bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Forms and Social Signal Value of Smiles Associated with Pleasant and Unpleasant Sensory Experience
Authors: Soussignan Robert , Schaal Benoist 
Published: May 2010

AbstractEpisodes of facial displays involving the zygomatic action (AU12: lip corner pulling or smiling) were selected from a large sample of children (n = 95) exposed to pleasant and unpleasant odours in the presence of an unfamiliar person in order to investigate potential differences in morphological, temporal patterning and social signal value of smiling.In a first experiment, using the facial action coding system (FACS: Ekman & Friesen 1978), a considerable morphological flexibility of smiles was observed in relation to the subjects' hedonic experience. The facial configurations of smiling were formed by a number of actions in the upper (AU 4: brow lowering), middle (AU 9: nose wrinkling) and lower face (AU 14: dimpling, AU 15: lip comer depressing, AU 17: chin raising, AU 23: lip tightening) and the mouth was more often ‘closed’ in response to unpleasant odours. When exposed to pleasant odours, zygomatic action co‐occurred more frequently with an opening of the mouth (AUs 25, 26, 27) or with a raising of the cheeks (AU 6). An analysis of the temporal patterning of zygomatic actions showed that they occurred more rapidly, dropped off the face less abruptly with a stepped decrease, were less smooth, and were often associated with shorter gazes directed toward the examiner in response only to unpleasant odours. These findings suggested that a number of subjects might exert some control on their smiling while confronted with a presumed social constraint, namely the smelling of unpleasant odours in the presence of an unfamiliar person.In a second experiment, the communicative value of smiling was investigated in a real‐time projection of 10 variants of smiling to a panel of receivers (n = 52). The Duchenne smile (AU 6 + 12 + 25) and smile with lips opening (12 + 25) provided more accurate information about the hedonic valence of the inhaled odour than did the other types of smiling. In contrast, the perceived valence of the facial displays simultaneously combining zygomatic action with muscular actions of the lower face (AUs 15, 17, 23) appeared more difficult to discriminate by untrained receivers. It was hypothesized that the senders displayed some forms of smiling possibly to mask their responsiveness to unpleasant odours in signalling ambiguous or incorrect information about their internal state to a recipient.
Acoustic Competition in Male Midwife Toads Alytes obstetricans and Alytes cisternasii: Response to Neighbor Size and Calling Rate. Implications for Female Choice
Authors: Bosch J. , Márquez R. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractEffects of neighbor on male calling behavior was studied through playback experiments of synthetic calls to males of two species of midwife toads. The responses of resident males were scored considering two temporal parameters (call duration and calling rate) and one spectral parameter (dominant frequency). The sounds used for the playback tests included two levels of fundamental frequency (correlated with male size) and two levels of call repetition rate. In both species, resident males only changed their calling rate in the presence of an intruder, and the response was different for synthetic calls with two levels of dominant frequencies and with two calling rates. Resident size was not significantly correlated with the magnitude of the change in the calling rate. On the other hand, resident calling rate was significantly and positively correlated with the magnitude of the increase in calling rate of the stimulus. The maximum relative increase in calling rate was observed in A. cisternasii. In phonotaxis tests, females are preferentially attracted to calls emitted at a higher rate confirming the importance of changes in calling rate for female attraction.
Computer Simulation Suggests that the Spatial Distribution of Males Influences Female Visiting Behaviour in the River Bullhead
Authors: Bertorelle Giorgio , Bisazza Angelo , Marconato Andrea 
Published: May 2010

AbstractIt is known from previous laboratory studies that female choice in the river bullhead, Cottus gobio, is mainly influenced by the size of the male, and that the presence of eggs in the nest also plays a role. However, the process by which females visit and choose among prospective mates is still poorly understood. We examined eight possible tactics of female choice through computer simulation, and we compared their fit to the reproductive patterns observed in two natural populations. Neither of the tactics proposed for other species, nor combinations of them, were able to predict accurately the field data, although one of them (fixed threshold) provided a fairly good fitting. Conversely, a new model (cluster sampling), which takes into account the spatial distribution of males, produced for both populations a set of predictions on the male mating success not significantly different from the data recorded in the field. Under this model, females sample more males when males are clumped, thus reducing substantially, on the average, the ratio between the distance travelled before spawning and the number of sampled males. When models incorporated the preference for already mated males, good fitting was obtained if females preferred nests containing eggs not older than 36 h, a finding that agrees with field results.
Responses of Male and Female Black Grouse to Male Vocal Display
Authors: Hovi Matti , Alatalo Rauno V. , Halonen Matti , Lundberg Arne 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe evolution of leks may be explained by several hypotheses. The ‘female preference’ hypothesis, which states that females favour males that have aggregated, has recently gained some empirical support. Low‐quality, unattractive males may, however, settle near attractive males, as predicted by the ‘hotshot’ hypothesis. We tested whether black grouse Tetrao tetrix females use auditory cues to find the preferred leks, and whether males respond to vocal display emitted on leks. We conducted a playback experiment with male vocal display (rookooing) on leks, where the visiting females and displaying males were counted. The number of males tended to increase more on playback leks. Specifically, the number of 1‐year‐old males was greater on playback sites than on control sites. Also, the number of females, in relation to the lek size before the start of the experiment tended to increase. In addition, we used aviary playback trials to test whether females distinguish between single‐male and multi‐male displays. In a choice test, females showed greater preference for the ‘multi‐male’ tape. The tendency for increased male numbers on playback leks resulted from increased visits of young, mobile males which were attracted to leks that they perceived to be large. This suggests a ‘hotshot’‐type mechanism in the settlement of young males. Because females also responded to the supplemented auditory advertisement, or directly to the increased number of males, the ‘female preference’ hypothesis is also supported. Females may, at least in part, base their decision of which lek to visit on auditory cues, but visual contact to males may be also needed.
Rattling Behavior of Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis viridis, Viperidae) in Relation to Sex, Reproductive Status, Body Size, and Body Temperature
Authors: Kissner Kelley J. , Forbes Mark R. , Secoy Diane M. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractWe examined whether sex, reproductive status, body size, or body temperature of prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis viridis) was related to when snakes rattled in response to an approaching observer. We found that gravid females allowed significantly closer approaches than males, suggesting that females relied on crypsis to avoid predation, possibly because pregnancy constrained their locomotive ability. Smaller snakes allowed significantly closer approaches than did larger snakes. Smaller snakes may be more cryptic or slower, which may influence their waiting to rattle until the observer was close. Overall, we found no consistent relationship between the distance from the observer that a snake rattled and its body temperature. However, cooler gravid females allowed closer approaches by the observer than did warmer gravid females. In summary, reproductive status, body size, and body temperature appear to influence the costs and benefits of crypsis vs. active defense of rattlesnakes.
Do Reproductive Status and Lamb Gender Affect the Foraging Behavior of Bighorn Ewes?
Authors: Ruckstuhl Kathreen E. , Festa‐Bianchet Marco 
Published: May 2010

AbstractIn female ungulates lactation carries a high energetic cost and mothers often devote more care to sons than to daughters. The aims of this study were to determine whether lactating bighorn ewes have higher foraging time, bite rate or selectivity of forage than barren ewes and whether reproductive status affects migration patterns. Ewes with male lambs were predicted to spend more time foraging and to have a higher bite rate than ewes with female lambs. There were no differences in foraging behavior according to ewe reproductive status from April to August. In September‐November lactating ewes had a higher bite rate and spent more time foraging than nonlactating ewes but lamb gender did not affect foraging behavior. Lactating ewes gained less weight than nonlactating ones until mid‐August; from mid‐August to late September mass gain was similar for both groups of ewes. Nonlactating ewes spent more time standing but reproductive status did not affect vigilance behavior or step rate while foraging. Ewes with lambs did not differ from nonlactating ewes in step rate. Pregnant ewes migrated earlier than barren ewes to alpine areas in spring. By so doing they abandoned areas with good quality forage presumably to give birth in areas safer from predation. All ewes spent most of the summer in the alpine range but nonlactating ewes returned to the winter range earlier than lactating ewes, probably to profit from the abundant forage there.
Field Response of Tadpoles to Conspecific and Heterospecific Alarm
Authors: Adams Michael J. , Claeson Shannon 
Published: May 2010

AbstractMany organisms use chemical cues from a variety of sources to mediate predator avoidance. Response to heterospecific alarm cues has been demonstrated for tadpoles within but not among taxa and alarm response behavior has seldom been examined under field conditions. This study examined the response of three sympatric amphibian larvae and predaceous larval Dytiscus sp. (diving beetle) to damage‐release signals in natural ponds by using capture rates from treated funnel traps as an index of larval behavior. Hyla regilla (Pacific tree frog) tadpoles avoided traps treated with either crushed conspecifics or with Rana aurora (red‐legged frog) tadpoles but the larger ranids and Ambystoma macrodactylum (long‐toed salamander) did not respond to either treatment. H. regilla tadpoles were likely susceptible to any potential predators of ranid tadpoles in these ponds and this result is consistent with the hypothesis that a response to heterospecific alarm occurs in sympatric prey with shared predators.
Vibration Signal Behavior of Waggle‐dancers in Swarms of the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
Authors: Schneider S. S. , Visscher P. K. , Camazine S. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractWe hypothesize two functions of the vibration signal (dorsal ventral abdominal vibration = DVAV) during swarming in honey bees: 1. it enhances recruitment to the specific sites advertised by the waggle dancers which also perform the vibration signal; and 2. it acts as a nonspecific modulatory signal to stimulate activity in other bees. The stimulation of activity invoked by the second hypothesis might include increasing nest‐site scouting and dance following early in the house‐hunting process or rousing quiescent bees to prepare them for lift‐off late in the process, or both. In studies of neotropical African bee swarms in Costa Rica and European bees in California we tested these hypotheses by looking for associations between production of vibration signals by nest‐site recruiters and site attractiveness (indicated by which site was ultimately chosen and by distance from the swarm since swarms may have a distance preference). Overall, bees dancing for the chosen sites performed vibration signals to the same extent as those dancing for the other sites. There were no distance differences between sites whose scouts did and did not vibrate other bees. These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that the vibration signal enhances recruitment to especially high quality sites and they support the hypothesis that it plays a general excitatory role in the context of house hunting by swarming bees.
A Functionally Equivalent Artificial Neural Network Model of the Prey Orientation Behavior of Waterstriders (Gerridae)
Authors: Snyder Michael R. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractWaterstriders, a family (Heteroptera, Gerridae) of predacious insects, orient toward the source of water surface vibrations. We describe an artificial neural network that simulates a waterstrider's discrete rotational movement towards a prey item and compare the results to published data. A back‐propagation network with six input units, each corresponding to a vibration receptor on a leg of the waterstrider, and two output units corresponding to the elicited angle of rotation, was used. The network was trained with a full complement of receptors to rotate towards the point source of a surface vibration. When the network was tested with all receptors present, a linear relationship was found between the desired and obtained rotational angles. Lesioning of one or two receptors resulted in marked deviation from linearity within the angular range of detection corresponding to that of the amputated receptor(s), while amputation of three receptors resulted in the network rotating contralaterally to all vibrations originating ipsolaterally to the lesioned side. All trials produced results that corresponded qualitatively to published behavioral data.
Patch Exploitation, Patch‐leaving and Pre‐emptive Patch Defence in the Parasitoid Wasp Trissolcus basalis (Insecta: Scelionidae)
Authors: Field Scott A. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractFemale parasitoids forage for host resources essential to the development of their offspring, so patch exploitation decisions have a direct influence on their fitness. This paper analyses the patch exploitation behaviour and patch‐leaving decisions of the parasitoid wasp Trissolcus basalis (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), when searching alone on patches of host eggs in the laboratory. Oviposition behaviour was examined in detail and the temporal and sequential structure of patch exploitation was analysed. Time inhomogeneities representing major behavioural change points during patch visits were identified, and the behavioural sequence within homogeneous periods was summarised. As the patch neared full depletion, wasps switched from a repetitive cycle of host examination and oviposition to a ‘leaving routine’, in which they alternated between searching on and off the patch, before abruptly leaving it. Despite the absence of competitors, females remained on the patch for up to 5 h after initiating the leaving routine, and periodically interrupted it to engage in bouts of active patch defence. Such pre‐emptive patch defence was more pronounced when the patch was larger and the resource value therefore greater. This unique patch‐leaving strategy is interpreted as an adaptation to high levels of resource competition and the consequent risk of losing offspring through superparasitism by competitors.
Use of Landmarks in Three Species of Food‐storing Corvids
Authors: Gould‐Beierle Kristy L. , Kamil Alan C. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe use of landmarks by Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana), pinyon jays (Gymnorbinus cyanocepbalus), and Western scrub jays (Apbelocoma coerulescens) was investigated in three experiments. In the first experiment, birds were trained to find a hidden food reward beneath wood chips near a plastic landmark located 20 cm from one edge of a stationary tray. During unrewarded test trials, all species displaced their searching in response to movement of the landmark in both parallel and perpendicular directions; however, searching was displaced significantly more in the parallel direction. In a second experiment, the landmark was removed with the tray stationary or shifted. When the tray was shifted, all species responded by searching relative to the shifted tray. This indicates that the global (room) cues were not being used as salient landmarks. In the third experiment, the tray was placed in different positions for each trial, making global cues unreliable. As in experiment 1, all species displaced their searching in response to parallel and perpendicular movement of the landmark, with movement being similar in both directions. These results indicate no species differences on this landmark‐use task.
Mounting Interactions between Female Japanese Macaques: Testing the Influence of Dominance and Aggression
Authors: Vasey Paul L. , Chapais Bernard , Gauthier Carole 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe goal of the work reported here was to determine whether female Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) participated in same‐sex mounting interactions during homosexual consortships to communicate about asymmetries in their dominance relationships and to reduce aggression. Focal data were collected during 21 homosexual consortships involving 14 females living in a captive, mixed‐sex group of 37 individuals. We identified eight types of mounts, one solicitation used specifically to request to mount (hands‐on‐hindquarters solicitation), two solicitations used specifically to request to be mounted (hindquarter and back presentations), and one behavior employed to facilitate mounts‐in‐progress (clasping). We tested whether dominant consort partners (1) mounted more and (2) requested to mount more than their subordinate partners and whether subordinate consort partners (1) requested to be mounted more and (2) facilitated mounts‐in‐progress more than their dominant partners. Finally, we examined whether mounting was temporally linked to the onset of aggressive interactions between consort partners and whether it functioned to defuse incipient aggression. None of these predictions was supported. All types of mounts, mount solicitations, and clasping occurred bi‐directionally within consort dyads. Mutual sexual attraction and gratification provided the proximate motivation for these mounting interactions and, in turn, for the formation and maintenance of their homosexual consortships.
A Technique for Quantitative Description of Aggression‐produced Social Systems
Authors: Lott Dale F. , North Gerry J. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractWe describe a technique for the quantitative description of social systems produced by aggressive interactions between individuals. The assumption underlying the technique is that individuals often employ one or both of two different strategies to gain access to resources. One strategy is to use an established relationship to claim resources wherever they are found (dominance); the other is to exclude competitors from resources in a specific area (territoriality). Our technique allows us to quantify the degree to which the behavioral dimension of each of these strategies is manifested by each individual and also by the whole set of interacting individuals. It will be possible to correlate the quantified social system variables generated by this approach with quantified ecological variables, such as population density and abundance of food, thus contributing to the development of a more rigorous behavioral ecology.We illustrate this method with quantitative descriptions of variation in juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorbyn‐cus mykiss) correlated with variation in population density and stream flow velocity.
Long‐distance Homing Ability inDasypoda altercator(Hymenoptera, Melittidae)
Authors: Chmurzyński Jerzy A. , Kieruzel Maria , Krzysztofiak Anna , Krzysztofiak Lech 
Published: May 2010

AbstractHoming rates and initial orientations after release from different directions were investigated in the solitary beeDasypoda altercator.Homing rates and the proportion of individuals returning on the day of release declined with distance, implying that homing from greater distances is not based solely on the use of landmarks. A long duration of return (often not on the same day) and high efficiency of homing (four bees out of 10 returned from a 4 km distance over the lake), as well as an increase in average return speed ≅ 10 m/min) with distance of bees homing on the same day suggest that homing is also not based upon radial scatter as the sole tactic. This is supported by the observation that the initial orientations of the bees were not equally probable. Departures towards the sun greatly exceeded those away from the sun and the bees also tended to depart in cardinal geographical (or geomagnetic) directions, preferring meridional directions (especially southward) to parallel ones (of which east was preferred). Departure directions did not depend on wind direction but did depend, to some extent, on the landscape features of release sites. However, bees neither tended to depart in the direction of the nest, nor did homing success correlate with the direction of departure in relation to that of the nest.
Age and Behavior of Honey Bees, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), that Perform Vibration Signals on Workers
Authors: Painter‐Kurt S. , Schneider S. S. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe vibration signal is one of the most commonly occurring communication displays in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies. It may function in a ‘modulatory’ manner, because it causes a nonspecific increase in activity that enhances a variety of behaviors depending upon the age and caste of the recipient. We examined honey bee workers that performed vibration signals on other workers in three observation hives, each containing a population of marked bees of known age. In all three colonies, the mean age of the first performance of the vibration signal was significantly different from the mean age at which workers first performed waggle dances, carried pollen loads, or attended the queen. However, workers of all ages, except those less than 3 d old, could perform vibration signals. In older workers of foraging age, signal performance was most closely associated with recent foraging success. Younger workers that vibrated did not appear to be early‐maturing foragers and thus their signals were probably not influenced by food collection. Rather, for these preforaging‐age workers, signal performance was associated more with periods of orientation flight, during which younger bees learn the location of the nest and surrounding landmarks. Thus, the vibration signal may be triggered by different stimuli in different worker age classes. Because it elicits a general increase in activity in all recipients, the signal may help adjust many different colony behaviors simultancously to changes in foraging success and colony development.