you work for a predatory journal whose only interest is to generate revenue for the publisher.</p><p>In <i>Ethology</i>, roughly half of all submissions are eventually rejected, so any attempt to guarantee an author a (positive) decision and within a set period of time would be irresponsible and unethical to all other authors and readers of the journal, who trust in the journal's reputation and expect only high-quality behavioural research to be published by <i>Ethology</i>.</p><p>Presumably, most people who have written an email such as the one mentioned above are not even aware that what they do is unethical. They probably write such emails in an attempt to help their students finish their theses in time. But where does the expectation come from that a journal could make a (presumably) positive decision within a certain period of time? The problem may have to do with how many universities deal with the submission of dissertations.</p><p>When I was a doctoral student, it was still common practice at German universities to submit dissertations as monographs. My university was sort of progressive in that it allowed doctoral students to structure their dissertations into separate chapters, each of which could be published as a separate paper. However, the pressure on doctoral students to publish as early as possible and ideally before finishing their degree has strongly increased since then. As a consequence, my university also changed its policy: now theses have to be submitted as monographs or cumulatively as separate chapters, two of which have to be published or at least have to be accepted by a scientific journal before thesis submission. Most doctoral students in biology choose such a cumulative thesis, even if this comes at the cost of losing time with submitting and revising manuscripts. As a consequence, funding often runs out long before the chapters have been ","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13507","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142447770","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}

{"title":"Uncoupled Evolutionary Patterns in Spectral and Temporal Components of Acoustic Signals in Anurans Associated With Streams","authors":"Fernando Vargas-Salinas,&nbsp;Carlos A. Londoño-Guarnizo,&nbsp;Sebastián Duarte-Marín,&nbsp;Olga L. Torres-Suárez,&nbsp;Adolfo Amézquita","doi":"10.1111/eth.13510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13510","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The use of high-pitched auditory signals by species communicating alongside noisy streams has been often considered an adaptation, yet studies testing this hypothesis have yielded inconclusive results. The major challenge has been to quantify the proportion of across-species signal variation that could be attributed to either common history (phylogenetic load) or adaptation. We further advance in this approach by comparing the phylogenetic load between different components of anuran calls. Because stream noise allegedly represents a stronger selective pressure for call frequency than for call temporal traits, we predicted a weaker phylogenetic signal in call frequency, particularly in the taxa that breed alongside streams. We first built a phylogenetic hypothesis using four mitochondrial genes on each of three clades: the genus <i>Hyloscirtus</i> and the family Centrolenidae, which call alongside streams and the subfamily Phyllomedusinae, known to call at lentic water bodies. In parallel, we compiled data on the advertisement calls of 154 species and used them to calculate Blomberg's <i>K</i> values as a proxy for the phylogenetic load (signal) of the call traits. The phylogenetic signal was weaker in spectral than in temporal call traits within the <i>Hyloscirtus</i> calls and weak or absent in both spectral and temporal components of Phyllomedusine calls. Against our expectations, the phylogenetic signal was strong in call frequency, but absent in call temporal components of the centrolenid calls. Our results support uncoupled evolution between spectral and temporal components of anuran calls. They also indicate that the selective role of abiotic noise varies among taxa and that other factors must be invoked to fully understand among-species variation in advertisement calls.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142447522","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}

{"title":"Personality may modulate learning and memory differences in two taxa of the African striped mouse genus Rhabdomys","authors":"Candice N. Neves,&nbsp;Neville Pillay","doi":"10.1111/eth.13509","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13509","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Different environments place different cognitive demands on constituent taxa. Learning and memory involve cognitive processes with associated costs, and it is expected that different levels of learning will occur in taxa from different environments. Greater memory loads linked to increased environmental complexity require greater learning and memory capacities. We investigated the variation in learning and memory in sister taxa of striped mice (genus <i>Rhabdomys</i>). We studied two populations each of the mesic grassland-occurring <i>R. d. chakae</i> and the mostly arid-occurring <i>R. pumilio.</i> We conducted two sets of experiments. (1) In a novel object recognition (NOR) test, we assessed memory by recording the duration of exploration of similar and novel objects by test mice. (2) In an associative learning task, we assessed whether mice could associate specific scents with or without a food incentive or with different quantities of the food incentive in previous training phases. We measured the latency of mice to contact scents in a two-sample choice in the test phase. In the NOR test, <i>R. pumilio</i> spent less time investigating similar objects in a training trial than <i>R. d. chakae</i> but increased absolute exploration of the novel object when presented with a novel and a familiar object in the retention trial, suggesting a sensitization to the novel object by <i>R. pumilio</i>. In the associative learning experiments, <i>R. pumilio</i> approached the stimuli faster than <i>R. d. chakae</i>, whereas mice from both taxa preferred scents associated with a seed versus no seed and scents associated with 5 seeds versus 1 seed. The data provide evidence of taxon-level differences in learning and memory, likely related to environmentally modulated personality differences between the taxa.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13509","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142449228","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}

{"title":"Male and female age affects the reproductive potential of two tephritid flies","authors":"Viviana Díaz,&nbsp;Antonella Giudice,&nbsp;Alfonsina Palladini,&nbsp;Andrea Moyano,&nbsp;Gisela Castillo,&nbsp;Diana Pérez-Staples,&nbsp;Solana Abraham","doi":"10.1111/eth.13506","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13506","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In insects, aging produces deterioration in physiological and cellular functioning, affecting their reproductive potential. <i>Anastrepha fraterculus</i> and <i>Ceratitis capitata</i> are two fruit fly species where overwintering adults resume their reproductive activity in spring, giving old individuals the possibility of mating with young adults. Most age studies focus on male reproductive capacity; however, we lack information on how the interaction between the ages of both sexes can determine post-mating processes. Here, we studied sex and age effects on (i) female fecundity and fertility, (ii) failure to leave viable offspring (reproductive failure), and (iii) female remating behavior. We found that young pairs of both species had higher fecundity, but young <i>C. capitata</i> males mated with old females had the lowest fecundity. This suggests that overwintering flies in this species will not substantially contribute to the next generation. We also found in <i>C. capitata</i> more prevalent reproductive failure in hetero-age combinations, which could be due to age recognition between mates, resulting perhaps in differential ejaculate allocation. Copula duration was positively associated with female age, yet it was longer for older <i>A. fraterculus</i> females and shorter for <i>C. capitata</i> females. Female remating was lower when young females mated with old males in <i>C. capitata</i>. This would imply that males perceive young females of “good quality” and thus invest and transfer all the ejaculate possible to ensure the delay of renewal of female receptivity. Aging does not always cause a decline in reproductive potential, which may be important in species that overwinter as adults. Complex interactions between female physiology and male ejaculate senescence can impact postcopulatory behaviors that affect reproductive success for both sexes.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142184415","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}

{"title":"Polistes dominula spatial learning abilities while foraging","authors":"Sabrina Moreyra,&nbsp;Mariana Lozada","doi":"10.1111/eth.13505","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13505","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The eusocial “paper wasp” <i>Polistes dominula</i> is an invasive species that has successfully established worldwide. In the present study, we investigate the foraging behaviour of <i>P. dominula</i> wasps when revisiting previously gathered resources. We recorded the number of learning flights and food manipulation efficiency performed by a single target wasp during several consecutive collecting visits. Additionally, we analysed <i>P. dominula</i> relocating behaviour when dealing with changes in food position. We assessed whether wasps choose the previously visited dish containing food or opt for a novel baited dish placed 60 cm away. Then, we trained wasps to collect food either once or three times and compared the time taken to find the novel food position when it was displaced 60 cm away. This is the first study to demonstrate relocating behaviour in <i>P. dominula</i> in which wasps rapidly learned to return to certain food sites. A significant reduction in learning flights after only one collecting visit was observed. Likewise, wasps learned to manipulate the resource spending less time after each experience. Moreover, when two food sources were offered, after just one visit, the majority of wasps collected the resource from the previously rewarded dish. Furthermore, when food was displaced, foragers found the new food location more rapidly after one visit than after three consecutive collecting experiences. Our findings contribute to the understanding of <i>P. dominula</i> behavioural plasticity while collecting food sources in anthropized environments, which highlight the importance of considering such learning experiences.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142224088","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}

{"title":"Intra-individual modulations and inter-individual variations of female signals in the domestic canary (Serinus canaria)","authors":"Camille Le Gal,&nbsp;Sébastien Derégnaucourt,&nbsp;Mathieu Amy","doi":"10.1111/eth.13502","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13502","url":null,"abstract":"<p>During courtship, animals perform conspicuous and elaborate signals. In birds, courtship involved often mutual engagement by both partners but most research on courtship behaviours has focused on male signals despite of growing interest for female signals in recent years. Here, we show that female domestic canaries (<i>Serinus canaria</i>) have the ability to modulate their sexual response to male songs. To do so, we exposed females to two types of song (very attractive and moderately attractive songs) during two consecutive reproductive cycles. We measured both visual (copulation solicitation displays, CSD) and vocal signals (copulation solicitation trills, CST; contact calls, CC and simple trills, ST) emitted by the females during song broadcast. We observed that females could modify the characteristics of their signals (duration and the number of elements of CSD, duration, frequency and number of notes of calls) depending on song attractiveness and the number of times they were exposed to a male's song. We also found that some females always emitted more signals than others (i.e. stable inter-individual differences) regardless of the song attractiveness and across reproductive cycles. Further studies are necessary to check whether female signals constitute sexual ornaments and if they could stimulate male canaries during courtship.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142184453","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}

{"title":"Male–female chemical interactions in a facultatively parthenogenetic stick insect","authors":"Wai Chi Vicky Ying,&nbsp;Daniela Wilner,&nbsp;Lewis Adler,&nbsp;Zachariah Wylde,&nbsp;Russell Bonduriansky","doi":"10.1111/eth.13503","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13503","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Facultative parthenogenesis is a form of reproduction in which females can either lay unfertilised eggs that typically develop into female offspring only or mate and lay fertilised eggs that develop into male and female offspring. Intriguingly, facultative parthenogens often occur in mixed-sex populations where reproduction is mostly sexual and all-female populations where reproduction is asexual. How all-female populations avoid invasion by males remains unknown. Here, we explored the use of pheromones in male–female communication in a facultatively parthenogenetic stick insect, the peppermint stick insect (<i>Megacrania batesii</i>), and compared chemical signals between females descended from sexually versus parthenogenetically reproducing populations. If parthenogenetic females release less attractive pheromones, this could help explain the persistence of all-female populations. We found that <i>M. batesii</i> exhibits slight sexual dimorphism in antenna morphology, and behavioural assays provided little evidence that males could locate females solely by volatile pheromones. However, CHC profiles differed substantially between different types of females. Analysis of CHC components indicated a clear genetic difference between females descended from all-female versus mixed-sex populations, as well as a maternal effect of female parthenogenetic versus sexual development. Together, our results suggest that males might rely more on close-range chemical cues to differentiate females, and chemical communication could play a role in the persistence of all-female populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13503","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142184414","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}

{"title":"Daily variation and repeatability of advertisement calls in an austral temperate forest frog under controlled conditions","authors":"Felipe N. Moreno-Gómez,&nbsp;Gabriel Bidart-Enríquez,&nbsp;Romina Cossio-Rodríguez,&nbsp;Matías I. Muñoz,&nbsp;Maricel Quispe,&nbsp;Mario Penna","doi":"10.1111/eth.13504","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13504","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Estimating repeatability allows a first approximation that may indicate a potential response to selection of sexual traits. Acoustic sexual signals comprise spectral and temporal variables, where the former generally have lower intra-individual variation and higher repeatability values. Studies of repeatability in anurans have been conducted mainly in natural conditions, but the stability of laboratory settings allows extended recording intervals, favoring measurement accuracy. We conducted a study of variation and repeatability of the calls of males of <i>Batrachyla taeniata</i>, a frog from the South American temperate forest to evaluate under homogeneous environmental and social conditions: (i) the extent of variation in acoustic properties of calls within and among days, (ii) the extent of temporal variation in the repeatability of call properties, and (iii) differences in repeatability among call variables. Variation of acoustic properties differed within and across days of recording, call rate generally increased within and throughout days, suggesting sensitization processes. Call duration decreased during these time spans, yielding constant calling effort. In contrast, the dominant frequency decreased within days but increased across days. Overall repeatability differs significantly among variables: dominant frequency, call rate, and call duration having the highest, intermediate, and lowest values, respectively. The high repeatability of call rate relative to call duration contrasts with an opposing general tendency in previous studies in anurans. The repeatability of the three variables analyzed increases within days, and the repeatability of call rate also increases throughout days, highlighting the relevance of this variable for individual identity over different time ranges.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142184452","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}

{"title":"Intrusion of birds into nest cavities depends on the presence of feathers in the cavity and not on species of nest owner","authors":"Tore Slagsvold","doi":"10.1111/eth.13501","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13501","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Most animals live and move in a landscape in which the risk of predation varies spatially and temporally, that is, a “landscape of fear” which may strongly affect their ecology and behaviour. Cavity-nesting birds prospecting for nest sites are often forced to investigate unfamiliar, dark holes that may be dangerous to enter because they may conceal an aggressive nesting bird or a predator. The Fear of Feathers Hypothesis posits that some birds such as blue tits <i>Cyanistes caeruleus</i>, add large, conspicuous feathers on top of their own nest to exploit the fear of potential nest usurpers or brood parasites. Feathers may trigger fear in prospecting birds either because the feathers obstruct the view of the cavity interior, and/or because the feathers may be perceived as recent prey remains and suggest the predator will return. Here I studied the prospecting behaviour of unmated male pied flycatchers <i>Ficedula hypoleuca</i> by letting them choose between a dyad of nest boxes where one contained a nest of a great tit <i>Parus major</i> and one a nest of a blue tit. The objective was to test whether the presence of feathers would have a stronger repelling effect than the species that had built the nest. Great tits are larger than blue tits and may represent a greater threat to intruding flycatchers. However, blue tits but not great tits, often decorate their nest with large, conspicuous feathers. Consistent with the Fear of Feathers Hypothesis, flycatchers hesitated longer to enter blue tit than great tit nests but only if the blue tit nest contained feathers. The study has relevance to many species of birds that decorate their nest with feathers. It shows that a landscape may include aspects of fear that are important to animal behaviour although they may seem subtle and are easily overlooked.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13501","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142224089","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}

{"title":"Walk or swim: The substrate for movement affects female treefrog mate choice behaviors but has little effect on their preferences","authors":"Hannah Warner,&nbsp;Gerlinde Höbel","doi":"10.1111/eth.13499","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13499","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Semiaquatic animals breed in environments with a mix of aquatic and terrestrial features, each requiring appropriate types of locomotion with differential energetic demands and containing different suits of predators. We surveyed calling locations of male Eastern Gray Treefrogs (<i>Hyla versicolor</i>) at our study pond to assess average composition of land/water substrates available to females during mate choice. We also conducted acoustic playback trials to examine whether the mate choice behavior of females was affected by approach substrate; that is, whether females had to swim or walk towards a potential mate. We found that mate preferences were not strongly affected by the substrate of movement: the preferred call duration (“peak preference”) was similar in both treatments, but females showed somewhat stronger discrimination against values deviating from their peak preference (higher “preference selectivity”) in the water treatment. By contrast, other aspects of phonotaxis behavior were clearly different and consistent with females perceiving water as a more dangerous environment: in the water treatment, females took longer to leave the dry release point, jumped further when leaving the release point, and took advantage of features of the playback setup (i.e., the aquatic arena was surrounded by walls) to leave the water and approach the speaker “on land”. This suggests that females do not compromise mate preferences but adjust associated behaviors to minimize risk, and that environmental heterogeneity has little influence on sexual selection regimes.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142184454","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}