bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Social Organization and Sexual Interactions in Australian Brush‐turkeys (Alectura lathami): Implications of Promiscuity in a Mound‐building Megapode
Authors: Jones Darryl N. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractUnlike most other megapodes (family Megapodiidae), Australian brush‐turkeys showed no evidence of prolonged pair‐bonding. Adult males and females exhibited spacial and temporal independence throughout the breeding season. Males remained close to their mounds and allowed females to lay only after copulation. Multiple copulations, often forced, occurred frequently as females excavated laying holes. Both sexes copulated promiscuously, and males accepted eggs despite a low certainty of paternity. However, the costs of cuckoldry were probably small and less than the fitness benefits derived from using mounds primarily as a means to increase female encounter, copulation, and fertilization rates.
Polygynous Mating System of Trimma okinawae (Pisces: Gobiidae) at Kagoshima, Japan with a Note on Sex Change
Authors: Sunobe Tomoki , Nakazono Akinobu 
Published: May 2010

AbstractMating system, social structure and reproductive behaviour of the gobiid fish Trimma okinawae were studied at Akamizu, Kagoshima, Japan. Mating system of this species is polygyny. There were two types of habitat‐related distribution patterns of male and female home ranges: females have home ranges outside a small territory of the male; female home ranges are covered by male territory. Spawnings take place with a cycle of four to five days during the spawning season of June to Sept. In the morning of the day of spawning, males stay at the spawning sites. Females visit the site and spawn with the male. On days between spawnings males exhibit courtship displays at female home ranges. Higher reproductive success is not connected with frequency of such courting of the male, but with male size. The largest female of a social unit changes into a male when the dominant male is removed, which shows that T. okinawae is a hermaphrodite.
Female Choice in Humans: A Conditional Mate Selection Strategy of the Krummhörn Women (Germany, 1720–1874)
Authors: Voland Eckart , Engel Claudia 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe suitors' ownership of land influenced the marriage age of the women in the Krummhörn population (Germany, 1720–1874). This led to a characteristic distribution of the categories of land ownership of husbands by the wife's age at marriage: the younger the brides, the higher was the percentage of high‐status males among their bridegrooms. But the natal status of brides did not exert any significant influence on their age at marriage. Moreover, socially hypergamous women married younger than those whose marriage meant a social drop. We have interpreted these findings as the expression of a conditional female choice strategy with age‐dependent decrease in demands on a marriage partner: “If you are young, be very choosy and marry only a high‐quality mate; the older you become, the more you must reduce your initial standards!” On the average this strategy was adaptive, because in this population land ownership correlated with the local reproductive success of a family.
The Aggression‐releasing Effect of the Eye‐like Spot of the Oyanirami Coreoperca kawamebari, a Freshwater Serranid Fish
Authors: Kohda Yasutoshi , Watanabe Munetaka 
Published: May 2010

AbstractAn aggressive oyanirami, a freshwater fish, makes its opercular eye‐like spots conspicuous and spreads the gill covers to its rival. The eye‐spot is a main component of the color pattern of an aggressive fish. The color pattern releases aggressive actions of a conspecific fish. Using dummies, we found that the presence of the eye‐spot was important to aggression‐releasing, and this was independent of its location.
Confronting Snakes in the Burrow: Snake‐Species Discrimination and Antisnake Tactics of Two California Ground Squirrel Populations
Authors: Towers Steven R. , Coss Richard G. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate phylogenetic and ecological factors that shape encounters between California ground squirrels and snakes in the burrow setting. Ground squirrels were video taped while interacting in a simulated burrow with either a venomous rattlesnake or a lessdangerous gopher snake. Squirrels from a population where snakes are rare treated both snake species with greater caution than did squirrels from a snake‐adapted population. High physiological resistance to rattlesnake venom in the snake‐adapted population was associated with more intense rattlesnake harassment. Squirrels from both populations treated the rattlesnake as the more important predator, as inferred from higher levels of harassment and escape‐motivated behavior while interacting with the rattlesnake.We conclude that the tightly constraining ecology of burrow encounters with intruders supports the expression of competent antipredator behavior in ground squirrels. We view adaptations such as snake‐species discrimination as embedded in the ecological relationship between snakes, ground squirrels, and the architecture of the burrow setting.
Phylogenetic Analysis of the Evolution of Display Behavior in the Neotropical Manakins (Aves: Pipridae)
Authors: Prum Richard O. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractPhylogenetic systematic methods were applied in an investigation of the evolution of lek display behavior in the Neotropical manakins (Aves: Pipridae). Results of a previous investigation of the syringeal morphology of manakins were used as a behaviorally independent estimate of the phylogeny of the family. Three phylogenetic analyses of 44 display characters wer
Individual Life History and Song Repertoire Changes in a Colony of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)
Authors: Adret‐Hausberger Martine , Güttinger Hans‐Rudolf , Merkel Fritz W. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractObservations were made over two years in a small colony of starlings to look at possible changes in the songs of each male, taking into account its life‐history and breeding status. Each male sings two categories of song: warbling, a long, complex and mainly individual song, and loud and simple whistles. Within the latter, some are species‐specific whereas others characterize the individual in its colony. Over two years very few changes were observed for the species‐specific whistle themes and all birds shared the same variant. But the birds changed their individual whistle types almost completely from one year to the next. Changes in warbling song may depend on age: one bird changed his repertoire of motifs completely between his first and second year of life, whereas other older males merely added some new motifs to their repertoire of the previous year. Such results show that adult starlings in the wild, even older birds (7 years old), may still be able to acquire new structures. The new elements appeared in the fall and were kept at least until the following breeding season. All songs were very stable throughout a given breeding season. Although individual repertoires increased with age, large differences in repertoire size were found in same age individuals. First data suggest that breeding status (e.g. polygyny) and repertoire size may be related.
Sexual Differences in Aggressive Behaviour of the Apennine Chamois
Authors: Locati Maurizio , Lovari Sandro 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe aggressive behaviour of female and male Apennine chamois has been compared quantitatively. As opposed to what males did, females significantly attacked each other less often; preferred to gore body regions with a low risk of lethal injury, made a greater use of direct forms of aggression; seldom interacted with the opponent before attacking and gored it more often. Front clashing and fighting were very rare in both sexes. Females live in resident kin‐groups, while young males disperse and adults are solitary. To a large extent habitat separation occurs between the sexes. Sexual differences in patterns of aggressive behaviour may be related to the different gregariousness of females and males, probably influenced by resource availability in the habitats they use. Chamois sexes are nearly monomorphic, females bearing slightly less hooked horns than males. This species may have evolved strongly hooked weapons as a first step to advanced wrestling or butting type horns from the ancestral stiletto shape, as goats and sheep, as well as deer, have done.
Structural Variations in the Begging Calls of Nestling Magpies Pica pica and their Role in the Development of Adult Voice
Authors: Redondo Tomas , Exposito Francisco 
Published: May 2010

AbstractLike most corvids, adult magpies (Pica pica) have harsh vocal repertoires characterized by a wide distribution of energy over the frequency scale. Shortly after hatching, begging calls of magpie nestlings have a tonal quality but become increasingly noisier as they develop. The appearance of harsh structures in the calls is closely related to a process of frequency modulation which ends at about 16–18 days. At this age, nestlings suddenly develop genuine harsh calls, typical of fledglings and adult birds. During development, similarities can be observed between frequency modulation and noise production, suggesting that nestlings acquire the ability to produce adult harsh vocalizations by modulating their begging calls. This hypothesis does not explain, however, why genuine harsh calls develop without transitional forms being evident in the preceding begging calls. Also, intra‐ and interspecific differences in modulation rates do not cause differences in noise production in the way that this hypothesis would at first suggest. Frequency modulation and noise production do not seem to be involved in the ontogeny of the adult voice. It is suggested that both features contribute to call degradation in the environment, in order to compensate for the increasing risks of nests being detected by predators due to the more detectable calls of older nestlings.
Population Differences in the Schooling Behaviour of Newborn Guppies, Poecilia reticulata
Authors: Magurran Anne E. , Seghers Benoni H. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractPopulation differences in the schooling behaviour of adult guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from Trinidad have previously been well documented. This paper demonstrates that variation in schooling behaviour is also present in newborn fish. Guppies from the Aripo River of Trinidad display well‐developed schooling behaviour from birth. In addition to forming cohesive and polarized groups, these newborn fish also exhibit predator inspection behaviour. Newborn guppies from the Paria River perform inspections but, unlike the Aripo fish, are poor schoolers. Population variation in behaviour at birth does not necessarily reflect the pattern observed in the adult fish. As adults, guppies from the Upper section of the Aripo River have a much lower schooling tendency and are less wary during inspection than the downstream Lower Aripo guppies. At birth, however, the schooling behaviour and inspection behaviour in the two populations is identical. These results suggest that different selective pressures operate on adult and newborn guppies in Trinidad.
Social Entrainment of Circadian Activity Rhythms in Common Marmosets, Callithrix j. jacchus (Primates)1
Authors: Erkert Hans G. , Schardt Ursula 
Published: May 2010

AbstractLong‐term recordings of the locomotor activity of 9 common marmosets, Callithrix j. jacchus, show that under certain preconditions, social entrainment of the free‐running circadian rhythm can occur in these non‐human primates. However, there exist considerable interindividual differences in the Zeitgeber effect of the various forms of social contact. Findings indicate that both the level of acquaintance and the individual differences in spontaneous period of individuals involved are important, and that daily, or circadian, social cues have a cumulative effect. Because of the low Zeitgeber strength of social stimuli, however, desynchronization of different individual rhythms can arise spontaneously among animals kept as a pair in the same cage, even after months of harmonized free‐running rhythms. It is discussed that social entrainment in primates and other mammals is more likely to be a coincidental, rather than an essential, characteristic of the circadian system. Arousal triggered by social stimuli is thereby ascribed a key role.
Searching Image in the Pigeon: A Test of Three Hypothetical Mechanisms
Authors: Bond Alan B. , Riley Donald A. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe searching image hypothesis was originally proposed to account for the observation that animals selecting among disparate foods often consume an excess of the more common types. The hypothesis states that animals searching for a particular cryptic food item focus on visual features that are characteristic of that item, thereby facilitating its discrimination from the background. A change in stimulus discriminability is not, however, the only feasible explanation for the effect. One alternative is a simple change in response bias, an increased predisposition to respond to food‐related stimuli. Another possible hypothesis derives from the fact that the amount of time that an animal has available for examining each stimulus is not fixed. This “caution” hypothesis attributes improvements in stimulus detection to changes in the amount of evidence that the animal acquires before making a response.To distinguish among these alternatives, we developed an accumulator model of visual search, which included discriminability, response bias, and caution as explicit, independent components. The consequences of varying each parameter in the model were evaluated by computer simulation, generating predicted effects of each hypothetical mechanism on response time and accuracy. The predictions were then tested using pigeons searching for images of natural, cryptic food grains. The results provide strong support for the discriminability hypothesis, but suggest that secondary changes in caution may also be involved.
Territoriality and Site‐related Dominance: On Two Related Concepts in Avian Social Organization
Authors: Oberski I. M. , Wilson J. D. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractTerritoriality and site‐related dominance are concepts used commonly in studies of avian social organization, but the relationship between them is rarely made explicit. One reason for this is that site‐related dominance can be studied both at the level of individual dyadic dominance relationships (DDRs) and by combining all the DDRs of a bird to calculate an index of its social status; a measure of its overall ability to dominate other members of the population. This difference is illustrated by reference to published work on the Steller jay Cyanocitta stelleri, and data from our own study of a winter population of great tits Parus major. A recent review of dominance and territoriality emphasizes that territories are just one extreme of a continuum of forms of site‐related dominance, measured as the pattern of spatial variation in social status. Ecological and behavioural correlates of different forms of site‐related dominance are therefore discussed with special reference to the non‐breeding social organization of the Paridae, to illustrate the empirical questions posed by an understanding of the various forms of site‐related dominance that may occur in different species and in different populations of the same species.
Influence of the Visual Environment on the Choice of Laying Site of the European Quail (Coturnix c. coturnix), Single or Paired, under Experimental Conditions
Authors: Michel Raoul 
Published: May 2010

AbstractSecond generation European quail, descended from parents captured in their natural habitat, were reared in an aviary. The choice of laying site was observed using simplified environments containing dominant visual factors found in the natural habitat. Females were either single or paired. Visual characteristics were taken into account in the selection of a laying site. Pairing does not modify this behaviour and it was found that a confined space was preferable to a large space. The chosen laying site is not less well illuminated than other areas available. A visually achromatic structure is very attractive, vertical stripes being preferable to horizontal ones. Green is much more attractive than the colour ochre. Vertical presentation of these colours does not modify site choice. Green does not modify the relative attractiveness of visual forms available, vertical green stripes being preferable to horizontal ones. No preference is demonstrated when the most attractive components, vertical and green, are in competition. These results are in concordance with observations made concerning their natural habitat.
Behaviour Associated with Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Six Gerbilline Rodent Species
Authors: Dempster Edith R. , Dempster R. , Perrin M. R. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractEncounters were staged between male and oestrus‐induced females of the same or different taxa of the species/subspecies Gerbillurus paeba paeba, G. p. exilis, G. tytonis, G. setzeri, G. vallinus and Tatera brantsii. Each encounter lasted 20 min; converted ultrasonic emissions were recorded on videotape simultaneously with visual images. Videotapes were transcribed and sequences of acts and vocalizations were recorded.The frequency of acts was compared separately with the number of ultrasonic vocalizations during and after acts by χ2 contingency table analysis, followed by partitioned χ2 to identify individual acts which contributed significantly to the overall χ2 value. Vocalizations occurred significantly more frequently than expected during sexual and/or huddling behaviour in all species‐groups; and significantly less frequently than expected during exploratory, watching and/or submissive behaviour. Vocalizations were uncommon during investigative behaviour in all taxa, and aggressive behaviour in Gerbillurus taxa, but occurred significantly more frequently than expected after these behaviour categories in all taxa.Analysis of vocalizations immediately following acts verified the interpretations of function of vocalizations during acts. Ultrasonic vocalizations clearly play an important role in the communication of six taxa of southern African gerbils.
Parent‐Offspring Conflict over Independence in the Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
Authors: Graves J. , Whiten A. , Henzi S. P. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractObservations on 24 focal nests revealed that, at the time when parental investment in feeding fledging chicks declined, chicks showed a marked increase in begging, particularly in larger broods, whilst parents became less responsive to begging. That chicks suffer a cost from early termination of investment is indicated by the fact that third‐hatched chicks, who had attempted (unsuccessfully) to initiate more feeds, were absent from the territory first, rather than the more mature first‐ and second‐hatched chicks. Taken together, these results and related inter‐ and intra‐brood contrasts in behaviour are interpreted as offering support for Trivers' theory of parent‐offspring conflict over the termination of investment.
Conceptual Issues and Methodology in Kin‐recognition Research: A Critical Discussion
Authors: Gamboa George J. , Reeve Hudson K. , Holmes Warren G. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractWe operationally define kin‐recognition and discuss methodological and conceptual issues that arise in its study, citing examples from the literature that illustrate particular points. We define and examine three components of kin‐recognition (expression, perception, and action), and discuss why some experimental designs fail to distinguish among the components. We also point out ways that experimental designs might be modified to unlink the components.We discuss three general issues central to assays of kin‐recognition: the functional significance of assays, multiple‐ and single‐behavior assays, and potential biases in assays. The potential biases we consider are nonblind behavioral assays and the pooling of dependent data. We also examine negative results and, in particular, those factors that can produce negative results when recognition ability is present. Finally, we discuss kin‐recognition in natural contexts, emphasizing the potential dangers of uncritically extrapolating the results of laboratory studies to field contexts.
Social Behavior and the Ontogeny of Foraging in the Kea (Nestor notabilis)
Authors: Diamond Judy , Bond Alan B. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractKea are omnivorous parrots endemic to the high mountains of the South Island of New Zealand. Over a two‐year period, we recorded quantitative behavioral data from 38 banded male kea foraging at a refuse dump outside Arthur's Pass National Park and analyzed the effects of social factors on the ontogeny of foraging. Members of the four distinguishable age classes — fledglings, juveniles, subadults, and adults — displayed characteristic differences in foraging ability and in the social behavior used to obtain access to resources. Adults performed most of the excavation that uncovered new food resources. Fledglings explored and manipulated objects almost continuously, but they discovered little food on their own and were commonly fed directly by adults. Juveniles obtained the highest foraging yields for the amount of time spent searching of any age class, aided by appeasement behavior that gave them preferential access to foods discovered by adults. Kleptoparasitism served as a primary foraging strategy for subadults, who were otherwise poor at discovering and retaining food resources. Social factors influence the acquisition of foraging expertise in the Kea in different ways at different stages of development.
Selective Acceptance of Alien Host Species Pupae by Slaves of the Dulotic Ant, Harpagoxenus sublaevis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae)
Authors: Schumann Ralf , Buschinger Alfred 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe European slave‐making ant, Harpagoxenus sublaevis, has up to three host species which occasionally are found all together in one colony. Colonies with only Leptothorax acervorum slaves, or with both L. acervorum and L. muscorum, are frequent, whereas colonies with only L. muscorum slaves are rare, although young H. sublaevis queens found their colonies about equally frequently with either of the two main host species. We demonstrate here, that the two host species exhibit an asymmetric acceptance behavior towards each other's pupae: L. muscorum workers accept L. acervorum pupae, both in non‐enslaved colonies and as slaves in H. sublaevis nests, whereas L. acervorum never accepted L. muscorum pupae. Origin and meaning of this behavioral difference are unknown. The findings, however, might be very important with respect to host specificity and host‐parasite interactions also in other slave‐making ants.
The Development of Play in the South American Fur Seal
Authors: Harcourt Robert 
Published: May 2010

AbstractPlay behaviour in the juvenile South American fur seal (Arctocephalus australis) is described for the period of dependence on the mother (up to 32 months). Play does not appear to be a unitary category of behaviour, but may be separated into four distinct types: terrestrial social and solitary play and swimming social and solitary play. These four types show different development profiles, and appear to serve different functions. Terrestrial solitary play and the two swimming play forms appear to be juvenile specializations, the first to enable very young seals to gain motor skills rapidly in order to avoid dangers from conspecifics, the second two to enhance antipredator behaviour and foraging ability during the gradual transition to independence. In contrast, social play may be best thought of as gaining social skills necessary in adult life, prior to dispersal post‐weaning. Juvenile fur seals which do not wean in their first year show an upsurge in social play which is not seen in the other play types. This upsurge coincides temporally with the peak of social play of the new cohort, and is presumably elicited by them.