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Studies of foraging behaviour and respiratory physiology in breath‐holding divers often assume that each dive cycle (dive plus surface duration) is physiologically and ecologically independent within a series (or “bout”) of sequential dives. We tested this assumption using time depth recorders and GPS data for more than 42,000 dives in 1289 bouts by 39 pairs of male and female European shags (Gulosus aristotelis...
Personality traits in animals are often measured using standardised behavioural tests for activity, boldness/shyness, sociability, aggression and exploration. These tests are quick and convenient, as well as easy to repeat. As the interest in studying the impact of animal personality on ecological and evolutionary consequences has been growing rapidly, there is increasing focus on cross‐validating...
The ability of prey to recognize and adequately respond to predators determines their survival. Predator‐borne, post‐digestion dietary cues represent essential information for prey about the identity and the level of risk posed by predators. The phylogenetic relatedness hypothesis posits that prey should respond strongly to dietary cues from closely related heterospecifics but respond weakly to such...
Animal species are expected to evolve specialised cognitive abilities to solve the tasks that are critical for their fitness. The literature contains several examples of specialised cognitive abilities, but few regard fish. The guppy, Poecilia reticulata, is a freshwater fish in which females choose their mates based on colouration, and orange‐coloured fruits are important diet enrichments for both...
Many prey species suffer from different predators in the course of their ontogeny. Hence, the alarm signal a small prey individual sends can have a different meaning than the signal a large prey individual sends, both for small and for large receivers. Larvae of Western Flower Thrips face predators that attack only small larvae, or predators that attack small larvae and large larvae. Furthermore,...
In the recent years, vibrational communication signals have become more and more prominent in research—often, characteristics of signals are described for several closely related species or populations of the same species, using means and standard deviations. Phenotypic variation in vibratory communication signals can be measured and compared using the coefficient of variation, which is supposed to...
Individualistic contact calls facilitate mother‐offspring reunion after separation. However, in many mammals, both the acoustic structure and individuality of contact calls differ between mother and young. In contrast, in Siberian wapiti Cervus elaphus sibiricus, contact calls are similar in the acoustics between mother and young, whereas effects of this similarity on vocal individuality were not...
Individuals in groups can suffer costs through interactions with adversarial or unknown conspecifics. Social niche construction allows individuals to buffer such potential costs by only engaging in preferred associations. This may be particularly beneficial in insect aggregations, which are often large and highly fluid. However, little is known regarding the structuring of such aggregations. Here...
There is growing interest in the consequences of consistent individual behavioral differences within and between populations. We compared the magnitude, repeatability, and plasticity of boldness in the terrestrial hermit crab Coenobita compressus in three habitats with different degrees of disturbance in Costa Rica. We encourage researchers to test additional sites to assess the generality of our...
Exploitation of food resources that are dispersed in time and space has been crucial to the evolutionary success of humans. Recent experimental work has shown that an absence of communication impairs decision‐making in a foraging task. Here, we found that individuals in larger teams were more likely to reach group consensus and were more accurate and efficient foragers. Individuals in larger teams...
Nest defence is a fundamental aspect of parental care in secondary cavity‐nesting birds, and predation or competition for nesting sites can involve different defensive behaviours. Because habitat quality determines breeding success, we were interested in whether breeding pairs of the Eurasian nuthatch, Sitta europaea, established in more favourable environment also manifest higher probability of cooperative...
The cover image, by Misaki Fujisawa et al., is based on the Research Paper Aggressive mimicry of the cleaner wrasse by Aspidontus taeniatus functions mainly for small blennies, DOI: 10.1111/eth.12743. Photo credit: Misaki Fujisawa.
The mimic blenny Aspidontus taeniatus Quoy & Gaimard is well known for its resemblance to the juvenile and adult cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus (Valenciennes) in colour and shape. As various reef fishes including piscivores actively approach the cleaner wrasse to solicit cleaning by posing, two types of benefits have been suggested for this resemblance, that is, protective mimicry and aggressive...
Although play–fighting is widespread among juvenile mammals, its adaptive significance remains unclear. It has been proposed that play is beneficial for developing skills to improve success in adult contests (motor‐training hypothesis), but the links between juvenile play–fighting and adult aggression are complex and not well understood. In this theoretical study, we investigate the coevolution between...
Foraging decisions should reflect a balance between costs and benefits of alternative strategies. Predation risk and resource availability in the environment may be crucial in deciding how cautious individuals should behave during foraging. These costs and benefits will vary in time and context, meaning that animals should be able to adjust their foraging behaviour to new or altered environments....
Cost of reproduction is associated with a reduction in subsequent survival or future breeding success. A decrease in survival rate of parents during or after reproduction reduces the probability of their future reproduction. However, few studies have demonstrated such survival costs to parents. Females of Armadillidium vulgare hold their eggs in a marsupium and brood these until the young hatch. Caring...
Post‐conflict affiliative interactions with a bystander, an uninvolved third party, have been reported in several species. The functions of these interactions could vary depending on whether the individual was an aggressor or a victim in a conflict. We examined the occurrence of and three potential functions for bystander affiliation—substitute for reconciliation, self‐protection and consolation (stress...
Risk recognition and fast‐start performance are critical to fish survival when faced with predators. Many fish species have been shown to recognize risks associated with chemical cues released by injured conspecifics. However, little is known about the ontogeny of “risk” recognition via damage‐released chemical alarm cues and fast‐start performance in prey fishes. The objectives of this study were...
To remain cohesive as a group, individuals must coordinate their movements between resources. In many species, vocalisations are used in this context. While some species have specific movement calls, others use calls which are also employed in different contexts. The use of such multicontextual calls has rarely been studied quantitatively, especially during both the pre‐departure and departure period...
Dancing is a universal human activity that involves exertive rhythmic movement to music. It is often conducted in a social environment and often involves synchronization. It has been found to cause dancers to bond socially. Like conversation, it has been suggested that dancing may be an inexpensive form of social bonding, in that both activities facilitate efficient group bonding by allowing multiple...
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