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Author Smith, B.R.; Blumstein, D.T.
Title Fitness consequences of personality: a meta-analysis Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Behavioral Ecology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol.
Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 448-455
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Abstract The study of nonhuman personality capitalizes on the fact that individuals of many species behave in predictable, variable, and quantifiable ways. Although a few empirical studies have examined the ultimate consequences of personality differences, there has been no synthesis of results. We conducted a formal meta-analysis of published studies reporting fitness consequences of single personality dimensions to identify general trends across species. We found bolder individuals had increased reproductive success, particularly in males, but incurred a survival cost, thus, supporting the hypothesis that variation in boldness was maintained due to a “trade-off” in fitness consequences across contexts. Potential mechanisms maintaining variation in exploration and aggression are not as clear. Exploration had a positive effect only on survival, whereas aggression had a positive effect on both reproductive success and, not significantly, on survival. Such results would suggest that selection is driving populations to become more explorative and aggressive. However, limitations in meta-analytic techniques preclude us from testing for the effects of fluctuating environmental conditions or other forms of selection on these dimensions. Results do, however, provide evidence for general relationships between personality and fitness, and we provide a framework for future studies to follow in the hopes of spurring more in-depth, long-term research into the evolutionary mechanisms maintaining variation in personality dimensions and overall behavioral syndromes. We conclude with a discussion on how understanding and managing personality traits may play a key role in the captive breeding and recovery programs of endangered species.
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Notes 10.1093/beheco/arm144 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5226
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Author Ward, A.J.W.; Sumpter, D.J.T.; Couzin, I.D.; Hart, P.J.B.; Krause, J.
Title Quorum decision-making facilitates information transfer in fish shoals Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Volume 105 Issue 19 Pages 6948-6953
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Abstract Despite the growing interest in collective phenomena such as “swarm intelligence” and “wisdom of the crowds,” little is known about the mechanisms underlying decision-making in vertebrate animal groups. How do animals use the behavior of others to make more accurate decisions, especially when it is not possible to identify which individuals possess pertinent information? One plausible answer is that individuals respond only when they see a threshold number of individuals perform a particular behavior. Here, we investigate the role of such “quorum responses” in the movement decisions of fish (three-spine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus). We show that a quorum response to conspecifics can explain how sticklebacks make collective movement decisions, both in the absence and presence of a potential predation risk. Importantly our experimental work shows that a quorum response can reduce the likelihood of amplification of nonadaptive following behavior. Whereas the traveling direction of solitary fish was strongly influenced by a single replica conspecific, the replica was largely ignored by larger groups of four or eight sticklebacks under risk, and the addition of a second replica was required to exert influence on the movement decisions of such groups. Model simulations further predict that quorum responses by fish improve the accuracy and speed of their decision-making over that of independent decision-makers or those using a weak linear response. This study shows that effective and accurate information transfer in groups may be gained only through nonlinear responses of group members to each other, thus highlighting the importance of quorum decision-making.
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Notes 10.1073/pnas.0710344105 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5252
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Author Mirabet, V.; Fréon, P.; Lett, C.
Title Factors affecting information transfer from knowledgeable to naive individuals in groups Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.
Volume 63 Issue 2 Pages 159-171-171
Keywords Biomedical and Life Sciences
Abstract There is evidence that individuals in animal groups benefit from the presence of knowledgeable group members in different ways. Experiments and computer simulations have shown that a few individuals within a group can lead others, for a precise task and at a specific moment. As a group travels, different individuals possessing a particular knowledge may act as temporary leaders, so that the group will, as a whole, follow their behaviour. In this paper, we use a model to study different factors influencing group response to temporary leadership. The model is based on four individual behaviours. Three of those, attraction, repulsion, and alignment, are shared by all individuals. The last one, attraction toward the source of a stimulus, concerns only a fraction of the group members. We explore the influence of group size, proportion of stimulated individuals, number of influential neighbours, and intensity of the attraction to the source of the stimulus, on the proportion of the group reaching this source. Special attention is given to the simulation of large group size, close to those observed in nature. Groups of 100, 400 and 900 individuals are currently simulated, and up to 8,000 in one experiment. We show that more stimulated individuals and a larger group size both induce the arrival of a larger fraction of the group. The number of influential neighbours and the intensity of the stimulus have a non-linear influence on the proportion of the group arrival, displaying first a positive relationship and then, above a given threshold, a negative one. We conclude that an intermediate level of group cohesion provides optimal transfer information from knowledgeable to naive individuals.
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Publisher Springer Berlin / Heidelberg Place of Publication (up) Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0340-5443 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5295
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Author Schwab, C.; Bugnyar, T.; Schloegl, C.; Kotrschal, K.
Title Enhanced social learning between siblings in common ravens, Corvus corax Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 75 Issue 2 Pages 501-508
Keywords affiliation; cognition; common raven; Corvus corax; siblings; social learning; social relations
Abstract It has been suggested that social dynamics affect social learning but empirical support for this idea is scarce. Here we show that affiliate relationships among kin indeed enhance the performance of common ravens, Corvus corax, in a social learning task. Via daily behavioural protocols we first monitored social dynamics in our group of captive young ravens. Siblings spent significantly more time in close proximity to each other than did nonsiblings. We subsequently tested birds on a stimulus enhancement task in model-observer dyads composed of both siblings and nonsiblings. During demonstration the observer could watch the model manipulating one particular object (target object) in an adjacent room. After removing the model, the observer was confronted with five different objects including the former target object. Observers from sibling dyads handled the target object for significantly longer periods of time as compared with the other four available objects, whereas observers from nonsibling dyads did not show a preference for the target object. Also, siblings matched the model's decision to cache or not to cache objects significantly more often than did nonsiblings. Hence, siblings were likely to attend to both, the behaviour of the model (caching or noncaching) and object-specific details. Our results support the hypothesis that affiliate relations between individuals affect the transmission of information and may lead to directed social learning even when spatial proximity has been experimentally controlled for.
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5300
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Author Krapp, A.; Bachmann I.; Troxler, J.
Title Das Liegeverhalten von Pferden in Gruppenhaltung Type Conference Article
Year 2008 Publication Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde Abbreviated Journal
Volume 150 Issue 4 Pages 186-187
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Abstract Erarbeitung eines Lösungsansatzes zur Optimierung

des eingeschränkten Liegeverhaltens rangniedriger

Pferde in Gruppenhaltung
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Notes Das Liegeverhalten von Pferden in Gruppenhaltung 2008.pdf Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5306
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Author Begall, S.; Cervený, J.; Neef, J.; Vojtech, O.; Burda, H.
Title Magnetic alignment in grazing and resting cattle and deer Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abbreviated Journal Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Volume 105 Issue 36 Pages 13451-13455
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Abstract We demonstrate by means of simple, noninvasive methods (analysis of satellite images, field observations, and measuring “deer beds” in snow) that domestic cattle (n = 8,510 in 308 pastures) across the globe, and grazing and resting red and roe deer (n = 2,974 at 241 localities), align their body axes in roughly a north–south direction. Direct observations of roe deer revealed that animals orient their heads northward when grazing or resting. Amazingly, this ubiquitous phenomenon does not seem to have been noticed by herdsmen, ranchers, or hunters. Because wind and light conditions could be excluded as a common denominator determining the body axis orientation, magnetic alignment is the most parsimonious explanation. To test the hypothesis that cattle orient their body axes along the field lines of the Earth's magnetic field, we analyzed the body orientation of cattle from localities with high magnetic declination. Here, magnetic north was a better predictor than geographic north. This study reveals the magnetic alignment in large mammals based on statistically sufficient sample sizes. Our findings open horizons for the study of magnetoreception in general and are of potential significance for applied ethology (husbandry, animal welfare). They challenge neuroscientists and biophysics to explain the proximate mechanisms.
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Notes 10.1073/pnas.0803650105 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5316
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Author Blackmore, T.L.; Foster, T.M.; Sumpter, C.E.; Temple, W.
Title An investigation of colour discrimination with horses (Equus caballus) Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume 78 Issue 3 Pages 387-396
Keywords Chromatic discrimination; Colour vision; Horse; Operant
Abstract The ability of four horses (Equus caballus) to discriminate coloured (three shades of blue, green, red, and yellow) from grey (neutral density) stimuli, produced by back projected lighting filters, was investigated in a two response forced-choice procedure. Pushes of the lever in front of a coloured screen were occasionally reinforced, pushes of the lever in front of a grey screen were never reinforced. Each colour shade was randomly paired with a grey that was brighter, one that was dimmer, and one that approximately matched the colour in terms of brightness. Each horse experienced the colours in a different order, a new colour was started after 85% correct responses over five consecutive sessions or if accuracy showed no trend over sessions. All horses reached the 85% correct with blue versus grey, three horses did so with both yellow and green versus grey. All were above chance with red versus grey but none reached criterion. Further analysis showed the wavelengths of the green stimuli used overlapped with the yellow. The results are consistent with histological and behavioural studies that suggest that horses are dichromatic. They differ from some earlier data in that they indicate horses can discriminate yellow and blue, but that they may have deficiencies in discriminating red and green.
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ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5336
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Author Scheumann, M.; Zimmermann, E.
Title Sex-specific asymmetries in communication sound perception are not related to hand preference in an early primate Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication BMC Biology Abbreviated Journal
Volume 6 Issue 1 Pages 3
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Abstract BACKGROUND:Left hemispheric dominance of language processing and handedness, previously thought to be unique to humans, is currently under debate. To gain an insight into the origin of lateralization in primates, we have studied gray mouse lemurs, suggested to represent the most ancestral primate condition. We explored potential functional asymmetries on the behavioral level by applying a combined handedness and auditory perception task. For testing handedness, we used a forced food-grasping task. For testing auditory perception, we adapted the head turn paradigm, originally established for exploring hemispheric specializations in conspecific sound processing in Old World monkeys, and exposed 38 subjects to control sounds and conspecific communication sounds of positive and negative emotional valence.RESULTS:The tested mouse lemur population did not show an asymmetry in hand preference or in orientation towards conspecific communication sounds. However, males, but not females, exhibited a significant right ear-left hemisphere bias when exposed to conspecific communication sounds of negative emotional valence. Orientation asymmetries were not related to hand preference.CONCLUSION:Our results provide the first evidence for sex-specific asymmetries for conspecific communication sound perception in non-human primates. Furthermore, they suggest that hemispheric dominance for communication sound processing evolved before handedness and independently from each other.
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ISSN 1741-7007 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5369
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Author Powell, D.
Title Female–female competition or male mate choice? Patterns of courtship and breeding behavior among feral horses (Equus caballus) on Assateague Island Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication Journal of Ethology Abbreviated Journal J. Ethol.
Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 137-144-144
Keywords Biomedical and Life Sciences
Abstract Previous research on the Assateague horses found that high-ranking females had more surviving offspring than low-ranking females. Variance in reproductive success may be the result of a variety of proximate processes that affect sexual behavior such as mate choice and mate competition. A study was done to determine whether patterns of courtship, social, and sexual behavior could be identified that would suggest mate choice and/or mate competition. Behavioral data were collected from approximately 40 sexually mature mares living in harem bands. Stallions showed more interest in the eliminations of dominant mares than subordinate mares. Males also engaged in significantly more high-intensity (e.g., mounts and copulations) sexual behavior with dominant mares than subordinate mares, and there was a trend for males to engage in more low-intensity (e.g., flehmen and ano-genital sniffing) sexual behavior with dominant mares than subordinate mares. There was no effect of mare rank on spatial relationships with the stallion; however, dominant mares did attempt to restrict reproductive access to the stallion by harassing and disrupting copulations. Higher foaling rates among dominant mares on Assateague Island could therefore be the result of rank-related mate choice by stallions and direct female competition for mating opportunities.
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Publisher Springer Japan Place of Publication (up) Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0289-0771 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5412
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Author Siniscalchi, M.; Quaranta, A.; Rogers, L.J.
Title Hemispheric specialization in dogs for processing different acoustic stimuli Type Journal Article
Year 2008 Publication PloS ONE Abbreviated Journal
Volume 3 Issue Pages e3349
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5415
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