Geographical variation of barricade-building behaviour in the intertidal brachyuran crab Ilyoplax pusilla

2008 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
pp. 967-973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumiko Furukawa ◽  
Arisa Yamada ◽  
Mari Ohata ◽  
Keiji Wada
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Geographical Range ◽  
Territorial Defence ◽  
Brachyuran Crab ◽  
Local Difference ◽  
Dotillid Crab ◽  
Ilyoplax Pusilla ◽  
Building Behaviour

The small dotillid crab Ilyoplax pusilla builds an earthen structure, termed barricade, close to its neighbour's burrow. Barricades function for territorial defence by deterring invasion by neighbours. Comparison of the frequency of barricade building in the breeding season among 5 localities across the geographical range of I. pusilla, showed higher values at more northern localities. In two localities differing in the frequency of barricade building, the response of crabs to artificial barricades placed near their burrows was examined. The artificial barricade was less often broken and more often avoided in the locality with the higher frequency of barricades. These results suggest that the local difference in frequency of barricade building is correlated with a difference in how crabs respond to this earthen barrier.

scholarly journals Female song in the Cyprus Wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Patchett ◽  
Alexander N. G. Kirschel ◽  
Joanna Robins King ◽  
Patrick Styles ◽  
Will Cresswell
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Territorial Defence ◽  
Multiple Functions ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Female Song ◽  
Mate Acquisition

AbstractFemale song is widespread across bird species yet rarely reported. Here, we report the first observations and description of female song in the Cyprus Wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca and compare it to male song through the breeding season. Twenty-five percent of colour-ringed females were observed singing at least once, predominantly in April, compared to 71% of males that continued singing through the breeding period. We suggest that female song may have multiple functions in this species, but it may be especially important in territorial defence and mate acquisition.

scholarly journals Despotic aggression in pre-moulting painted buntings

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 191510
Author(s):  
Vanya G. Rohwer ◽  
Sievert Rohwer ◽  
John C. Wingfield
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Passerine Bird ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Territorial Defence ◽  
Painted Bunting ◽  
High Aggression ◽  
Limited Food ◽  
Ideal Despotic ◽  
Territorial Systems

Aggression in territorial social systems is easy to interpret because the benefits of territorial defence mostly accrue to the territorial holder. However, in non-territorial systems, high aggression seems puzzling and raises intriguing evolutionary questions. We describe extreme rates of despotism between age classes in a passerine bird, the painted bunting ( Passerina ciris ), during the pre-moulting period. Aggressive encounters were not associated with aggressors gaining immediate access to resources. Instead, conspecifics, and even other species, were pursued as though being harassed; this aggression generated an ideal despotic habitat distribution such that densities of adult males were higher in high-quality sites. Aggression was not a by-product of elevated testosterone carried over from the breeding season but, rather, appeared associated with dehydroepiandrosterone, a hormone that changes rates of aggression in non-breeding birds without generating the detrimental effects of high testosterone titres that control aggression in the breeding season. This extraordinary pre-moult aggression seems puzzling because individual buntings do not hold defined territories during their moult. We speculate that this high aggression evolved as a means of regulating the number of conspecifics that moulted in what were historically small habitat patches with limited food for supporting the extremely rapid moults of painted buntings.

Distribution and Variability of Song Types in the Wood Thrush

Behaviour ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 103 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 49-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl L. Whitney ◽  
Joan Miller
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Geographical Range ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Wood Thrush ◽  
Relative Abundances ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Over Time

AbstractCompared to the song of other oscine species, wood thrush song shows little macro-geographical variation: 1) Most song types defined for a local population are widespread over the geographical range, 2) the relative abundances of different song types are similar in samples taken from different locations, and 3) a given song type is no more variable in structure over the geographical range than within a local population. Wood thrush song also shows little microgeographical variation. The degree of song type sharing does not vary as a function of the distance between males in a local population. Song remains stable over time in a local population, as indicated by a similarity in the relative abundances of song types in samples taken 14 years apart. Regarding the distribution of song types among repertoires, 1) Different combinations of song types within repertoires occur no more or less often than expected by chance, 2) different versions of a single song type are distributed at random among repertoires, 3) large repertoires do not contain a greater proportion of rare (unclassified) songs than small repertoires, and 4) rare songs are not clustered in the repertoires of certain individuals.

THE ROLE OF SHORT DAYS IN THE TERMINATION OF PHOTOREFRACTORINESS IN FEMALE CANARIES (SERINUS CANARIUS)

1975 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELIZABETH STEEL ◽  
B. K. FOLLETT ◽  
R. A. HINDE
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Refractory Period ◽  
Intact Female ◽  
Serinus Canarius ◽  
Follicle Size ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Short Days ◽  
Female Canaries

SUMMARY Photorefractory intact female canaries were exposed to a photoperiod of 8 h light: 16 h darkness (8L: 16D) for 0, 2, 4 or 6 weeks before photostimulation with 14L:10D for 4 weeks. Photoresponsiveness was measured in terms of plasma immunoreactive LH, ovary and oviduct weights, follicle size and nest-building behaviour. Birds not exposed to 8L:16D were unresponsive to photostimulation while those exposed for 6 weeks to 8L: 16D were as fully photosensitive as females similarly treated immediately before their first breeding season. Birds exposed for 2 or 4 weeks to 8L:16D responded to subsequent photostimulation but were not as responsive as birds exposed to short days for 6 weeks. Positive correlations between the two ovarian parameters and between these ovarian parameters and oviductal weight existed in all groups exposed to short days, but not in birds not exposed to short days. It is concluded that the restoration of photosensitivity at the end of the refractory period is a function of the number of short days experienced; about 6 weeks of short days are needed for its completion. In another experiment photorefractory birds exposed for 6 weeks to short days without subsequent photostimulation, although potentially photosensitive, were indistinguishable (in terms of the above parameters) from refractory birds kept on long days for the same period; in these birds refractoriness was not broken.

scholarly journals Nest-building Behaviour of the Asian Open Billed Stork Anastomus oscitans, in the Kulik Bird Sanctuary, Raiganj, India

Our Nature ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
A.K. Pramanik ◽  
K.B. Santra ◽  
C.K. Manna
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Heavy Rain ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Nest Attendance ◽  
Nest Protection ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Building Behaviour ◽  
Incubation Pattern

A field study of the nest-building behaviour in the breeding season of the Asian Open-Billed Stork, Anastomus oscitans, was conducted in the Kulik Bird Sanctuary, Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal, India. Observations were made throughout one complete breeding season (2007-2008) in the sanctuary. The open-billed stork comes in the last week of June at the Kulik bird sanctuary, stays there for 5 to 6 months and leaves the place in the month of December of every year. From the present observations it was noticed that about 58920 storks came to Kulik during 2008. Various types of behaviour were observed during this particular period. Coming to the Kulik, pairing of the individual storks start and mating display was observed within a day or two. Birds of a pair supplied the nest building materials to form the nest.  To give a definite shape to the nest it took about 12-15 days before egg laying. The nesting territory consisted of a semicircle, some times circular and approximately with 30.21 ± 0.12 cm radius. The depth of the nest was about 6.9 ± 0.02 cm. The nest building materials consisted of fragments of old branches of trees, some soft green leaves and grasses. These branches helped in strengthening and the leaves and grasses helped in softening of the nest.  During the incubation period both sexes were involved to incubate the eggs. Nest attendance of the breeding birds was continuous during the first 2-months period. From regular observation it was noticed that either of the pair took additional care by spreading their wings during the time of heavy sunshine or heavy rain. The main behavioral patterns examined were aerial displays, mating pattern, nest building, egg laying and incubation pattern, nest defense and nest protection. Diversity of nesting behavior in open-billed stork was pointed out and discussed.Key words: Asian Open-Billed Stork, Kulik Bird Sanctuary, Nest-building behaviorDOI: 10.3126/on.v7i1.2552Our Nature (2009) 7:39-47

scholarly journals Mimicry on the edge: why do mimics vary in resemblance to their model in different parts of their geographical range?

2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1621) ◽  
pp. 1955-1961 ◽  
Author(s):  
George R Harper ◽  
David W Pfennig
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Geographical Range ◽  
Mimic Model ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Different Parts

Batesian mimics—benign species that predators avoid because they resemble a dangerous species—often vary geographically in resemblance to their model. Such geographical variation in mimic–model resemblance may reflect geographical variation in model abundance. Natural selection should favour even poor mimics where their model is common, but only good mimics where their model is rare. We tested these predictions in a snake-mimicry complex where the geographical range of the mimic extends beyond that of its model. Mimics on the edge of their model's range (where the model was rare) resembled the model more closely than did mimics in the centre of their model's range (where the model was common). When free-ranging natural predators on the edge of the model's range were given a choice of attacking replicas of good or poor mimics, they avoided only good mimics. By contrast, those in the centre of the model's range attacked good and poor mimics equally frequently. Generally, although poor mimics may persist in areas where their model is common, only the best mimics should occur in areas where their model is rare. Thus, counter-intuitively, the best mimics may occur on the edge of their model's range.

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