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52 results for “foraging resources”
Data from: The abundance and distributional (in)equalities of forageable street tree resources in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria
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Collective foraging: Experimentally-increased competition decreases group performance exploiting a permanent resource
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Data from: What's that smell? Hummingbirds avoid foraging on resources with defensive insect compounds
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Ant foraging strategies vary along a natural resource gradient
Food selection by foragers is sensitive to the availability of resources, which may vary along geographical gradients. Hence, selectivity of food types by foragers is expected to track these resource gradients. Here we addressed this hypothesis and asked if foraging decisions of seed-eating ants differ along a geographic gradient of habitat productivity. The study was carried out for two years at five sites along a natural climatic gradient, ranging from arid to Mediterranean, where plant productivity varies 6-fold across a short geographic distance of 250 km. We found that in ant colonies of the genus Messor, collective foraging decisions differed along the gradient. Specifically, at the high-productivity sites, a stronger association was found between plant seed availability and selectivity, suggesting that colonies respond more accurately to within-patch variation in food amounts. In contrast, colonies in low-productivity sites foraged in patches with higher concentration of seeds, suggesting that they respond more accurately to among-patch variation in food amounts. Moreover, at the high-productivity sites, colonies were more discriminating in their choice of food and preferred bigger seeds, while in the low-productivity sites, where smaller seeds were relatively more abundant, food collection depended mostly on seed availability. An experiment with artificial seed patches performed along the same climatic gradient, revealed no difference in food selectivity across sites when food type and availability were similar, and a general preference for bigger over medium-sized seeds. Overall, our findings suggest that resource availability is an important factor explaining food choice along a climatic gradient and imply that in low-productivity regions small-seeded species incur high predation pressure, whereas in high-productivity regions, large-seeded species suffer higher predation. This could have important consequences for plant species composition, particularly at the face of climate change, which could dramatically alter the foraging decisions of granivores.
Data from: Limitation of complementary resources affects colony growth, foraging behavior and reproduction in bumble bees
<p>Resource availability has been disturbed for many organisms in agricultural landscapes including pollinator species. Abundance and diversity in flower availability benefit bee populations, however, little is known about which of protein or carbohydrate resources may limit their growth and reproductive performance. Here, we test the hypothesis of complementary resource limitation using a supplemental feeding approach. We applied this assumption with bumble bees (<i>Bombus terrestris</i>), assuming that colony growth and reproductive performance should depend on the continuous supply of carbohydrates and proteins, through the foraging for nectar and pollen respectively. We placed wild-caught bumble bee colonies along a landscape gradient of semi-natural habitats, and monitored the colonies' weight, foraging activity and reproductive performance during the whole colony cycle. We performed supplemental feeding as an indicator of landscape resource limitation, using a factorial design consisting of the addition of sugar-water (carbohydrate, supplemented or not) crossed by pollen (protein, supplemented or not). Bumble bee colony dynamics showed a clear seasonal pattern with a period of growth followed by a period of stagnation. Higher abundance of semi-natural habitats resulted in reducing the proportion of pollen foragers relative to all foragers in both periods, and in improving the reproductive performance of bumble bees. Interestingly, the supplemental feeding of sugar-water positively affected the colony weight during the stagnation period, while the supplemental feeding of pollen mitigated the landscape effect on pollen collection investment. Single and combined supplementation of sugar-water and pollen increased the positive effect of semi-natural habitats on reproductive performance. This study reveals a potential co-limitation in pollen and nectar resources affecting foraging behavior and reproductive performance in bumble bees, and indicates that even in mixed agricultural landscapes with higher proportions of semi-natural habitats, bumble bee populations face resource limitations. We conclude that the seasonal management of floral resources must be considered in conservation to support bumble bee populations and pollination services in farmlands.</p>
Data from: Extended phenotypes and foraging restrictions: ant nest entrances and resource ingress in leaf-cutting ants
Several factors may restrict the acquisition of food to below the levels predicted by the optimization theory. However, how the design of structures that animals build for foraging restrict the entry of food are less known. Using scaling relationships we determined whether the design of the entrances of leaf-cutting ant nests restricts resource input into the colony. We measured nests and foraging parameters in 25 nests of Atta cephalotes in a tropical rain forest. Ant flux was reduced to up to 60% at nest entrances. The width of all entrances per nest increased at similar rates as nest size, but the width of nest entrances increased with the width of its associated trail at rates below those expected by isometry. The fact that entrance widths grow slower than trail widths suggests that the enlargement of entrance holes does not reach the dimensions needed to avoid delays when foraging rates are high and loads are big. The enlargement of nest entrances appears to be restricted by the digging effort required to enlarge nest tunnels, and by increments in the risk of inundation, predator/parasitoid attacks, and microclimate imbalances inside the nest. The design of the extended phenotypes can also restrict the ingress of food into the organisms, offering additional evidence to better understand eventual controversies between empirical data and the foraging theory.
Data from: Molecular diet analysis finds an insectivorous desert bat community dominated by resource sharing despite diverse echolocation and foraging strategies
Interspecific differences in traits can alter the relative niche use of species within the same environment. Bats provide an excellent model to study niche use because they have a wide variety of behavioural, acoustic and morphological traits that may lead to multi-species, functional groups. Predatory bats have been classified by their foraging location (edge, clutter, open space), ability to aerial hawk and/or substrate glean prey and echolocation call design and flexibility, all of which may dictate their diet. For example, high frequency, broadband calls do not travel far but offer high object resolution while high intensity, low frequency calls travel further but provide lower resolution. Because these behaviours can be flexible four behavioural categories have been proposed: (1) gleaning, (2) behaviourally flexible (gleaning and hawking), (3) clutter tolerant hawking, and (4) open space hawking. Recent studies of diet in bats use molecular tools to identify prey but mainly focus on one or two species in isolation and few studies provide evidence for substantial differences in prey use despite the many behavioural, acoustic and morphological differences. Here we analyse the diet of 17 sympatric species in the Chihuahuan desert and test the hypothesis that peak echolocation frequency and behavioural categories are linked to differences in diet. We find no significant correlation between dietary richness and echolocation frequency (though it spanned close to 100kHz across species). However, our data suggest that behaviourally flexible bats that use gleaning and aerial hawking have the broadest diets and are the most differentiated from clutter-tolerant aerial hawking species.
Data from: Sunbird hovering behavior is determined by both the forager and resource plant
The long-standing paradigm that pollination systems adapted to hovering birds evolved only in the New World was recently challenged by the discovery of hovering pollination by Old World specialized passerine pollinators. This raises the possibility that hovering pollination may evolve more easily than previously believed, given sufficient selective pressure on plant traits, on nectarivory, or both. We observed foraging behavior by the sunbird Cyanomitra oritis at flowers of the native Old World plant Impatiens sakeriana. We measured the length of pedicels and peduncles (PedPed length), which can make the flowers difficult to reach while the bird perches on the stem, and determined if it influenced sunbird hovering or perching at a flower. Detailed analyses of video recordings showed that sunbirds only hovered at flowers with a long PedPed, whereas they employed both foraging modes when an adequate perch was available. A hovering sunbird could deplete nectar in a shorter time than a perching one. The frequency of visits was not greater at flowers with longer PedPed or with more open I. sakeriana flowers in the vicinity. Our study provides evidence that sunbird behavior does not follow simple energetic models, and that some sunbird pollination systems in the Old World resemble highly specialized hummingbird systems in the New World much more than expected, especially the overall adaptation of the system to bird hovering.
Exploitative competition for floral resources reduces sugar intake but differently impacts the foraging behaviour of two non-bee flower visitors
<p>Identifying which behavioural strategies maximize individual fitness is a key objective in ecology. Organisms are known to adapt their foraging behaviour to their environment in response to abiotic and biotic constraints, such as the distribution of resources or the presence of competitors. For instance, bees are known to avoid recently visited flowers and thus focus their foraging on more rewarding patches. Whether other flower-visiting insects adapt their foraging behaviour in response to exploitative competition for floral resources remains unknown. Here, we asked if a predatory hoverfly (<em>Episyrphus balteatus</em>) and a parasitoid (<em>Aphidius colemani</em>) 1) are physiologically impacted by flower resource limitation following exploitation of flowers by a competitor (either the bumblebee <em>Bombus terrestris</em> or <em>E. balteatus</em>); 2) have the ability to discriminate flowers that were previously exploited by a competitor; and 3) modify their foraging behaviour accordingly. <em>Episyrphus balteatus </em>and <em>A. colemani</em> individuals foraging on previously exploited flowers were found to be less concentrated in sugar compounds, especially in fructose and glucose, suggesting that previously exploited flowers contained less available sugars. Nevertheless, individuals did not avoid previously exploited patches in the choice experiment. On the contrary, <em>E. balteatus </em>females preferentially landed on inflorescences that had previously been exploited by conspecifics (but not by <em>B. terrestris</em>), while <em>A. colemani </em>did not show preferences between inflorescences. However, female hoverflies spent more time feeding on unexploited patches, suggesting that exploited patches were resource limited. To our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of the use of social cues among <em>E. balteatus </em>individuals in food foraging strategies. It also shows that even insects with tiny nectar requirements, such as parasitoids, can suffer from heavy exploitative competition. Such results may have applied consequences for the understanding of natural enemy conservation, in particular in agroecosystems where competition with honeybees may be important.</p>
Data from: Resource heterogeneity but not inbreeding affects growth and grouping behaviour in socially foraging juvenile cichlid fish
<p>1. Spatial food distribution determines resource profitability, defensibility and encounter rate of foragers. Clumped food distribution can promote aggressiveness and resource monopolisation, in turn increasing within-group variation in food intake and growth. However, the effects of food distribution may depend on foraging strategies. Little is known about the impact of spatial food heterogeneity on growth and grouping behaviour in social foragers in the absence of monopolisation.</p> <p>2. Social foraging is present in many fishes, particularly at early juvenile life stages when fish are especially sensitive to environmental variation. Here, a heterogeneous food distribution may impair foraging success and growth and juveniles may increase sociability to attain social information about food resources.</p> <p>3. We examined the impact of the spatial distribution of food as well as inbreeding on growth and social behaviour in juveniles of the cichlid fish <i>Pelvicachromis pulcher. </i>Inbred individuals often show poorer performance than outbred individuals (inbreeding depression), but inbreeding effects can be environment-dependent. In the experiment, in- and outbred fish were reared in a split-clutch design either under homogeneously distributed or spatially clumped food conditions for eight weeks starting one week after juveniles could actively feed. We documented growth and performed a shoaling assay and a sociality test (choice between a large vs. a small shoal) after six weeks.</p> <p>4. Spatial food distribution did not affect within-group body length variation, but individuals reared under clumped food conditions were smaller. Shoals of the different feeding conditions differed in social behaviour. Shoals of the clumped treatment group showed higher variation in inter-individual distances compared to shoals of the homogeneous treatment group. Furthermore, focal fish of the clumped treatment adjusted their association preference to the position of the groups' largest individual. We did not find significant inbreeding or environment-dependent inbreeding effects regarding growth or social behaviour.</p> <p>5. Our study suggests that a clumped food distribution can impede localisation of food resources and thus growth in juvenile social foragers. Accordingly, in heterogeneous environments, the use of social information may be highly relevant to increase individuals' foraging success potentially explaining orientation on successful foragers, i.e. large individuals. Inter-individual variation in juvenile social behaviour may precede variation in food monopolisation capability and in growth emerging at later life stages.</p>
Data from: Geographical variation in ant foraging activity and resource use is driven by climate and net primary productivity
<p><b>Aim: </b>Foraging activity is critical for animal survival. Comprehending how ecological drivers influence foraging behavior would benefit our understanding of the link between animals and ecological processes. Here, we evaluated the influence of ecological drivers on ant foraging activity and relative resource use.</p> <p><b>Location: </b>Six Brazilian biomes: Amazon, Atlantic rainforest, Caatinga, Cerrado, Pampa and Pantanal.</p> <p><b>Taxon: </b>Formicidae.</p> <p><b>Methods: </b>We assessed ant foraging activity and resource use by sampling across 60 sites. We placed baited tubes that contained one of five liquid resources (sugar, lipids, amino acid, sodium and distilled water). We used model selection to assess the influence of ecological drivers (temperature, precipitation, temperature seasonality and net primary productivity) on ant foraging activity and relative resource use.</p> <p><b>Results: </b>Foraging activity was higher in wetter, more productive and less thermally seasonal environments. The relative use of amino acids increased at higher temperatures while the relative use of lipids decreased. The relative use of sugar increased in drier and less productive environments with high temperature seasonality while the relative use of amino acid and sodium decreased in those environments. The relative use of lipids was complex: increasing with increasing temperature seasonality and decreasing with increasing precipitation. Further, the relative use of sodium was greater where the foraging activity was high.</p> <p><b>Main Conclusions: </b>We demonstrate how ecological drivers are correlated to ant foraging activity and resource use in the field across large spatial scales. The search for resources encompasses different interactions involving ants with abiotic and biotic components in the ecosystem. Thus, we suggest that changes in climate and NPP, which influence the intensity and the way that ants search for resources, will result in changes in ant-mediated ecological processes.</p>
Body size and digestive system shape resource selection by ungulates: a cross-taxa test of the Forage Maturation Hypothesis
<p>The Forage Maturation Hypothesis (FMH) states that energy intake for ungulates is maximized when forage biomass is at intermediate levels. Nevertheless, metabolic allometry and different digestive systems suggest that resource selection should vary across ungulate species. By combining GPS relocations with remotely-sensed data on forage characteristics and surface water, we quantified the effect of body size and digestive system in determining movements of 30 populations of hindgut fermenters (equids) and ruminants across biomes. Selection for intermediate forage biomass was negatively related to body size, regardless of the digestive system. Selection for proximity to surface water was stronger for equids relative to ruminants, regardless of body size. To be more generalizable, we suggest that the FMH explicitly incorporate contingencies in body size and digestive system, with small-bodied ruminants selecting more strongly for potential energy intake, and hindgut fermenters selecting more strongly for surface water.</p>
Quantifying Winter Forage Resources for Reindeer: Developing a Method to Estimate Ground Lichen Cover and Biomass at a Local Scale
<p>Data and R scripts used in the paper Quantifying Winter Forage Resources for Reindeer: Developing a Method to Estimate Ground Lichen Cover and Biomass at a Local Scale (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2024.100768).</p>
Data from: Resource heterogeneity but not inbreeding affects growth and grouping behaviour in socially foraging juvenile cichlid fish
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Data from: Extended phenotypes and foraging restrictions: ant nest entrances and resource ingress in leaf-cutting ants
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Data from: Foraging strategies of generalist and specialist Old World nectar bats in response to temporally variable floral resources
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Data from: Geographical variation in ant foraging activity and resource use is driven by climate and net primary productivity
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Data from: Molecular diet analysis finds an insectivorous desert bat community dominated by resource sharing despite diverse echolocation and foraging strategies
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Exploitative competition for floral resources reduces sugar intake but differently impacts the foraging behaviour of two non-bee flower visitors
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Data from: Sunbird hovering behavior is determined by both the forager and resource plant
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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.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
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.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.