Chemical cues and binary individual recognition in the hermit crab <i>Pagurus longicarpus</i>

Gherardi, Francesca; Tiedemann, John

doi:10.1017/s0952836904004807

Cited by 37 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(58 reference statements)

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“…To the contrary, Jackson and Elwood (1989) showed that P. bernhardus is able to discriminate, at least by sight, between familiar and novel empty shells, even if seemingly identical, by remembering certain subtle features of already investigated shells. Our results are also consistent in part with Gherardi and Tiedemann (2004b), who showed that P. longicarpus identifies its own odor from the odor of other individuals and is capable of chemically discriminating between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…It would be advantageous for an individual to rapidly classify the quality of the shells inhabited by other attendants and to spend time combating or negotiating (Hazlett, 1978) for a Breally good shell.^Because of water turbidity typical of many salt marsh habitats, chemical cues signaling shell quality might provide more reliable information than visual stimuli emitted by the shell itself; on the other hand, the exclusive use of tactile information from the shell would require time and energy consumption in repeated investigatory acts. Previous studies have shown that P. longicarpus quickly learns the chemical identity of a social partner (Gherardi and Tiedemann, 2004b;Gherardi and Atema, 2005b), is inaccurate in discriminating shells by sight (Gherardi and Tiedemann, 2004a), and often switches shells without prior investigation (Scully, 1986). However, we cannot exclude that sight and touch might integrate olfaction and lead to the improved detectability and discriminability of signals (Gherardi and Tiedemann, 2004b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…However, in Gherardi and Tiedemann's (2004b) study and in the majority of other studies on individual recognition in invertebrates (see Caldwell, 1985 for an exception), the tasks employed measured, at best, differences in responses to two Bheterogeneous subgroups^of conspecifics (Barrows et al, 1975), i.e., familiar and unfamiliar subgroups. That is, results of such experiments simply arrived at documenting that the study animals were capable of a Bbinary^dis-crimination among opponents (Boal, 1996), but not of Btrue individual recognition^(i.e., the ability to discriminate one individual of a group from every other individual on the basis of Ba unique set of cues defining that individual^; Beecher, 1989).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The behavioral assay we used in the test phase was the investigative behavior shown by hermit crabs toward a novel shell that was about 10% longer than the optimal shell for the test crab's size (Gherardi and Tiedemann, 2004b). Notwithstanding its relatively large volume and heavy weight, this shell is highly attractive to P. longicarpus, as shown in a previous study (Gherardi, 2005).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several species display adaptive behaviors when exposed to odors that signal shell availability (e.g., Rittschof, 1980a;Rittschof et al, 1992;Rittschof and Hazlett, 1997;Gherardi and Atema, 2005a), and chemical cues in the medium affect investigatory responses toward shells occupied by conspecifics (Hazlett, 1996a,b;Rittschof and Hazlett, 1997;Hazlett, 2000). Recently, Gherardi and Tiedemann (2004b) showed that P. longicarpus spends more time investigating an empty shell in the presence of odors released by unfamiliar, rather than familiar, conspecifics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unraveling the Nature of Individual Recognition by Odor in Hermit Crabs

2005

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Abstract-Individual recognition is a key element in the social life of many invertebrates. However, most studies conducted so far document that several species are capable of a Bbinary^discrimination among conspecifics, but not of a Btrue individual recognition.^Our objective was to learn more about the mechanisms that underlie individual recognition by odor in hermit crabs by individuating some of its properties. Using Pagurus longicarpus Say 1817 as a model species, we conducted four series of experiments in which the response of every test crab (the Breceiver^) to the different odor treatments (emitted by a Bsender^) was evaluated from its investigative behavior toward an empty, high-quality shell. After having excluded the possibility that crabs chemically recognize familiar/unfamiliar shells and /or shells of high/low quality, we explored whether the receivers discriminate odors from two familiar senders and whether this discrimination also occurs with unfamiliar crabs. We also asked whether crabs form an association between the odor of a familiar sender and some of its relevant attributes, i.e., rank, size, and shell quality. Finally, the shells inhabited by familiar individuals were manipulated to modify the association between odor and shell quality. Results showed that: (1) there is no odor specific of a rank; (2) individual crabs discriminate their own odor from the odor of other individuals; (3) they can chemically discriminate between larger crabs inhabiting higher-quality shells and smaller crabs inhabiting lower-quality shells, provided that these crabs are familiar to them; (4) they associate the odor of an individual crab with the quality of the shell it inhabits; and (5) this association quickly changes when social partners switch to shells of different quality. These results indicate that the nature of chemical recognition in P. longicarpus is more refined than a simple binary 0098-0331/05/1200-2877/0 # 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2877Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol. 31, No. 12, December 2005 DOI: 10.1007/s10886-005-8400-5 * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: francesca.gherardi@unifi.it system. The receiver appears able to associate a type of information from the sender with memories of past experiences, therefore suggesting the hermit crab's potential for relatively high-order knowledge about conspecifics.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unraveling the Nature of Individual Recognition by Odor in Hermit Crabs

2005

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Chemical Ecology and Social Behavior of Anomura

Gherardi

Tricarico²

2010

Chemical Communication in Crustaceans

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Chemical Communication in a Multimodal Context

Hebets¹,

Rundus²

2010

Chemical Communication in Crustaceans

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All animals are equipped with multiple sensory systems (e.g., visual, chemical, acoustic, tactile, electrical, thermal), and signals perceived via these sensory systems facilitate communication. Such communication often involves displays that incorporate more than one signal from more than one sensory modality, resulting in multimodal signaling. The number of empirical and theoretical studies addressing issues of multimodal signaling is ever-increasing and this chapter highlights why crustaceans, as a taxonomic group, are ideal for advancing such studies. Early classifications of multimodal signaling sought to categorize signal components as either redundant or nonredundant, while more recent classifications lay out specific hypotheses relating to multimodal signal function. Two common empirical approaches used in studying multimodal signaling involve signal isolation and signal playback designs-both of which are extremely amenable to crustaceans.Chemical communication is considered the oldest and most widespread channel for communication, and as such, it is not surprising that numerous crustaceans incorporate chemical signals into multimodal displays. In this chapter, we review multimodal signaling in crustaceans with a focus on those displays that incorporate a chemical component. Specifically, we highlight examples of taxa that combine chemical and hydrodynamic as well as chemical and visual cues. We conclude that despite the plethora of excellent studies examining crustacean responses to isolated signal components, relatively few studies are couched in a communication framework-ultimately limiting the conclusions that can currently be drawn with respect to multimodal signal evolution and function in crustaceans. We suggest that future studies using a hypothesis-testing framework of multimodal signal function could greatly advance our understanding of multimodal signaling in this group. Furthermore, studies involving signal manipulations and correlations between signaler attributes and variation in signal form could be extremely informative. These avenues are wide open for crustacean biologists. We argue that several aspects of crustacean 336

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Chemical cues and binary individual recognition in the hermit crab Pagurus longicarpus

Cited by 37 publications

References 55 publications

Unraveling the Nature of Individual Recognition by Odor in Hermit Crabs

Unraveling the Nature of Individual Recognition by Odor in Hermit Crabs

Chemical Ecology and Social Behavior of Anomura

Chemical Communication in a Multimodal Context

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