Behavioral Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Far-reaching consequences of trait preferences for animal social network structure and function.","authors":"Josefine Bohr Brask, Andreas Koher, Darren P Croft, Sune Lehmann","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf132","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf132","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Social network structures play an important role in the lives of animals by affecting individual fitness and the spread of disease and information. Nevertheless, we still lack a good understanding of how these structures emerge from the behavior of individuals. Generative network models provide a powerful approach that can help close this gap. Empirical research has shown that trait-based social preferences (preferences for social partners with certain trait values, such as sex, body size, relatedness etc.) play a key role in the formation of social networks across species. Currently, however, we lack a good understanding of how such preferences affect network properties. In this study: 1) we develop a general and flexible generative network model that can create artificial (simulated) networks where social connection is affected by trait-based social preferences; 2) we use this model to investigate how different trait-based social preferences affect social network structure and function. We find that the preferences can affect the networks' efficiency at transmitting disease and information, and their robustness against fragmentation when individuals disappear, with the effects often-but not always-going in the direction of slower transmission and lower robustness. Furthermore, the extent and form of the effects depend on both the type of preference and the type of trait it is used with. The findings lead to new insights about the potential mechanisms driving the structural diversity of animal social networks, the importance of trait value distributions for social structure, the degree distributions of social networks, and the detectability of trait effects from network data. Overall, the study shows that trait-based social preferences can have effects that go far beyond direct benefits individuals gain from social partner choice, and that the types of preferences which are present in a population can have far-reaching consequences for the population. We discuss the implications of the results for social evolution and the empirical study of animal social networks.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":"araf132"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12784201/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145951400","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":"Breaking bonds: maternal and offspring states relate to constraint-based brood donation in a seaduck.","authors":"Markus Öst, Benjamin Steele, Kim Jaatinen","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf134","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf134","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The adaptiveness of alloparenting for donors, recipients and both natal and transferred offspring remains unsettled despite long-standing interest. Using decade-long data on individually marked female and duckling common eiders (<i>Somateria mollissima</i>), which frequently transfer offspring between broods, we examined factors influencing the likelihood of females donating young and ducklings being adopted. We explored how donor traits, including maternal body condition, relative head size (a validated proxy of relative brain size, potentially associated with risk assessment and reproductive decision-making) and relative hatching date, and offspring characteristics such as body condition relative to siblings, relate to these processes. At least one offspring was permanently adopted in 34.7% of brood observations. Females in better body condition and larger relative head size were less likely to donate offspring, while offspring transfer was more likely from larger natal broods. Offspring donation was most likely just before the population's hatching peak, suggesting that recipient availability influences adoption. Ducklings in poorer body condition than their natal broodmates and those whose mothers were in lower body condition were, respectively, significantly and marginally significantly more likely to be adopted. Taken together, duckling transfer is associated with physical and cognition-related characteristics of donors and adoptees, without necessarily implying an adaptive strategy for either. Multiple tending females per brood prevented assignment of adopted ducklings to a unique recipient; nonetheless, previous studies suggest recipient females may accrue fitness benefits. Future research quantifying the fitness consequences for all parties in different environmental contexts is required for a more comprehensive understanding of alloparental behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":"araf134"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12701309/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145755242","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":"Defensive coloration is not a reliable indicator of fungal infection in aposematic poison frogs.","authors":"Lia Schlippe Justicia, Carolin Dittrich, Ossi Nokelainen, Bibiana Rojas","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf137","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf137","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The expression of visual signals such as coloration can be altered by parasitic or pathogenic infections through multiple pathways, including resource reallocation, impaired tissue structure, and reduced pigment acquisition. These effects may compromise the functions of coloration and overall fitness. Conversely, the link between pigments and immunological defences can aid differently colored individuals in coping with infection. While the pigmentation-condition association has been widely studied in the context of sexual selection, far less is known about how pathogens affect defensive coloration, such as aposematic signals. Here, we investigated whether infection by the fungal pathogen <i>Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis</i> (<i>Bd</i>) is reflected in characteristics of the melanin- and/or carotenoid-based coloration of the aposematic poison frog <i>Dendrobates tinctorius</i> in the wild. Using ddPCR to identify the frogs' infection status, and multispectral digital imaging to quantify their coloration traits, we show that neither type of coloration is a reliable indicator of <i>Bd</i> infection. Instead, body size influenced both infection outcomes and coloration, with sex-specific patterns suggesting potential ontogenetic or life-history trade-offs. Our findings highlight that the links between color expression and condition are more context- and taxa-dependent than often assumed, and suggest that, in <i>D. tinctorius</i>, defensive signals may remain stable despite pathogen exposure.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"37 1","pages":"araf137"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12705270/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145767094","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":"Plan ahead, or wing it? How storm-petrel parents adjust food delivery to young chicks.","authors":"Robert A Mauck, Liam U Taylor, Samuel C Neirink, Kayla E Lichtner, Sarah E Chapman, James H Veitch, Ian T Kyle, Mark F Haussmann, Patricia L Jones","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf127","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf127","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Parents must decide how to allocate energy gained from foraging between self and offspring. Storm-petrels (Procellariiformes: Hydrobatidae) are pelagic seabirds that travel hundreds of kilometers across multiple days before returning to the nesting burrow to feed a dependent chick. Parents return to the nest with food stored in the proventriculus, a portion of which is regurgitated to their offspring. As the chick grows, provisioning demands increase. However, it is unknown whether parents meet this increasing demand by (1) altering their foraging strategies to acquire more food or (2) allocating a greater proportion of their intake to the chick. We designed, validated, and implemented a new technology-the Burrow Scale Monitor-to measure Leach's storm-petrels (<i>Hydrobates leucorhous</i>) as they entered and exited the nesting burrow. We monitored breeding adults over the first 30 d of chick rearing to determine whether storm-petrel parents adjust their foraging intake to the age of the chick or simply adjust energy allocation at the nest. Food delivery increased with chick age, but this increase was driven to a much greater extent by parents delivering a greater proportion of their body mass as food (ie, a shift in parental allocation) rather than by adults adjusting their foraging strategy to match chick age. Only by measuring adult body mass on arrival and exit at the nesting burrow could we understand how parents adapt their provisioning strategy to the increasing demands of the growing chick.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"36 6","pages":"araf127"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12636516/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145586109","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":"The interplay between satiation and temptation drives cleaner fish <i>Labroides dimidiatus</i> foraging behavior and service quality toward client reef fish.","authors":"Zegni Triki, Xiang-Yi Li Richter, Ana Pinto, Antoine Baud, Sandra A Binning, Mélisande Aellen, Yasmin Emery, Virginie Staubli, Nichola Raihani, Redouan Bshary","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf131","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf131","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Supply and demand affect the values of goods exchanged in cooperative trades where high demand typically leads to a higher cost. An exception has been described in the marine cleaning mutualism involving the cleaner fish <i>Labroides dimidiatus</i> and its variety of \"client\" coral reef fishes. Cleaner fish feed on clients' ectoparasites (ie gnathiid isopods) but prefer eating clients' mucus instead, which constitutes cheating. Here, we provide field observations, followed by a set of laboratory experiments with real client fish and Plexiglas feeding plates as surrogates for clients. In the field and in three experiments with real clients, we found that satiated cleaner fish were more cooperative, even though low hunger levels should make them less dependent on cleaning interactions. Similarly, the more abstract version of the cleaner-client experiments using Plexiglas plates offering two food types as stand-ins for client ectoparasites and mucus showed that satiation led cleaner fish to feed more against their preferences-an indicator of cooperative behaviour. However, this outcome occurred only if the temptation to eat the preferred food was low. When temptation to cheat was high, cleaner fish did so. We provide a further general support to these findings with a game-theoretic model. Many mutualisms involve food as a commodity. Thus, identifying foraging decision rules will enhance our understanding of how individuals adjust to variations in market conditions in real-time rather than playing a fixed strategy based on average market conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"36 6","pages":"araf131"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12658322/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145647314","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":"Perch choice and substrate matching to the dorsal patterns of <i>Amphibolurus muricatus</i> lizards.","authors":"Jonathan W Salisbury, Richard A Peters","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf129","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf129","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The backgrounds that cryptic animals choose will affect the efficacy of their camouflage. Most animals use a range of microhabitats consisting of a variety of substrates, vegetation and lighting conditions. As some of these will be better suited to facilitating camouflage than others, we expect cryptic animals to consider their conspicuousness when choosing a background to occupy. If the availability of backgrounds varies between populations of cryptic animals, then selective pressure on their coloration may also vary, resulting in intraspecific variation and presumably animals being better suited to the backgrounds locally available to them than those at other locations. In this study we investigate how backgrounds available to Jacky dragons (<i>Amphibolurus muricatus</i>) vary across their range, whether these lizards are occupying backgrounds that match well to their dorsal patterns, and how backgrounds compare to their dorsal patterns. Wild lizards were located and photographed along with the background they were found on, and other options available nearby. We compared lizards and backgrounds within their microhabitat as well as all backgrounds across all microhabitats. We found that lizards were not occupying the backgrounds that best matched their own patterns, that background options varied between locations, and that lizards from certain locations were occupying backgrounds closer matching to their own pattern than those from other locations. These outcomes provide interesting insight into the variance of local factors that influence the pattern phenotype, as well as how the relative need for camouflage might vary and be balanced with other needs.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"36 6","pages":"araf129"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12636528/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145586118","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":"High spatial pair cohesion during and after breeding in a socially monogamous territorial passerine.","authors":"Frigg J D Speelman, Chris W Tyson, Marc Naguib, Simon C Griffith","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf130","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf130","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Long-term social monogamy, a prevalent mating system in avian species, is often associated with increased cooperation and coordination as well as reduced sexual conflict. Although many studies have highlighted the benefits of long-term partnerships for individuals, there remains a lack of insight into how closely partners associate with one another behaviorally. To date, studies investigating pair cohesion in seasonal and long-term partnerships are typically restricted to arrivals at the nest or feeding sites during the breeding season. Using fine-scale automated tracking data on chirruping wedgebills (<i>Psopodes cristatus</i>), a territorial socially monogamous species, we characterized how partners coordinate their movement during and after the breeding season. We used 12 pair-bonded individuals with consistently high localization rates that were tracked for a period between 32 and 69 days, with an average of 260,000 localizations per individual. We demonstrate that pairs (1) had extremely similar home ranges with a similarity index of 0.93 versus 0.18 for non-pairs, (2) maintained consistently closer proximity than expected from movement without paying attention to a partner, and (3) followed each other as they moved, with individuals following their moving partner in 42% of cases during and in 47% of cases after breeding. Our findings show that pair cohesion in socially monogamous territorial species can be very high in both a breeding and non-breeding context, illustrating that strong coordination among partners has important functions beyond reproduction and parental care.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"36 6","pages":"araf130"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12645101/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145628336","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":"Integrating space, time, and culture in animal conservation practice.","authors":"William K Oestreich, Dawn R Barlow, Taylor A Hersh","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf122","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf122","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent theoretical integration of the spatiotemporal and cultural elements of animal behavior has led to increasing calls to incorporate animal culture into conservation. Implementation of this idea remains sparse due to disconnects between the theoretical concept of considering culture in animal conservation and the spatiotemporal approaches typically employed in conservation practice. Here we propose that this gap can be bridged by (1) clarifying that spatiotemporal conservation interventions inherently interact with culture regardless of whether this connection is acknowledged; and (2) strategically considering feasible \"entry points\" for considering animal culture in conservation practice. Recent advances in dynamic management strategies indicate the capacity for modern conservation approaches to integrate additional dimensions of animal behavior, and could serve as a particularly fruitful space for considering culture. Drawing on instructive examples from cetaceans, we examine instances where protection in space and time can facilitate the conservation of culture, and where focusing on conserving culturally distinct groups can yield protection in space and time. Human interventions that explicitly consider these interwoven dimensions in practice are achievable and can enable more holistic protections for diverse taxa.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"36 6","pages":"araf122"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12616361/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145538852","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":"Honeybees show an increased preference for dietary alcohol when parasitized.","authors":"Monika Ostap-Chec, Weronika Antoł, Daniel Bajorek, Daniel Stec, Krzysztof Miler","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf121","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf121","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Parasitic infections often alter host behavior, including foraging and the consumption of bioactive substances. In honeybees (<i>Apis mellifera</i>), infection with the common gut parasite <i>Nosema ceranae</i> causes metabolic disruption and increased mortality. Ethanol is a naturally occurring bioactive compound found in nectar, and honeybees exhibit high tolerance and resilience to chronic exposure. However, whether honeybees actively use ethanol during infection remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether <i>N. ceranae</i>-infected honeybees alter their ethanol consumption. In a feeding experiment, infected and uninfected honeybees were given a choice between plain sucrose solution and ethanol-spiked food (0.5% or 1% ethanol). We measured food consumption, survival, and spore load. Although overall food intake did not differ between groups, infected honeybees consumed a significantly higher proportion of ethanol-spiked food. Survival analysis showed that a diet containing 1% ethanol caused higher mortality than a diet containing 0.5% ethanol; however, among honeybees on a 1% ethanol diet, this negative effect was less pronounced in infected individuals than in controls. Spore load did not differ between treatments. These results suggest that <i>N. ceranae</i> infection induces a shift in feeding behavior toward increased ethanol intake, which may benefit infected honeybees by reducing mortality. This may reflect a self-medication response, although alternative explanations remain possible. Further research into ethanol's effects on <i>Nosema</i> spores is needed. Nonetheless, our findings provide insights into honeybee interactions with bioactive compounds and suggest that ethanol may be a behaviorally relevant dietary substance.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"36 6","pages":"araf121"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12644987/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145628482","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":"Background color matching affects sexual behavior, growth, and mortality rate in an African cichlid.","authors":"Travis I Moore, William G Bright, William E Bell, Tessa K Solomon-Lane, Sebastian G Alvarado, Peter D Dijkstra","doi":"10.1093/beheco/araf120","DOIUrl":"10.1093/beheco/araf120","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to adapt to changing environments within their lifetimes. However, environmentally induced changes in the plastic trait of interest may influence a range of fitness-related traits due to trade-offs, pleiotropy, linkage, or epistasis of genes regulating the plastic trait. These correlated responses may constrain or facilitate the evolution of plasticity, but their evolutionary implications are often poorly understood due to a lack of data on their direction and magnitude. Males in the African cichlid <i>Astatotilapia burtoni</i> are blue or yellow, and males are able to adjust their body coloration to the color of the background, presumably to increase crypsis. To test whether background color influences fitness-related traits, we raised mix-sex groups of juvenile <i>A. burtoni</i> to adulthood in yellow or blue tanks. We found that more males adopted the blue phenotype in blue tanks while more males adopted the yellow phenotype in the yellow tank, though the degree of background color matching decreased with age. Males, but not females, from blue tanks showed earlier sexual maturation than those held in yellow tanks. However, across the duration of the experiment, there was a higher occurrence of breeding in females housed in yellow tanks than those that were housed in blue tanks. In addition, fish in blue tanks exhibited reduced growth rate but higher survivorship relative to their yellow-reared counterparts. Our data suggest that background color affects important fitness-related traits in a color polymorphic cichlid, which may influence the evolution of phenotypic plasticity.</p>","PeriodicalId":8840,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology","volume":"36 6","pages":"araf120"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12620823/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145548062","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}