Behavioral Ecology最新文献

Group size predicts prenatal investment and offspring growth in a cooperatively breeding bird. 群体大小预测了合作繁殖鸟类的产前投资和后代生长。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-09-03 eCollection Date: 2026-09-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag095

Andries K Janse van Vuuren, Roberto Vento, Ara Monadjem, Kat Bebbington, Kevin D Matson, Sjouke A Kingma

{"title":"Group size predicts prenatal investment and offspring growth in a cooperatively breeding bird.","authors":"Andries K Janse van Vuuren, Roberto Vento, Ara Monadjem, Kat Bebbington, Kevin D Matson, Sjouke A Kingma","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag095","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag095","url":null,"abstract":"Cooperative breeding, where seemingly altruistic helpers forgo reproduction to assist in raising the offspring of others, is a puzzle for biologists because it appears to contradict evolutionary principles of selfishness. One potential explanation is that helpers enhance group productivity, thus improving the direct fitness of breeders and providing indirect genetic and group-living benefits for helpers. In many species, however, helper presence does not actually enhance offspring production, raising the question of whether helpers instead either improve offspring quality (rather than quantity) or allow breeders to reduce prenatal investment (thereby increasing breeders' condition and future reproduction). In arrow-marked babblers (Turdoides jardineii), helpers do not increase the number of fledglings produced. To test whether helpers instead improve offspring quality or compensate for reduced prenatal investment, we investigated how egg volume, offspring growth, and nestling provisioning rates vary with group size. Breeding females in larger groups laid smaller eggs, but also produced heavier fledglings than those from smaller groups. This suggests that helpers in larger groups not only facilitate reduced prenatal maternal investment, but actually over-compensate for reduced egg sizes. Interestingly, larger groups did not feed nestlings more, suggesting that over-compensatory nestling growth may result from larger groups providing higher-quality food. Our results show that helping can be selected for via different mechanisms acting on both breeders and offspring, and that these can apply simultaneously within a single species. We highlight that variation in life history may explain inter-specific differences in mechanisms by which helpers improve group productivity.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag095"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13540718/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148886162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Links between color conspicuousness, territorial behavior, and steroids in a color polymorphic lizard. 颜色多态蜥蜴的颜色显著性、领地行为和类固醇之间的联系。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-08-26 eCollection Date: 2026-09-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag105

Cristina Romero-Diaz, Jake A Pruett, Emília P Martins

{"title":"Links between color conspicuousness, territorial behavior, and steroids in a color polymorphic lizard.","authors":"Cristina Romero-Diaz, Jake A Pruett, Emília P Martins","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag105","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag105","url":null,"abstract":"Discrete color polymorphisms often correlate with other traits, forming suites of characteristics that may be signaled and inform mate-choice decisions and/or dominance interactions with conspecifics. Unraveling the adaptive function and maintenance of stable color polymorphisms thus requires understanding these links and the context in which color traits are used. Here, we conducted a field experiment with robotic models to study the relationship between color morph, territorial behavior,, and circulating hormones, namely testosterone and corticosterone, in a male-male competition framework using the color polymorphic lizard Sceloporus consobrinus. We found that yellow and orange male color morphs are conspicuous and can be reliably distinguished by conspecifics, making color differences suitable for morph-specific signaling. Orange males exhibited higher baseline rates of push-up displays and bouts of movement compared to yellow males. Lizards of both morphs strongly increased aggressive display behavior in response to intruder robotic models of either the same or different color morph. However, color morphs did not differ in body size (SVL), body condition or plasma hormonal content (testosterone and corticosterone), suggesting that color could convey information regarding alternative territorial behavior but does not signal differences in individual male \"quality\" or physiological hormonal state. Color may thus not be sufficient, or the most informative signal in the context of agonistic male contests. Aggressive motion displays may be more effective as a signal of a morph's resource holding potential than static color. The lack of convergence in correlated phenotypes across similarly polymorphic taxa further suggests that patterns of trait integration are rather species-specific.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag105"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13540734/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148886082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Predator hunting modes induce varied selection pressures on prey personality. 捕食者的捕猎模式对猎物的个性产生了不同的选择压力。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-08-25 eCollection Date: 2026-09-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag097

Rebecca K McKee, Storm Miller, Carl N Keiser, Marin P Chester, Kristen M Hart, Robert A McCleery

{"title":"Predator hunting modes induce varied selection pressures on prey personality.","authors":"Rebecca K McKee, Storm Miller, Carl N Keiser, Marin P Chester, Kristen M Hart, Robert A McCleery","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag097","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag097","url":null,"abstract":"Consistent individual differences in animal behavior-ie, personalities-have been documented in many taxa to have important fitness consequences in the context of predator-prey interactions. Multiple mechanisms have been suggested to maintain variation in prey personality traits, including life-history tradeoffs and divergent selection pressures from predators with different hunting strategies. However, empirical evidence for these hypotheses has been limited by a lack of data originating from complex multipredator systems in situ. To address this gap and evaluate these 2 mechanisms, we collected hispid cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) in the Florida Everglades and quantified 3 behavioral traits in the field. After releasing rats at their point of capture, we monitored their survival in their natural habitat where they faced threats from a diversity of ambush (snakes) and active predators (mammals; birds). Using Cox proportional hazards regression models and competing risks models, we assessed the effect of boldness, activity, and docility on rodent predation risk. Contrary to conventional predictions that bolder and more active individuals would face higher predation risk due to life-history tradeoffs, we found that the impact of these traits on prey survival varied with the predators' hunting modes: shyer, more active individuals were more likely to be killed by active predators, whereas less active rats appeared more likely to be killed by ambush predators. Our study supports the hypothesis that a diversity of predator hunting strategies may help maintain trait variation in prey populations.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag097"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13540721/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148886130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Differential weighting of lion vocalizations and oxpecker alarm calls in giraffes. 狮子的叫声和长颈鹿的oxpecker报警叫声的不同权重。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-08-20 eCollection Date: 2026-09-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag099

Anton Baotic

{"title":"Differential weighting of lion vocalizations and oxpecker alarm calls in giraffes.","authors":"Anton Baotic","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag099","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag099","url":null,"abstract":"Prey often assess predation risk using multiple sources of information that differ in immediacy and reliability. How prey differentially weight direct predator-associated cues and heterospecific alarm cues remains a central question in behavioral ecology. To investigate this, playback experiments were conducted on free-ranging, predator-experienced Southern giraffes (Giraffa giraffa), using lion (Panthera leo) vocalizations and red-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) alarm calls presented in different positions within sequential playback trials. Lion vocalizations consistently elicited strong vigilance responses regardless of playback presentation order, indicating that giraffes assigned greater behavioral weight to direct predator-associated information. Giraffes also responded to oxpecker alarm calls, although responses were generally weaker and more variable than responses to lion vocalizations, suggesting that indirect heterospecific cues were weighted less strongly than direct predator cues. Evidence that preceding playback exposure strongly influenced subsequent vigilance responses was limited, as lion vocalizations continued to elicit stronger responses than oxpecker alarm calls across successive playbacks. Females additionally exhibited generally stronger vigilance responses than males across playback conditions. Together, these findings suggest that giraffes differentially weight multiple sources of risk-related acoustic information during antipredator responses.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag099"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13526515/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148863450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Behavioral flexibility and its drivers in semi-urban vervet monkeys. 半城市长尾猴的行为灵活性及其驱动因素。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-06-13 eCollection Date: 2026-07-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag070

Paige Barnes, Benjamin Robira, Stéphanie Mercier, Sofia Forss

{"title":"Behavioral flexibility and its drivers in semi-urban vervet monkeys.","authors":"Paige Barnes, Benjamin Robira, Stéphanie Mercier, Sofia Forss","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag070","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag070","url":null,"abstract":"Phylogenetic comparisons suggest that behavioral flexibility facilitates success in urban environments. It remains less clear whether urbanization fosters cognitive skills that require flexibility, or whether successful individuals in urban environments simply apply pre-evolved skills to solve new problems. To investigate whether variation in anthropogenic experience drives behavioral flexibility required to solve a new technical problem, we presented 42 semi-urban vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) with a 3-phase foraging experiment. Each monkey's tendency to forage on human structures for food was measured to assess their exposure to human environments. We then used a sequential decision-tree-based probabilistic model to describe the series of monkeys' actions when attempting the task, quantifying 3 behavioral flexibility traits: switch tendency (shifting between known solutions between trials), innovativeness (ability to use unknown solutions), and learning sensitivity (ability to repeat known solutions). We found that individuals' switch tendency and innovativeness were not explained by anthropogenic experience and that the 3 traits were mostly unrelated to each other. Moreover, neither switch tendency, nor innovativeness predicted monkeys' human food consumption in this habitat. Thus, our study suggests that behavioral flexibility is not driven by anthropogenic foraging experience. Contrasting with the hypothesis that urbanization selects for behavioral flexibility, our findings instead imply that vervet monkeys already had sufficient behavioral flexibility and cognitive capacities to successfully exploit the urban habitat.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 4","pages":"arag070"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13308709/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148343745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Pay-to-stay drives the evolution of helping independent of kin selection in anemonefish societies. 在海葵鱼的社会中，付费留下推动了帮助独立于亲缘选择的进化。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-06-10 eCollection Date: 2026-07-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag061

Kirstin Gaffney, Megan E Bartlett, Theresa Rueger

{"title":"Pay-to-stay drives the evolution of helping independent of kin selection in anemonefish societies.","authors":"Kirstin Gaffney, Megan E Bartlett, Theresa Rueger","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag061","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag061","url":null,"abstract":"The evolutionary drivers of helping behavior continue to be widely debated, particularly due to challenges in disentangling the effects of different mechanisms. The pay-to-stay hypothesis proposes that helping aims to appease dominant breeders to avoid eviction. We tested pay-to-stay as an independent driver of helping by exploring its dynamics in anemonefishes (Amphiprion spp.) which lack prerequisites for other mechanisms, including kin selection. We experimentally prevented helping (anemone maintenance, territory defence) in A. percula, A. perideraion, and A. clarkii., and assessed 2 pay-to-stay predictions: (i) helpers would be punished and/or (ii) would compensate with increased cooperative effort (pre-emptive appeasement). We show that anemonefish nonbreeders do pay-to-stay: punishment and/or appeasement occurred in all species, with differences reflecting variation in ecological and social constraints. We also highlight a novel trade-off between size and cooperative effort in pay-to-stay dynamics. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of helping evolution, demonstrating that pay-to-stay can drive helping independently of kin selection.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 4","pages":"arag061"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13308537/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148343768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Avoidance of parasitic fungi and nematode threats by Tribolium castaneum. 木栗避免寄生真菌和线虫的威胁。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-06-10 eCollection Date: 2026-07-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag071

Timothy R Smith, Janet Koprivnikar

{"title":"Avoidance of parasitic fungi and nematode threats by Tribolium castaneum.","authors":"Timothy R Smith, Janet Koprivnikar","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag071","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag071","url":null,"abstract":"Just as for predators, many animals have developed a suite of defenses to counter the ubiquitous threat posed by parasites. Behavioral avoidance is a key strategy to reduce the likelihood of encountering situations with a relatively high degree of risk. However, because such avoidance likely incurs costs (ie nonconsumptive effects), individuals should engage in risk assessment to gauge their threat of parasitism based on relevant cues. Combinations of cues may signal particularly risky situations, especially as animals often face concurrent natural enemies. In the first study to consider host choice in the presence of different parasites, we investigated behavioral avoidance in red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) given various foraging options involving 2 entomopathogens, the fungus Beauveria bassiana and the nematode Steinernema carpocapsae. Combinations included single and dual parasite threats, as well as whether parasites were represented by the presence of infectious stages and/or conspecific cadavers that were euthanized or killed by infection. Beetles generally did not exhibit behavioral avoidance of either parasite or the parasite-killed conspecifics, but rather, tended to be attracted to the latter if nematode infected. They also did not avoid conditions with mixed cues related to the threat of infection, suggesting that they do not gauge or respond to parasitism risk in this way. Our findings have implications for understanding avoidance as an antiparasite behavior across different host taxa, but also for the use of biocontrols, such as fungi and nematodes, for pest insects.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 4","pages":"arag071"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13291753/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148325963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Long-term environmental unpredictability increases social information use in zebrafish. 长期环境的不可预测性增加了斑马鱼对社会信息的使用。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-06-10 eCollection Date: 2026-07-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag064

Britney Sekulovski, Noam Miller

{"title":"Long-term environmental unpredictability increases social information use in zebrafish.","authors":"Britney Sekulovski, Noam Miller","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag064","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag064","url":null,"abstract":"Human-induced environmental change increases unpredictability, disrupting habitats and social structures in ways that many animals are poorly adapted to. This may also reduce the reliability of information faster as contingencies shift. While independently acquired information is often more accurate, increased unpredictability may make recency the key to reliability, increasing the value of social information, which is cheaper and faster to update. Unpredictability might thus shift the balance between the values of these types of information, increasing reliance on more recent social information. Thus, independent of information quality, the predictability of background conditions may affect how animals make decisions. To test whether living in an unstable environment changes the inherent value of information, zebrafish (Danio rerio) were housed for 3 mo under either highly unpredictable Dynamic (water temperature, feeding times, habitat complexity, group size and membership fluctuated) or Stable conditions. Across 6 behavioral assays, Dynamic condition fish showed more information-seeking, greater attention to social stimuli, more sensitivity to social cues, and were less coordinated but swam closer together in shoals. When personal and social information conflicted, they were also more likely to prioritize recent social information over previously learned personal information. Together, these results indicate that long-term housing in an unpredictable environment diminishes the value of information faster, raises the value of social information to allow for faster updating, shifts decision-making strategies independent of the quality of information itself, and disrupts coordinated schooling in zebrafish. This sensitivity may fundamentally alter how animal collectives navigate an increasingly unpredictable world.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 4","pages":"arag064"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13270242/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148270109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Response of leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) towards a multimodal cue simulating a predator. 豹壁虎（Eublepharis macularius）对模拟捕食者多模式线索的反应。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-06-05 eCollection Date: 2026-07-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag062

Petra Frýdlová, David Hirschler, Aleksandra Chomik, Eliška Pšeničková, Eva Landová, Daniel Frynta

{"title":"Response of leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) towards a multimodal cue simulating a predator.","authors":"Petra Frýdlová, David Hirschler, Aleksandra Chomik, Eliška Pšeničková, Eva Landová, Daniel Frynta","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag062","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag062","url":null,"abstract":"Predator detection is a fundamental survival mechanism that has shaped the evolution of diverse antipredator strategies across animal taxa. The capacity to detect predators depends on the sensory modalities animals rely upon, and the integration of multiple sensory channels-multimodal perception-may enhance detection efficiency and improve survival. However, the functional significance and relative importance of multimodal perception in reptiles remain insufficiently understood. In this study, we experimentally disentangled the effects of individual sensory modalities-chemical, visual, and mechanosensory-by testing them independently and in combination, thereby assessing their relative and synergistic contributions to antipredator behavior in leopard geckos. Our results show that chemosensory information acts as the primary driver for both sensory assessment and active defense. While visual and mechanosensory stimuli did not independently increase tongue-flicking frequency compared with the control, they functioned as modulatory cues that significantly amplified chemical sampling in a multimodal context. However, overt antipredator behaviors, such as defensive posturing and mouth-open displays, were triggered exclusively by chemosensory stimuli, highlighting the dominant role of chemical cues in predator detection. Our statistical modeling suggests that sensory integration predominantly follows an additive pattern, where secondary modalities heighten alertness and facilitate threat assessment, but the initiation of costly defensive action remains strictly gated by chemoreception. These findings underscore the dominance of chemical cues for predator recognition in nocturnal environments, where multimodal inputs amplify attention but are not essential for eliciting a full defensive response.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 4","pages":"arag062"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13294456/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148343752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A phantom decoy shifts wild forager decisions in a natural environment. 在自然环境中，一个虚幻的诱饵会改变野生觅食者的决定。

IF 2.2 3区环境科学与生态学

Behavioral Ecology Pub Date : 2026-05-30 eCollection Date: 2026-07-01 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag059

Gabrielle R Jarvis, Peter B Banks, Tanya Latty, Malcolm Possell, Cristian Gabriel Orlando, Clare McArthur

{"title":"A phantom decoy shifts wild forager decisions in a natural environment.","authors":"Gabrielle R Jarvis, Peter B Banks, Tanya Latty, Malcolm Possell, Cristian Gabriel Orlando, Clare McArthur","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag059","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag059","url":null,"abstract":"Seemingly irrelevant options, such as inferior or unavailable \"decoys\", can shift decisions people and captive animals make in simplified environments. But do decoys influence animals in messy, complex, natural environments? Here, we explored this question in a foraging context, a process involving countless daily decisions that ultimately underpins animal fitness. We tested whether a \"phantom decoy\" (inaccessible but preferred food) influenced food choice of free-ranging swamp wallabies across 3 scenarios; Binary-2 available, equally preferred foods differing nutritionally; Phantom-2 available foods plus an inaccessible phantom decoy nutritionally similar to one; Trinary-all 3 foods available. We analysed data using a new approach that overcame cross-level bias, when individual choices shift in opposite directions leading to no overall shifts. We found that the phantom decoy made wallabies more likely to switch their choice away from the nutritionally similar food-a net reactance effect. Unexpectedly, when all foods were available, wallaby choices appeared random and haphazard, suggesting cognitive overload. These findings demonstrate that decoys can shape ecologically relevant foraging decisions, so their influence is not simply an inadvertent byproduct of stylized simplistic settings. As such, traditional foraging models may better predict real-world foraging decisions by incorporating decoy effects.","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 4","pages":"arag059"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13270240/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148270155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0