Foraging Behaviour of Trigona Carbonaria (Hymenoptera: Apidae) at Multiple-Choice Feeding Stations

1996 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Bartareau
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Sugar Solution ◽  
Group Foraging ◽  
Visitation Rates ◽  
Resource Variability ◽  
Resource Conditions ◽  
Choice Feeding ◽  
Trigona Carbonaria

To examine the foraging behaviour of the stingless bee Trigona carbonaria Sm., a full-size colony was placed at the centre of a grid of multiple-choice feeding stations with feeders containing water and three sugar solutions at 10, 20 and 40% concentration. The feeding of workers at feeders was monitored during consecutive days under these variable resource conditions. Scouts marked all the sugar-solution feeders with a visible fluid, and the degree of marking and nestmate recruitment was positively correlated with sugar concentration. Workers exhibited characteristics of the group-foraging behaviour termed 'opportunism', whereby many foragers search independently in the field, until one of them finds an exceptional sugar-solution resource and then rapidly recruits nestmates. Overall, workers preferred the 40% sugar feeders, visitation rates decreased with increasing distance from the nest, and visits at the 20 and 10% feeders increased in that sequence when replenishment with sugar solution was interrupted and sugar concentrations declined progressively in the 40 and 20% feeders. These results show that workers have the physiological ability to identify the richest sugar solutions, but indicate that food choice will vary with resource variability. The evidence suggests that the primary strategy involved in the foraging behaviour of this species is to optimise the feeding intake of the colony.

Variation in search and predatory attack strategies of shark mackerel Grammatorcynus bicarinatus

2008 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Auster
Keyword(s):  
Information Sharing ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Linear Search ◽  
Group Foraging ◽  
Individual Fish ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Predatory Attack

I observed shark mackerel demonstrating multiple search and attack strategies. Strategies were categorized as three distinct types: (1) a linear search by single or groups of fish along reef features; (2) ambush from a stationary position on the seafloor; and (3) ambush from resting schools of co-occurring predators. Together these strategies were consistent with both information-sharing and producer–scrounger models of group foraging and indicate significant flexibility in individual fish foraging behaviour based on proximate conditions.

scholarly journals Repellent, antifeedant and insecticidal effects of neem oil on Microtheca punctigera

2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 1121-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Yatie Mikami ◽  
Maurício Ursi Ventura
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Feeding Preference ◽  
Biological Parameters ◽  
Wild Radish ◽  
Neem Oil ◽  
Raphanus Raphanistrum ◽  
Neem Tree ◽  
Oil Emulsion ◽  
Choice Assay ◽  
Choice Feeding

The effects of concentrations (0.00, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00%) of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica - Meliaceae) oil emulsion on the behavioral and biological parameters of M. punctigera were investigated in the laboratory. Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.) host plant was used. Multiple and no-choice feeding preference assays were conducted which shown multiple effects. The males were repelled by the neem oil in multiple-choice assay. The adult (multiple-choice) and larvae (multiple and no-choice) feeding were deterred. The larvae mortality was higher in the neem oil treated than the control leaves. Further investigations are suggested to test neem oil in the management of the pest in the field.

Mycophagy as a factor limiting predation of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) by staphylinid beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) in cereals

1991 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Dennis ◽  
S. D. Wratten ◽  
N. W. Sotherton
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Consumption Rate ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Choice Experiments ◽  
Food Density ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Powdery Mildews ◽  
Grain Aphid ◽  
Total Food

AbstractPrevious work demonstrated the potential of the staphylinids Tachyporus hypnorum (Fabricius), T. chrysomelinus (Linnaeus), T. obtusus (Linnaeus) and Philonthus cognatus (Stephens) to feed on the grain aphid, Sitobion avenae (Fabricius). However, gut dissection and observations of foraging behaviour showed that mycophagy could be a factor influencing the potential of Tachyporus spp. to control aphids. The main fungal material detected in the guts of Tachyporus spp. was spores (conidia) of Erysiphe spp. (powdery mildews). In the present study, numbers of conidia (pustules of mildew on leaf-sections) were offered with aphids in food-choice experiments to test how fungal food affected feeding on aphids by these staphylinids. An index of food preference was calculated for each species, sex and for two age classes of larvae, based on the number of conidia and aphids remaining after feeding. Results showed a preference for mildew conidia by T. hypnorum, no preference by T. chrysomelinus and Tachyporus spp. larvae and a preference for aphids by T. obtusus and P. cognatus (adults and larvae). Food-preferences compared well with dietary composition in recent studies of field collected staphylinids. Futhermore, a functional response was detected to increasing numbers of mildew conidia presented (in mildew only consumption-rate experiments) and to the increase in total food density in food-choice experiments. Mycophagy limited aphid predation and explained the numerical response of staphylinid beetles to areas of cereals with high aphid densities, whilst, in other studies, the proportion of aphids eaten by those beetles did not increase.

Effects of the cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus on grazing fishes and coral reef benthos

2020 ◽  
Vol 643 ◽  
pp. 99-114
Author(s):  
AS Grutter ◽  
S Bejarano ◽  
KL Cheney ◽  
AW Goldizen ◽  
T Sinclair-Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Benthic Community ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Fish Abundance ◽  
Fish Diversity ◽  
Benthic Community Structure ◽  
Group Foraging ◽  
Cleaner Fish ◽  
Labroides Dimidiatus ◽  
Positive Effect

Territorial and roving grazing fishes farm, and feed on, algae, sediment, or detritus, thus exerting different influences on benthic community structure, and are common clients of cleaner fish. Whether cleaners affect grazing-fish diversity and abundance, and indirectly the benthos, was tested using reefs maintained free of the bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus for 8.5 yr (removals) compared with controls. We quantified fish abundance per grazing functional group, foraging rates of roving grazers, cleaning rates of roving grazers by L. dimidiatus, reef benthos composition, and fouling material on settlement tiles. Abundances of ‘intensive’ and ‘extensive’ territorial farmers, non-farmers, parrotfishes and Acanthurus spp. were lower on removal than control reefs, but this was not the case for ‘indeterminate’ farmers and Ctenochaetus striatus. Foraging rates of Acanthurus spp. and C. striatus were unaffected by cleaner presence or cleaning duration. This suggests some robustness of the grazers’ foraging behaviour to loss of cleaners. Acanthurus spp. foraged predominantly on sediment and detritus, whereas C. striatus and parrotfishes grazed over algal turfs. Nevertheless, benthic community structure and amount of organic and inorganic material that accumulated over 3.5 mo on tiles were not affected by cleaner presence. Thus, despite greater abundances of many roving grazers, and consequently higher grazing rates being linked to the presence of cleaners, the benthos was not detectably affected by cleaners. This reveals that the positive effect of cleaners on fish abundance is not associated with a subsequent change in the benthos as predicted. Rather, it suggests a resilience of benthic community structure to cleaner-fish loss, possibly related to multiple antagonistic effects of different grazer functional groups. However, losing cleaners remains a problem for reefs, as the lack of cleaning has adverse consequences for fish physiology and populations.

scholarly journals Individual willingness to leave a safe refuge and the trade-off between food and safety: a test with social fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1907) ◽  
pp. 20190826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Balaban-Feld ◽  
William A. Mitchell ◽  
Burt P. Kotler ◽  
Sundararaj Vijayan ◽  
Lotan T. Tov Elem ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Foraging Success ◽  
Group Foraging ◽  
Refuge Use ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Individual Fish ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Individual

Refuges offer prey animals protection from predation, but increased time spent hiding can reduce foraging opportunities. Within social groups, individuals vary in their refuge use and willingness to forage in the presence of a predator. Here, we examine the relative foraging benefits and mortality costs associated with individual refuge use and foraging behaviour within groups of goldfish ( Carassius auratus ) under predation risk from an avian predator (little egret— Egretta garzetta ). We assessed individual order of emergence from the refuge and participation over 15 group foraging outings, and assigned each fish a daily outing index score. The individual fish that emerged from the refuge earlier than the other group members and that participated in more outings received high outing index scores and consumed more food compared with fish that tended to emerge in posterior positions and participate in fewer outings. However, individual fish that attained high outing index scores suffered a higher risk of predation. Furthermore, the amount of time the egret spent at the pool affected group foraging behaviour: as predation risk increased, groups of fish consumed significantly less food. Our results exemplify the trade-off between foraging success and safety from predation that prey species regularly experience.

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