Behavioral Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Lionfish (<i>Pterois miles</i>) blow directed jets of water to manipulate prey behavior.","authors":"Davide Bottacini, Marije Ridder, Emil Bathow, Grigorios Skouradakis, Thanos Dailianis, Maria Mastoraki, Stavros Chatzifotis, Alexander Kotrschal","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag087","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag087","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Predation is pervasive in the natural world and shapes evolution of predators and prey. Numerous behavioral adaptations allow predators to manipulate prey behavior, resulting in higher success in predator-prey interactions. The lionfishes <i>Pterois miles</i> and <i>Pterois volitans</i> are highly effective predators and their invasiveness is attributed to their high hunting success. How lionfish attain such a high predation effectiveness remains enigmatic. Lionfish are stalking predators and show a peculiar behavior while approaching their prey fishes: they actively blow directed jets of water at them. This is the only known example of a predator blowing jets of water at mobile prey underwater. The causes and consequences of jet-blowing remain unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that lionfish use jets of water to re-orientate their prey and facilitate head-first capture. We conducted 2 separate experiments with 2 different groups of lionfish and prey species. We show that lionfish catch more prey head-first when blowing and that prey exposed to jets orientate towards an approaching lionfish, with smaller lionfish being more likely to blow. However, blowing was not determined by the initial orientation of prey and was largely driven by lionfish size. In addition, in one of the experiments, blowing lionfish struck from a further distance, possibly due to prey swimming towards them in response to blowing. Our results show that jet-blowing allows lionfish to manipulate the behavior of their prey by re-orientating them to facilitate swallowing, providing the first evidence that jet-blowing can be used to manipulate the behavior of mobile prey.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag087"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13435627/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148673073","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}

{"title":"Vasotocin influences mother-offspring associations in a facultatively family-living lizard.","authors":"Jai Lake, Geoffrey M While, Alexander G Ophir, Dustin R Rubenstein, Lynea Witczak Oldfather, Martin J Whiting","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag082","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag082","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Parent-offspring associations provide the basis for more complex care and breeding systems. One proximate mechanism by which parental behavior is facilitated across animal taxa is via nonapeptide hormones such as arginine vasotocin (AVT). However, existing research largely comes from obligately social species, and whether such mechanisms are conserved in social systems where care is facultative remains unclear. Here, we used a facultatively family living skink, <i>Liopholis whitii</i>, to test the role of AVT in mediating 2 key parental behaviors: parent-offspring associations (measured by proximity between mothers and offspring) and maternal aggression (in response to a conspecific model). We found that increasing AVT via intraperitoneal injection led to more time spent in closer proximity between mother and offspring. Conversely, a decrease in AVT signaling (using an AVT receptor antagonist) resulted in a reduction in the time spent in closer proximity. We also found that these effects caused by increased AVT signaling persisted for several weeks, suggesting a potential organizational effect of AVT on the mother-offspring relationship. Contrary to our predictions, we found no effect of AVT manipulations on maternal aggression, suggesting that AVT may have been de-coupled from its usual role as a moderator of aggression. These results support the idea that AVT may be a mechanism involved in governing parental behavior in this system, and as such, could have played a key role in the repeated evolution of group living.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag082"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13448473/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148688461","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}

{"title":"No effect of a widespread pharmaceutical pollutant on behavior, physiology, or morphology in guppies.","authors":"Kate N Fergusson, Stephanie L Hannington, Jack A Brand, James L Tanner, Amanda K Pettersen, Celine T Goulet, Josefin Sundin, Minna Saaristo, Michael G Bertram, Bob B M Wong, Jake M Martin","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag080","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag080","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pharmaceutical pollution is a global environmental threat, with antidepressants contributing a substantial proportion of pharmaceutical contaminant detections worldwide. The antidepressant fluoxetine is commonly detected in aquatic environments and has been reported to impact ecologically important behavioral and physiological traits in exposed wildlife. However, relatively few studies have examined possible effects of fluoxetine on both behavior and metabolic rate, particularly over ecologically relevant exposure timescales. Accordingly, we investigated the impacts of long-term fluoxetine exposure on foraging and antipredator behavior, metabolic rate, and morphology in female guppies (<i>Poecilia reticulata</i>). Fish were exposed to 1 of 3 treatments-an unexposed control (0 ng L^-1), or low or high fluoxetine (mean measured concentrations: 30 ng L^-1 and 292 ng L^-1, respectively)-for 8 mo in a semi-natural mesocosm system, corresponding to ∼2 to 3 overlapping generations. Following exposure, we quantified foraging and antipredator behavior in the presence or absence of a live predator, the spangled perch (<i>Leiopotherapon unicolor</i>). We then measured the rate of oxygen consumption ( <math> <mrow> <mover><mrow><mi>V</mi></mrow> <mo>˙</mo></mover> </mrow> </math> O₂) of the guppies as a proxy for standard metabolic rate, and recorded mass, standard length, and body condition as morphological measurements. Our results show that long-term fluoxetine exposure did not significantly affect the behavior, metabolic rate, or morphology of female guppies. Considered alongside previous work, our findings emphasize the importance of exposure duration in mediating the impacts of fluoxetine on fitness-related traits, with continued research being essential in identifying potential mechanisms that underpin these findings.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag080"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13448303/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148688516","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}

{"title":"Phantom decoys alter perceived missed opportunity costs and increase risky foraging decisions.","authors":"Finn C G Parker, Catherine J Price, Jenna P Bytheway, Clare McArthur, Peter B Banks","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag078","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag078","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Foraging decisions about risk and reward are driven by an option's perceived value relative to foregone alternatives, ie missed opportunity costs (MOCs). Information that alters perceptions about alternatives (ie perceived MOCs) should therefore influence animal behavior, yet perceived MOCs are overlooked in wildlife management and rarely manipulated. Phantom decoys are attractive but inaccessible options (ie missed opportunities) that change decision-making, seemingly by altering perceptions of MOCs. Using phantom decoys, we conducted 2 experiments to: (a) test if misinformation about MOCs alters risk versus reward foraging decisions; and (b) assess whether decoys can increase trapping rates by changing how animals trade off trap danger for rewards inside. Firstly, we conducted a giving-up density (GUD) experiment on wild house mice (<i>Mus musculus</i>) in large natural enclosures, creating patches comprising safe and risky trays of high- and low-quality foods, with decoys at half the patches. Where decoys were present, mice foraged longer in risky trays, accepting greater risk at these patches compared with otherwise identical patches without decoys. Secondly, in a field trapping experiment, we positioned decoys beside trap entrances, and compared capture rates to controls. More mice were captured in traps with decoys outside them. Our results demonstrate how information alone can shape perceptions of MOCs to increase risky behavior. Behavioral responses to \"irrelevant\" alternatives (ie phantom decoys) have traditionally been considered irrational. Our findings suggest that attractive resources provide valuable information about the environment, even if inaccessible, highlighting the potential for decoy information to alter decision-making to improve wildlife management outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag078"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13448324/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148688465","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}

{"title":"Personality predicts dispersal and settlement in a novel habitat-a mesocosm experiment.","authors":"J Gismann, T G G Groothuis, F J Weissing, M Nicolaus","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag076","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag076","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Individual phenotypes strongly affect dispersal. Yet studying the relationship between dispersal tendencies and personality under ecologically relevant conditions is challenging, especially in fish. Laboratory studies lack environmental complexity and scale, while field-based approaches are often unfeasible. We here mimicked dispersal events in fish; encompassing all 3 phases of dispersal (departure, transience, settlement) in a large experimental mesocosm containing breeding sites. Using 3-spined sticklebacks (<i>Gasterosteus aculeatus</i>) tagged with 'Passive Integrated Transponders' (PIT tags), we remotely monitored proxies of dispersal of 2 cohorts, each consisting of 40 individuals of known activity and aggressiveness scores, continuously over 2 wk. We tested whether personality variation explained differences in departure timing, transience movements, settlement success and spatial distribution along the environmental gradient. We found that more active/aggressive individuals dispersed quicker in the mesocosm, spent more time on territories and collected more eggs. However, we did not detect strong phenotype-environment correlations. Our findings emphasize the potential role of personality-dependent dispersal in population dynamics, with specific behavioral types driving dispersal and settlement success. Our mesocosm setup provides unique insights into the dispersal dynamics in a system where detailed observations across all dispersal stages are rare and difficult to obtain. Despite limitations, behavioral experiments in mesocosms serve as a valuable bridge between laboratory and natural systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 5","pages":"arag076"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13448286/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148688481","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}

{"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":"<p><p>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 (<i>Chlorocebus pygerythrus</i>) 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.</p>","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}

{"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":"<p><p>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 (<i>Amphiprion spp.</i>) which lack prerequisites for other mechanisms, including kin selection. We experimentally prevented helping (anemone maintenance, territory defence) in <i>A. percula</i>, <i>A. perideraion</i>, and <i>A. clarkii</i>., 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.</p>","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}

{"title":"Avoidance of parasitic fungi and nematode threats by <i>Tribolium castaneum</i>.","authors":"Timothy R Smith, Janet Koprivnikar","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag071","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag071","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>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 (<i>Tribolium castaneum</i>) given various foraging options involving 2 entomopathogens, the fungus <i>Beauveria bassiana</i> and the nematode <i>Steinernema carpocapsae</i>. 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.</p>","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}

{"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":"<p><p>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 (<i>Danio rerio</i>) 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.</p>","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}

{"title":"Response of leopard geckos (<i>Eublepharis macularius</i>) 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":"<p><p>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.</p>","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}