scholarly journals Visual cues of predation risk outweigh acoustic cues: a field experiment in black-capped chickadees

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1936) ◽  
pp. 20202002
Author(s):  
Josue David Arteaga-Torres ◽  
Jan J. Wijmenga ◽  
Kimberley J. Mathot
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Cue Integration ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Poecile Atricapillus ◽  
Visual Cue ◽  
Information Updating ◽  
Energetic Constraint ◽  
Starvation Risk

Foragers rely on various cues to assess predation risk. Information theory predicts that high certainty cues should be valued more than low certainty cues. We measured the latency of black-capped chickadees ( Poecile atricapillus ) to resume feeding during winter in response to cues that conferred different degrees of certainty about current predation risk: a high certainty visual cue (predator mount) and a lower certainty acoustic cue (conspecific mobbing calls), presented either alone or in combination. As predicted, chickadees took longer to resume feeding after the visual than the acoustic cue, and this effect was greatest under conditions of high starvation risk (i.e. low temperatures). Presenting both cues together produced the same foraging delay as the visual cue alone under low starvation risk, but surprisingly, resulted in lower responses under high starvation risk compared to the visual cue alone. We suggest that this may be due to prey using a form of information updating, whereby differences in the timing of perception of acoustic versus visual cues interacts with energetic constraint to shape perceived risk. Although the sequential perception of cues is likely in a range of decision-making contexts, studies manipulating the order in which cues are perceived are needed to test existing models of multimodal cue integration.

Elevated nest predation risk promotes offspring size variation in birds with prolonged parental care.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen F. Wagner ◽  
Emeline Mourocq ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Reproductive Cycle ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Natural Predation ◽  
Risk Spreading

Predation of offspring is the main cause of reproductive failure in many species, and the mere fear of offspring predation shapes reproductive strategies. Yet, natural predation risk is ubiquitously variable and can be unpredictable. Consequently, the perceived prospect of predation early in a reproductive cycle may not reflect the actual risk to ensuing offspring. An increased variance in investment across offspring has been linked to breeding in unpredictable environments in several taxa, but has so far been overlooked as a maternal response to temporal variation in predation risk. Here, we experimentally increased the perceived risk of nest predation prior to egg-laying in seven bird species. Species with prolonged parent-offspring associations increased their intra-brood variation in egg, and subsequently offspring, size. High risk to offspring early in a reproductive cycle can favour a risk-spreading strategy particularly in species with the greatest opportunity to even out offspring quality after fledging.

Attraction of prey

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Horner ◽  
Bartosz J. Płachno ◽  
Ulrike Bauer ◽  
Bruno Di Giusto
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Synergistic Action ◽  
Carnivorous Plants ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Prey Attraction

The ability to attract prey has long been considered a universal trait of carnivorous plants. We review studies from the past 25 years that have investigated the mechanisms by which carnivorous plants attract prey to their traps. Potential attractants include nectar, visual, olfactory, and acoustic cues. Each of these has been well documented to be effective in various species, but prey attraction is not ubiquitous among carnivorous plants. Directions for future research, especially in native habitats in the field, include: the qualitative and quantitative analysis of visual cues, volatiles, and nectar; temporal changes in attractants; synergistic action of combinations of attractants; the cost of attractants; and responses to putative attractants in electroantennograms and insect behavioral tests.

scholarly journals Real-Time Lane Detection on Suburban Streets Using Visual Cue Integration

10.5772/58248 ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shehan Fernando ◽  
Lanka Udawatta ◽  
Ben Horan ◽  
Pubudu Pathirana
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Lane Detection ◽  
Cue Integration ◽  
Visual Cue

Differential Involvement of Neurons in the Dorsal and Ventral Premotor Cortex During Processing of Visual Signals for Action Planning

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 3596-3616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiji Hoshi ◽  
Jun Tanji
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Visual Cue ◽  
Ventral Premotor Cortex ◽  
Neuron Response

We examined neuronal activity in the dorsal and ventral premotor cortex (PMd and PMv, respectively) to explore the role of each motor area in processing visual signals for action planning. We recorded neuronal activity while monkeys performed a behavioral task during which two visual instruction cues were given successively with an intervening delay. One cue instructed the location of the target to be reached, and the other indicated which arm was to be used. We found that the properties of neuronal activity in the PMd and PMv differed in many respects. After the first cue was given, PMv neuron response mostly reflected the spatial position of the visual cue. In contrast, PMd neuron response also reflected what the visual cue instructed, such as which arm to be used or which target to be reached. After the second cue was given, PMv neurons initially responded to the cue's visuospatial features and later reflected what the two visual cues instructed, progressively increasing information about the target location. In contrast, the activity of the majority of PMd neurons responded to the second cue with activity reflecting a combination of information supplied by the first and second cues. Such activity, already reflecting a forthcoming action, appeared with short latencies (<400 ms) and persisted throughout the delay period. In addition, both the PMv and PMd showed bilateral representation on visuospatial information and motor-target or effector information. These results further elucidate the functional specialization of the PMd and PMv during the processing of visual information for action planning.

Note types and coding in parid vocalizations. I: The chick-a-dee call of the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 769-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Charrier ◽  
Laurie L Bloomfield ◽  
Christopher B Sturdy
Keyword(s):  
Individual Recognition ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Poecile Atricapillus ◽  
Type Composition ◽  
Bioacoustic Analysis ◽  
Perceptual Abilities ◽  
Individual Specificity ◽  
Winter Flocks

The chick-a-dee call of the black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapillus (L., 1766), consists of four note types and is used in a wide variety of contexts including mild alarm, contact between mates, and for mobilizing members of winter flocks. Because note-type composition varies with context and because birds need to identify flock mates and individuals by their calls, it is important that birds are able to discriminate between note types and birds. Moreover, previous experiments have shown that black-capped chickadees are able to discriminate their four note types, but the acoustical basis of this process is still unknown. Here, we present the results of a bioacoustic analysis that suggests which acoustic features may be controlling the birds' perception of note types and of individual identity. Several acoustic features show high note type and individual specificity, but frequency and frequency modulation cues (in particular, those of the initial part of the note) appear more likely to be used in these processes. However, only future experiments testing the bird's perceptual abilities will determine which acoustic cues in particular are used in the discrimination of note types and in individual recognition.

The Effect of Reduced Spatial Cues on the Learning of Successive Visual Reversals

1974 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. Winefield
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Brightness Discrimination ◽  
Spatial Position ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Successive Reversal ◽  
Visual Cue

The performance of rats over 12 brightness discrimination reversals was studied under two experimental conditions. Under one condition all visual cues external to the apparatus were eliminated so that only the relative positions of the discriminanda could serve as a visual cue to spatial position. Under the other condition all visual cues to position were eliminated. Under the former condition performance deteriorated with successive reversals but under the latter condition performance improved. Implications of these results for theories of successive reversal improvement were discussed and two possible explanations were suggested.

scholarly journals The strength of a female mate preference increases with predation risk

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1657) ◽  
pp. 775-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tae Won Kim ◽  
John H Christy ◽  
Stefan Dennenmoser ◽  
Jae C Choe
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Visual Orientation ◽  
Relative Preference ◽  
Avian Predators ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
Courtship Signals ◽  
Perceived Predation Risk

When females search for mates and their perceived risk of predation increases, they less often express preferences for males that use conspicuous courtship signals, relaxing sexual selection on production of these signals. Here, we report an apparent exception to this general pattern. Courting male fiddler crabs Uca beebei sometimes build pillars of mud at the openings to their burrows in which crabs mate. Females visit several males before they choose a mate by staying and breeding in their burrows, and they preferentially visit males with pillars. Previous studies suggested that this preference is based on a visual orientation behaviour that may reduce females' risk of predation while searching for a mate. We tested this idea by determining whether the female preference for males with pillars increases with perceived predation risk. We attracted avian predators to where crabs were courting and measured the rates that sexually receptive females visited courting males with and without mud pillars. Under elevated risk, females continued to search for mates and they showed a stronger relative preference for males with pillars. Thus, when predation risk is high, females may continue to express preferences that are under natural selection because they help females avoid predation, strengthening sexual selection for use of the preferred signal.

scholarly journals Stress responses to conspecific visual cues of predation risk in zebrafish

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiago Acosta Oliveira ◽  
Renan Idalencio ◽  
Fabiana Kalichak ◽  
João Gabriel dos Santos Rosa ◽  
Gessi Koakoski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Prey Fish ◽  
Alarm Signals ◽  
Defensive Responses ◽  
Defensive Behaviors ◽  
Antipredator Behaviors ◽  
Cortisol Increase

Chemical communication relating to predation risk is a trait common among fish species. Prey fish under threat of predation can signal risk to conspecific fish, which then exhibit defensive responses. Fish also assess predation risk by visual cues and change their behavior accordingly. Here, we explored whether these behavioral changes act as visual alarm signals to conspecific fish that are not initially under risk. We show that shoals of zebrafish (Danio rerio) visually exposed to a predator display antipredator behaviors. In addition, these defensive maneuvers trigger antipredator reactions in conspecifics and, concomitantly, stimulate the hypothalamus-pituitary-interrenal axis, leading to cortisol increase. Thus, we conclude that zebrafish defensive behaviors act as visual alarm cues that induce antipredator and stress response in conspecific fish.

scholarly journals A Bone Conduction Based Spatial Auditory Display as Part of a Wearable Hybrid Interface

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Barde Brock ◽  
Matt Ward ◽  
William S. Helton ◽  
Mark Billinghurst
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Bone Conduction ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Auditory Display ◽  
Auditory Cues ◽  
Visual Cue ◽  
Visual Cueing ◽  
Auditory Cue ◽  
Wearable Interface ◽  
Hybrid Interface

Attention redirection trials were carried out using a wearable interface incorporating auditory and visual cues. Visual cues were delivered via the screen on the Recon Jet – a wearable computer resembling a pair of glasses – while auditory cues were delivered over a bone conduction headset. Cueing conditions included the delivery of individual cues, both auditory and visual, and in combination with each other. Results indicate that the use of an auditory cue drastically decreases target acquisition times. This is true especially for targets that fall outside the visual field of view. While auditory cues showed no difference when paired with any of the visual cueing conditions for targets within the field of view of the user, for those outside the field of view a significant improvement in performance was observed. The static visual cue paired with the binaurally spatialised, dynamic auditory cue appeared to provide the best performance in comparison to any other cueing conditions. In the absence of a visual cue, the binaurally spatialised, dynamic auditory cue performed the best.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document