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  • 1
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    Phenotypic social structure in songbirds (2015)
    Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2015-05-27
    Description: Both social and ecological factors influence population process and structure, with resultant consequences for phenotypic selection on individuals. Understanding the scale and relative contribution of these two factors is thus a central aim in evolutionary ecology. In this study, we develop a framework using null models to identify the social and spatial patterns that contribute to phenotypic structure in a wild population of songbirds. We used automated technologies to track 1053 individuals that formed 73 737 groups from which we inferred a social network. Our framework identified that both social and spatial drivers contributed to assortment in the network. In particular, groups had a more even sex ratio than expected and exhibited a consistent age structure that suggested local association preferences, such as preferential attachment or avoidance. By contrast, recent immigrants were spatially partitioned from locally born individuals, suggesting differential dispersal strategies by phenotype. Our results highlight how different scales of social decision-making, ranging from post-natal dispersal settlement to fission–fusion dynamics, can interact to drive phenotypic structure in animal populations.
    Keywords: behaviour, ecology
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 2
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    Song dialects in mountain chickadees (2015)
    Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2015-05-27
    Description: Song in songbirds is widely thought to function in mate choice and male–male competition. Song is also phenotypically plastic and typically learned from local adults; therefore, it varies across geographical space and can serve as a cue for an individual's location of origin, with females commonly preferring males from their respective location. Geographical variation in song dialect may reflect acoustic adaptation to different environments and/or serve as a signal of local adaptation. In montane environments, environmental differences can occur over an elevation gradient, favouring local adaptations across small spatial scales. We tested whether food caching mountain chickadees, known to exhibit elevation-related differences in food caching intensity, spatial memory and the hippocampus, also sing different dialects despite continuous distribution and close proximity. Male songs were collected from high and low elevations at two different mountains (separated by 35 km) to test whether song differs between elevations and/or between adjacent populations at each mountain. Song structure varied significantly between high and low elevation adjacent populations from the same mountain and between populations from different mountains at the same elevations, despite a continuous distribution across each mountain slope. These results suggest that elevation-related differences in song structure in chickadees might serve as a signal for local adaptation.
    Keywords: behaviour, ecology
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 3
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    Why pair? (2015)
    Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2015-10-01
    Description: Many species live in stable pairs, usually to breed and raise offspring together, but this cannot be assumed. Establishing whether pairing is based on mating, or an alternative cooperative advantage, can be difficult, especially where species show no obvious sexual dimorphism and where the act of reproduction itself is difficult to observe. In the tropical marine fishes known as rabbitfish (Siganidae), half of extant species live in socially monogamous, territorial pairs. It has been assumed that partnerships are for mating, but the reproductive mode of pairing rabbitfish is currently unconfirmed. Using passive acoustic telemetry to track movements of fishes belonging to one such species ( Siganus doliatus ), we provide the first evidence that paired adult fish undertake highly synchronized migrations with multiple conspecifics on a monthly cycle. All tagged individuals migrated along the same route in three consecutive months and were absent from home territories for 2–3 days just after the new moon. The timing and directionality of migrations suggest that S. doliatus may form spawning aggregations, offering the potential for exposure to multiple reproductive partners. The finding raises fundamental questions about the basis of pairing, mate choice and partnership longevity in this family.
    Keywords: behaviour, ecology
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 4
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    Zebra stripes (2015)
    Royal Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-10-01
    Keywords: evolution
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 5
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    Myrmica ant nests are pathogen poor (2015)
    Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2015-10-31
    Description: Social insects such as ants have evolved collective rather than individual immune defence strategies against diseases and parasites at the level of their societies (colonies), known as social immunity. Ants frequently host other arthropods, so-called myrmecophiles, in their nests. Here, we tested the hypothesis that myrmecophily may partly arise from selection for exploiting the ants’ social immunity. We used larvae of the wax moth Galleria mellonella as ‘model myrmecophiles’ (baits) to test this hypothesis. We found significantly reduced abundance of entomopathogens in ant nests compared with the surrounding environment. Specific entomopathogen groups ( Isaria fumosorosea and nematodes) were also found to be significantly less abundant inside than outside ant nests, whereas one entomopathogen ( Beauveria brongniartii ) was significantly more abundant inside nests. We therefore hypothesize that immunological benefits of entering ant nests may provide us a new explanation of why natural selection acts in favour of such a life-history strategy.
    Keywords: evolution
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 6
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    Spatial self-organization in arthropods (2015)
    Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2015-11-28
    Description: In a patchy environment, how social animals manage conspecific and environmental cues in their choice of habitat is a leading issue for understanding their spatial distribution and their exploitation of resources. Here, we experimentally tested the effects of environmental heterogeneities (artificial shelters) and some of their characteristics (size and fragmentation) on the aggregation process of a common species of terrestrial isopod (Crustacea). One hundred individuals were introduced into three different heterogeneous set-ups and in a homogeneous set-up. In the four set-ups, the populations split into two aggregates: one large (approx. 70 individuals) and one smaller (approx. 20 individuals). These aggregates were not randomly distributed in the arena but were formed diametrically opposite from one another. The similarity of the results among the four set-ups shows that under experimental conditions, the environmental heterogeneities have a low impact on the aggregation dynamics and spatial patterns of the isopod, merely serving to increase the probability of nucleation of the larger aggregation at these points. By contrast, the regulation of aggregate sizes and the regular distribution of groups are signatures of local amplification processes, in agreement with the short-range activator and long-range inhibitor model (scale-dependent feedbacks). In other words, we show how small-scale interactions may govern large-scale spatial patterns. This experimental illustration of spatial self-organization is an important step towards comprehension of the complex game of competition among groups in social species.
    Keywords: behaviour, ecology
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 7
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    Seamount: cryptic habitat for humpbacks (2015)
    Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2015-11-28
    Description: The humpback whale population of New Caledonia appears to display a novel migratory pattern characterized by multiple directions, long migratory paths and frequent pauses over seamounts and other shallow geographical features. Using satellite-monitored radio tags, we tracked 34 whales for between 5 and 110 days, travelling between 270 and 8540 km on their southward migration from a breeding ground in southern New Caledonia. Mean migration speed was 3.53±2.22 km h –1 , while movements within the breeding ground averaged 2.01±1.63 km h –1 . The tag data demonstrate that seamounts play an important role as offshore habitats for this species. Whales displayed an intensive use of oceanic seamounts both in the breeding season and on migration. Seamounts probably serve multiple and important roles as breeding locations, resting areas, navigational landmarks or even supplemental feeding grounds for this species, which can be viewed as a transient component of the seamount communities. Satellite telemetry suggests that seamounts represent an overlooked cryptic habitat for the species. The frequent use by humpback whales of such remote locations has important implications for conservation and management.
    Keywords: behaviour, ecology
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 8
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    Context-specific outcome of interactions (2015)
    Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2015-11-28
    Description: Winner–loser relations among group-living individuals are often measured by the levels of aggressive interactions between them. These interactions are typically driven by competition for resources such as food and mates. It has been observed in recent studies on zebrafish that dominant males generally have higher total reproductive success than their less aggressive subordinate counterparts. This study aimed to test whether males who monopolized a food resource (winners) also displayed higher levels of aggression than the males who were unsuccessful (losers). Further, the study also tested whether the same ‘winner’ males were also able to monopolize interactions with females during courtship. The results from these experiments showed that while males monopolizing food resources (winners) demonstrated higher levels of agonistic interactions than the losers, the average number of courtship interactions initiated by either of the males (i.e. winners/losers) with a female was not significantly different. A significant relationship was obtained between the number of aggressive interactions and feeding latencies of males in the context of food monopolization. This indicated that there could be a linkage between boldness defined by feeding latency in a novel environment and agonistic responses. The probable role of nature of resources, resource availability and distribution in determining the outcomes of dyadic contests is discussed.
    Keywords: behaviour, ecology
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 9
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    Convergent Evolution of Care Heuristics (2015)
    Royal Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-06-27
    Description: Maternal care decision rules should evolve responsiveness to factors impinging on the fitness pay-offs of care. Because the caretaking environments common in industrialized and small-scale societies vary in predictable ways, we hypothesize that heuristics guiding maternal behaviour will also differ between these two types of populations. We used a factorial vignette experiment to elicit third-party judgements about likely caretaking decisions of a hypothetical mother and her child when various fitness-relevant factors (maternal age and access to resources, and offspring age, sex and quality) were varied systematically in seven populations—three industrialized and four small-scale. Despite considerable variation in responses, we found that three of five main effects, and the two severity effects, exhibited statistically significant industrialized/ small-scale population differences. All differences could be explained as adaptive solutions to industrialized versus small-scale caretaking environments. Further, we found gradients in the relationship between the population-specific estimates and national-level socio-economic indicators, further implicating important aspects of the variation in industrialized and small-scale caretaking environments in shaping heuristics. Although there is mounting evidence for a genetic component to human maternal behaviour, there is no current evidence for interpopulation variation in candidate genes. We nonetheless suggest that heuristics guiding maternal behaviour in diverse societies emerge via convergent evolution in response to similar selective pressures.
    Keywords: behaviour, ecology
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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  • 10
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    Phenotype-limited distributions (2015)
    Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2015-06-27
    Description: In our seasonal world, animals face a variety of environmental conditions in the course of the year. To cope with such seasonality, animals may be phenotypically flexible, but some phenotypic traits are fixed. If fixed phenotypic traits are functionally linked to resource use, then animals should redistribute in response to seasonally changing resources, leading to a ‘phenotype-limited’ distribution. Here, we examine this possibility for a shorebird, the bar-tailed godwit ( Limosa lapponica ; a long-billed and sexually dimorphic shorebird), that has to reach buried prey with a probing bill of fixed length. The main prey of female bar-tailed godwits is buried deeper in winter than in summer. Using sightings of individually marked females, we found that in winter only longer-billed individuals remained in the Dutch Wadden Sea, while the shorter-billed individuals moved away to an estuary with a more benign climate such as the Wash. Although longer-billed individuals have the widest range of options in winter and could therefore be selected for, counterselection may occur during the breeding season on the tundra, where surface-living prey may be captured more easily with shorter bills. Phenotype-limited distributions could be a widespread phenomenon and, when associated with assortative migration and mating, it may act as a precursor of phenotypic evolution.
    Keywords: behaviour, ecology
    Electronic ISSN: 2054-5703
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
    Published by Royal Society
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