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130 results for “foraging behaviour”
Inhibitory control, exploration behaviour and manipulated ecological context are associated with foraging flexibility in the great tit
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Foraging behaviour data for sympatric Ateles geoffroyi, Alouatta palliata, and Cebus imitator
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Data From: Effects of disease on foraging behaviour and success in an individual free-ranging northern elephant seal
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Foraging behaviour alters with social environment in a juvenile songbird
Early independence from parents is a critical period where social information acquired vertically may become outdated, or conflict with new information. However, across natural populations it is unclear if newly-independent young persist in using information from parents, or if group-level effects of conformity override previous behaviours. Here we test if wild juvenile hihi (<em>Notiomystis cincta</em>, a New Zealand passerine) retain a foraging behaviour from parents, or if they change in response to the behaviour of peers. We provided feeding stations to parents during chick-rearing to seed alternative access routes, and then tracked their offspring's behaviour. Once independent, juveniles formed mixed-treatment social groups, where they did not retain preferences that we detected when with parents. Instead, juvenile groups converged over time to use one access route per group, and juveniles that moved between groups switched to copy the locally-favoured option. Juvenile hihi did not copy specific individuals, even if they were more familiar with the preceding bird. Our study shows that early social experiences with parents affect initial foraging decisions, but social environments encountered later on can update transmission of arbitrary behaviours. This suggests that conformity may be widespread in animal groups, with potential cultural, ecological, and evolutionary consequences.
Data from: Age-related variation in non-breeding foraging behaviour and carry-over effects on fitness in an extremely long-lived bird
1. Senescence has been widely documented in wild vertebrate populations, yet the proximate drivers of age-related declines in breeding success, including allocation trade-offs and links with foraging performance, are poorly understood. For long-lived, migratory species, the non-breeding period represents a critical time for investment in self-maintenance and restoration of body condition, which in many species is linked to fitness. However, the relationships between age, non-breeding foraging behaviour and fitness remain largely unexplored. 2. We performed a cross-sectional study, investigating age-related variation in the foraging activity, distribution and diet of an extremely long-lived seabird, the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans during the non-breeding period, and its links with subsequent reproductive performance. 3. We tracked the distributions of 82 adults aged 8 – 33 years with geolocator-immersion loggers and found an age-related decline in the number of landings (a proxy of foraging effort) during daylight hours. There was a decrease in body feather δ13C values in older males but not females, yet this did not accompany an age-related shift in distributions. Males conducted fewer landings than females, and the sexes were spatially segregated, with males foraging further south, likely due to their differential utilization of winds. 4. While younger (< 20 years) birds had higher foraging activity, all individuals went on to breed successfully the following season. In contrast, among older (20+ years) birds, individuals that landed more often were more likely to defer breeding or fail during incubation, suggesting they have lower foraging success. 5. As far as we are aware, this is the first demonstration of an age-specific carry-over effect of foraging behaviour in the non-breeding period on subsequent reproductive performance. This link between foraging behaviour and fitness in late but not early adulthood indicates that the ability of individuals to forage efficiently outside the breeding period may be an important driver of fitness differences in old age.
Evidence of links between haematological condition and foraging behaviour in Northern gannets (Morus bassanus)
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Haematological analyses can reveal the physiological condition of birds, who are known to efficiently disguise symptoms of stress and disease. However, interpretation of such analyses requires species-specific baseline data, which are lacking for most free-living seabird species. We provide baseline reference data for several haematological parameters in Northern gannets (<i>Morus bassanus</i>) and combine this with telemetry and dietary data to understand the links between haemotologic condition and foraging behaviour. Blood samples were collected from breeding Northern gannets in July 2017 (n = 15) and 2018 (n = 28), which were also equipped with GPS tags. Smears were prepared for performing blood cell counts, including immature erythrocyte and microcyte percentages, total and differential leucocyte counts, heterophil:lymphocyte (H:L) ratio, and total thrombocyte count, the remaining blood was used for stable isotope analysis, and foraging behaviours were inferred from the recovered tag data. Blood cell counts revealed that the sampled birds were highly stressed and some showed an immune response, evident from the abnormal leucocyte counts and H:L ratio. There were no sex-related differences in haematological parameters or diet, in contrast to foraging parameters where females undertook longer trips than males and spent proportionately more time in search behaviours. The percentage time spent actively foraging was negatively correlated with the percentage of eosinophils. While there was no direct link between haematologic condition and diet, one bird feeding at a relatively low trophic level undertook exceptionally short foraging trips and showed abnormal blood cell counts. This suggests a link between haematologic condition and foraging ecology that can be employed in assessing seabird health.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Predation risk can modify the foraging behaviour of frugivorous carnivores: implications of rewilding apex predators for plant-animal mutualisms
<p>Apex predators play key roles in food webs and their recovery can trigger trophic cascades in some ecosystems. Intra-guild competition can reduce the abundances of smaller predators and perceived predation risk can alter their foraging behaviour thereby limiting seed dispersal by frugivorous carnivores. However, little is known about how plant-frugivore mutualism could be disturbed in the presence of larger predators.</p> <p>We evaluated the top-down effect of the regional superpredator, the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), on the number of visits and fruits consumed by medium-sized frugivorous carnivores, as well as the foraging behaviour of identified individuals, by examining the consumption likelihood and the foraging time.</p> <p>We carried out a field experiment in which we placed Iberian pear (Pyrus bourgaeana) fruits beneath fruiting trees and monitored pear removal by frugivorous carnivores, both inside and outside of lynx ranges. Using camera traps, we recorded the presence of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), the Eurasian badger (Meles meles) and the stone marten (Martes foina), as well as the number of fruits they consumed and their time spent foraging.</p> <p>Red fox was the most frequent fruit consumer carnivore. We found there were fewer visits and less fruit consumed by foxes inside of lynx ranges, but lynx presence did not seem to affect badgers. We did not observe any stone marten visits inside of lynx territories. The foraging behaviour of red foxes was also altered when inside of lynx ranges whereby foxes were less efficient, consuming less fruit per unit of time and having shorter visits. Local availability of fruit resources, forest coverage and individual personality also were important variables to understand visitation and foraging in a landscape of fear. 5. Our results show a potential trophic cascade from apex predators to primary producers. The presence of lynx can reduce frugivorous carnivore numbers and induce shifts in their feeding behaviour that may modify the seed dispersal patterns with likely consequences for the demography of many fleshy-fruited plant species. We conclude that knowledge of the ecological interactions making up trophic webs is anasset to design effective conservation strategies, particularly in rewilding programs.</p>
Effects of oviposition in a non-host species on foraging behaviour of the parasitoid Cotesia glomerata
<p><span>Parasitoids lay their eggs in or on a host, usually another insect. During foraging, parasitoids can encounter insects that differ in terms of host suitability and quality. At one extreme end of this spectrum are non-hosts that are unsuitable for offspring development.</span></p> <p><span>Non-hosts are generally ignored but parasitization does occur and occasionally also results in egg deposition. Here, we investigate how oviposition in a non-host influences subsequent foraging behaviour of a parasitoid and whether this is mediated by learning. Our study system consists of the endoparasitoid <em>Cotesia glomerata</em> and the presumed non-host caterpillar <em>Mamestra brassicae</em>.</span></p> <p><span>In the presence of Pieris brassicae hosts and/or their traces (frass), we observed that <em>C. glomerata</em> inserts its ovipositor into <em>M. brassicae</em> caterpillars. Eggs were deposited, but all eggs disappeared within 96h, confirming the non-host status of <em>M. brassicae</em>. In contrast to our expectation, there was no memory retention after oviposition in a non-host and parasitoids did not alter their behaviour with respect to non-host contacts and ovipositions. Instead, <em>C. glomerata</em> became more motivated to forage on a non-host infested leaf.</span></p> <p><span>We propose that egg deposition in non-hosts by <em>C. glomerata</em> might be due to their high egg load, which is thought to make parasitoids less selective on host quality, especially when they have few reproductive opportunities. In such cases, fitness costs to individual females are low. Egg deposition in non-hosts might ultimately lead to host range expansion if parasitoids overcome the defence response of non-hosts over evolutionary time.</span></p>
Data from: Identification of reindeer fine-scale foraging behaviour using tri-axial accelerometer data
<p>Animal behavioural responses to the environment ultimately affect their survival. Monitoring animal fine-scale behaviour may improve understanding of animal functional response to the environment and provide an important indicator of the welfare of both wild and domesticated species. In this study, we illustrate the application of collar-attached acceleration sensors for investigating reindeer fine-scale behaviour. Using data from 19 reindeer, we tested the supervised machine learning algorithms random forests, support vector machines, and hidden Markov models to classify reindeer behaviour into seven classes: grazing, browsing low from shrubs or browsing high from trees, inactivity, walking, trotting, and other behaviours. We implemented leave-one-subject-out cross-validation to assess generalizable results on new individuals. Our main results illustrated that hidden Markov models were able to classify collar-attached accelerometer data into all our pre-defined behaviours of reindeer with reasonable accuracy while random forests and support vector machines were biased towards dominant classes. Random forests using 5-second windows had the highest overall accuracy (85%), while hidden Markov models were able to best predict individual behaviours and handle rare behaviours such as trotting and browsing high. We conclude that hidden Markov models provide a useful tool to remotely monitor reindeer and potentially other large herbivore species behaviour. These methods will allow us to quantify fine-scale behavioural processes in relation to environmental events.</p>
Observations of moose behaviour and foraging choices in summer
<p>Understanding how the nutritional properties of food resources drive foraging choices is important for the management and conservation of wildlife populations. For moose (<em>Alces alces</em>), recent experimental and observational studies during the winter have shown macronutrient balancing between available protein (AP) and highly metabolizable macronutrients (total non-structural carbohydrates [TNC] and lipids).</p> <p>Here, we combined the use of continuous-recording camera collars with plant nutrient analyses and forage availability measurements to obtain a detailed insight into the food and nutritional choices of three wild moose in Norway over a five-day period in summer.</p> <p>We found that moose derived their macronutrient energy primarily from carbohydrates (74.2%), followed by protein (13.1%), and lipids (12.7%). Diets were dominated by deciduous tree browse (71%). Willows (<em>Salix </em>spp.) were selected for and constituted 51% of the average diet. Moose consumed 25 different food items during the study period of which nine comprised 95% of the diet. Moose tightly regulated their intake of protein to highly metabolizable macronutrients (AP:TNC+lipids). They did this by feeding on foods that most closely matched the target macronutrient ratio such as <em>Salix</em> spp., or by combining nutritionally imbalanced foods (complementary feeding) in a non-random manner that minimized deviations from the intake target. The observed patterns of macronutrient balancing aligned well with the findings of winter studies.</p> <p>Differential feeding on nutritionally balanced downy birch (<em>Betula pubescens</em>) leaves versus imbalanced twigs+leaves across moose individuals indicated that macronutrient balancing may occur on as fine a scale as foraging bites on a single plant species. Utilized forages generally met the suggested requirement thresholds for the minerals calcium, phosphorus, copper, molybdenum, and magnesium but tended to be low in sodium. Our findings offer new insights into the foraging behavior of a model species in ungulate nutritional ecology and contribute to informed decision-making in wildlife and forest management.</p>
The influence of food web structure and foraging behaviour on visual system traits in a predatory freshwater fish
<p>Dataset used in the manuscript titled "The influence of food web structure and foraging behaviour on visual system traits in a predatory freshwater fish" Dataset includes lake trout visual system traits, body size, and food web structural attributes sampled from four different lakes in Algonquin, ON, Canada.</p>
Foraging behaviour variations, for gene expression and transcriptomic divergence in parasitic wasp populations of Venturia canescens
<p><span>Foraging behaviours encompass strategies to locate resources and to exploit them. In many taxa, these behaviours are driven by a major gene called <em>for</em>, but mechanisms vary </span><span>between species. In the parasitoid wasp <em>Venturia</em> <em>canescens</em>, sexual and asexual populations coexist in sympatry but differ in life-history trait, physiology and behaviours,</span> <span>which could impact their foraging strategies. </span><span>Here, we explored the molecular bases underpinning divergence in behaviours by testing two mutually nonexclusive hypotheses: first, </span><span>the divergence in the <em>for</em> gene correlates with difference in foraging strategies, and second, the latter rely on a divergence in whole-genome expression. Using comparative genomics, we showed that the <em>for</em> gene was conserved across insects considering both sequence and gene model complexity. Polymorphism analysis did not support the occurrence of two allelic variants diverging across the two populations, yet the asexual population exhibited less polymorphism than the sexual population. Sexual and asexual transcriptomes sharply split, with 10.9% of differentially expressed genes, but these were not enriched in behavioural-related genes. We showed that the <em>for</em> gene was more highly expressed in asexual female heads than in sexual heads and that those differences correlate with divergence in foraging behaviours in our experiment since asexuals explored the environment more and exploited more host patches. Overall, these results suggested that fine tuning of <em>for</em> gene expression between populations may have led to distinct foraging behaviours. We hypothesized that reproductive polymorphism and coexistence in sympatry of sexual and asexual populations specialized to different ecological niches via divergent optima on phenotypic traits could imply adaptation through different expression patterns of the for gene and at many other loci throughout the genome.</span></p>
Effects of litter quality on foraging behaviour and demographic parameters in Folsomia candida (Collembola)
<p><span>Litter quality has long been associated with demographic parameters of Collembola populations. However, little is known about the capacity of Collembola to perceive and seek better litter quality. To address this gap, three complementary laboratory experiments were carried out with the Collembola <em>Folsomia candida</em>. First, populations were fed on three different types of leaf litters (<em>Quercus pubescens, Acer opalus </em>and<em> Prunus avium</em>) and a control (agar-agar-brewer's yeast mixture) for six weeks to assess their impacts on demography (reproduction rate and population size). Second, the body length of individuals differentially fed with the same four types of resources was measured to assess a functional trait that can potentially affect movement parameters such as prospected area or foraging speed. Third, <em>F. candida</em> isolated individuals were exposed to the same litter quality gradient and placed at increasing distances from the litter (from 1 to 5 cm). For ten minutes, their foraging behaviours were recorded which included their prospected area, foraging speed, perception distance and success in reaching the litter (foraging success). As expected, low-quality litter (i.e., <em>Q. pubescens</em>) contributed to low population growth compared to the control treatment and the high-quality litters (<em>P. avium </em>and<em> A. opalus</em>). In the third experiment, the probability of finding the resource was negatively correlated to the distance but was unrelated to the litter quality and the Collembola body length. When resource was perceived, F. candida was able to switch from non-directional to directional movements, with a large variability in the perception distance from a few millimeters to several centimeters. Taken together, our results indicate that litter quality plays a relevant role on Collembola demographic parameters once the population settles on litter patch, but not on foraging behaviour to select high-quality resources.<br></span></p>
Observations of moose behaviour and foraging choices in summer
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Foraging behaviour variations, for gene expression and transcriptomic divergence in parasitic wasp populations of Venturia canescens
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Effects of oviposition in a non-host species on foraging behaviour of the parasitoid Cotesia glomerata
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Loggers affect the foraging behaviour and fitness of European shags
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Data from: Startling ravens (Corvus corax) at foraging: differences in anti-predator behaviour can be explained by age rather than personality
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Data from: Negative frequency-dependent foraging behaviour in a generalist herbivore (Alces alces) and its stabilizing influence on food-web dynamics
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Data from: Identification of reindeer fine-scale foraging behaviour using tri-axial accelerometer data
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
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DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
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The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
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