Disturbances by dog barking increase vigilance in coots Fulica atra

Animals frequently interrupt their activity to look up and to scan their surrounding environment for potential predators (vigilance). As vigilance and other activities are often mutually exclusive, such behaviours are at the expense of feeding, sleeping or preening. Authors of many wildlife disturbance studies found that people with free-running dogs provoked the most pronounced disturbances (e.g. greater flushing distances and more birds affected). However, dogs on leash may also negatively affect wild animals, and barking dogs may lead to an increase in vigilance. In this study, I tested this hypothesis in coots (Fulica atra) using three different playback procedures: (1) dog barks, (2) conspecific coot alarm calls and (3) chaffinch song. The trials were conducted in spring and autumn 2005 at three study sites in southwestern Germany. During the dog playbacks, vigilance increased significantly from 17 to 28%. This increase in vigilance is comparable to the presence of a natural predator. As expected, vigilance also increased significantly during conspecific coot alarm calls but not during playbacks of the chaffinch song control. Two main findings result from the study: (1) coots respond to acoustic traits of dogs and may be able to acoustically recognise this predator and (2) this increase in vigilance might have implications for conservation, especially when considering buffer zones around sensitive areas.     

若尔盖湿地骨顶鸡的繁殖生态及适应性探讨

本文研究了四川省若尔盖湿地骨顶鸡Fulica atra的繁殖生态,讨论了骨顶鸡繁殖特征对高原的适应性。结果表明:若尔盖骨顶鸡平均筑巢期为6.73 d±0.36 d,平均巢底距水面距离平均为7.83 cm±0.64 cm,未发现对旧巢重复利用的现象;平均窝卵数5.83枚±2.15枚,平均卵质量31.90 g±0.37 g,平均孵卵时间26.64 d±2.83 d。与低海拔平原湿地相比,高寒湿地繁殖的骨顶鸡窝卵数更少、孵化期更长,并偏好在植被盖度适中、紧邻植被且草高较高的生境中营巢。主成分分析结果显示,影响研究区域骨顶鸡巢址选择的主要因子是安全因子,其次是交通因子与种内竞争因子。与平原地区繁殖的骨顶鸡相比,若尔盖地区骨顶鸡在繁殖生态特征上呈现出对安全因子高度偏好的特点,可能是其对高原多变气候环境和较高捕食压力的一种适应和选择策略。     

黑龙江安邦河自然保护区白骨顶营巢及领域特征

2007年4～8月在黑龙江安邦河自然保护区调查了白骨顶的巢址、领域等繁殖特征,测定了巢和卵的量度、巢址生境因子,并用最小凸多边形法测算了白骨顶的领域.结果显示:巢多位于距离明水面较近的草丛中,2/3以上的巢址距离明水面1～5 m,巢下水深20～80 cm,巢间距离10～50 m.巢址附近的植被主要有芦苇、香蒲和藨草,2/3以上巢的植株密度在1～50株/m2之间,植株高度在51～200 cm之间.领域形状多为近似于长方形的扁多边形,面积为3000～5000 m2,领域由明水面和草丛两部分组成,二者具有不同的功能.     

Vigilance in a Cooperatively Breeding Primate

Collective vigilance is considered a major advantage of group living in animals. We investigated vigilance behavior in wild mustached tamarins (Saguinus mystax), small, arboreal, cooperatively breeding New World primates that form stable mixed-species groups with saddleback tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis). We aimed 1) to investigate whether vigilance patterns change according to individual activity and 2) to examine whether there is a social component of vigilance in their cooperative and nonaggressive society. We studied 11 factors that may influence vigilance and used this data to interpret the possible functions of vigilance. We observed 44 individuals in 3 mixed-species and 2 single-species groups of 2 populations that differed in population density and home range sizes. Vigilance changed greatly when individuals were engaged in different activities and individual vigilance was affected by different sets of factors depending on the activity. As vigilance decreased in proximity of conspecifics and heterospecifics when feeding, and in larger mixed-species groups when resting, we conclude that the predominant function of vigilance in mustached tamarins is predator related. However, the absence of the group size effect in very large single-species groups suggests that it may also function to maintain group cohesion. In the population with higher density and smaller home ranges individuals also increased their vigilance in home range overlap areas. We found no evidence that mustached tamarins monitor group mates to avoid food stealing or aggression. The effect of heterospecifics on individual vigilance suggests that collective vigilance might have been an important incentive in the evolution of tamarin mixed-species groups.     

Influences on Vigilance in Nine-banded Armadillos

Functional aspects of vigilance in nine-banded armadillos (Edentata: Dasypus novemcinctus) were investigated. Data on solitary individuals revealed few age or sex differences in time spent vigilant. However, vigilance increased in most social contexts and was highest during intraspecific agonistic encounters. These results suggest social functions for armadillo vigilance. Armadillos with higher vigilance levels had longer flight distances, suggesting that vigilance may also have antipredator benefits. Further examination of flight distances revealed that they varied with age, weather conditions, and time of year (breeding versus non-breeding season), and were negatively correlated with body size. In total, the results indicate the complexity of vigilance in a solitary species and suggest that armadillo vigilance is multifunctional.     

Vigilance and group size in ostriches

Wild ostriches were observed while feeding alone or in groups of up to four birds, and their vigilance (proportion of time with the head up) recorded. Individual vigilance declined as group size increased, mainly through a decrease in the frequency with which the head was raised. Males were more vigilant than females, mainly because they kept their heads up for longer. Vigilance was influenced more by the presence than by the vigilance of a companion. When a head would stay down for a long time was impossible for a predator to predict. It is concluded that grouping by ostriches when feeding results in only a slight reduction in the group's vulnerability to successful predator attack, but in a considerable decrease in individual vulnerability.     

Decoding Vigilance with NIRS

Sustained, long-term cognitive workload is associated with variations and decrements in performance. Such fluctuations in vigilance can be a risk factor especially during dangerous attention demanding activities. Functional MRI studies have shown that attentional performance is correlated with BOLD-signals, especially in parietal and prefrontal cortical regions. An interesting question is whether these BOLD-signals could be measured in real-world scenarios, say to warn in a dangerous workplace whenever a subjects'' vigilance is low. Because fMRI lacks the mobility needed for such applications, we tested whether the monitoring of vigilance might be possible using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS). NIRS is a highly mobile technique that measures hemodynamics in the surface of the brain. We demonstrate that non-invasive NIRS signals correlate with vigilance. These signals carry enough information to decode subjects'' reaction times at a single trial level.     

Vigilance and scanning patterns in birds

We present a new approach to the analysis of scanning patterns in feeding birds. We estimate the probability of a bird detecting a predator from the frequency distribution of inter-scan intervals and the proportion of time spent scanning. This method avoids, several unrealistic assumptions implied in earlier analyses of vigilance data, and can accommodate predators attacking randomly or using prey behaviour to time an attack. The practical application of this approach is illustrated using data for feeding and vigilance in the ostrich (Struthio camelus). The analysis is discussed with reference to the hunting tactics of predators and Pulliam's (1973) model of feeding and vigilance in birds.     

Vigilance levels during and after bright light exposure in the first half of the night

Fourteen healthy subjects (8 women, 6 men, aged 22-35 yr) were recruited. Each subject was exposed, in a counterbalanced order, to bright white light (BWL: 3000 lux) and to dim red light (DRL: <15 lux) at a 1-week interval. Light treatments were administered from 00:30 to 04:30 h during sleep deprivation. Salivary melatonin and urinary cortisol concentrations were measured as was core body temperature. Vigilance levels were evaluated by subjective estimates, maintenance of wakefulness tests (MWT), waking EEG recordings, and three performance tests. Under BWL melatonin secretion was suppressed and core body temperature was significantly higher than under DRL. The BWL and DRL conditions produced no difference in cortisol secretion. Significant effects of BWL treatment were found for the MWT and theta-alpha and beta-1 frequency bands of the waking EEG. There was no significant effect of BWL on subjective alertness and performance. Vigilance measures were similar under the two conditions for the tests performed 1.5 h after the end of light treatments. Overall, the findings suggest that bright light (BL) exposure in the first half of the night decreases EEG-defined sleep propensity but has only modest effects on other aspects of vigilance.