Ethology最新文献

{"title":"The impact of urbanization on painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) behaviour","authors":"Sebastian Blanchett,&nbsp;Audrey Turcotte,&nbsp;Gabriel Blouin-Demers","doi":"10.1111/eth.13467","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13467","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Urbanization is a significant driver of the global biodiversity crisis. Turtles are particularly impacted by urbanization because of the vulnerability of riparian habitats to habitat loss and road mortality. Behaviour plays a crucial role in determining the success of urban animals. Behavioural responses to urbanization, however, are rarely studied in turtles even though many turtles are at-risk and sometimes live in urban areas. Therefore, we evaluated behavioural changes in painted turtles (<i>Chrysemys picta</i>) living in wetlands surrounded by a gradient of urbanization. We tested the consistency of painted turtle behaviour in the laboratory and examined the behaviour of painted turtles from 24 wetland sites across an urbanization gradient in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We assessed: (i) aggression by measuring the number of active defensive behaviours the turtles performed in response to handling, (ii) boldness by measuring the amount of time the turtles took to emerge from their shells and move from their initial locations in a circular arena and (iii) activity by measuring the amount of time the turtles spent moving in the same circular arena. We found that all behaviours were consistent in the laboratory. We also found that as the level of urbanization increased, turtles were more aggressive and bolder. Urbanization affects painted turtle behaviour, but further research is required to understand the mechanisms responsible and the conservation implications.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13467","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140678126","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":"Tap dancing frogs: Posterior toe tapping and feeding in Dendrobates tinctorius","authors":"Thomas Q. Parrish,&nbsp;Eva K. Fischer","doi":"10.1111/eth.13465","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13465","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Animals have myriad adaptations to help them hunt and feed in the most efficient and effective manner. One mysterious behavior related to hunting and feeding is the posterior toe tapping behavior of some frogs. Biologists and hobbyists alike have long noticed this behavior, but there is little empirical data to explain its causes and consequences. To test the hypothesis that tapping is related to feeding and modulated by environmental context, we conducted a series of related experiments in the Dyeing poison frog, <i>Dendrobates tinctorius</i>. We first confirmed that tap rate was higher during feeding as has been observed in other species. Interestingly, this effect was heightened in the presence of a conspecific. We next asked whether frogs tapped less under conditions when prey were visible, but inaccessible. Finally, we asked whether <i>D. tinctorius</i> adjusted tap rate based on substrate characteristics and whether prey capture success was higher when tapping. In addition to confirming an association between tapping and feeding, our work demonstrates modulation of toe tapping based on social context, prey accessibility, and substrate characteristics. Based on our findings, we suggest that tapping could act to induce prey movement and thereby facilitate prey detection and capture by frogs.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13465","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140569389","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":"Changes to the acoustic properties of Gromphadorhina portentosa defensive sounds when exposed to the molting hormone, 20-hydroxyecdysone","authors":"David J. Parker,&nbsp;Hrithik Basak,&nbsp;Patricia Foltynski,&nbsp;Lindsey Swierk","doi":"10.1111/eth.13463","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13463","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Steroid hormones play a pivotal role in shaping arthropod phenotypes, with 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) serving as a key regulator of molting, a vulnerable period in an insect's lifecycle. Despite its critical role in arthropod growth and development, the influence of 20E on arthropod behavior, particularly defensive strategies, remains poorly understood. We investigated the impact of 20E on the bioacoustic characteristics of hisses in the Madagascar hissing cockroach (<i>Gromphadorhina portentosa</i>), a social species with multiple complex acoustic signals. With increased 20E, we predicted that hiss production would be more likely and more defensive (i.e., longer hisses with greater intensity (dB) and reduced frequency (Hz)). We injected male <i>G. portentosa</i> with either a low- (35 μg) or high-dose (70 μg) of 20E or a control (0 μg 20E), and we measured the presence/absence of hissing responses and their bioacoustic characteristics following a standardized tactile stimulus. Contrary to our prediction, there was no difference in the likelihood of hissing or hiss duration with 20E administration. However, administering 20E resulted in reduced hiss intensity and increased hiss frequency (as measured by peak and center frequencies), suggesting potential shifts from defensive to aggressive signaling. Our study contributes to the limited knowledge of the behavioral effects of 20E, suggesting that some arthropods may experience increased aggression or energetic limitations to defense during molting. Behavioral changes elicited by hormones have important implications for both fundamental ecology and applied pest management.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13463","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140569260","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":"Recognizing interspecific dominance signals? Blue tits adjust nest defence based on great tit's black bib size","authors":"Javier Quesada,&nbsp;Santi Guallar,&nbsp;Helena Navalpotro,&nbsp;José G. Carrillo-Ortiz,&nbsp;Juan Carlos Senar","doi":"10.1111/eth.13460","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13460","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Animals use colours, morphological structures and behaviour to advertise their dominance status and ability to obtain resources (Resource Holding Potential, RHP) in agonistic contexts with conspecifics. Dominance relationships are also known between species, although the interactions and the information used to assess the other species' RHP remain obscure and empirical evidence of interspecific recognition of status is hard to obtain. Using behavioural inference is particularly important when a species needs to assess the potential loss of fitness in terms of reproduction or survival (e.g., risk of damage or predation) that could be inflicted by another species acting as a predator, parasite or competitor. Our study shows for the first time the existence of interspecific recognition of status signals: Blue tits <i>Cyanistes caeruleus</i> (subordinate species) perceive Great tits <i>Parus major</i> (dominant species) as threats as hole-nesting competitors, and respond differently based on the size of the great tit's black tie stripe. Blue tits seemed to recognize the meaning of great tits' black ties because they were bolder when defending their nests against small-tie (less dominant) great tits than when repelling attacks by large-tie (more dominant) great tit males. Our results stress that behavioural inference can potentially be used to assess the meaning of status signals that presumably evolved in an intraspecific signalling context.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140325798","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":"Single-species and multi-species playbacks elicit asymmetrical responses within mixed-species chickadee, titmouse, and nuthatch flocks","authors":"Heather J. B. Brooks,&nbsp;Todd M. Freeberg","doi":"10.1111/eth.13459","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13459","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Individuals join mixed-species groups to gain benefits such as improved foraging and predator detection. Birds in the family Paridae often drive mixed-species flocking in North America, and these species can act as community informants for forest-wide eavesdropping networks. Although we know a great deal about how this communication functions in anti-predator contexts, less is known about how the vocalizations of members of these flocks may affect the foraging behavior of potential flockmates. In this study, we presented naturally occurring mixed-species flocks of chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches with one of four playback conditions: chickadee-only calls, nuthatch-only calls, calls of both species, and a silent control. We hypothesized that the flocks would be most responsive to playbacks that contained calls from more than one species. We also tested an alternative hypothesis that predicted that birds would be most responsive to the nuclear species within the flock (chickadees). We found that birds were more likely to arrive, and arrived more quickly, for the playbacks with calls from both species compared to playbacks of nuthatches alone or the silent control. Playbacks of chickadee calls alone attracted an intermediate number of birds, which did not differ significantly from the mixed-species flock condition, or the nuthatch call alone condition. Our hypotheses were not supported due to the lack of significant difference between the mixed-species playbacks and the chickadee playbacks. However, our findings do indicate that different species in these flocks can react differently to the calls of members of these flocks and that future studies may continue to find asymmetries in attraction to these different social signals.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140315218","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":"Interdisciplinary perspectives on the principle of reciprocation","authors":"Manon K. Schweinfurth","doi":"10.1111/eth.13445","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13445","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Competition is at the heart of evolution (Darwin, <span>1859</span>). Every individual to date has ancestors that were once more successful in passing their genes to the next generation than others. As a result, individuals should strive to outcompete others and perhaps to make their competitor's life even harder, for instance, by cheating on them. In such a competitive world, it might come as a surprise that across the phylogenetic tree individuals help others, including bacteria (Diggle et al., <span>2007</span>), amoebae (Strassmann &amp; Queller, <span>2011</span>), insects (Field &amp; Leadbeater, <span>2016</span>), fishes (Frommen &amp; Fischer, <span>2021</span>), birds (Riehl, <span>2013</span>), and our own species (Burton-Chellew et al., <span>2010</span>) to name just a few examples.</p><p>Why would anyone help a potential rival? Theoretical work has shown that helping can lead to direct and indirect fitness benefits for the helper. For instance, helping kin might enable them to reproduce more often or to better care for their offspring. Because their offspring is genetically related to the helper, the helper gains indirect fitness benefits by transmitting shared genes to the succeeding generation (Hamilton, <span>1964</span>). However, not all cooperation takes place between relatives, such as most of our own cooperative interactions occur between unrelated friends, workmates, or business partners. Here, indirect fitness gains cannot explain cooperation. However, helping others can also result in direct benefits, if previous recipients return the help in the future; this is called reciprocity (Trivers, <span>1971</span>).</p><p>The significance of reciprocal cooperation to the functioning and stability of human societies has been recognised in many academic disciplines. Reciprocity is a widespread practice in our species (Bowles et al., <span>1997</span>). It forms the basis for economic transaction and trade (Frank et al., <span>2018</span>). As an ethical imperative, it is central to many world religions (Neusner &amp; Chilton, <span>2008</span>). Reciprocity is also a trait that emerges early in our ontogeny, as children at the age of 3 years reliably reciprocate (Warneken &amp; Tomasello, <span>2013</span>), suggesting evolutionary conservation (Warneken &amp; Tomasello, <span>2009</span>). Further, it has been described in human foragers (Jaeggi &amp; Gurven, <span>2013</span>), whose socio-ecology is probably closest to the conditions of early humans (Tooby &amp; Cosmides, <span>2015</span>).</p><p>Even though reciprocity seems ubiquitous and significant in our species, its proximate mechanisms and ultimate causes are still not well understood. The purpose of this special issue is to explore the principle of reciprocity in a diverse way by employing theoretical and empirical research as well as presenting observational and experimental evidence while featuring a multitude of species from invertebrates to humans. In the follo","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13445","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140053120","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":"Characterization of the agonistic behavior of the weakly electric fish Gymnotus sylvius","authors":"Rossana Perrone,&nbsp;Alejandra Hurtado,&nbsp;Ana Silva,&nbsp;Patricia Black-Décima","doi":"10.1111/eth.13447","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13447","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Electric fish are good models in neuroethology as any behavior in electric fish involves both locomotor and electrical displays, which are experimentally accessible and controlled by well-known neural circuits. The agonistic behavior within the genus <i>Gymnotus</i> has been evaluated in <i>Gymnotus carapo</i> and <i>Gymnotus omarorum</i>, providing an advantageous model system to address comparative analyses. <i>Gymnotus sylvius</i> is a weakly electric fish which occurs in sympatry with <i>G. omarorum</i> in freshwater environments of Argentina. Here, we describe the agonistic behavior of <i>G. sylvius</i> in laboratory conditions. All dyads engaged in intense fights, with a latency to the first attack of 8 ± 7.8 s and a contest phase of 42.71 ± 31.7 s. Individual initiative in the first attack predicted contest outcome with no apparent influence of body weight asymmetry between contenders. Contenders did not escalate in their aggression during the short contest; in turn, subordinates tended to retreat in response to dominants' attacks. Submission and dominance were expressed by electric signals: dominants increased their basal electric organ discharge (EOD) rate after contest resolution, resulting in a persistent EOD rate rank. Subordinates also emitted chirps and offs during the contest and post-resolution phases without a clear temporal pattern. The agonistic behavior of <i>G. sylvius</i> presents some similarities with other species of the genus Gymnotus: EOD rank between dominants and subordinates, electric signals of submission, and the presence of attacks in the post-resolution phase. On the other hand, it also presents differences: a shorter evaluation phase in <i>G. sylvius</i>, initiative as a determinant of outcome, a higher attack rate of dominants in <i>G. sylvius</i>, a different temporal pattern of chirps, and different mechanisms to separate EOD rate of dominants and subordinates. These facts open a promising road to analyze the evolution of different neuroendocrine strategies, operating on homologous neural pathways, to command the same behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140019525","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":"Should I stay or should I fly: Aerial dispersal in a funnel-web wolf spider from the grasslands of southern South America","authors":"Nadia Kacevas,&nbsp;Leticia Bidegaray-Batista,&nbsp;Noelia Gobel,&nbsp;Macarena González","doi":"10.1111/eth.13455","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13455","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ballooning is a mechanism of aerial dispersal present in some groups of spiders. By releasing silken threads that are blown by the wind, spiders can travel long distances through the air. <i>Aglaoctenus lagotis</i> is a wolf spider that lives its entire life associated with a funnel-web, despite the wandering habit that characterizes species in this family. We can find two forms of the species in Uruguay, one of them a strict inhabitant of grasslands of Uruguay. The high habitat specificity and the spiderlings observed surrounding the maternal web suggest a low aerial dispersal capacity in this species. In this study, we tested whether <i>A. lagotis</i> spiderlings are capable of dispersing by ballooning. We conducted laboratory and field experiments during the day and night, to record the occurrence of ballooning and typical behaviours that precede ballooning. We recorded ballooning both in the laboratory and in the field, and it was more frequent during the day. Although it has been reported repeatedly in species from this family, we never observed the pre-ballooning tip-toeing behaviour in <i>A. lagotis</i>. Ballooning was preceded by dropping on dragline, considered a behaviour that could generate aerial dispersion of lesser distance than that generated by the tip-toeing. In this paper, we shall discuss the implications of this form of aerial dispersal, considering that the species analysed is a web wolf spider.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139968319","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":"Video evidence of mountings by female-plumaged birds of paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae) in the wild: Is there evidence of alternative mating tactics?","authors":"Thomas MacGillavry,&nbsp;Claudia Janiczek,&nbsp;Leonida Fusani","doi":"10.1111/eth.13451","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13451","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The bewildering courtship phenotypes of male birds of paradise (<i>Paradisaedae</i>) represent a classic example of sexual selection through mate choice. While the majority of sexual selection studies have focused on either mate choice or intrasexual competition, males across a variety of taxa adopt alternative mating tactics as additional means of obtaining fertilization when they are otherwise unable to. For example, across various polygynous birds, subordinate males engage in sneak copulations, which may offset the fitness costs of prolonged subordinate periods. Despite exhibiting strong mating skews and male delayed plumage maturation, reports of sneak copulation in the birds of paradise are exceedingly rare. After reviewing an extensive video collection of courtship interactions, we found examples of mountings by female-plumaged birds in three birds of paradise species: the Western parotia <i>Parotia sefilata</i>, Carola's parotia <i>Parotia carolae</i>, and the magnificent bird of paradise <i>Cicinnurus magnificus</i>. While homosexual mountings by females have been documented previously in Lawes' parotia <i>P. lawesii</i>, adult males in the magnificent bird of paradise violently attacked intruding female-plumaged birds attempting to mount receivers, suggesting that they may be immature males engaging in alternative mating tactics. Overall, the rare video footage described here is suggestive of two fascinating, yet unexplored phenomena in polygynous birds: alternative mating tactics and female homosexual behaviour.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eth.13451","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139923620","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":"Helping those who help others: The roles of indirect reciprocity and relatedness","authors":"Gilbert Roberts","doi":"10.1111/eth.13453","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eth.13453","url":null,"abstract":"<p>“Helping those who help others” appears to be a widespread phenomenon. It is typically framed as indirect reciprocity in which individuals who are seen to help later receive returns from third parties. Here, I propose that helping can also be explained by the benefits that result from helping related helpers (where relatedness means sharing genes more than average, whether due to genealogy or some other mechanism). I test the functional roles of relatedness (or “kin selection”) and of reciprocity in explaining helping by varying the population structure and the number of interactions in individual-based simulations. First, with a unitary population in which individuals had a greater tendency to meet others of their own type, there were high levels of a discriminating strategy which helped other helpers. This can be explained by kin selection, in which helpers who help other helpers increase the payoff of their own strategy despite incurring a cost themselves. Introducing an “island population” structure reduced these indirect fitness benefits from helping, and this caused the frequency of the discriminating strategy to decrease markedly. Finally, increasing the number of interactions caused only a small increase in the level of the discriminating strategy (and thereby of helping helpers), consistent with indirect reciprocity (by means of the simplest strategy) being very weak. I argue that relatedness requires greater attention as an alternative to indirect reciprocity in explaining why individuals might help those who help others.</p>","PeriodicalId":50494,"journal":{"name":"Ethology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139923551","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}