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Author Shrader, A.M.; Kerley, G.I.H.; Kotler, B.P.; Brown, J.S.
Title Social information, social feding, and competition in group-living goats (Capra hircus) Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Behavioral Ecology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol.
Volume 18 Issue (up) 1 Pages 103-107
Keywords fear, group foraging, harvest rates, intraspecific competition, social information.
Abstract There are both benefits (e.g., social information) and costs (e.g., intraspecific competition) for individuals foraging in groups. To ascertain how group-foraging goats (Capra hircus) deal with these trade-offs, we asked 1) do goats use social information to make foraging decisions and 2) how do they adjust their intake rate in light of having attracted by other group members? To establish whether goats use social information, we recorded their initial choice of different quality food patches when they were ignorant of patch quality and when they could observe others foraging. After determining that goats use social information, we recorded intake rates while they fed alone and in the presence of potential competitors. Intake rate increased as the number of competitors increased. Interestingly, lone goats achieved an intake rate that was higher than when one competitor was present but similar to when two or more competitors were present. Faster intake rates may allow herbivores to ingest a larger portion of the available food before competing group members arrive at the patch. This however, does not explain the high intake rates achieved when the goats were alone. We provide 2 potential explanations: 1) faster intake rates are a response to greater risk incurred by lone individuals, the loss of social information, and the fear of being left behind by the group and 2) when foraging alone, intake rate is no longer a trade-off between reducing competition and acquiring social information. Thus, individuals are able to feed close to their maximum rate.
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Notes 10.1093/beheco/arl057 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 814
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Author Healy,S.; Braithwaite, V
Title Cognitive ecology: a field of substance? Type Journal Article
Year 2000 Publication Trends in Ecology & Evolution Abbreviated Journal Trends. Ecol. Evol
Volume 15 Issue (up) 1 Pages 22-26
Keywords Cognitive ecology; Neuroethology; Cognition; Ecology; Evolution; Orientation mechanisms
Abstract In 1993, Les Real invented the label 'cognitive ecology'. This label was intended for work that brought cognitive science and behavioural ecology together. Real's article stressed the importance of such an approach to the understanding of behaviour. At the end of a decade in which more interdisciplinary work on behaviour has been seen than for many years, it is time to assess whether cognitive ecology is a label describing an active field.
Address Division of Biological Sciences, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, UK EH9 3JT
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ISSN 0169-5347 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:10603501 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 837
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Author Berger, J.; Cunningham, C.
Title Size-Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates Type Journal Article
Year 1988 Publication Ecology Abbreviated Journal
Volume 69 Issue (up) 1 Pages 177-183
Keywords no keywords available
Abstract Feeding and searching (= vigilance) rates arise as a result of many interrelated factors including trophic level, diet, reproductive condition, sex, habitat, body mass, and potential predation pressure. Because of unique ecological conditions in which the confounding influences of all but two of these variables could be minimized, we examined the hypothesis that body mass alone accounts for interspecific differences in search times, and tested it with females of four sympatric native North American ungulates (Bison bison, Antilocapra americana, Ovis canadensis, and Odocoileus hemionus). When the effects of group size were controlled, smaller bodied species were more vigilant (per unit body mass) than larger ones. However, search times (ST) also scaled to body mass, and between 81 and 97% of the ST variance was explained by either exponential or power functions. To remove the potential bias that predators exert different influences on species of varying size, search times of bison in areas with and without their major predator, wolves (Canis lupus), were contrasted; search times did not differ between sites. Our results highlight the importance of designing field research that controls for confounding variables prior to attempting to scale behavioral processes to ecological events. See full-text article at JSTOR
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Publisher Ecological Society of America Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN 0012-9658 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2233
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Author Dellert, B.; Ganslosser, U.
Title Experimental alterations of food distribution in two species of captive equids (Equus burchelli and E. hemionus kulan) Type Journal Article
Year 1997 Publication Ethology Ecology & Evolution (EEE) Abbreviated Journal Ethol Ecol Evol
Volume 9 Issue (up) 1 Pages 1-17
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Abstract n one group each of Plains zebra (six mares, one foal, one subadult) and Asiatic wild asses (seven mares, two foals) at Nuremberg Zoo, food distribution was experimentally changed from clumped (all food in one standard hay rack) to dispersed (one heap per animal). Both groups were characterized by different social structures, which basically remained during the experiment. Plains zebras had an individually structured system of social relationships in a dominance order, wild asses a more egalitarian system without clear-cut rank differences and low frequencies of agonistic interactions. Access to food accordingly was individually (but consistently) different for zebra mares, almost equal for wild ass mares. During the dispersed feeding situation frequencies of agonistic interactions in both species decreased (however non-significantly), individual distances increased but mares also frequently ''visited'' each others' heaps. Feeding time increased for all wild ass mares. Some individuals (in both groups) behaved ''against the trend'' in agonistic behaviour. The results are discussed with regard to food distribution for ungulates in general, and equid social systems.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2292
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Author Eisenberg, J.F.; Kleiman, D.G.
Title Olfactory Communication in Mammals Type Journal Article
Year 1972 Publication Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics Abbreviated Journal Annu Rev Ecol Systemat
Volume 3 Issue (up) 1 Pages 1-32
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Eisenberg1972 Serial 2316
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Author Schmidt, R.; Amrhein, V.; Kunc, H.P.; Naguib, M.
Title The day after: effects of vocal interactions on territory defence in nightingales Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication The Journal of Animal Ecology Abbreviated Journal T. J. Anim. Ecol.
Volume 76 Issue (up) 1 Pages 168-173
Keywords Aggression; Animals; Male; Songbirds/*physiology; *Territoriality; Time Factors; Vocalization, Animal/*physiology
Abstract 1. Models on territory acquisition and tenure predict that territorial animals benefit by adjusting territorial defence behaviour to previous challenges they had experienced within the socially complex environment of communication networks. 2. Here, we addressed such issues of social cognition by investigating persisting effects of vocal contests on territory defence behaviour in nightingales Luscinia megarhynchos (Brehm). 3. Using interactive playback during nocturnal song of subjects, a rival was simulated to countersing either aggressively (by song overlapping) or moderately (by song alternating) from outside the subjects' territory. Thereby, the time-specific singing strategy provided an experimentally controlled source of information on the motivation of an unfamiliar rival. 4. Expecting that nightingales integrate information with time, the same rival was simulated to return as a moderately singing intruder on the following morning. 5. The results show that the vigour with which male nightingales responded to the simulated intrusion of an opponent during the day depended on the nature of the nocturnal vocal interaction experienced several hours before. 6. Males that had received the song overlapping playback the preceding night approached the simulated intruder more quickly and closer and sang more songs near the loudspeaker than did males that had received a song alternating playback. 7. This adjustment of territory defence strategies depending on information from prior signalling experience suggests that integrating information with time plays an important part in territory defence by affecting a male's decision making in a communication network.
Address Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, PO Box 100 131, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany. rouven.schmidt@uni-bielefeld.de
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ISSN 0021-8790 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17184365 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2749
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Author Dukas, R.
Title Evolutionary Biology Of Animal Cognition Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Abbreviated Journal
Volume 35 Issue (up) 1 Pages 347-374
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Abstract This review focuses on five key evolutionary issues pertaining to animal cognition, defined as the neuronal processes concerned with the acquisition, retention, and use of information. Whereas the use of information, or decision making, has been relatively well examined by students of behavior, evolutionary aspects of other cognitive traits that affect behavior, including perception, learning, memory, and attention, are less well understood. First, there is ample evidence for genetically based individual variation in cognitive traits, although much of the information for some traits comes from humans. Second, several studies documented positive association between cognitive abilities and performance measures linked to fitness. Third, information on the evolution of cognitive traits is available primarily for color vision and decision making. Fourth, much of the data on plasticity of cognitive traits appears to reflect nonadaptive phenotypic plasticity, perhaps because few evolutionary analyses of cognitive plasticity have been carried out. Nonetheless, several studies suggest that cognitive traits show adaptive plasticity, and at least one study documented genetically based individual variation in plasticity. Fifth, whereas assertions that cognition has played a central role in animal evolution are not supported by currently available data, theoretical considerations indicate that cognition may either increase or decrease the rate of evolutionary change.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2970
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Author Ajie, B.C.; Pintor, L.M.; Watters, J.; Kerby, J.L.; Hammond, J.I.; Sih, A.
Title A framework for determining the fitness consequences of antipredator behavior Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Behavioral Ecology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol.
Volume 18 Issue (up) 1 Pages 267-270
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Abstract Behavioral ecologists have long been interested in understanding the adaptive value of antipredator behavior (Sih 1987Go; Lima and Dill 1990Go; Lima 1998Go). A recent review by Lind and Cresswell (2005)Go, however, noted some important difficulties with quantifying the fitness consequences of antipredator behaviors. In essence, Lind and Cresswell suggest that most studies do not provide strong evidence on the adaptive value of antipredator behavior because they do not consider 1) trade-offs between antipredator and reproductive performance, 2) the abilities of organisms to avoid fitness losses associated with constraints on focal traits by employing behavioral alternatives (behavioral compensation), and 3) the effects of behavioral defenses at different stages of the predation sequence. The authors rightfully assert that an understanding of these issues can only be accomplished by measuring multiple traits and fitness components (i.e., survival and reproduction). Nevertheless, the question of how to integrate such data into
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Notes 10.1093/beheco/arl064 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4087
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Author Krause, J.; Croft, D.; James, R.
Title Social network theory in the behavioural sciences: potential applications Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.
Volume 62 Issue (up) 1 Pages 15-27
Keywords Social networks – Social organisation – Mate choice – Disease transmission – Information transfer – Cooperation
Abstract Abstract  Social network theory has made major contributions to our understanding of human social organisation but has found relatively little application in the field of animal behaviour. In this review, we identify several broad research areas where the networks approach could greatly enhance our understanding of social patterns and processes in animals. The network theory provides a quantitative framework that can be used to characterise social structure both at the level of the individual and the population. These novel quantitative variables may provide a new tool in addressing key questions in behavioural ecology particularly in relation to the evolution of social organisation and the impact of social structure on evolutionary processes. For example, network measures could be used to compare social networks of different species or populations making full use of the comparative approach. However, the networks approach can in principle go beyond identifying structural patterns and also can help with the understanding of processes within animal populations such as disease transmission and information transfer. Finally, understanding the pattern of interactions in the network (i.e. who is connected to whom) can also shed some light on the evolution of behavioural strategies.
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Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5171
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Author Noë, R.; Hammerstein, P.
Title Biological markets: supply and demand determine the effect of partner choice in cooperation, mutualism and mating Type Journal Article
Year 1994 Publication Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.
Volume 35 Issue (up) 1 Pages 1-11
Keywords Biomedical and Life Sciences
Abstract The formation of collaborating pairs by individuals belonging to two different classes occurs in the contexts of reproduction and intea-specific cooperation as well as of inter-specific mutualism. There is potential for partner choice and for competition for access to preferred partners in all three contexts. These selective forces have long been recognised as important in sexual selection, but their impact is not yet appreciated in cooperative and mutualistic systems. The formation of partnerships between members of different classes has much in common with the conclusion of trade agreements in human markets with two classes of traders, like producers and consumers, or employers and employees. Similar game-theoretical models can be used to predict the behaviour of rational traders in human markets and the evolutionarily stable strategies used in biological markets. We present a formal model in which the influence of the market mechanism on selection is made explicit. We restrict ourselves to biological markets in which: (1) Individuals do not compete over access to partners in an agonistic manner, but rather by outcompeting each other in those aspects that are preferred by the choosing party. (2) The commodity the partner has to offer cannot be obtained by the use of force, but requires the consent of the partner. These two restrictions ensure a dominant role for partner choice in the formation of partnerships. In a biological market model the decision to cooperate is based on the comparison between the offers of several potential partners, rather than on the behaviour of a single potential partner, as is implicitly assumed in currently accepted models of cooperation. In our example the members of one class A offer a commodity of fixed value in exchange for a commodity of variable value supplied by the other class, B. We show that when the B-class outnumbers the A-class sufficiently and the cost for the A-class to sample the offers of the B-class are low, the choosiness of the A-class will lead to selection for the supply of high value commodities by the B-class (Fig. 3a). Under the same market conditions, but with a high sampling cost this may still be the evolutionariy stable outcome, but another pair of strategies proves to be stable too: relaxed choosiness of class A coupled with low value commodities supplied by class B (Fig. 3b). We give a number of examples of mating, cooperative and mutualistic markets that resemble the low sampling cost situation depicted in Fig. 3a.
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Publisher Springer Berlin / Heidelberg Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
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ISSN 0340-5443 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5404
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