Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Behavior and Ethology

Generation and applications of simulated datasets to integrate social network and demographic analyses

Matthew Silk, Olivier Gimenez

Published: 2022-07-27
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology

Social networks are tied to population dynamics; interactions are driven by population density and demographic structure, while social relationships can be key determinants of survival and reproductive success. However, difficulties integrating models used in demography and network analysis have limited research at this interface. We introduce the R package genNetDem for simulating integrated [...]

Social manipulations trigger shifts in group-level dominance patterns

Annemarie van der Marel, Xavier Francis, Claire L. O'Connell, et al.

Published: 2022-07-21
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Recent computational approaches discovered group-level patterns within dominance hierarchies which are based on relative rank differences between individuals. Within species, groups could follow different dominance patterns, indicating these patterns could be group- rather than species-specific traits. Moreover, these patterns differ in complexity, with some requiring an individual to access more [...]

Social niche shapes social behavior and cortisol concentrations during adolescence in female guinea pigs

Taylor Rystrom, S. Helene Richter, Norbert Sachser, et al.

Published: 2022-07-16
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Individualized social niches arise in social groups and are associated with behavior and hormone (e.g. cortisol) concentrations. During sensitive life phases, social interactions can have a profound impact on the development of social behavior. Focusing on adolescence, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the social niche, social behavior, and cortisol concentrations (baseline and [...]

The effect of experimental hybridization on cognition and brain anatomy: limited phenotypic variation and transgression in Poeciliidae

Catarina Vila Pouca, Hannah De Waele, Alexander Kotrschal

Published: 2022-06-24
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences

Hybridization can promote phenotypic variation and often produces trait combinations distinct from the parental species. This increase in available variation can lead to the manifestation of functional novelty when new phenotypes bear adaptive value under the environmental conditions in which they occur. While the role of hybridization as a driver of variation and novelty in traits linked to [...]

The Evolution of Peace

Luke Glowacki

Published: 2022-06-03
Subjects: Anthropology, Behavior and Ethology, Biological and Physical Anthropology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Social and Cultural Anthropology

While some species have affiliative and even cooperative interactions between individuals of different social groups, humans are alone in having durable, positive-sum, interdependent relationships across unrelated social groups. Our capacity to have harmonious relationships that cross group boundaries is an important aspect of our species’ success, allowing for the exchange of ideas, materials, [...]

Perturbations highlight importance of social history in parakeet rank dynamics

Annemarie van der Marel, Xavier Francis, Claire L. O'Connell, et al.

Published: 2022-06-02
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Dominance hierarchies can provide many benefits to individuals, such as access to resources or mates, depending on their ranks. In some species, rank can emerge as a product of the history of social interactions within a group. However, it can be difficult to determine whether social history is critical to rank in observation-based studies. Here, we investigated rank dynamics in three captive [...]

The role of climate change and niche shifts in divergent range dynamics of a sister-species pair

Jeremy Thomas Summers, Dieter Lukas, Corina J Logan, et al.

Published: 2022-05-26
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Species ranges are set by limitations in factors including climate tolerances, habitat use, and dispersal abilities. Understanding the factors governing species range dynamics remains a challenge that is ever more important in our rapidly changing world. Species ranges can shift if environmental changes affect available habitat, or if the niche or habitat connectivity of a species changes. We [...]

One hand washes the other: cooperation and conflict in hygiene and immunity

Gregory Albery

Published: 2022-05-25
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

In humans and wild animals, pathogens impose costs on both the individual and the social group as a whole. To minimise these costs, group-living species have evolved many hygienic and immune traits that benefit from cooperation between individuals, thereby subjecting them to the laws of social evolution. Such social contracts include reciprocal grooming, altruistic self-isolation, spiteful [...]

Within-colony segregation of foraging areas: from patterns to processes

Jennifer Morinay, Louise Riotte-Lambert, Geert Aarts, et al.

Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Spatial segregation of foraging areas among conspecifics breeding in different colonies has been observed in several colonial vertebrates and is assumed to originate from competition and information use. Segregation between sub-groups of foraging animals from the same colony (hereafter sub-colonies) has comparatively received limited attention, even though it may have strong impacts on colony [...]

A Systematic Map of Research Exploring the Ecological Modifiers and Consequences of Bark Damaging Behaviour in Squirrel Species

Alexandra Ash, Yanjie Zhao, Evelyn P. Covarrubias, et al.

Published: 2022-05-18
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Zoology

Bark-stripping and browsing by mammals in woodlands can cause widespread damage to trees, inhibiting tree growth and leading to whole tree or canopy death. Sciurid species worldwide are known to incorporate inner bark or cambium tissue into their diets, and outer bark can additionally be used as nesting material. The drivers and causes of bark-stripping behaviour have been investigated and [...]

Temporary behavioral responses to playbacks by a pest parrot and implications for management

Cesar Omar Estien, Claire L. O'Connell, Xavier Francis, et al.

Published: 2022-04-22
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Human-wildlife interactions continue to increase due to anthropogenic disturbances, with some interactions resulting in conflict. Leveraging a taxa’s bias for a particular sensory cue is a promising management avenue for reducing the potential and realized negative consequences of human-wildlife conflict. For instance, many avian species heavily depend on acoustic communication, and acoustic cues [...]

The evolution of conspicuousness in frogs: when to signal toxicity?

Sophie M. Roberts, Devi Stuart-Fox, Iliana Medina

Published: 2022-04-06
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences

Many organisms use conspicuous color patterns to advertise their toxicity or unpalatability, a strategy known as aposematism. Despite the recognized benefits of this anti-predator tactic, not all chemically defended species exhibit warning coloration. Here, we use a comparative approach to investigate which factors predict the evolution of conspicuousness in frogs, a group in which conspicuous [...]

Machine learning pipeline extracts biologically significant data automatically from avian monitoring videos

Alex Hoi Hang Chan, Liu Jing Qi, Terry Burke, et al.

Published: 2022-03-08
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Measuring parental care behaviour in the wild is central to the study of animal life-history trade-offs, but is often labour and time-intensive. More efficient machine learning-based video processing tools have recently emerged that allow parental nest visit rates to be measured using video cameras and computer processing. Here, we used open-source software to detect movement events from videos [...]

Mountain Gorillas benefit from social distancing too: Close proximity from tourists affects gorillas sociality

Raquel Costa, Valéria Romano, André S. Pereira, et al.

Published: 2022-02-26
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Gorilla tourism supports the protection of the gorilla ecosystem, benefiting humans and wildlife populations living therein. Assessing to what degree the presence and proximity of tourists affect wildlife aids long-term benefits. Because wild animals might see human activities as stressors, we hypothesised that the increased presence and proximity of tourists leads to an immediate increase in [...]

Intergenerational effects of overfeeding on aversive learning in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Hamza Anwer, Dominic Mason, Susanne Zajitschek, et al.

Published: 2022-02-07
Subjects: Animal Experimentation and Research, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences

The obesity epidemic is among the most serious and rapidly growing public health challenges of the 21st century. This rapid increase is concerning as obesity appears to negatively impact cognition and behaviour. Furthermore, some studies suggest that this negative effect could be carried across generations from both mothers and fathers although evidence is not consistent. Here, we attempt to [...]

search

You can search by:

  • Title
  • Keywords
  • Author Name
  • Author Affiliation