Tradition without social learning: scent-mark-based communal roost formation in a Neotropical harvestman (Prionostemma sp.) |
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Authors: | Zoe R Donaldson Gregory F Grether |
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Institution: | (1) Neuroscience Program, Emory University, 954 Gatewood Road, Room 5243, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA;(2) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 621 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA |
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Abstract: | Most models of habitat selection assume that individual animals choose and either reuse or abandon sites based on a constant
reassessment of site quality. When survival is a function of the presence of conspecifics, however, the benefits of returning
to traditional sites may override resource assessment. Many animals form roosting aggregations at what appear to be traditional
sites. At our study site in Nicaragua, the harvestman Prionostemma sp. forms diurnal roosting aggregations on a small subset of the available spiny palm trees. With respect to physical characteristics
and microclimate, the spiny palms used by the harvestmen resembled a random sample of those available, yet the same subset
of trees was used in two different years (2001, 2003). This suggests that the location of aggregation sites is traditional,
not a product of habitat limitation. Individual harvestmen were not faithful to particular roost sites, however, which raises
the question of how the tradition could be maintained over time. In this paper, we present evidence, derived from a series
of small-scale field experiments, that the harvestmen mark roosting sites chemically and enter marked sites preferentially
when searching for places to roost. We also show that the harvestmen are sensitive to changes in site quality (the presence
of spines) but will continue to use degraded traditional sites when no intact spiny palms are nearby. This system provides
an example of how animal traditions could be maintained over multiple generations without learning. Site-labeling can be viewed
as an external form of social memory. |
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Keywords: | Conspecific attraction Habitat selection Aggregation Tradition Pheromone Chemotaxis Daddy-long-legs Opiliones |
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