Fitness cost from fluctuating ultraviolet radiation in Daphnia magna

Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is an important environmental threat for organisms in aquatic systems, but its temporally variable nature makes the understanding of its effects ambiguous. The aim of our study was to assess potential fitness costs associated with fluctuating UVR in the aquatic zooplankter Daphnia magna. We investigated individual survival, reproduction and behaviour when exposed to different UVR treatments. Individuals exposed to fluctuating UVR, resembling natural variations in cloud cover, had the lowest fitness (measured as the number of offspring produced during their lifespan). By contrast, individuals exposed to the same, but constant UVR dose had similar fitness to control individuals (not exposed to UVR), but they showed a significant reduction in daily movement. The re-occurring threat response to the fluctuating UVR treatment thus had strong fitness costs for D. magna, and we found no evidence for plastic behavioural responses when continually being exposed to UVR, despite the regular, predictable exposure schedule. In a broader context, our results imply that depending on how variable a stressor is in nature, populations may respond with alternative strategies, a framework that could promote rapid population differentiation and local adaptation.     

Size-structured risk assessments govern Daphnia migration

One of the more fascinating phenomena in nature is animal mass migrations and in oceans and freshwaters, diel variations in depth distribution of zooplankton are a phenomenon that has intrigued scientists for more than a century. In our study, we show that zooplankton are able to assess the threat level of ultraviolet radiation and adjust their depth distribution to this level at a very fine tuned scale. Moreover, predation risk induces a size-structured depth separation, such that small individuals, which we show are less vulnerable to predation than larger, make a risk assessment and continue feeding in surface waters during day, offering a competitive release from down-migrating larger animals. Hence, we mechanistically show that such simple organisms as invertebrate zooplankton are able to make individual, size-specific decisions regarding how to compromise between threats from both predators and UV radiation, and adjust their diel migratory patterns accordingly.     

Daphnia magna trade‐off safety from UV radiation for food

Research on diel vertical migration (DVM) is generally conducted at the population level, whereas few studies have focused on how individual animals behaviorally respond to threats when also having access to foraging opportunities. We utilized a 3D tracking platform to record the swimming behavior of Daphnia magna exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the presence or absence of a food patch. We analyzed the vertical position of individuals before and during UVR exposure and found that the presence of food reduced the average swimming depth during both sections of the trial. Since UVR is a strong driver of zooplankton behavior, our results highlight that biotic factors, such as food patches, have profound effects on both the amplitude and the frequency of avoidance behavior. In a broader context, the trade‐off between threats and food adds to our understanding of the strength and variance of behavioral responses to threats, including DVM.     

Movement patterns and gallery use by the sexually dimorphic Wellington tree weta

The Wellington tree weta, Hemideina crassidens, is a harem-polygynous nocturnal insect whose males defend and mate groups of females residing in cavities in trees. In this study I examined sexual differences in gallery use (number of galleries occupied per unit time), distance travelled per night and activity patterns after sunset. In addition, I investigated how gallery size affected each of these variables. On average, males and females did not differ in the number of galleries visited per night, or in the distance they travelled per night; however, adult males were more likely to be seen earlier in the night than later. Although males and females did not differ in their gallery use or distance travelled, adult males occupied a significantly greater number of galleries and travelled greater distances per night at sites with small galleries than did males at sites with large galleries. These results suggest that habitat structure of a forest patch influences intrasexual tree weta behaviour.     

The effect of translocation on movement behaviour—A test of the assumptions of behavioural studies

Animal movement behaviour is intensively investigated with capture-mark-recapture studies. For the analysis of such experiments, the influence of marking technique, handling and translocation of marked animals on movement pattern is of crucial importance since it may mask or overrule the effects of the main research question. Here we present a capture-mark-recapture experiment on the movement behaviour of the blue-winged grasshopper Oedipoda caerulescens. We analyzed the influence of translocation of individuals from familiar to unfamiliar sites. Our study clearly demonstrates a significant influence of translocation to unfamiliar sites on the movement behaviour of O. caerulescens. Translocated individuals moved longer distances, showed smaller daily turning angles, and thus movements were more directed than those of resident individuals. The effect of translocation on daily moved distances was most pronounced on the first day of the experiment. We thus conclude that at least for the first day after translocation, movement behaviour is significantly influenced by translocation itself. Data ignoring this influence will be unsuitable for the prediction of dispersal behaviour, habitat detection capability or habitat preference.     

How social network structure affects decision-making in Drosophila melanogaster

Animals use a number of different mechanisms to acquire crucial information. During social encounters, animals can pass information from one to another but, ideally, they would only use information that benefits survival and reproduction. Therefore, individuals need to be able to determine the value of the information they receive. One cue can come from the behaviour of other individuals that are already using the information. Using a previous extended dataset, we studied how individual decision-making is influenced by the behaviour of conspecifics in Drosophila melanogaster. We analysed how uninformed flies acquire and later use information about oviposition site choice they learn from informed flies. Our results suggest that uninformed flies adjust their future choices based on how coordinated the behaviours of the informed individuals they encounter are. Following social interaction, uninformed flies tended either to collectively follow the choice of the informed flies or to avoid it. Using social network analysis, we show that this selective information use seems to be based on the level of homogeneity of the social network. In particular, we found that the variance of individual centrality parameters among informed flies was lower in the case of a ‘follow’ outcome compared with the case of an ‘avoid’ outcome.     

UV radiation affects antipredatory defense traits in Daphnia pulex

In aquatic environments, prey perceive predator threats by chemical cues called kairomones, which can induce changes in their morphology, life histories, and behavior. Predator‐induced defenses have allowed for prey, such as Daphnia pulex, to avert capture by common invertebrate predators, such as Chaoborus sp. larvae. However, the influence of additional stressors, such as ultraviolet radiation (UVR), on the Daphnia–Chaoborus interaction is not settled as UVR may for instance deactivate the kairomone. In laboratory experiments, we investigated the combined effect of kairomones and UVR at ecologically relevant levels on induced morphological defenses of two D. pulex clones. We found that kairomones were not deactivated by UVR exposure. Instead, UVR exposure suppressed induced morphological defense traits of D. pulex juveniles under predation threat by generally decreasing the number of neckteeth and especially by decreasing the size of the pedestal beneath the neckteeth. UVR exposure also decreased the body length, body width, and tail spine length of juveniles, likely additionally increasing the vulnerability to Chaoborus predation. Our results suggest potential detrimental effects on fitness and survival of D. pulex subject to UVR stress, with consequences on community composition and food web structure in clear and shallow water bodies.     

‘Captivity bias’ in animal tool use and its implications for the evolution of hominin technology

Animals in captive or laboratory settings may outperform wild animals of the same species in both frequency and diversity of tool use, a phenomenon here termed ‘captivity bias’. Although speculative at this stage, a logical conclusion from this concept is that animals whose tool-use behaviour is observed solely under natural conditions may be judged cognitively or physically inferior than if they had also been tested or observed under controlled captive conditions. In turn, this situation creates a potential problem for studies of the behaviour of extinct members of the human family tree—the hominins—as hominin cognitive abilities are often judged on material evidence of tool-use behaviour left in the archaeological record. In this review, potential factors contributing to captivity bias in primates (including increased contact between individuals engaged in tool use, guidance or shaping of tool-use behaviour by other tool-users and increased free time and energy) are identified and assessed for their possible effects on the behaviour of the Late Pleistocene hominin Homo floresiensis. The captivity bias concept provides one way to uncouple hominin tool use from cognition, by considering hominins as subject to the same adaptive influences as other tool-using animals.     

Ecological effects of pharmaceuticals in aquatic systems—impacts through behavioural alterations

The study of animal behaviour is important for both ecology and ecotoxicology, yet research in these two fields is currently developing independently. Here, we synthesize the available knowledge on drug-induced behavioural alterations in fish, discuss potential ecological consequences and report results from an experiment in which we quantify both uptake and behavioural impact of a psychiatric drug on a predatory fish (Perca fluviatilis) and its invertebrate prey (Coenagrion hastulatum). We show that perch became more active while damselfly behaviour was unaffected, illustrating that behavioural effects of pharmaceuticals can differ between species. Furthermore, we demonstrate that prey consumption can be an important exposure route as on average 46% of the pharmaceutical in ingested prey accumulated in the predator. This suggests that investigations of exposure through bioconcentration, where trophic interactions and subsequent bioaccumulation of exposed individuals are ignored, underestimate exposure. Wildlife may therefore be exposed to higher levels of behaviourally altering pharmaceuticals than predictions based on commonly used exposure assays and pharmaceutical concentrations found in environmental monitoring programmes.     

Within and transgenerational immune priming in an insect to a DNA virus

Invertebrates mount a sophisticated immune response with the potential to exhibit a form of immune memory through ‘priming’. Increased immune protection following early exposure to bacteria has been found both later in life (within generation priming) and in the next generation (transgeneration priming) in a number of invertebrates. However, it is unclear how general immune priming is and whether immune priming occurs in response to different parasites, including viruses. Here, using Plodia interpuctella (Lepidoptera) and its natural DNA virus, Plodia interpunctella granulosis virus, we find evidence for both within generation and transgeneration immune priming. Individuals previously exposed to low doses of virus, as well as the offspring of exposed individuals, are subsequently less susceptible to viral challenge. Relatively little is known about the mechanisms that underpin viral immunity but it is probable that the viral immune response is somewhat different to that of bacteria. We show that immune priming may, however, be a characteristic of both responses, mediated through different mechanisms, suggesting that immune memory may be a general phenomenon of insect immunity. This is important because immune priming may influence both host–parasite population and evolutionary dynamics.     

Evolutionary stasis and lability in thermal physiology in a group of tropical lizards

Understanding how quickly physiological traits evolve is a topic of great interest, particularly in the context of how organisms can adapt in response to climate warming. Adjustment to novel thermal habitats may occur either through behavioural adjustments, physiological adaptation or both. Here, we test whether rates of evolution differ among physiological traits in the cybotoids, a clade of tropical Anolis lizards distributed in markedly different thermal environments on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. We find that cold tolerance evolves considerably faster than heat tolerance, a difference that results because behavioural thermoregulation more effectively shields these organisms from selection on upper than lower temperature tolerances. Specifically, because lizards in very different environments behaviourally thermoregulate during the day to similar body temperatures, divergent selection on body temperature and heat tolerance is precluded, whereas night-time temperatures can only be partially buffered by behaviour, thereby exposing organisms to selection on cold tolerance. We discuss how exposure to selection on physiology influences divergence among tropical organisms and its implications for adaptive evolutionary response to climate warming.     

Genetic and ‘cultural’ similarity in wild chimpanzees

The question of whether animals possess ‘cultures’ or ‘traditions’ continues to generate widespread theoretical and empirical interest. Studies of wild chimpanzees have featured prominently in this discussion, as the dominant approach used to identify culture in wild animals was first applied to them. This procedure, the ‘method of exclusion,’ begins by documenting behavioural differences between groups and then infers the existence of culture by eliminating ecological explanations for their occurrence. The validity of this approach has been questioned because genetic differences between groups have not explicitly been ruled out as a factor contributing to between-group differences in behaviour. Here we investigate this issue directly by analysing genetic and behavioural data from nine groups of wild chimpanzees. We find that the overall levels of genetic and behavioural dissimilarity between groups are highly and statistically significantly correlated. Additional analyses show that only a very small number of behaviours vary between genetically similar groups, and that there is no obvious pattern as to which classes of behaviours (e.g. tool-use versus communicative) have a distribution that matches patterns of between-group genetic dissimilarity. These results indicate that genetic dissimilarity cannot be eliminated as playing a major role in generating group differences in chimpanzee behaviour.     

Speed–accuracy trade-offs during foraging decisions in the acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum

Speed–accuracy trade-offs (SATs) are thought to be a fundamental feature of biological information processing, yet most evidence of SATs comes from animals. Here, we examine SATs in the foraging decisions of an acellular, amoeboid organism: the slime mould Physarum polycephalum. Slime moulds were given a simple discrimination task: selecting the highest-quality food item from a set of three options. We investigated the effect of two stressors, light exposure and hunger, on the speed and accuracy of decision-making. We also examined the effect of task difficulty. When given a difficult discrimination task, stressed individuals tend to make faster decisions than non-stressed individuals. This effect was reversed in plasmodia given easy discrimination tasks, where stressed individuals made slower decisions than non-stressed individuals. We found evidence of SATs, such that individuals who made fast decisions were more likely to make costly errors by selecting the worst possible food option. Our results suggest that SATs occur in a wider range of taxa than previously considered.     

A neurotoxic pesticide changes the outcome of aggressive interactions between native and invasive ants

Neurotoxic pesticides, such as neonicotinoids, negatively affect the cognitive capacity and fitness of non-target species, and could also modify interspecific interactions. We tested whether sublethal contamination with neonicotinoid could affect foraging, colony fitness and the outcome of behavioural interactions between a native (Monomorium antarcticum) and an invasive ant species (Linepithema humile). The foraging behaviour of both ants was not affected by neonicotinoid exposure. Colonies of the invasive species exposed to the neonicotinoid produced significantly fewer brood. In interspecific confrontations, individuals of the native species exposed to the neonicotinoid lowered their aggression towards the invasive species, although their survival probability was not affected. Exposed individuals of the invasive species interacting with non-exposed native ants displayed increased aggression and had their survival probability reduced. Non-exposed individuals of the invasive species were less aggressive but more likely to survive when interacting with exposed native ants. These results suggest that non-target exposure of invaders to neonicotinoids could either increase or decrease the probability of survival according to the exposure status of the native species. Given that, in any community, different species have different food preferences, and thus different exposure to pesticides, non-target exposure could potentially change the dynamics of communities and influence invasion success.     

Related male Drosophila melanogaster reared together as larvae fight less and sire longer lived daughters

Competition over access to reproductive opportunities can lead males to harm females. However, recent work has shown that, in Drosophila melanogaster, male competition and male harm of females are both reduced under conditions simulating male-specific population viscosity (i.e., in groups where males are related and reared with each other as larvae). Here, we seek to replicate these findings and investigate whether male population viscosity can have repercussions for the fitness of offspring in the next generation. We show that groups of unrelated-unfamiliar (i.e., unrelated individuals raised apart) males fight more intensely than groups of related-familiar males (i.e., full siblings raised together as larvae), supporting previous findings, and that exposure to a female is required to trigger these differential patterns of male–male competition. Importantly, we show that differences in male–male competition can be associated with transgenerational effects: the daughters of females exposed to unrelated-unfamiliar males suffered higher mortality than the daughters of females exposed to related-familiar males. Collectively, these results suggest that population structure (i.e., variation in the relatedness and/or larval familiarity of local male groups) can modulate male–male competition with important transgenerational consequences.     

One-trial tolerance to the effects of chlordiazepoxide in the elevated plus-maze is not due to acquisition of a phobic avoidance of open arms during initial exposure

A single exposure to the elevated plus-maze (EPM) test of anxiety reduces or abolishes the anxiolytic-like efficacy of benzodiazepines. This phenomenon called one-trial tolerance has been suggested to represent the acquisition of a phobic-like response to the open arms during trial 1. The present study was designed to examine the effects of chlordiazepoxide (5 mg/kg, ip) on the behaviour of rats in a conventional EPM apparatus after previous exposure to a four-open-arm EPM, a four-enclosed arm EPM or a conventional EPM, as well as in naive rats. Chlordiazepoxide had clear-cut anxiolytic-like effects (increased percentage of time spent on the open arms) in a traditional EPM in naive rats and in animals previously exposed to a four-open-arm EPM. However, it was ineffective in rats previously exposed to a traditional or a four-closed-arm EPM. Thus, the phenomenon of one-trial tolerance does not depend upon initial open-arm experience.     

Group-size-dependent punishment of idle subordinates in a cooperative breeder where helpers pay to stay

In cooperative breeding systems, dominant breeders sometimes tolerate unrelated individuals even if they inflict costs on the dominants. According to the ‘pay-to-stay’ hypothesis, (i) subordinates can outweigh these costs by providing help and (ii) dominants should be able to enforce help by punishing subordinates that provide insufficient help. This requires that dominants can monitor helping and can recognize group members individually. In a field experiment, we tested whether cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher subordinates increase their help after a forced ‘idle’ period, how other group members respond to a previously idle helper, and how helper behaviour and group responses depend on group size. Previously, idle helpers increased their submissiveness and received more aggression than control helpers, suggesting that punishment occurred to enforce help. Subordinates in small groups increased their help more than those in large groups, despite receiving less aggression. When subordinates were temporarily removed, dominants in small groups were more likely to evict returning subordinates. Our results suggest that only in small groups do helpers face a latent threat of punishment by breeders as predicted by the pay-to-stay hypothesis. In large groups, cognitive constraints may prevent breeders from tracking the behaviour of a large number of helpers.     

Camouflaged or tanned: plasticity in freshwater snail pigmentation

By having phenotypically plastic traits, many organisms optimize their fitness in response to fluctuating threats. Freshwater snails with translucent shells, e.g. snails from the Radix genus, differ considerably in their mantle pigmentation patterns, with snails from the same water body ranging from being completely dark pigmented to having only a few dark patterns. These pigmentation differences have previously been suggested to be genetically fixed, but we propose that this polymorphism is owing to phenotypic plasticity in response to a fluctuating environment. Hence, we here aimed to assess whether common stressors, including ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and predation, induce a plastic response in mantle pigmentation patterns of Radix balthica. We show, in contrast to previous studies, that snails are plastic in their expression of mantle pigmentation in response to changes in UVR and predator threats, i.e. differences among populations are not genetically fixed. When exposed to cues from visually hunting fish, R. balthica increased the proportion of their dark pigmentation, suggesting a crypsis strategy. Snails increased their pigmentation even further in response to UVR, but this also led to a reduction in pattern complexity. Furthermore, when exposed to UVR and fish simultaneously, snails responded in the same way as in the UVR treatment, suggesting a trade-off between photoprotection and crypsis.     

Spatial and temporal habitat use of kob antelopes (Kobus kob kob, Erxleben 1777) in the Comoé National Park, Ivory Coast as revealed by radio tracking

Spatial and temporal habitat use of kob antelopes (Kobus kob kob) have been investigated in the Comoé National Park (Ivory Coast, West Africa) by use of radio telemetry. A total of 23 kob were equipped with radio collars and radio tracked for up to 15 months. Home ranges of males were smaller and those of females larger than expected from theoretical models. Adult males used smaller areas than adult females and did not show seasonal home range shifts. Daily distances travelled did not differ between sexes. Kob walked less during the night than by day and covered shorter distances in the wet season. Whereas an increase in home range overlap between females resulted in higher rates of association among individuals, association of adults of mixed sexes was not correlated with the degree of home range overlap. Territorial behaviour of males and predator avoidance by females are suggested to explain the sex‐specific differences in home range size of adults and the deviation from the predicted sizes. Predator avoidance is presumed as the main reason for the reduced walking distances at night as well as in the wet season. Reproductive behaviour and feeding ecology are assumed to determine the degree of association of conspecifics.     

Nest architecture shapes the collective behaviour of harvester ants

Structures influence how individuals interact and, therefore, shape the collective behaviours that emerge from these interactions. Here I show that the structure of a nest influences the collective behaviour of harvester ant colonies. Using network analysis, I quantify nest architecture and find that as chamber connectivity and redundancy of connections among chambers increase, so does a colony''s speed of recruitment to food. Interestingly, the volume of the chambers did not influence speed of recruitment, suggesting that the spatial organization of a nest has a greater impact on collective behaviour than the number of workers it can hold. Thus, by changing spatial constraints on social interactions organisms can modify their behaviour and impact their fitness.