bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A New Quantitative Technique for Categorizing Whistles Using Simulated Signals and Whistles from Captive Bottlenose Dolphins (Delphinidae,Tursiops truncatus)
Authors: McCowan Brenda 
Published: May 2010

AbstractA widespread problem in the study of animal vocalizations is evaluating the acoustic similarity of signals both between individuals of a social group and between social groups. This problem becomes especially salient when classifying the narrow‐band frequency‐modulated signals, such as whistles, found in many avian and mammalian species. Whistles are usually characterized by their relative change in frequency over time, known as whistle ‘contour’. Measuring such a characteristic is difficult as it is not a single measurement, such as the mean frequency or duration of a signal, but several associated measurements of frequency across time. This paper reports on a new quantitative technique for determining whistle types based on whistle contour similarity and an application of this technique to the whistles of bottlenose dolphins to demonstrate its utility. This ‘contour similarity’ technique (CS technique) uses cluster analysis to group the correlation coefficients of frequency measurements from a data set of signals. To demonstrate the efficacy of this CS technique, three data sets were analysed, two using computer‐generated signals and a third using adult bottlenose dolphin whistles, to (1) examine the efficacy of correlation coefficients for grouping signals by their similarity in whistle contour and (2) determine the viability of this technique for categorizing bottlenose dolphin whistles. Measured actual frequencies and correlation matrices from the four simulated signal types and a correlation matrix from the whistles of five captive adult bottlenose dolphins were each subjected to K‐means cluster analysis and the resulting signal types were evaluated. Results indicated that the technique grouped actual frequencies according to the amount of shared actual frequencies and grouped correlation coefficients successfully according to signal contour. This result endured even if contours differed in overall duration or actual frequency or were expanded or compressed with respect to frequency or time. The results suggest that this approach is a viable method for assigning whistle contours to categories in bottlenose dolphins or any other species with narrow‐band, frequency‐modulated signals.
Homing in the Mangrove Swimming Crab Thalamita crenata (Decapoda: Portunidae)
Authors: Cannicci Stefano , Dahdouh‐Guebas Farid , Anyona Dyane , Vannini Marco 
Published: May 2010

AbstractOn the Kenyan coast, Thalamita crenata confines itself to a defined system of crevices and forages, swimming in a few cm of water, within a radius of about 5 m from its shelter. A field study was designed to analyse this crab's ability to find its shelter after being moved away from it.Crabs were displaced, being kept under water, with full vision of the sky and landscape and released 5 m away from their refuges, at a maximum depth of 50 cm. They were able to return to their shelters within 1 h and followed initial directions which were well orientated towards home. T. crenata was still well orientated and successful in returning home during nocturnal displacements and even after trials in which the landscape was altered. Only blind crabs were neither initially orientated towards home nor successful in returning within two tidal cycles of their release.The hypothesis that this swimming crab could use orientating information obtained during the outward displacement was then tested. Specimens were dislocated following a non‐linear outward path, without vision of the surrounding landscape; other crabs were carried to a false release point and then carried in a closed container to the actual release point. Finally, three kinds of detour experiments were performed. In all these trials the directions chosen by the crabs were still clustered around the home direction and homing success was again high.These results exclude homing mechanisms based on random search strategies or on egocentric mechanisms, such as path integration. The most probable hypothesis is that T. crenata organizes some visual cues in a map‐like arrangement and, detecting these cues from any release point within its home range, uses this map to return home.
Innate Recognition by Host Fish of their Cleaning Symbiont
Authors: Losey George S. , Mahon Jeffrey L. , Danilowicz Bret S. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractNaive damselfish,Dascyllus albisella, were tested for their initial response to the Hawaiian cleaning wrasse,Labroides phthirophagus.Contrary to some current theory, some individuals, including both lab‐reared and wild‐caught fish, showed a full ‘pose’ response to visual stimuli from the cleaner without prior tactile stimulation, while others failed to show this response even after 4 d of exposure to visual and tactile stimuli. These individual differences could have resulted from innate differences or uncontrolled variables in their experience.
The Ontogeny of Antipredator Behaviour in Paradise Fish Larvae (Macropodus opercularis): The Recognition of Eyespots
Authors: Miklósi Ádám , Berzsenyi Gábor , Pongrácz Péter , Csányi Vilmos 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe ontogeny of antipredator behaviour of paradise fish was examined using a simple testing method. The results showed that the ability to recognize eyespots appears in larvae between 15 and 20 days old. At the same time, two horizontally placed eyespots produced the most pronounced effect on the behaviour of the larvae. Testing different inbred strains revealed that the ontogeny of antipredator behaviour is also under broad genetic control, as the response to a model predator was strong in one strain but weak in another. The results suggest that the recognition of eyespots coincides with larvae becoming more conspicuous to predators by the appearance of pigmentation and increasing level of swimming activity (exploration).
Activity Pattern of Polecats Mustela putorius L. in Relation to Food Habits and Prey Activity
Authors: Lode Thierry 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe activity pattern of polecats Mustela putorius L. was studied by radiotracking five males and four females in the wetlands of western France from Jul. 1988 to Mar. 1992. Polecats were nocturnal throughout the year with no differences between males and females. The diel activity remained moderate (31 %). Seasonal food habits were characterized by the exploitation of anurans in spring, while rodents were preyed upon from summer to winter. Seasonal changes in the activity rhythm of polecats appeared synchronized with the activity of the main prey. It is suggested that the activity patterns exhibited in different periods of the year are a result of changes in feeding tactics.
Golden‐marmot Alarm Calls. II. Asymmetrical Production and Perception of Situationally Specific Vocalizations?
Authors: Blumstein Daniel T. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractMany species produce alarm calls that vary according to situation. An implicit assumption for these species is that production and perception of situationally specific alarm calls is symmetrical: perceivers respond to variation produced by signalers. The companion paper to this one (Blumstein 1995) showed that golden marmots (Marmota caudata aurea) produce variable alarm calls that vary in proportion to the degree of risk the caller perceives. Calls produced in higher‐risk situations have fewer notes than calls produced in lower‐risk situations. In this study, to determine the salience of the number of notes per call in eliciting different responses in conspecific perceivers, I played back three‐note alarm calls, eight‐note alarm calls, and the non‐alarm vocalization of a local bird to adult golden marmots. Although marmots responded differently to bird calls and alarm calls, vigilance responses to the different alarm calls were similar. Several explanations may account for the apparent insensitivity to alarm‐call variation: golden marmots may require additional contextual cues to properly interpret alarm calls, perceptual abilities do not parallel production abilities, or calls may serve a generalized alerting function.
Further Evidence of Lack of Pheromonal Inhibition among Queens of the Ant Leptothorax acervorum
Authors: Bourke Andrew F. G. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractQueens in some species of ant with several queens per colony are believed to inhibit one another's fecundity pheromonally. This paper describes a repeat of an experimental test of this idea in the multiple‐queen ant Leptothorax acervorum. The three most fecund queens from a field‐collected colony were housed together in an experimental nest. This was then filmed for 10 h per day over 36 consecutive days (i.e. for 360 h in total). Over the first 12 d, all queens were present in the colony. For the middle 12 d, the two most fecund queens were removed, but were returned for the final 12 d. The queen that was observed throughout the experiment failed to show a rise in fecundity when the other queens were removed. Instead, her egg‐laying rate fell, although this drop was not significant. These results confirm previous findings that short‐term, strong pheromonal inhibition of fecundity does not occur among L. acervorum queens. The phenomena of pheromonal inhibition in other species may be a result of workers treating queens differentially in response to rapid, short‐term changes in the numbers of queens and eggs. If so, the results presented here could stem from the relative infrequency of such changes in L. acervorum.
Factors Affecting Acoustic Variation in Barbary‐macaque (Macaca sylvanus) Disturbance Calls
Authors: Fischer Julia , Hammerschmidt Kurt , Todt Dietmar 
Published: May 2010

AbstractSemi‐free‐ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) were observed to utter distinctive calls after disturbances in the surroundings (e.g. presence of a predator, occurrence of some unusual phenomenon). These calls differed from calls given in other contexts. Most of these calls were uttered in a serial manner, some of which lasted as long as the corresponding context. The aim of this study was to determine the object‐related specificity of calls and variation of acoustic parameters within a call series. The analysis revealed that acoustic features of calls varied among contexts. Within one apparently homogeneous context, both temporal and frequency characteristics shifted gradually. Furthermore, the disturbance calls clearly differed between individuals. To examine the disturbance calls' meaning, playback experiments were conducted in which alarm calls and disturbance calls were presented. After playback of an alarm call, subjects typically showed an escape response, whereas, in response to disturbance calls, they most often scanned the surroundings. Juvenile animals generally showed stronger responses than adults.
Evidence of a Universal Perceptual Unit in Mammals
Authors: Gerstner Geoffrey E. , Fazio Victoria A. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractEvidence from many studies conducted over the past century suggests that human perception is partitioned into 1–4‐s units. More recently, a similar 1–4‐s time constant has been found in non‐perceptual phenomena, i.e. movement patterns, of both human and non‐human mammalian species. Based on these findings, it appears that an evolutionarily conserved mechanism exists that segments human and non‐human mammalian motor actions into 1–4‐s units. This being the case, it is believed that the 1–4‐s segmentation seen in human perception may also occur in mammalian perception. However, it is currently impossible to determine whether both human and non‐human perception is partitioned into 1–4‐s units because the paradigms used to study the 1–4‐s unit in human perception cannot be applied to non‐human species. This study hypothesized that vigilance postures represent a paradigm that will allow such comparative work. This is based on the fact that investigators recently found that vigilant postures in humans are partitioned into 1–4‐s units, and the literature argues strongly that vigilance is largely a perceptual phenomenon. With this in mind, the current study determined whether similar vigilant postures occur in non‐human mammals and whether such vigilant postures are also segmented into 1–4‐s units. The study found that such postures averaged 2–3.5 s in primates (n = 1 species), carnivores (n = 2 species), artiodactyls (n = 3 species), and marsupials (n = 1 species). These findings support the hypothesis that perception in humans and other mammals is partitioned into units by a conserved mechanism. It is believed that vigilant postures will be an important quantifiable bioassay with which to conduct comparative studies of mammalian perception.
Ontogenetic Development of Spatial Orientation in First‐ and Second‐instar Cockroach Larvae (Blattella germanica (L.), Dictyoptera)
Authors: Dabouineau Laurent , Rivault Colette 
Published: May 2010

AbstractChanges in spatial orientation related to aging were investigated during the first two instars in Blattella germanica (L). Spatial orientation was tested through shelter return under various experimental conditions in order to understand how kinesthetic path integration and visual cues intervene in the construction of this behaviour. We were able to distinguish two types of changes: experience during the first instar and maturation between instars. Young larvae need 2–3 d to develop the appropriate shelter‐return behaviour when they can only use visual cues. By contrast, they can use kinesthetic path‐integration cues efficiently to return to the shelter as soon as they hatch.
Alloparental Egg Care in the Polychaete Worm Ophryotrocha diadema
Authors: Premoli Maria Clotilde , Sella Gabriella 
Published: May 2010

AbstractIn the simultaneously hermaphroditic worm Ophryotrocha diadema, eggs are laid in nesting sites i.e. widenings of mucous trails built by parents. Nesting sites where eggs are present represent highly predictable places where other conspecifics, attracted by the mucous trails, tend to congregate. Care for developing embryos is associated with regular alternation of sex functions and reciprocal egg exchange between partners of the same pair. Generally both parents tend their eggs, but eggs develop equally well if they are cared for by a genetically unrelated individual (adopter). The aim of this study was to investigate the possible evolutionary significance of the adoption of neglected eggs by unpaired worms. Results of our experiments indicate that: 1. Apparently there are no direct cues (e.g. chemical) for kin recognition: cues are only indirect, i.e. only eggs located in the nesting sites elicit parental care by any worm; and 2. In a low‐density laboratory population (1 individual per 500 ml) of O. diadema, by tending eggs of whatever provenance in the nesting sites, unpaired hermaphrodites increase by 1.23 times their mating opportunities, compared with hermaphrodites not caring for eggs and seeking for a mate outside the nesting sites. In this sense, in a low‐density population, non‐parental egg attendance can be considered adaptive.
Tool Use by Spiders: Stone Selection and Placement by Corolla Spiders Ariadna (Segestriidae) of the Namib Desert
Authors: Henschel Joh R. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe corolla spider (Araneae: Segestriidae: Ariadna) of the Namib Desert gravel plains typically places seven or eight stones in a circle around its burrow entrance. It was examined whether the spider selects and places stones according to physical characteristics. Circle composition can be explained by the allometric scaling to spider size of the burrow entrance and the stones. The stones were usually placed with the narrowest side or point towards the burrow. Quartz crystals were preferred to four other stone types available. The spiders could detect prey brushing the outside of the circle stones that were about as wide as the spider's path of attack. I conclude that corolla spiders use the selected stones as tools to extend their foraging range.
Sperm Competition and Mate Guarding in Meadow Voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus)
Authors: Storey Anne E. , French Roberta J. , Payne Ronald 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe relationship between sperm competition and behavioural forms of male competition was investigated by comparing paternity of litters when female meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, were exposed to two males sequentially (sperm competition only) or simultaneously (potential interaction between sperm competition and mate guarding). Voles were descended from two populations: one with naturally occurring blond voles (homozygous recessive) and the other with voles homozygous for the dominant dark coat. In sequential tests, blond females received one ejaculation each from one blond and one dark male (order of males varied among females). There were no mating‐order effects, but dark males sired more pups. Because this differential fertilization may have masked mating‐order effects, we repeated the experiment with voles homozygous for different transferrin genetic variants. Again, there were no significant mating‐order effects. When females were exposed to both males simultaneously, the aggressive blond males sired more pups because they mated more and effectively guarded females, thus preventing devaluation of their sperm by other matings. The more fertile dark males only sired pups if they mated first, before the blond males encountered the pair (a potential problem in field data on sperm precedence if more fertile individuals consistently mate either first or last). Mate guarding should reduce sperm competition from other males in high‐density populations. In contrast, finding and fertilizing females may be more important in low‐density populations, conclusions consistent with these population densities for several years prior to capture.
Why Be a Both‐ways Sex Changer?
Authors: Nakashima Yasuhiro , Kuwamura Tetsuo , Yogo Yutaka 
Published: May 2010

AbstractSex change is a rather common phenomenon among aquatic animals, but only a few have been reported to change sex in both directions. In laboratory experiments we demonstrated that the coral goby, Paragobiodon echinocephalus, changed sex in both directions with the same likelihood. When the goby lost its mate in the field, it preferred changing sex in either direction over moving a long distance in search of a heterosexual mate. Change in social rank, which is likely to occur in many other hermaphroditic fish, corresponded exactly with the direction of sex change. This constitutes a new condition for the evolution of both‐ways sex change among plants and animals.
Ontogenetic Behaviour Changes in Larvae of the DamselflyIschnura verticalis(Odonata: Coenagrionidae)
Authors: Richardson Jean M. L. , Anholt Bradley R. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractLarvae of most animals go through large changes in size. Because change in size can lead to changes in ability to gain food and in predation risk, changes in behaviour are predicted to reflect this. Models consider change in amounts of the same behaviour, but different selective pressures on different larval sizes may also lead to qualitative differences in behavioural repertoire. In the damselflyIschnura verticaliswe observed ontogenetic changes in behaviour under controlled laboratory conditions. We found that frequency and duration of feeding behaviour and behaviour related to activity were increased in larger instars. Larger larvae also had higher transition probabilities to the behaviour abdomen wave, straight abdomen raise, and rotate + head out. We also found that the behavioural repertoire of damselfly larvae changed with development: some behavioural patterns were performed almost exclusively by smaller larvae (F ‐ 4 to F ‐ 7) while others were performed almost exclusively by larger larvae (F ‐ 3 to F ‐ 0).
Target‐directed Orientation in Displaced Honeybees
Authors: Geiger Karl , Kratzsch Daniela , Menzel Randolf 
Published: May 2010

AbstractUnder sunny weather conditions, displaced honeybees (Apis mellifera) usually fly into the celestial compass direction and thus may be misled from their goal, or they are disorientated. Under cloudy conditions, they may determine the celestial compass direction from prominent landmarks. They may also fly directly toward their goal from a release site. In two experiments, we investigated the orientation of displaced bees when a landmark (target) was close to the goal under different weather conditions. It is shown that in sunny conditions, the celestial compass will override target orientation under most conditions. Under 100% cloud cover, the celestial compass direction retrieved from landmarks modulates target‐orientated behaviour but is not by itself a primary orientation factor. The bees will fly toward a previously encountered landmark that signals the target, and in case of several similar landmarks which are visible to the bees, they will choose the one in the direction nearest the celestial compass direction. The results indicate that honeybee orientation is the result of a set of context‐specific interdependent orientation mechanisms.
Testosterone‐induced Singing in Female European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)
Authors: Hausberger M. , Henry L. , Richard M. A. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractAdult female starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were injected with testosterone in order to determine the song structures they had in memory. Those females had been caught in the wild in different geographical areas and had different ages. This hormone treatment clearly stimulated singing behaviour of females in isolation and revealed their ability to sing quite complex songs. Both categories of songs observed in males (warbling and whistles) were demonstrated and large repertoires were observed. Although the testosterone treatment may have altered the female song system and induced male‐like vocalizations, it is interesting that none of the species‐typic elements of male starlings was produced by the experimental females. Large changes were found in both repertoire size and composition over a year, revealing a high plasticity, even in older birds. We also found evidence that even under testosterone treatment, females do not necessarily sing all the songs they may have in memory.