Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2026-02-10eCollection Date: 2026-07-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag013
Kathleen M Petersen, David E Ausband
{"title":"Drivers of disperser immigration into cooperatively breeding carnivore groups.","authors":"Kathleen M Petersen, David E Ausband","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag013","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dispersal is a fundamental process that shapes social groups by affecting genetic diversity, group composition, and social dynamics through immigration and subsequent settlement. In group-living animals, dispersal involves more than just leaving 1 group and arriving at another because dispersers also need to be accepted at an established group for successful dispersal to occur. Understanding how and why new individuals integrate into established social groups remains a key question, particularly when the benefits to existing members are unclear. This question persists in part because the ecological and social conditions that shape disperser settlement remain poorly understood. We leveraged an existing harvest regime and examined 18 years of life-history data from a wild population of cooperatively breeding gray wolves (<i>Canis lupus</i>) to understand immigration dynamics of group-living. Specifically, we tested how social and environmental conditions within groups predicted the likelihood that a disperser successfully immigrated into a group, analyzing how breeder turnover, annual harvest, group size, and genetic relatedness influenced that decision. Turnover of breeding males had the strongest effect on the probability of disperser settlement, suggesting that the loss of key social roles may create opportunities for new individuals to join groups. We also found an interaction between group size and harvest. By quantifying conditions that shape immigrant settlement, we highlight a mechanism influencing the stability and structure of cooperatively breeding groups. Unlike studies focused on individual dispersal decisions, our research highlights how variation in ecological and social conditions shape settlement into groups by dispersers.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 4","pages":"arag013"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13224836/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148148330","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2026-02-02eCollection Date: 2026-03-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag006
You Zhou, Andrew N Radford, Robert D Magrath
{"title":"To flee or wait and see? Response of incubating white-browed scrubwrens to information about danger.","authors":"You Zhou, Andrew N Radford, Robert D Magrath","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag006","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animals suffer elevated predation risk during reproduction, with nesting parents having to decide whether to flee from nearby predators for their own safety or to stay and thus avoid betraying the nest's location to protect offspring. Gaining information about the source of danger is therefore crucial. From inside a nest, it might be difficult to gather relevant information visually and so acoustic signals and cues become particularly important. However, there has been little investigation of the response of nesting parents to acoustic information about different predation risks. We used a playback experiment to test how incubating female white-browed scrubwrens, <i>Sericornis frontalis</i>-which build extremely cryptic, dome-shaped nests close to the ground-respond to aerial alarm calls (warning of airborne predators), mobbing alarm calls (warning of stationary predators on or above the ground), the footstep sounds of a nest predator on the ground, and control calls of a harmless parrot. We found that incubating scrubwrens responded more to the \"danger\" treatments compared with the control but, contrary to expectation, rarely fled in response to any of the predatory threats. However, birds looked around more actively (more saccades) after mobbing calls compared with the other playbacks, perhaps because mobbing calls do not indicate the specific location of danger and so additional information gathering is valuable. Incubating scrubwrens can therefore recognize potential danger by sounds, but evaluated risk from within the nest rather than immediately fleeing, suggesting that they prioritize nest crypsis over other anti-predator strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 2","pages":"arag006"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13017106/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147571967","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2026-02-02eCollection Date: 2026-03-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag010
Katja Koskenpato, Timo Mikkonen, Johanna Mappes, Janne Valkonen, Carita Lindstedt
{"title":"High detectability costs select weak warning signals in chemically defended gregarious prey.","authors":"Katja Koskenpato, Timo Mikkonen, Johanna Mappes, Janne Valkonen, Carita Lindstedt","doi":"10.1093/beheco/arag010","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/arag010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The evolution of costly chemical defenses in cryptic prey is puzzling, as conspicuousness should be adaptive for defended prey by enhancing predator avoidance learning. Here, we explore three hypotheses that may promote weak visual signal strategies: (1) Low prey conspicuousness is favored in diverse predator communities; (2) Conspicuousness is less critical if color patterns or behavior allow defended prey to be distinguished from cryptic prey; and (3) in gregarious prey species, aggregation itself could act as a deterrent signal. We used chemically defended and gregarious European pine sawfly (<i>Neodiprion sertifer</i>) larvae, exhibiting green-black-grey coloration, as our study system. First, we manipulated the conspicuousness of the larvae by placing them either solitarily or in groups and marking them with either cryptic or conspicuous coloration, then testing their survival against predators in the field. Second, we analyzed how conspicuous the ventral side (which larvae reveal during a defense display) of <i>N. sertifer</i> appears to avian predators and how its conspicuousness correlates with the larvae's chemical defenses. Our results indicate that increased conspicuousness was costly and decreased larvae survival. The ventral side of larvae making the defense display was more conspicuous (showed higher luminance) than that of larvae not displaying; however, this was not associated with chemical defense traits. The signaling function of synchronous displays involving defensive secretions in sawflies presents a promising avenue for future studies on the mechanisms by which weak visual signals operate in nature.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 2","pages":"arag010"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13017696/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147571774","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2026-01-22eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araf145
{"title":"Correction to: Long-term fitness effects of the early-life environment in a wild bird population.","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/araf145","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araf097.].</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":"araf145"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12823270/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146050329","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2025-12-23eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araf148
Maya M McElfish, Nicholas A Hess, Helena B Lewis, Sacha E O'Connor, Rita S Mehta
{"title":"Chemical cues facilitate foraging across the water-land interface in a resident predatory fish.","authors":"Maya M McElfish, Nicholas A Hess, Helena B Lewis, Sacha E O'Connor, Rita S Mehta","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf148","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf148","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transitional ecosystems, such as the land-sea interface, propagate nutrient flow and species interactions. Organisms spanning these boundaries act as important models for understanding the evolution of sensory modalities that promote movement between physically distinct media, and the ecological consequences of ecosystem connectivity. Behavior is fundamentally guided by sensory processing; yet how sensory information is transmitted and collected is heavily dependent on the physical environmental medium. The flow of stimuli across the land-sea interface and the behavioral responses to stimuli are understudied. Vertebrates that span the land-sea boundary offer the opportunity to document how stimuli can be used to complete complex behaviors across transitional ecosystems. We determined that California moray eels (<i>Gymnothorax mordax</i>) can use chemical stimuli (odor and taste) to locate prey across intertidal boundaries on Santa Catalina Island. We tested moray responses to chemical stimuli from 4 prey types during high and low tidal conditions, the latter requiring emergence from the water to navigate the land-sea interface. <i>Gymnothorax mordax</i> can navigate to a prey source using only chemical stimuli; both when fully submerged underwater and when emerged in the intertidal. Morays showed greater discernment between prey types when exposed in the intertidal zone. When emerged, we observed morays rubbing their faces on the substrate, suggesting odor may be important for detection, with taste further assisting in prey location. This research broadens our understanding of ecosystem connectivity, illustrating how stimuli can cross the land-sea boundary and be used to facilitate predation through a combination of multisensory modalities.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":"araf148"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12797313/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145970376","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2025-12-22eCollection Date: 2026-03-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araf154
Agata Staniewicz, Adrianna Muszyńska, Emilia Sokołowska, Michał Budka
{"title":"Frequency masking drives species-specific temporal avoidance strategies in boreal songbirds.","authors":"Agata Staniewicz, Adrianna Muszyńska, Emilia Sokołowska, Michał Budka","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf154","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf154","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Interference in acoustic signal transmission can impair communication, and many vocalizing species use various strategies to avoid signal masking. Past studies have focused primarily on the effect of anthropogenic noise and overlap in sound frequency range, leaving a gap in our understanding of how an individual's vocal signal structure affects other animals in its acoustic community. Using playback experiments we tested whether 5 species of European boreal songbirds adjust their singing behavior to avoid overlap with 3 novel acoustic intruders from sub-Saharan Africa, each with a different song structure customized to each study species: (i) continuous songs of narrow, partially-masking frequency based on the study species' peak frequency, (ii) noncontinuous songs of broad, fully-masking frequency and (iii) continuous songs of broad, fully-masking frequency. All species showed evidence of temporal song avoidance only with competitors whose songs were broad-spectrum and completely overlapped in frequency range. The species differed in their behavioral response, either modifying the song rate, song duration, or the timing of their songs. These differences in behavior may be related to limitations imposed by the species-specific information encoded in different song parameters, and allow for predicting the consequences of changes in acoustic community structure.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 2","pages":"araf154"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12835922/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146091792","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2025-12-19eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araf146
Benjamin M Nguyen, Darren W Johnson
{"title":"Personality variation in a marine snail and heterogeneous selection in natural populations.","authors":"Benjamin M Nguyen, Darren W Johnson","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf146","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf146","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animal personality variation is characterized by among-individual differences in behavior that are consistent across ecological contexts and over time. However, processes influencing the amount of personality variation are not well understood. In this study, we tested 1 hypothesized mechanism through which variation in personalities may be maintained: spatial variation in natural selection. Through laboratory behavioral assays, we demonstrated that 2 personality traits-exploration and risk taking-are moderately repeatable for wavy turban snails, <i>Megastraea undosa</i> (mean repeatability values = 0.320 and 0.297, respectively). We also found that there could be up to a 1.7-fold difference in among-individual variation in behavior for different populations. We next measured natural selection on these behavioral traits by experimentally transporting assayed snails to field populations in a mark-recapture study to examine the relationships between behavioral traits and growth and survival. We studied 4 populations: 2 that had an abundance of slow-moving predators (whelks, sea stars) and 2 where slow-moving predators were absent and the major predators were fast-moving species (lobsters). Selection on behavioral traits varied significantly among local populations. Depending on location, patterns of selection could be predominantly stabilizing, disruptive, or correlational. Fitness surfaces were not necessarily similar for local populations with similar predator communities, and nearby locations could have strikingly different patterns of selection. Behavioral tendencies that were associated with high fitness in 1 population could be neutral or associated with low fitness in a nearby population. Such effects likely contribute to maintaining variation in animal personality within the broader population.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":"araf146"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12797315/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145970415","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2025-11-29eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araf141
Alasdair I Houston, Annette Fayet, John M McNamara
{"title":"Optimal diving: patch quality, depth, and marginal value.","authors":"Alasdair I Houston, Annette Fayet, John M McNamara","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf141","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf141","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Marginal Value Theorem, a widely used model of how long an animal should spend foraging on a given patch, has often been invoked in the context of diving animals to predict optimal underwater foraging time. Here, we highlight and address two main issues regarding using the Marginal Value Theorem in this context. First, we show that the theorem's central assumption of diminishing returns from foraging may not always be correct or necessary, and provide an analysis demonstrating that both ecological and physiological influences on patch residency time-based on prey abundance and aerobic capacity, respectively-which have sometimes been presented as alternatives are, in fact, both important and interacting. Second, we attempt to clarify common confusions around interpreting how environmental quality should affect optimal foraging time, in the cases of homogeneous and heterogenous habitats, for which the effect of quality differ. Finally, we discuss a case in which the foraging gain depends on both foraging time and depth, and prove that the optimal foraging depth is not necessarily the depth at which the energetic rate of gain peaks. Altogether, the clarifications and general proofs we provide should improve future interpretations of models of optimal foraging in diving animals.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":"araf141"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12705306/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145773271","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2025-11-21eCollection Date: 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araf136
Johannes Krietsch, Wolfgang Goymann, Mihai Valcu, Bart Kempenaers
{"title":"Sex differences in testosterone and hematocrit levels reflect mating system differences of two Arctic-breeding shorebird species.","authors":"Johannes Krietsch, Wolfgang Goymann, Mihai Valcu, Bart Kempenaers","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf136","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf136","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sex steroids, such as testosterone, are critical for the development of secondary sexual characteristics and shape traits beneficial for competition over mates and resources. Testosterone profiles may thus differ depending on variation in female and male mating strategies. Sex and mating system differences may also be found in hematocrit profiles, given elevated hematocrit levels during energetically demanding life stages such as migration or during sexual competition. Thus, males of polygynous species should maintain higher testosterone and hematocrit throughout the breeding season compared to monogamous or polyandrous males. Less is known about how mating systems affect testosterone and hematocrit in females: a recent study found higher testosterone in females of classically polyandrous species with reversed sex roles compared to females with typical sex roles. Here we compare baseline and peak plasma testosterone levels (induced by injecting gonadotropin releasing hormone GnRH) and hematocrit values in polygynous pectoral sandpipers and in classically polyandrous red phalaropes. In males, baseline testosterone concentrations were higher in the polygynous than in the classically polyandrous species, whereas in females, this pattern was reversed, with testosterone concentrations tending to be higher in the classically polyandrous species than in the polygynous one. In both sexes, the magnitude of the GnRH-induced increase in testosterone did not differ between species. Hematocrit was higher in the sex with higher competition for mates: in pectoral sandpipers, males had higher hematocrit than females; in red phalaropes, females had higher hematocrit than males. In conclusion, our results show that physiological parameters partially reflect differences in mating strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"36 6","pages":"araf136"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12683243/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145713084","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}
Behavioral EcologyPub Date : 2025-11-21eCollection Date: 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araf133
C W Rayner, P A Green, K L Hunt, F J Thompson, F Mwanguhya, M A Cant, D W E Sankey
{"title":"Collective self-assessment in banded mongoose intergroup contests.","authors":"C W Rayner, P A Green, K L Hunt, F J Thompson, F Mwanguhya, M A Cant, D W E Sankey","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf133","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf133","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Contests over resources are widespread in nature. To optimize outcomes, animals assess fighting abilities, deciding to escalate conflicts based on their own strength (self-assessment) or comparing their own strength with that of their rival (mutual assessment). While most research focuses on one-on-one (dyadic) contests, the assessment strategies employed by groups remain poorly understood, even though animal groups from ants to humans engage in intergroup conflict. Mutual assessment is frequently assumed, as more information is thought to improve decision-making; however, this assumption has rarely been tested. Here we used a dataset spanning 21 years and 633 intergroup contests in a banded mongoose (<i>Mungos mungo</i>) population in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. Our results support a model of self-assessment: groups with many males tend to escalate conflicts regardless of the rival group's strength, thus contrasting the commonly held assumption that decisions during intergroup contests are made by mutual assessment. We suggest that assessing rival group strength during conflict could be disproportionately costly, compared with assessing own group strength, which can be done over longer time periods and is easier to obtain. Greater understanding of these dynamics can shed light on the drivers and escalation patterns of intergroup conflict across social species, including humans.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":"araf133"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12848321/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146083950","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}