Experimental evidence that acorn woodpeckers recognize relationships among third parties no longer living together

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1257-1265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A Pardo ◽  
Eric L Walters ◽  
Walter D Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Living Together ◽  
Melanerpes Formicivorus ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Acorn Woodpeckers ◽  
Group Relationships

Abstract Triadic awareness, or knowledge of the relationships between others, is essential to navigating many complex social interactions. While some animals maintain relationships with former group members post-dispersal, recognizing cross-group relationships between others may be more cognitively challenging than simply recognizing relationships between members of a single group because there is typically much less opportunity to observe interactions between individuals that do not live together. We presented acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), a highly social species, with playback stimuli consisting of a simulated chorus between two different individuals, a behavior that only occurs naturally between social affiliates. Subjects were expected to respond less rapidly if they perceived the callers as having an affiliative relationship. Females responded more rapidly to a pair of callers that never co-occurred in the same social group, and responded less rapidly to callers that were members of the same social group at the time of the experiment and to callers that last lived in the same group before the subject had hatched. This suggests that female acorn woodpeckers can infer the existence of relationships between conspecifics that live in separate groups by observing them interact after the conspecifics in question no longer live in the same group as each other. This study provides experimental evidence that nonhuman animals may recognize relationships between third parties that no longer live together and emphasizes the potential importance of social knowledge about distant social affiliates.

Intergroup Bias Influences Third-Party Punishment and Compensation: In-group Relationships Attenuate Altruistic Punishment

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1397-1408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingjie Liu ◽  
Xiaohua Bian ◽  
Yu Hu ◽  
Ya-Ting Chen ◽  
Xuzhou Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dictator Game ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Altruistic Punishment ◽  
Intergroup Relationships ◽  
Trait Empathy ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Group Relationships ◽  
Shed Light

Intergroup relationships can impact on a third party's willingness to punish a violator, but few researchers have explored how intergroup relationships affect third-party compensation tendencies. We recruited 163 participants to observe a dictator game, and then choose either to punish the dictator or compensate the recipient, each of whom could be from the participant's in-group or out-group. Third parties often chose not to punish in-group dictators and to compensate both in-group victims and out-group victims. When out-group members transgressed against the in-group, participants punished these out-group members just as often as they compensated the in-group recipients, although they punished out-group dictators more harshly than others overall. However, when both proposer and recipient came from the out-group, participants often did not intervene. We also found that third-party punishment and compensation were related to individual differences in participants' trait empathy and Machiavellianism. Our findings shed light on the modulating effect of intergroup relationships on third-party altruistic decisions.

Individual Contributions To Cooperative Behaviour in the Acorn Woodpecker: Effects of Reproductive Status, Sex, and Group Size

Behaviour ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 95 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 290-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Mumme ◽  
Alan De Queiroz
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
Cooperative Behaviour ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Strong Positive Relationship ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Melanerpes Formicivorus ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Acorn Woodpeckers ◽  
The Individual

AbstractAcorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) are communal breeders that live in permanently territorial family groups of 2-15 individuals. All group members participate in several forms of cooperative behaviour, which we define as the investment of resources in a common interest shared by other group members (CHASE, 1980). Acorn woodpecker group interests include the caching of acorns in a specialized storage tree (the granary), maintenance of the granary, and defence of the granary against intra- and interspecific intruders. Because of a strong positive relationship between the availability of stored acorns and group reproductive success, investments in acorn storage, granary maintenance, and granary defence have a direct positive effect on the individual fitness of breeders. Non-breeding helpers, however, do not realize a direct reproductive reward, and therefore profit less directly from investment in these forms of cooperative behaviour. Thus, we predicted that breeders should invest more heavily in cooperative behaviour than should helpers. The prediction was upheld: for nearly every form of cooperative behaviour examined, breeders contribute significantly more than do helpers. On the other hand, while established breeders only rarely intrude on neighbouring territories, nonreproductive helpers frequently do so. These dispersal "forays" constitute attempts by helpers to locate ecologically restricted breeding vacancies. The effect that group size has on individual contributions to cooperative behaviour is unclear. Individual rates of acorn storage decrease significantly with increasing group size, but granary attendance and granary maintenance do not. Male and female acorn woodpeckers do not differ in their contributions to acorn storage, granary maintenance, or interspecific defence. Females, however, play a significantly greater role in intraspecific defence because of a female-biased intruder sex ratio and sex-specific defensive behaviour.

Task division in a facultative cooperative breeder bird: do males take out the trash?

Behaviour ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Raphael Igor Dias ◽  
Debora Goedert
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Social System ◽  
Important Task ◽  
Ecological Conditions ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Passerine Species ◽  
Nest Sanitation ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Task Division

Abstract Cooperative animals share different activities during reproduction, but individuals of a social group may invest in these tasks in different proportions. Nest sanitation is an important task that may impact reproductive performance of birds, and yet, little is known about the relative participation of individuals of a social group, particularly in non-passerine species. Here, we describe nest sanitation behaviour and materials removed, and test the occurrence of task division regarding faecal sac removal in Campo flickers (Picidae), a facultative cooperative breeder with complex social system. We found that helpers removed proportionally more faecal sacs than breeders, and male helpers are mainly responsible for this activity. These results are different than the commonly reported patterns for passerines, where females are the main contributors. Different ecological conditions and benefits achieved by group members may influence their investment in nest sanitation, but additional studies on social species could greatly contribute to our understanding of how general our results are in non-passerine species.

Acorn woodpeckers vocally discriminate current and former group members from nongroup members

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1120-1128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A Pardo ◽  
Casey E Hayes ◽  
Eric L Walters ◽  
Walter D Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Current Group ◽  
Breeding Bird ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Melanerpes Formicivorus ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Valuable Relationships ◽  
Acorn Woodpeckers

Abstract In species with long-term social relationships, the ability to recognize individuals after extended separation and the ability to discriminate between former social affiliates that have died and those that have left the group but may return are likely to be beneficial. Few studies, however, have investigated whether animals can make these discriminations. We presented acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), a group-living, cooperatively breeding bird, with playbacks of current group members, former group members still living nearby, former group members that had died or left the study area, and familiar nongroup members. Subjects responded more quickly to the calls of nongroup members than to the calls of current group members or former group members still living in the study area but did not discriminate between nongroup members and former group members that had died or disappeared. This suggests that acorn woodpeckers can vocally recognize both current group members and former group members that have dispersed to nearby groups and that they either forget former group members that no longer live in the vicinity or classify them differently from former group members that still live nearby. This study suggests an important role for vocal recognition in maintaining valuable relationships with social affiliates postdispersal.

scholarly journals Experimental evidence that intruder and group member attributes affect outgroup defence and associated within-group interactions in a social fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1912) ◽  
pp. 20191261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Braga Goncalves ◽  
Andrew N. Radford
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Territorial Defence ◽  
Group Interactions ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Female Specific ◽  
Group Member

In many social species, individuals communally defend resources from conspecific outsiders. Participation in defence and in associated within-group interactions, both during and after contests with outgroup rivals, is expected to vary between group members because the threat presented by different outsiders is not the same to each individual. However, experimental tests examining both the contributions to, and the consequences of, outgroup conflict for all group members are lacking. Using groups of the cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher , we simulated territorial intrusions by different-sized female rivals and altered the potential contribution of subordinate females to defence. Dominant females and subordinate females defended significantly more against size- and rank-matched intruders, while males displayed lower and less variable levels of defence. Large and small, but not intermediate-sized, intruders induced increased levels of within-group aggression during intrusions, which was targeted at the subordinate females. Preventing subordinate females from helping in territorial defence led to significant decreases in post-contest within-group and female-specific submissive and affiliative displays. Together, these results show that the defensive contributions of group members vary greatly depending both on their own traits and on intruder identity, and this variation has significant consequences for within-group social dynamics both during and in the aftermath of outgroup contests.

The codevelopment of group relationships: The role of individual group member’s and other group members’ mutual influence and shared group environment.

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 640-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Lo Coco ◽  
Salvatore Gullo ◽  
Gabriele Profita ◽  
Chiara Pazzagli ◽  
Claudia Mazzeschi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Individual Group ◽  
Group Environment ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Group Relationships

scholarly journals Experimental evidence for yawn contagion in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evy van Berlo ◽  
Alejandra P. Díaz-Loyo ◽  
Oscar E. Juárez-Mora ◽  
Mariska E. Kret ◽  
Jorg J. M. Massen
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Pongo Pygmaeus ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Contagious Yawning ◽  
Proximate Mechanism ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Ultimate Causation

AbstractYawning is highly contagious, yet both its proximate mechanism(s) and its ultimate causation remain poorly understood. Scholars have suggested a link between contagious yawning (CY) and sociality due to its appearance in mostly social species. Nevertheless, as findings are inconsistent, CY’s function and evolution remains heavily debated. One way to understand the evolution of CY is by studying it in hominids. Although CY has been found in chimpanzees and bonobos, but is absent in gorillas, data on orangutans are missing despite them being the least social hominid. Orangutans are thus interesting for understanding CY’s phylogeny. Here, we experimentally tested whether orangutans yawn contagiously in response to videos of conspecifics yawning. Furthermore, we investigated whether CY was affected by familiarity with the yawning individual (i.e. a familiar or unfamiliar conspecific and a 3D orangutan avatar). In 700 trials across 8 individuals, we found that orangutans are more likely to yawn in response to yawn videos compared to control videos of conspecifics, but not to yawn videos of the avatar. Interestingly, CY occurred regardless of whether a conspecific was familiar or unfamiliar. We conclude that CY was likely already present in the last common ancestor of humans and great apes, though more converging evidence is needed.

scholarly journals The analysis of individual Visegrad group members’ agrarian export sensitivity in relation to selected macroeconomic aggregations

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-342
Author(s):  
Miroslav Svatoš ◽  
Luboš Smutka
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Trade ◽  
Added Value ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Grocery Industry ◽  
Agricultural Exports ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Visegrad Group

This paper analyzes the development of agricultural trade of the countries of the Visegrad Group with emphasis on development of the value of agricultural exports of the individual countries. The subject matter of the analysis is the sensitivity of the commodity structure of agricultural exports of individual countries and the identification of aggregations that are the least and the most sensitive to changes to the external and internal economic environment. From the conducted research, agricultural trade in the V4 countries was found to have developed very dynamically from 1993 to 2008, while the commodity structure of exports has constantly narrowed as the degree of specialization of the individual countries has increased (this applies especially to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary). From the results of analysis of sensitivity to changes of selected variables relating to the development of the value of agricultural exports of the individual V4 countries, it appears that the aggregations that react most sensitively to changes are those that are the subject of re-exports, followed by the aggregations that are characterized by a high degree of added value. In general it can be said that products of agricultural primary production exhibit less sensitivity in comparison with grocery industry products. This is confirmed by the general trend arising from the very nature of consumer behaviour.

Relationships and Expectations

2021 ◽  
pp. 147-162
Author(s):  
Oscar H. Gandy Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
The Public ◽  
Marketing Activities ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Broad Variety ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The U.S

This chapter is focused on the perceptions of the public about the panoptic sort and its likely influence on society. Although the focus within the scholarly community was on surveillance, the term was not in broad use within the population, and as a result, estimates of public opinion at the time were limited to a focus on privacy as an issue of public concern. A broad variety of issues and concerns were explored in previously published and specially designed surveys of the U.S. public. The approach taken to understand the views of the public was shaped by the analysis of a series of focus group interviews that are described within this chapter. In addition to seeking discussants’ understanding of the generation and use of consumer and citizen profiles, the members of these focus groups were also invited to share their views about the kinds of limits they thought needed to be established to govern the use of profiling technologies. Of particular importance were their views about the sharing of personal and transaction-generated information with third parties. Most of these focus group members were quite knowledgeable about marketing activities, and only a small minority expressed strong criticism of their use.

Conclusions and Prospects

2020 ◽  
pp. 128-132
Author(s):  
Daniel Oro
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Information Gathering ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Social Species ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Animals ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Solitary Species

Throughout the book, I have been searching for empirical examples and theories dealing with how perturbations trigger behavioural feedback responses in social animals, how these responses affect the decision to disperse between patches, and the consequences of dispersal for complex, nonlinear population dynamics. What seems quite clear is that social feedbacks—and especially runaway dispersal by copying—do play an important role in those responses, compared to solitary species. Although philopatry to the patch has many benefits, perturbations may decrease the suitability of this patch. When a patch is perturbed, do social species show different responses than solitary species? Since evolution has selected for maximizing fitness prospects, individuals living either in groups or in solitary will try to avoid the detrimental effects of the perturbation, for instance by leaving the patch. The behavioural mechanisms triggered by perturbations are similar for both social and solitary species: increase of information gathering to reduce uncertainty and the use of this updated information to make optimal decisions about either staying or leaving. Thus, the answer is that solitary and social species show similar responses to perturbations. Nevertheless, the way those behavioural mechanisms operate is rather different between social and solitary species: in the former, information is shared among individuals, and decisions about when to leave the patch and where to go are made not only using private or personal information, but mostly using social information. Last but not least, there is social copying, a trend to copy in a nonrational way what others have decided before. This social copying, also called conformity, may trigger what I termed runaway dispersal: perturbations may accumulate over time, decreasing resilience of the social group until attaining a tipping point. Once this threshold is surpassed, the decision to disperse is led by a few individuals, and this decision is copied by the rest of the group in an autocatalytic way....

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