Behavioural plasticity in a native species may be related to foraging resilience in the presence of an aggressive invader

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda L. Keiller ◽  
Laura K. Lopez ◽  
Kai C. Paijmans ◽  
Marian Y. L. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Gambusia Holbrooki ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Australian Fish ◽  
Mixed Species Groups ◽  
Social Behaviours

Competition between invasive and native species can result in the exploitation of resources by the invader, reducing foraging rates of natives. However, it is increasingly recognized that multiple factors can enhance the resilience of native species competing for limiting resources with invaders. Although extensively studied in terrestrial species, little research has focused on behavioural plasticity in aquatic ecosystems and how this influences native species resilience. Here, we examined the role of behavioural plasticity in interactions between a native Australian fish, Pseudomugil signifer, and a widespread invasive fish, Gambusia holbrooki . To determine whether P. signifer displays behavioural plasticity that may mitigate competition with G. holbrooki , we first quantified social behaviours (aggression, submission and affiliation) and shoal cohesion for each species in single- and mixed-species groups. Second, we compared the feeding rates of both species in these groups to ascertain if any modulation of social behaviours and cohesion related to foraging success. We found that aggressive and submissive behaviours of G. holbrooki and P. signifer showed plasticity in the presence of heterospecifics, but social affiliation, shoaling and, most importantly, foraging, remained inflexible. This variation in the degree of plasticity highlights the complexity of the behavioural response of a native species and suggests that both behavioural modulation and consistency may be related to sustaining foraging efficiency in the presence of an invader.

scholarly journals Feeding in murky waters: acclimatization and landmarks improve foraging efficiency of zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) in turbid waters

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 20190289
Author(s):  
M. A. Sekhar ◽  
Richa Singh ◽  
Anuradha Bhat ◽  
Manjari Jain
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Foraging Success ◽  
Visual Landmarks ◽  
Water Turbidity ◽  
Turbid Waters ◽  
And Function ◽  
Extended Exposure

Fish inhabiting human-dominated ecosystems are prone to altered sensory environments in which they must live and function. Increased turbidity is one such change that they must deal with. We tested whether an increase in water turbidity and the presence of visual landmarks (coloured stones) affect the foraging efficiency of wild zebrafish. We also tested the influence of extended exposure to differing turbidity levels on the subsequent foraging efficiency of acclimatized individuals. Feeding latency (time taken to find food) increased significantly with increase in turbidity levels from a minimum of 4 s to ca 300 s. However, extended exposure of fish to varying levels of turbidity decreased feeding latencies in acclimatized conditions, indicating that acclimatization to the immediate visual environment plays an important role in determining foraging success. Most significantly, we found that feeding latencies in turbid conditions decreased significantly if visual landmarks were present. This demonstrates that zebrafish use visual landmark cues to navigate to foraging sites when visibility is impaired. This study has important implications on the role of behavioural plasticity and spatial learning in animals that allow them to cope with altered sensory environments such as episodes of enhanced turbidity that could be natural or anthropogenic.

Endangered Butterflies and their Non-Native Host Plants: Examining Shifting Values of Belonging in Restoration

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Robert M. Anderson ◽  
Amy M. Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Social ◽  
Remote Island ◽  
Scientific Truth ◽  
Native Host

The island marble butterfly (Euchloe ausonides insulanus), thought to be extinct throughout the 20th century until re-discovered on a single remote island in Puget Sound in 1998, has become the focus of a concerted protection effort to prevent its extinction. However, efforts to “restore” island marble habitat conflict with efforts to “restore” the prairie ecosystem where it lives, because of the butterfly’s use of a non-native “weedy” host plant. Through a case study of the island marble project, we examine the practice of ecological restoration as the enactment of particular norms that define which species are understood to belong in the place being restored. We contextualize this case study within ongoing debates over the value of “native” species, indicative of deep-seated uncertainties and anxieties about the role of human intervention to alter or manage landscapes and ecosystems, in the time commonly described as the “Anthropocene.” We interpret the question of “what plants and animals belong in a particular place?” as not a question of scientific truth, but a value-laden construct of environmental management in practice, and we argue for deeper reflexivity on the part of environmental scientists and managers about the social values that inform ecological restoration.

scholarly journals Temperament, Plasticity, and Emotions in Defensive Behaviour of Paca (Mammalia, Hystricognatha)

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
Selene S. C. Nogueira ◽  
Sérgio L. G. Nogueira-Filho ◽  
José M. B. Duarte ◽  
Michael Mendl
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Status ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Defensive Behaviour ◽  
Rapid Adaptation ◽  
Behavioural Responses ◽  
Judgement Bias ◽  
Temperament Dimension ◽  
Ambiguous Cue

Within a species, some individuals are better able to cope with threatening environments than others. Paca (Cuniculus paca) appear resilient to over-hunting by humans, which may be related to the behavioural plasticity shown by this species. To investigate this, we submitted captive pacas to temperament tests designed to assess individual responses to short challenges and judgement bias tests (JBT) to evaluate individuals’ affective states. Results indicated across-time and context stability in closely correlated “agitated”, “fearful” and “tense” responses; this temperament dimension was labelled “restless”. Individual “restless” scores predicted responses to novelty, although not to simulated chasing and capture by humans in a separate modified defence test battery (MDTB). Restless animals were more likely to show a greater proportion of positive responses to an ambiguous cue during JBT after the MDTB. Plasticity in defensive behaviour was inferred from changes in behavioural responses and apparently rapid adaptation to challenge in the different phases of the MDTB. The results indicate that both temperament and behavioural plasticity may play a role in influencing paca responses to risky situations. Therefore, our study highlights the importance of understanding the role of individual temperament traits and behavioural plasticity in order to better interpret the animals’ conservation status and vulnerabilities.

scholarly journals Individuals from different-looking animal species may group together to confuse shared predators: simulations with artificial neural networks

2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1611) ◽  
pp. 827-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin R Tosh ◽  
Andrew L Jackson ◽  
Graeme D Ruxton
Keyword(s):  
Animal Species ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Mixed Species ◽  
Retinotopic Maps ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Artificial Neural ◽  
Mixed Species Groups ◽  
Species Grouping ◽  
Prey Items

Individuals of many quite distantly related animal species find each other attractive and stay together for long periods in groups. We present a mechanism for mixed-species grouping in which individuals from different-looking prey species come together because the appearance of the mixed-species group is visually confusing to shared predators. Using an artificial neural network model of retinotopic mapping in predators, we train networks on random projections of single- and mixed-species prey groups and then test the ability of networks to reconstruct individual prey items from mixed-species groups in a retinotopic map. Over the majority of parameter space, cryptic prey items benefit from association with conspicuous prey because this particular visual combination worsens predator targeting of cryptic individuals. However, this benefit is not mutual as conspicuous prey tends to be targeted most poorly when in same-species groups. Many real mixed-species groups show the asymmetry in willingness to initiate and maintain the relationship predicted by our study. The agreement of model predictions with published empirical work, the efficacy of our modelling approach in previous studies, and the taxonomic ubiquity of retinotopic maps indicate that we may have uncovered an important, generic selective agent in the evolution of mixed-species grouping.

TOLERATED CO-FEEDING IN RELATION TO DEGREE OF KINSHIP IN JAPANESE MACAQUES

Behaviour ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Chapais ◽  
Patrick Belisle
Keyword(s):  
Macaca Fuscata ◽  
Japanese Macaques ◽  
Preferential Treatment ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Dominance Relationship ◽  
Mothers And Daughters ◽  
Dominant Female ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Access To Food

AbstractWe analyzed co-feeding in relation to degree of kinship in Japanese macaques Macaca fuscata), testing experimentally five categories of matrilineal kin dyads: mother-daughter, grandmother-granddaughter, sisters, aunt-niece and nonkin. In each test, two adult females with a clear dominance relationship had access to a box containing a limited quantity of highly prized food. The dominant female could easily prevent the subordinate from eating so that food was easily monopolizable, hence the use of the expression tolerated co-feeding. Rates of tolerated co-feeding increased steeply with degree of kinship. The aggression levels of dominant females towards subordinate females decreased with increasing degree of kinship and this effect was most apparent between mothers and daughters. The confidence level of subordinate females increased with degree of kinship and this effect became apparent above the aunt-niece kin class. Prior access to food by the subordinate female was a significant means of access to food, mostly beyond the grandmother-granddaughter kin category. The results point to a relatedness threshold for the preferential treatment of kin at r = 0.25 (grandmother-granddaughter and sister dyads), beyond which (r = 0.125: aunt-niece dyads), levels of tolerated co-feeding were comparable to those of nonkin females. The identity of this threshold with that found in previous studies on the same group for two different types of interactions suggests the existence of a generalized relatedness threshold for kin favoritism in Japanese macaques. Assuming that the costs of food defense by the dominant females were negligible and that tolerated co-feeding was altruistic, our results support the role of kin selection in the evolution of altruism in primates beyond the mother-offspring bond.

scholarly journals Raised by aliens: constant exposure to an invasive predator triggers morphological but not behavioural plasticity in a threatened species tadpoles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Melotto ◽  
Gentile Francesco Ficetola ◽  
Roberta Pennati ◽  
Nicoletta Ancona ◽  
Raoul Manenti
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Procambarus Clarkii ◽  
Muscle Size ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Invasive Predators ◽  
Behavioural Tests

AbstractDuring biotic invasions, native communities are abruptly exposed to novel and often severe selective pressures. The lack of common evolutionary history with invasive predators can hamper the expression of effective anti-predator responses in native prey, potentially accelerating population declines. Nonetheless, rapid adaptation and phenotypic plasticity may allow native species to cope with the new ecological pressures. We tested the hypothesis that phenotypic plasticity is fostered when facing invasive species and evaluated whether plasticity offers a pool of variability that might help the fixation of adaptive phenotypes. We assessed behavioural and morphological trait variation in tadpoles of the Italian agile frog (Rana latastei) in response to the invasive crayfish predator, Procambarus clarkii, by rearing tadpoles under different predation-risk regimes: non-lethal crayfish presence and crayfish absence. After two-month rearing, crayfish-exposed tadpoles showed a plastic shift in their body shape and increased tail muscle size, while behavioural tests showed no effect of crayfish exposure on tadpole behaviour. Furthermore, multivariate analyses revealed weak divergence in morphology between invaded and uninvaded populations, while plasticity levels were similar between invaded and uninvaded populations. Even if tadpoles displayed multiple plastic responses to the novel predator, none of these shifts underwent fixation after crayfish arrival (10–15 years). Overall, these findings highlight that native prey can finely tune their responses to invasive predators through plasticity, but the adaptive value of these responses in whitstanding the novel selective pressures, and the long-term consequences they can entail remain to be ascertained.

scholarly journals The taxonomy, biogeography and conservation of the myrmecophilous Chrysoritis butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R.F. Terblanche ◽  
H. Van Hamburg
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Species Lists ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Valuable Role

The relevance and integration of scientific knowledge to conservation management of the locally popular and highly endemic butterfly genus Chrysoritis are investigated within the research fields of taxonomy and biogeography. The butterfly genus Chrysoritis contains at least 41 species endemic to South Africa. The taxonomy of Chrysoritis has reached a state where revisions could easily result in a plethora of names between “lumping and splitting”. In practice, the state of the taxonomy of these butterflies on species level may alter their conservation priority. The two most species rich species groups in Chrysoritis have different centres of endemism, however, a butterfly atlas becomes a necessity to reveal more about their biogeography. There is an absence of butterfly species lists in many of our National Parks and Nature Reserves. Legislation should facilitate rather than limit the valuable role of the amateur lepidopterist to add distribution records. In turn, the amateur lepidopterists should adapt and make an effort to explore unknown localities, apart from monitoring butterflies at their well-known localities. The red listing of localised butterflies in South Africa, including a number of Chrysoritis species, is in need of an urgent review in the light of the most recent IUCN categories. A species such as Chrysoritis dicksoni should be protected by law - but at its known localities. The scenario that real conservation action is only needed if the last known locality of a butterfly is threatened, should be abolished. A paradigm shift to conserve the metapopulations of the highly endemic Chrysoritis genus and not merely a few of its species as items that appear on lists, seems necessary.

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