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1.
Predation influences the ecology and behaviour of prey species and it is well known that the risk of predation affects prey’s decision making. We investigated whether predation risk through moon phase and exposure to the faecal odour of a natural predator, the red fox Vulpes vulpes, affect feeding behaviour and physiological response in wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). Antipredatory response was studied by live trapping under new and full moon in odourless control areas and areas experimentally manipulated with red fox fresh faeces. Food intake by individuals was determined as the amount of bait remaining in each trap and the physiological response was measured non-invasively analysing faecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM). Traps treated with faeces of red fox were the most avoided, and this avoidance was more significant during full moon. Food intake by wood mice varied according to the moon phase being significantly lower under full moon nights. We found sex, breeding condition and weight of individuals explaining the variation found in FCM concentrations, but no changes in FCM levels due to moon phase or exposure to red fox faeces were detected. These results indicate that wood mice avoid red fox faecal odour and this antipredatory response as well as feeding behaviour are significantly influenced by moon phase. However, no physiological response was found due to predation risk suggesting that wood mice do not take these predation cues enough reliable to experience physiological changes. 相似文献
2.
Maud C. O. Ferrari François Messier Douglas P. Chivers 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(7):1079-1083
A prerequisite for prey to show adaptive behavioural responses to predators is that the prey has the ability to recognise
predators as threats. While predator recognition can be innate in many situations, learning is often essential. For many aquatic
species, one common way to learn about predators is through the pairing of a novel predator odour with alarm cues released
from injured conspecifics. One study with fish demonstrated that this mode of learning not only allows the prey to recognise
the predatory cues as a threat, but also mediates the level of threat associated with the predator cues (i.e. threat-sensitive
learning). When the prey is exposed to the novel predator with a high concentration of alarm cues, they subsequently show
a high intensity of antipredator response to the predator cues alone. When exposed to the predator with a low concentration
of alarm cues, they subsequently show a low-intensity response to the predator cues. Here, we investigated whether larval
mosquitoes Culex restuans have the ability to learn to recognise salamanders as a threat through a single pairing of alarm cues and salamander odour
and also whether they would learn to respond to salamander cues in a threat-sensitive manner. We conditioned individual mosquitoes
with water or a low, medium or high concentration of crushed conspecific cues (alarm cues) paired with salamander odour. Mosquitoes
exposed to salamander odour paired with alarm cues and subsequently exposed to salamander odour alone responded to the salamander
as a threat. Moreover, the intensity of antipredator response displayed during the conditioning phase matched the response
intensity during the testing phase. This is the first demonstration of threat-sensitive learning in an aquatic invertebrate. 相似文献
3.
Marco Tasin Anna-Carin Bäckman Marie Bengtsson Nélia Varela Claudio Ioriatti Peter Witzgall 《Chemoecology》2006,16(2):87-92
Summary. Host plant volatiles which attract insect herbivores for egg-laying are of principal interest with respect to insect ecology
and evolution. Direct applications concern population monitoring and control through behavioural manipulation. Identification
of behaviourally active plant secondary metabolites is essential also for plant breeding for insect resistance. Grapevine
moth females Lobesia botrana are attracted by upwind flight to green grape berries Vitis vinifera. The headspace of grape berries was collected on air filters. A solvent extract of these filters, released from a sprayer,
attracted females in the wind tunnel. The results demonstrate that volatile cues mediate attraction of grapevine moth females
to grape berries, and that headspace collections capture the essence of this odour signal. The air filter extracts were examined
by gas chromatography coupled with electroantennographic detection, and the compounds eliciting a consistent antennal response
in L. botrana females were identified by mass spectrometry. The headspace collection apparatus was calibrated for collection efficiency
of the active compounds. Their recovery rate ranged from 35 % for methyl salicylate to 83 % for (E,E)-α-farnesene. A synthetic ten-component blend was then formulated. The blend consisted of compounds eliciting an antennal
response, formulated in a blend ratio corrected for differences in collection efficiency. Subsequent wind tunnel tests showed
that female attraction to this synthetic ten-component blend was not significantly different from attraction to grape berries,
or to headspace collections of the same berries. At a release rate of 35 ng/h of the most abundant compound (E)-β-caryophyllene,
20 % of the test females approached the source of sprayed headspace collections and the ten-component synthetic blend, respectively.
In comparison, 100 g of green berries, releasing the main compound (E)-β-caryophyllene at a rate of ca. 4.7 ng/h, attracted
10 % of the females by upwind flight followed by source contact. 相似文献
4.
Summary. Oviposition site selection of herbivorous insects depends primarily on host plant presence which is essential for offspring
survival. However, parasitoids can exploit host plant cues for host location. In this study, we hypothesised that herbivores
can solve this dilemma by ovipositing within high plant diversity. A diverse plant species composition might represent an
‘infochemical shelter’, as a potentially complex volatile blend can negatively affect the host location ability of parasitoids.
We examined this exemplarily for the egg-laying response of the generalist leaf beetle, Galeruca tanaceti, in relation to (1) host plant availability and (2) plant species diversity in the field. Further, we investigated the effect
of odours from mixed plant species compositions on (3) leaf beetle oviposition site selection and on (4) the orientation of
its specialised egg parasitoid, Oomyzus galerucivorus. In the field, egg clutch occurrence was positively related to the presence and quantity of two major host plants, Achillea millefolium (yarrow) and Centaurea jacea, and to the number of herbaceous plant species. In two-choice bioassays, female beetles oviposited more frequently on sites
surrounded by an odour blend from a diverse plant species composition (including yarrow) than on sites with a pure grass odour
blend. In the presence of yarrow odour and an odour blend from a diverse plant mixture (including yarrow) no difference in
the oviposition response was recorded. Experienced parasitoid females were attracted to yarrow odours, but showed no response
when yarrow odours were offered simultaneously with odours of a non-host plant. In conclusion, it could be shown in laboratory
bioassays that the parasitoid responds only to pure host plant odours but not to complex odour blends. In contrast, the herbivore
prefers to oviposit within diverse vegetation in the field and in the laboratory. However, the laboratory results also point
to a priority of host plant availability over the selection of a potential ‘infochemical shelter’ for oviposition due to high
plant diversity. 相似文献
5.
Summary. Recent studies have demonstrated that under
weakly acidic conditions (pH 6.0), many prey fishes, including
juvenile rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss), do not
exhibit overt antipredator responses to conspecific chemical
alarm cues. In laboratory trials, we investigated the potential
effects of reduced pH on the ability of hatchery reared, predator
naïve juvenile rainbow trout to acquire the recognition of
a novel predator (yellow perch, Perca flavenscens). Initially,
we exposed trout to the odour of a predatory yellow perch,
buffered to pH 6.0 (weakly acidic) or pH 7.0 (neutral) paired
with conspecific skin extracts (also buffered to pH 6.0 or 7.0)
or a distilled water control. Juvenile trout exhibited significant
increase in antipredator behaviour when exposed to neutral
skin extract (pH 7.0). When retested 48 hours later to perch
odour alone (pH 7.0), only trout initially conditioned with
neutral skin extracts (pairs with either neutral or acidic perch
odour) exhibited a learned recognition of perch odour as a
predator risk. Those initially exposed to weakly acidic skin
extract or the distilled water control did not show a learned
response to predator odour. These results demonstrate that the
ability to acquire the recognition of novel predators is
impaired under weakly acidic conditions, as would occur in
natural waterways affected by acidic precipitation. 相似文献
6.
Summary
Parastizopus armaticeps andEremostibes opacus are two closely related desert tenebrionids which also live in close association, the former having biparental brood care and the latter cleptoparasitising the brood.E. opacus is unable to discriminate between the conspecific and host odour even in the absence of physical contact. Gas chromatographic analysis of headspace volatiles of resting animals showed almost complete qualitative and quantitative odour congruity between them. Comparison of these odour profiles with those of two other tenebrionids sharing the same ecological niche,Gonopus agrestis andHerpiscius sp. (damaralis?) showed that congruity was independent of common foodplant utilisation. It is also independent of common defensive gland secretions. Parallels between resting odour spectra, defensive secretion spectra and systematic status suggest that the origins of congruity lie in odour homology, by means of which the cleptoparasite was able to exploit its host. 相似文献
7.
Background level of risk determines the intensity of predator neophobia in juvenile convict cichlids
Grant E. Brown Douglas P. Chivers Chris K. Elvidge Christopher D. Jackson Maud C. O. Ferrari 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2014,68(1):127-133
Behavioural ecology is rife with examples of prey animals that are able to adjust the intensity of their anti-predator response to match background risk levels. Often, preys need experience with predators before they will invest in costly anti-predator responses. This means that prey animals often fail to respond to predators during their first encounter. Recently, we have shown that prey raised under high-risk conditions may exhibit avoidance of potential predation cues independent of experience (neophobia). Such phenotypically plastic neophobic predator responses may reduce the initial costs of learning ecologically relevant threats while maintaining sufficient behavioural plasticity to respond to variation in local conditions. Here, we test if induced neophobia results in threat-sensitive behavioural trade-offs in response to a novel chemosensory cue. Our first experiment shows that while juvenile convict cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) pre-exposed to high (but not low) risk conditions exhibited predator avoidance to a novel odour (rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss), the response intensity was not influenced by the concentration of trout odour detected. Our second experiment demonstrated that the intensity of anti-predator response towards a novel predator cue was dependent upon the level of background risk. Convict cichlids pre-exposed to high-risk conditions showed stronger responses than those pre-exposed to low-risk conditions, while cichlids pre-exposed to intermediate-risk conditions exhibited intermediate response intensities. Together, these data demonstrate that background levels of risk and not the concentration of novel cues detected shape the induced neophobic response pattern of juvenile convict cichlids. 相似文献
8.
Anja Gladbach David Joachim Gladbach Martina Koch Alexandra Kuchar Erich Möstl Petra Quillfeldt 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(7):1491-1498
The measurement of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites is used as a non-invasive technique to study stress in animal populations.
They have been used most widely in mammals, and mammalian studies have also treated issues such as sample stability and storage
methods. In birds, faecal corticosterone metabolite (CM) assays have been validated for a small number of species, and adequate
storage under field conditions has not been addressed explicitly in previous studies. Furthermore, while it is well-established
that baseline plasma corticosterone levels in birds rise with declining body condition, no study so far investigated if this
relationship is also reflected in faecal samples. We here present data of a field study in wild Upland geese Chloephaga picta leucoptera on the Falkland Islands, testing different storage methods and investigating the relationship of faecal CM concentrations
to body condition and reproductive parameters. We found that faecal CM measures are significantly repeatable within individuals,
higher in individuals with lower body condition in both male and female wild Upland geese and higher in later breeding females
with smaller broods. These results suggest that measuring faecal CM values may be a valuable non-invasive tool to monitor
the relative condition or health of individuals and populations, especially in areas where there still is intense hunting
practice. 相似文献
9.
Summary. Many aquatic species use chemosensory information to assess predation risk. The cues used in such risk assessment can come
either from the predator (predator odour) or from injured prey (alarm cues). The information conveyed through chemicals may,
however, be inaccurate both spatially and temporally, as chemicals may persist in the environment long after the predator
is gone. Thus, the level of accuracy of the cues for risk assessment may depend on the persistency of the chemicals in the
habitat. Here, we investigated the persistency of alarm cues of a larval amphibian, the woodfrog (Rana sylvatica) in a ephemeral pond, their natural habitat. We introduced either alarm cues or control water in enclosed sleeves (~10 L)
installed in the pond. The sleeve water was then sampled after 5 min and every two hours for eight hours. We used the behavioural
response of woodfrog tadpoles to alarm cues as a bioassay to assess how long the alarm cues persisted in the environment.
We found that tadpoles responded with an antipredator response to the pond water containing alarm cues 5 min after the injection
of the cues in the sleeves but did not respond to that same pond water after two hours. Our results indicate that biodegradation
and/or photodegradation of alarm cues in natural habitats might occur relatively quickly as the loss of a response to the
cues in our experiment was independent of a dilution effect. This contrasts with previous laboratory results indicating that
chemicals may be active after several hours. 相似文献
10.
Maud C. O. Ferrari Meaghan A. Vavrek Chris K. Elvidge Bryan Fridman Douglas P. Chivers Grant E. Brown 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,63(1):113-121
Following disturbance, some aquatic prey species release chemicals that act as a warning cue and increase vigilance in nearby
conspecifics. Such disturbance cues evoke consistent low intensity anti-predator responses. In contrast, alarm cues from injured
conspecifics often evoke stronger intensity responses in prey animals. In this study, we test the sensory complement hypothesis,
which suggests that multiple cues act in an additive or synergistic fashion to provide additional information for risk assessment
by prey. In the first experiment, we showed that juvenile rainbow trout pre-exposed to disturbance cues respond to a given
concentration of damage-released alarm cues with a higher intensity of response than the trout that were pre-exposed to cues
from undisturbed conspecifics. The two cues acted in an additive fashion. In the second experiment, we demonstrated that disturbance
cues alone were not enough to elicit a conditioned response to the odour of a novel predator. We also showed that while disturbance
cues elicit an increase in the response of trout to alarm cues, this increase does not translate into a stronger learned response
to the predator when the predator odour is paired with alarm cues. Future studies should take into account sensory complementation
to avoid underestimating the responses of prey to predators. 相似文献
11.
Hannu Ylönen Jana A. Eccard Ilmari Jokinen Janne Sundell 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2006,60(3):350-358
Predation risk has been shown to alter various behaviours in prey. Risk alters activity, habitat use and foraging, and weight decrease might be a consequence of that. In mammals, studies on physiological measures affected by risk of predation, other than weight, are rare. We studied in two separate laboratory experiments foraging, hoarding behaviour and expression of stress measured non-invasively from the faeces in the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus), a common boreal rodent. Voles were exposed to predation risk using odours of the least weasels (Mustela nivalis nivalis). Distilled water served as control. In the first experiment, we found that foraging effort, measured as sunflower seeds taken from seed trays filled with sand, was significantly lower in trays scented with weasel odour. Both immediate consumption of seeds and hoarding were affected negatively by the weasel odour. Females hoarded significantly more than males in autumn. In the second experiment, the negative effect of weasel odour on foraging was consistent over a 3-day experiment, but the strongest effect was observed in the first night. Foraging increased over the time of the experiment, which might reflect either energetic compensation during a longer period of risk, predicted in the predation risk allocation hypothesis, or habituation to the odour-simulated risk. Despite decreased foraging under predation risk, stress measured as corticosteroid metabolite concentration in vole faeces was not affected by the weasel odour treatment. In conclusion, we were able to verify predation-risk-mediated changes in the foraging effort of bank voles but no physiological stress response was measured non-invasively, probably due to great individual variation in secretion of stress hormones. 相似文献
12.
Summary. Young larvae of Adalia bipunctata search an area more intensively when exposed to the odour from other larvae feeding on aphids than when exposed only to the
odour of aphids. In an olfactometer young larvae were significantly attracted either to the odour of crushed aphids or larvae
feeding on aphids, but not to that of aphids, larvae, larvae plus aphids or larvae feeding on an artificial diet. That is,
the change in searching behaviour appears in response to a volatile released by aphids when attacked. The odour released by
crushed aphids is made up entirely of aphid alarm pheromone, β-farnesene. It is likely that the adaptive significance of this
response is that it increases the ability of larvae to locate larvae that have already caught prey. By sharing the aphid kill
of another larva it is likely that a first instar ladybird larva greatly increases its probability of surviving to the next
instar. It is suggested that this social feeding is facilitated by egg clustering, which also may additionally account for
why aphidophagous ladybirds lay their eggs in clusters.
Received 28 February 2000; accepted 24 March 2000 相似文献
13.
Andrew B. Nelson Shireen D. Alemadi Brian D. Wisenden 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2013,67(8):1269-1273
Predation exerts tremendous selection pressure on all organisms. In this study, we exposed embryos of convict cichlids (Amatitlania siquia) twice daily to one of the following: (1) chemical alarm cues of damaged conspecifics + odour of a novel predator (Polypterus endlicheri), (2) chemical alarm cues of damaged conspecifics + water or (3) blank water. No chemical cues were presented after the eggs hatched. When the larvae were 9 days old (mean total length?=?5.7 mm), they were exposed to either predator odour or water. Those larvae that had been conditioned as embryos on alarm cues + predator odour showed a significant reduction in activity (i.e. anti-predator behavioural response) to predator odour relative to the other treatments. This is the first demonstration of acquired predator recognition by fish embryos. 相似文献
14.
Giuseppe Donati An Bollen Silvana M. Borgognini-Tarli Joerg U. Ganzhorn 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(8):1237-1251
Animals show specific morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations to diurnal or nocturnal activity. Cathemeral
species, i.e. animals with activities distributed over the 24-h period, have to compromise between these specific adaptations.
The driving evolutionary forces and the proximate costs and benefits of cathemerality are still poorly understood. Our goal
was to evaluate the role of predator avoidance, food availability and diet quality in shaping cathemeral activity of arboreal
mammals using a lemur species as an example. For this, two groups of collared lemurs, Eulemur collaris, were studied for 14 months in the littoral forest of southeastern Madagascar. Data on feeding behaviour were collected during
all-day and all-night follows by direct observation. A phenological transect containing 78 plant species was established and
monitored every 2 weeks to evaluate food availability during the study period. Characteristics of food items and animal nutritional
intake were determined via biochemical analyses. The ratio of diurnal to nocturnal feeding was used as response variable in
the analyses. The effects of abiotic environmental variables were removed statistically before the analyses of the biotic
variables. We found that diurnal feeding lasted longer during the hot–wet season (December–February), whereas nocturnal feeding
peaked during the hot–dry and cool–wet seasons (March–August). Although the lemurs foraged mostly in lower forest strata during
daylight and used emergent trees preferably at night, the variables which measured animal exposure to birds of prey failed
to predict the variation of the ratio of diurnal/nocturnal feeding. Ripe fruit availability and fiber intake are the two variables
which best predicted the annual variation of the lemur diurnality. The data indicate that feeding over the whole 24-h cycle
is advantageous during lean periods when animals have a fibre-rich, low-quality diet. 相似文献
15.
Summary. In amphibians and fishes, evidence is increasing that chemical cues from injured conspecifics can play a role in the chemical
labelling and learned recognition of unfamiliar predators. In this laboratory study, we tested the prediction that prior chemical
exposure to a non-native predator feeding on conspecific tadpoles will subsequently allow tadpoles of the common toad (Bufo bufo) to recognize the chemical cues specifically released by this starved predator. Furthermore, we investigated the vulnerability
of this chemically-mediated process to herbicide contamination. With these aims in view, groups of tadpoles were kept either
unexposed or exposed for ten days to chemical cues from Turkish crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) previously fed on tadpoles, both in uncontaminated water and in the presence of four sublethal concentrations of amitrole
(0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10 mg.l−1). We then assessed the effects of the six conditioning treatments on general activity and behavioural response to chemical
cues from starved crayfish. Larval treatments did not affect the general activity of the tadpoles. By contrast, the treatments
had significant effects on the behavioural response to the test solution prepared form starved crayfish. The only tadpoles
to show an antipredator behavioural response to the chemical stimulation from starved crayfish belonged to the groups derived
from chemical exposure to tadpole-fed crayfish in uncontaminated water and in contaminated water with the lowest concentration
of amitrole (0.01 mg.l−1). Conversely, this chemical stimulation produced no behavioural change in the control group or in the groups derived from
exposure to tadpole-fed crayfish in contaminated water containing 0.1, 1 and 10 mg.l−1 of amitrole. This study demonstrates that chemical cues released during the predator’s feeding activity can subsequently
be used by common toad tadpoles in the recognition of an unfamiliar predator. In addition, our results show that the presence
of sublethal amitrole concentrations can impair this recognition process. Such a pesticide effect might be especially detrimental
for amphibian populations threatened by invasive predators. 相似文献
16.
Grant E. Brown Maud C. O. Ferrari Patrick H. Malka Marie-Anne Oligny Matthew Romano Douglas P. Chivers 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(6):1267-1276
Under conditions of spatial and/or temporal variability in predation risk, prey organisms often rely on acquired predator
recognition to balance the trade-offs between energy intake and risk avoidance. The question of ‘for how long’ should prey
retain this learned information is poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that the growth rate experienced by prey
should influence the length of the ‘memory window’. In a series of laboratory experiments, we manipulated growth rate of juvenile
rainbow trout and conditioned them to recognize a novel predator cue. We subsequently tested for learned recognition either
24 h or 8 days post-conditioning. Our results suggest that trout with high versus low growth rates did not differ in their
response to learned predator cues when tested 24 h post-conditioning. However, trout on a high growth rate exhibited no response
to the predator cues after 8 days (i.e. did not retain the recognition of the predator odour), whereas trout on a lower growth
rate retained a strong recognition of the predator. Trout that differed in their growth rate only after conditioning did not
differ in their patterns of retention, demonstrating growth rate after learning does not influence retention. Trout of different
initial sizes fed a similar diet (percent body mass per day) showed no difference in retention of the predator cue. Together,
these data suggest that growth rate at the time of conditioning determines the ‘memory window’ of trout. The implications
for threat-sensitive predator avoidance models are described. 相似文献
17.
Margaret J. Couvillon Francis L.W. Ratnieks 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(7):1099-1105
In group-level recognition, discriminators use sensory information to distinguish group members and non-members. For example,
entrance guards in eusocial insect colonies discriminate nestmates from intruders by comparing their odour with a template
of the colony odour. Despite being a species-rich group of eusocial bees closely related to the honey bees, stingless bee
nestmate recognition is a relatively little-studied area. We studied Frieseomelitta varia, a common Brazilian species of stingless bee known as marmelada. By measuring the rejection rates of nestmate and non-nestmate
worker bees by guards, we were able to show that guards became significantly less accepting (from 91 to 46%) of nestmates
that had acquired odour cues from non-nestmate workers; however, guards did not become significantly more accepting (from
31 to 42%) of non-nestmates that had acquired equivalent amounts of odour cues from the guard’s nestmates. These data strongly
suggest that guards use an “undesirable–absent” system in recognition, whereby incoming conspecific workers are only accepted
if undesirable cues are absent, despite the presence of desirable cues. We suggest that an undesirable–absent system is adaptive
because robbing by conspecifics may be an important selective factor in F. varia, which would lead to selection for a non-permissive acceptance strategy by guards. 相似文献
18.
Maud C. O. Ferrari Grant E. Brown François Messier Douglas P. Chivers 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2009,63(9):1369-1375
Despite the importance of acquired predator recognition in mediating predator–prey interactions, we know little about the
specific characteristics that prey use to distinguish predators from non-predators. Recent experiments with mammals and fish
indicate that some prey lacking innate predator recognition have the ability to display anti-predator responses upon their
first encounter with those predators if they are similar to predators that the prey has recently learned to recognize. This
phenomenon is referred to as generalization of predator recognition. In this experiment, we documented for the first time
that larval amphibians (woodfrog, Rana sylvatica) have the ability to generalize the recognition of known predators to closely related novel predators. Moreover, we demonstrated
that this ability is dependent on the level of risk associated with the known predator. When red-bellied newt, Cynops pyrrhogaster (known predator), was paired with simulated low risk, tadpoles displayed fright responses to newts and novel tiger salamanders,
Ambystoma tigrinum, but not to novel African clawed frogs, Xenopus laevis. However, when the newt was paired with simulated high risk, tadpoles generalized their responses to both tiger salamanders
and African clawed frogs. Larval anurans seem to have a wider generalization frame than other animals. 相似文献
19.
Behaviour and choice of refuge by voles under predation risk 总被引:3,自引:0,他引:3
Animals often show a strong antipredatory response when they are exposed to their most deadly predator. In northern vole populations, the least weasel, Mustela nivalis nivalis, is probably the most important predator of voles. Because of its small size and slender body shape, the least weasel is capable of hunting voles in their burrows. However, small voles can potentially escape weasel predation by selecting holes smaller than those weasels can enter. We studied the choice of nest holes and refuges by two species of voles under simulated predation risk. In a laboratory experiment, voles were provided with four nest boxes as refuges, with individually adjusted entrance sizes. When exposed to the odour of a weasel, voles did not choose the smallest opening; they rather seemed to trade full protection for easy and immediate access by choosing the nest box with an intermediate entrance size. When outside the nest at the time when a weasel entered the arena, voles avoided the refuges with the smallest holes. In addition to using refuges on ground level, voles climbed on top of the boxes as an escape reaction, as well as exhibiting a variety of behavioural responses, such as fast running, freezing and sneaking.Communicated by P.A. Bednekoff 相似文献
20.
Carolyn L. Nersesian Peter B. Banks Clare McArthur 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2012,66(1):47-55
Cues for detecting and responding to perceived predation risk may be indirect, i.e., correlated with the probability of encountering
a predator, or direct, i.e., produced by or related to the actual presence of a predator. Research shows, independently, both
types of cues can influence anti-predator and foraging behaviours in prey species. However, since animals naturally encounter
indirect and direct cues simultaneously, we were interested in quantifying their cumulative effect. Our aim was to evaluate
food intake and behaviours (patch use, feeding (rate and time), vigilance) of a nocturnal mammalian herbivore to indirect
(open vs. covered microhabitats; illumination) and direct (fox/owl odours) predator cues. We ran a preference trial with four
paired treatments using a covered Safe food patch and an open Risk food patch, with one of four combinations of indirect and direct predator cues. Predation risk had a significant effect on
both intake and behaviour (including feeding time, rate, and vigilance), but these effects differed depending on cues. No
two combinations of cues produced exactly the same effects, illustrating the complexity of interactions that occur between
cues. Covered patches were always perceived as less risky than open patches, but unexpectedly, open patches were perceived
as riskier when dark rather than light. The strongest suite of (negative) responses to risk was associated with combined indirect
and direct cues. These results highlight the importance of considering jointly, intake from a patch, intake rate, and behaviours,
such as the proportion of time spent vigilant, when quantifying predation risk, rather than intake alone. 相似文献