Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Behavior and Ethology
Reliability of meta-analyses in ecology and evolution: (mostly) good news from a case study on sexual signals
Published: 2024-11-09
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution
Meta-analyses are powerful synthesis tools that are popular in ecology and evolution due to the rapidly growing literature of this field. Although the usefulness of meta-analyses depends on their reliability, such as the precision of individual and mean effect sizes, attempts to reproduce meta-analyses’ results remain rare in ecology and evolution. Here, we assess the reliability of 41 [...]
Acclimatisation affects synchrony in space use and the frequentation of multiple colonies in translocated Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus)
Published: 2024-10-16
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Zoology
Translocations are fundamental for the conservation of large raptors, including Old-World vultures. Different release methods are usually assessed by comparing the movement patterns and survival of released individuals. However, these approaches fail to capture important aspects related to the gregarious behaviour of many vulture species. We compared the effect of long (15 months, n = 7) and [...]
Temporal stability in songs across the breeding range of the Mourning Warbler may be due to learning fidelity and transmission biases
Published: 2024-09-30
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology
We found a stable pattern of geographic variation in songs across the breeding range of the Mourning Warbler over a 36 yr period. The Western, Eastern, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland regiolects found in 2005-2009 also existed from 1983-1988 and 2017-2019. Each regiolect contained a pool of syllables that were unique and different from the other regiolects. The primary syllable types that defined [...]
An introduction to generative network models and how they may be used to study animal sociality
Published: 2024-09-18
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social networks constitute an important approach in the study of animal social behaviour. So far, focus has been on statistical analysis of animal social network structures. However, social networks can also be studied by generative network models - procedures that create simulated network structures. These models play a key role in wider network science, but despite occasional use, have not yet [...]
A top predator provokes similar defense behavior as a mesopredator in an intraguild prey
Published: 2024-08-26
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ornithology
The loss of top predators has been shown to lead to drastic changes in community structure. An important part of this is the shift in behavior of other species. The understanding of such changes is scarce because recordings of behavioral reactions towards lost species are rarely done. This is important for predators experiencing predation pressure themselves, known as intraguild predation. [...]
No support for honest signalling of male quality in zebra finch song
Published: 2024-08-12
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Ornithology
Alam et al.1 claim to have discovered a song feature, “path length”, that honestly signals male fitness and is therefore preferred by all females. However, their data and analyses provide no statistical support for this claim. (1) The key finding — that long-path songs are difficult to learn (Fig. 4c) — is a statistical artefact: regressing y minus x on x creates an illusory effect where none [...]
Sunlight and diel behaviors promote coexistence of frogs through temporal acoustic partitioning
Published: 2024-08-12
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Longitudinal Data Analysis and Time Series, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Understanding how species coexist is one of the main goals in ecology. While many have documented how species coexist in nature, there is much interspecific and spatial heterogeneity in which resources are partitioned and in the contributing environmental factors. Overall, we lack a general understanding of how stable coexistence is maintained for particular groups of organisms. Thus, we studied [...]
Three Paths Through the Levels of Selection
Published: 2024-08-08
Subjects: Anthropology, Behavior and Ethology, Evolution, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Statistical Models, Zoology
Age, sex, and temperature shape within- and among-individual space use in black-capped chickadees
Published: 2024-07-27
Subjects: Animal Studies, Behavior and Ethology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Historically, spatial ecology studies have focused on average movement patterns within animal groups; however, recent studies highlight the value of considering movement decisions both within- and among-individuals. Using a marked population of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), we used the number of unique feeders an individual visits within our study area as a proxy for space use [...]
Match or mismatch: Tokay geckos adjust their behaviour based on handler familiarity but according to the context
Published: 2024-07-25
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Animals need to recognize different individuals, both con- and heterospecifics, to make appropriate decisions. In the wild, responses to familiar individuals may vary depending on the context, which can be beneficial. However, differing responses towards human experimenters can influence experimental outcomes. Such effects might be particularly overlooked in reptiles which are frequently viewed [...]
Repeatability and intra-class correlations from time-to-event data: towards a standardized approach
Published: 2024-07-20
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Many biological features are expressed as “time-to-event” traits, such as time to first reproduction or response to some stimulus. The analysis of these traits frequently produces right-censored data in cases where no event has occurred within a certain timeframe. The Cox proportional hazards (CPH) model, a type of survival analysis, accounts for censored data by estimating the hazard of an event [...]
Mapping migratory routes: Avian conservation-focused opportunities for a pan-European automated telemetry network
Published: 2024-07-17
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Other Animal Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology
Accelerated biodiversity loss during the Anthropocene has destabilised functional links within and between ecosystems. Migratory species that cross different ecosystems on their repeated journeys between breeding and non-breeding sites are particularly sensitive to global change because they are exposed to various, often ecosystem-specific threats. As these bring both lethal and non-lethal [...]
Social ageing varies within a population of bottlenose whales
Published: 2024-07-08
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Evolution, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
How social behaviour changes as individuals age has important consequences for the health and function of both human and non-human societies. However, the extent of inter-individual variation in social ageing has been underappreciated, especially in natural populations of animals. Here, we leverage a photo-identification dataset spanning 35 years to examine social ageing in an Endangered [...]
Behavioral flexibility is similar in two closely related species where only one is rapidly expanding its geographic range
Published: 2024-06-06
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Comparative Psychology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Human-modified environments are rapidly increasing, which puts other species in the precarious position of either adapting to the new challenges or, if they are not able to adapt, shifting their range to a more suitable environment. It is generally thought that behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior when circumstances change, plays an important role in the ability of a species to [...]
The effect of familiarity on the temporal dynamics of spatial and affiliative associations in monk parakeets
Published: 2024-05-31
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biology
To successfully navigate dynamic social environments, animals must manage their relationships by deciding who to interact with, how often, and when. Relationships may develop between familiar group members, but novel relationships can also form as strangers join groups. The process through which relationships form among strangers is not well-known for most species. We used a captive population of [...]