scholarly journals Foraging behaviour alters with social environment in a juvenile songbird

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1939) ◽  
pp. 20201878
Author(s):  
Victoria R. Franks ◽  
John G. Ewen ◽  
Mhairi McCready ◽  
Rose Thorogood
Keyword(s):  
Critical Period ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
New Information ◽  
Mixed Treatment ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Cultural Ecological ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences

Early independence from parents is a critical period where social information acquired vertically may become outdated, or conflict with new information. However, across natural populations, it is unclear if newly independent young persist in using information from parents, or if group-level effects of conformity override previous behaviours. Here, we test if wild juvenile hihi ( Notiomystis cincta , a New Zealand passerine) retain a foraging behaviour from parents, or if they change in response to the behaviour of peers. We provided feeding stations to parents during chick-rearing to seed alternative access routes, and then tracked their offspring's behaviour. Once independent, juveniles formed mixed-treatment social groups, where they did not retain preferences from their time with parents. Instead, juvenile groups converged over time to use one access route­ per group, and juveniles that moved between groups switched to copy the locally favoured option. Juvenile hihi did not copy specific individuals, even if they were more familiar with the preceding bird. Our study shows that early social experiences with parents affect initial foraging decisions, but social environments encountered later on can update transmission of arbitrary behaviours. This suggests that conformity may be widespread in animal groups, with potential cultural, ecological and evolutionary consequences.

scholarly journals Copy parents or follow friends? Juvenile foraging behaviour changes with social environment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria R. Franks ◽  
John G. Ewen ◽  
Mhairi McCready ◽  
Rose Thorogood
Keyword(s):  
Critical Period ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Mixed Treatment ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Number Of Visits ◽  
Behaviour Changes ◽  
Notiomystis Cincta

AbstractThe first few months of juvenile independence is a critical period for survival as young must learn new behaviours to forage efficiently. Social learning by observing parents (vertical transmission) or others (horizontal/oblique transmission) may be important to overcome naivety, but these tutors are likely to differ in their reliability due to variation in their own experience. How young animals use different social information sources, however, has received little attention. Here we tested if wild juvenile hihi (Notiomystis cincta, a New Zealand passerine) retained foraging behaviours learned from parents, or if behaviour changed after independence in response to peers. We first trained parents with feeders during chick rearing: one-third could access food from any direction, one-third could access food from one side only, and the remaining third had no feeder. During post-fledge parental care, juveniles chose the same side as their parents. Once independent, juveniles formed mixed-treatment groups naturally so we then presented feeders with two equally profitable sides. Juveniles with natal feeder experience were quicker to use these feeders initially, but side choice was now random. Over time, however, juveniles converged on using one side of the feeder (which differed between groups). This apparent conformity was because juvenile hihi paid attention to the behaviour of their group and were more likely to choose the locally-favoured side as the number of visits to that side increased. They did not copy the choice of specific individuals, even when they were more social or more familiar with the preceding bird. Our study shows that early social experiences with parents affect foraging decisions, but later social environments lead juveniles to modify their behaviour.

Synthesis: foraging decisions link plants, herbivores and human beings

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 411 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. D. Provenza ◽  
P. Gregorini ◽  
P. C. F. Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Food Selection ◽  
Secondary Compounds ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Temporal And Spatial

Herbivores make decisions about where to forage and what combinations and sequences of foods to eat, integrating influences that span generations, with choices manifest daily within a lifetime. These influences begin in utero and early in life; they emerge daily from interactions among internal needs and contexts unique to biophysical and social environments; and they link the cells of plants with the palates of herbivores and humans. This synthesis summarises papers in the special issue of Animal Production Science that explore emerging understanding of these dynamics, and suggests implications for future research that can help people manage livestock for the benefit of landscapes and people by addressing (1) how primary and secondary compounds in plants interact physiologically with cells and organs in animals to influence food selection, (2) temporal and spatial patterns of foraging behaviours that emerge from these interactions in the form of meal dynamics across landscapes, (3) ways humans can manage foraging behaviours and the dynamics of meals for ecological, economic and social benefits, and (4) models of foraging behaviour that integrate the aforementioned influences.

Environmental Landscape Design for Alzheimer's

2016 ◽  
pp. 17-41
Author(s):  
Gökçen Firdevs Yücel
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Landscape Design ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
New Information ◽  
External Stimuli ◽  
Environmental Landscape

People suffering from Alzheimer's may feel anxious or unsettled as a result of these symptoms – in particular the decrease in their cognitive abilities and in their ability to take into account new information or external stimuli – as well from the effects of their medications. Because of their sensitivity, such individuals find it difficult to keep up a positive attitude and remain emotionally stable for long: they experience mood swings, and are unable to keep their negative emotions in check. For this reason, the best practice in treatment is to help them maintain a positive view of their lives and balance their emotions, both personally, in terms of keeping their sense of self, and in social environments, where they have to recognize and interact with others. In this way, good environmental landscape design will have an important role to play in improving their quality of life.

scholarly journals Age Differences in Material Deprivation in Finland: How do Consensus and Prevalence-Based Weighting Approaches Change the Picture?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilari Ilmakunnas ◽  
Lauri Mäkinen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Material Deprivation ◽  
Prevalence Rates ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
New Information ◽  
Deprivation Indices

AbstractWhile material deprivation is often used to measure poverty, analyses focusing on the measurement of material deprivation are scarce. This study provides new information on material deprivation by analyzing how differences in the considerations of necessities and possession of deprivation items among all respondents and within population subgroups affect group-level differences in material deprivation in Finland. In line with many previous studies on material deprivation, this study focused on age groups. There is a significant age gradient regarding considerations of necessities, possession, and deprivation of many deprivation items. On average, younger adults experience material deprivation more often than older adults do. This study considers the differences in the considerations of necessities and possession of deprivation items using different weighting approaches. The study found that these differences are not largely transmitted to deprivation indices. Two causes of this finding were found: (1) individuals, on average, are not deprived of items in which there are differences between age groups regarding consensus and prevalence and (2) in those items in which deprivation is high, the consensus and the prevalence rates are often lower compared to other items. The results provide new information on which factors are important when using weighting approaches to measure material deprivation.

scholarly journals Rapid evolution of cold tolerance in stickleback

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1703) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowan D. H. Barrett ◽  
Antoine Paccard ◽  
Timothy M. Healy ◽  
Sara Bergek ◽  
Patricia M. Schulte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cold Tolerance ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Temperature Tolerance ◽  
Ancestral Population ◽  
Biological Communities ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Short Time

Climate change is predicted to lead to increased average temperatures and greater intensity and frequency of high and low temperature extremes, but the evolutionary consequences for biological communities are not well understood. Studies of adaptive evolution of temperature tolerance have typically involved correlative analyses of natural populations or artificial selection experiments in the laboratory. Field experiments are required to provide estimates of the timing and strength of natural selection, enhance understanding of the genetics of adaptation and yield insights into the mechanisms driving evolutionary change. Here, we report the experimental evolution of cold tolerance in natural populations of threespine stickleback fish ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ). We show that freshwater sticklebacks are able to tolerate lower minimum temperatures than marine sticklebacks and that this difference is heritable. We transplanted marine sticklebacks to freshwater ponds and measured the rate of evolution after three generations in this environment. Cold tolerance evolved at a rate of 0.63 haldanes to a value 2.5°C lower than that of the ancestral population, matching values found in wild freshwater populations. Our results suggest that cold tolerance is under strong selection and that marine sticklebacks carry sufficient genetic variation to adapt to changes in temperature over remarkably short time scales.

scholarly journals Genomic consequences of a recent three-way admixture in supplemented wild brown trout populations revealed by ancestry tracts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maeva Leitwein ◽  
Pierre-Alexandre Gagnaire ◽  
Erick Desmarais ◽  
Patrick Berrebi ◽  
Bruno Guinand
Keyword(s):  
Brown Trout ◽  
Salmo Trutta ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Length Distribution ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Population Genomic ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Local Ancestry Inference ◽  
Detailed Picture

AbstractUnderstanding the evolutionary consequences of human-mediated introductions of domestic strains into the wild and their subsequent admixture with natural populations is of major concern in conservation biology. In the brown trout Salmo trutta, decades of stocking practices have profoundly impacted the genetic makeup of wild populations. Small local Mediterranean populations in the Orb River watershed (Southern France) have been subject to successive introductions of domestic strains derived from the Atlantic and Mediterranean lineages. However, the genomic impacts of two distinct sources of stocking (locally-derived vs divergent) on the genetic integrity of wild populations remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluate the extent of admixture from both domestic strains within three wild populations of this watershed, using 75,684 mapped SNPs obtained from double-digest restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (dd-RADseq). Using a local ancestry inference approach, we provide a detailed picture of admixture patterns across the brown trout genome at the haplotype level. By analysing the chromosomal ancestry profiles of admixed individuals, we reveal a wider diversity of hybrid and introgressed genotypes than estimated using classical methods for inferring ancestry and hybrid pedigree. In addition, the length distribution of introgressed tracts retained different timings of introgression between the two domestic strains. We finally reveal opposite consequences of admixture on the level of polymorphism of the recipient populations between domestic strains. Our study illustrates the potential of using the information contained in the genomic mosaic of ancestry tracts in combination with classical methods based on allele frequencies for analysing multiple-way admixture with population genomic data.

scholarly journals Linking social foraging behaviour with individual time budgets and emergent group-level phenomena

2012 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 1295-1305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry H. Marshall ◽  
Alecia J. Carter ◽  
J. Marcus Rowcliffe ◽  
Guy Cowlishaw
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Social Foraging ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Time Budgets

The social context of individual foraging behaviour in long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas)

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (10) ◽  
pp. 1453-1477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fleur Visser ◽  
Patrick J.O. Miller ◽  
Ricardo N. Antunes ◽  
Machiel G. Oudejans ◽  
Monique L. Mackenzie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Distinct Group ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Diving Behaviour ◽  
Classification Model ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Globicephala Melas ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pilot Whales

Long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) are highly social cetaceans that live in matrilineal groups and acquire their prey during deep foraging dives. We tagged individual pilot whales to record their diving behaviour. To describe the social context of this individual behaviour, the tag data were matched with surface observations at the group level using a novel protocol. The protocol comprised two key components: a dynamic definition of the group centred around the tagged individual, and a set of behavioural parameters quantifying visually observable characteristics of the group. Our results revealed that the diving behaviour of tagged individuals was associated with distinct group-level behaviour at the water’s surface. During foraging, groups broke up into smaller and more widely spaced units with a higher degree of milling behaviour. These data formed the basis for a classification model, using random forest decision trees, which accurately distinguished between bouts of shallow diving and bouts of deep foraging dives based on group behaviour observed at the surface. The results also indicated that members of a group to a large degree synchronised the timing of their foraging periods. This was confirmed by pairs of tagged individuals that nearly always synchronized their diving bouts. Hence, our study illustrates that integration of individual-level and group-level observations can shed new light on the social context of the individual foraging behaviour of animals living in groups.

Direct detection of digestive enzymes in planktonic rotifers using enzyme-labelled fluorescence (ELF)

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Štrojsová ◽  
J. Vrba
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Assay ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Feeding Activity ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Trend Detection ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
New Information ◽  
Planktonic Rotifers

A novel enzyme-labelled-fluorescence (ELF) method was applied to natural populations of planktonic rotifers from a eutrophic reservoir. Direct visualisation of rotifers by this new method provided new information about enzymatic activities in situ, including detection and location of enzyme activities. Three fluorogenic substrates were used for the enzyme assay in concentrated (20–60×) samples of the rotifers. After a short (1–3 h) incubation in test tubes, samples were filtered and the rotifers on polycarbonate filters were examined using an epifluorescence microscope. Activity of phosphatases, β-N-acetylhexosaminidases and lipases were detected in some species that were regularly inspected during two seasons – most frequently in the stomach area, at the corona and, less often, in the mastax area. The results suggest that most of the detected enzymes are connected with the digestive tracts of rotifers. Also, autofluorescence of chlorophyll a enabled visualisation of the digestive tracts of the rotifers and provided additional information on the food (phytoplankton). Enzyme expression did not show any clear seasonal trend. Detection of specific enzymes varied considerably between species of rotifers and between individuals. This variability could be a result of change of feeding behaviour of rotifers in the concentrated samples and also could reflect individual differences among the rotifers in a population, such as feeding activity, age or life stage.

Sex and physiological state influence the rate of resource acquisition and monopolisation in urban free-ranging dogs, Canis familiaris

Behaviour ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 150 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhur Mangalam ◽  
Mewa Singh
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Canis Familiaris ◽  
Resource Acquisition ◽  
Extraction Techniques ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
New Information ◽  
Free Ranging

In animal populations, the constraints of energy and time can cause intraspecific variation in foraging behaviour. The proximate developmental mediators of such variation are often the mechanisms underlying perception and associative learning. Here, experience-dependent changes in foraging behaviour and their consequences were investigated in an urban population of free-ranging dogs, Canis familiaris by continually challenging them with the task of food extraction from specially crafted packets. Typically, males and pregnant/lactating (PL) females extracted food using the sophisticated ‘gap widening’ technique, whereas non-pregnant/non-lactating (NPNL) females, the relatively underdeveloped ‘rip opening’ technique. In contrast to most males and PL females (and a few NPNL females) that repeatedly used the gap widening technique and improved their performance in food extraction with experience, most NPNL females (and a few males and PL females) non-preferentially used the two extraction techniques and did not improve over successive trials. Furthermore, the ability of dogs to sophisticatedly extract food was positively related to their ability to improve their performance with experience. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that factors such as sex and physiological state can cause differences among individuals in the likelihood of learning new information and hence, in the rate of resource acquisition and monopolization.

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