Experimental evidence that nesting ducks use mammalian urine to assess predator abundance

Eichholz, Michael W.; Dassow, John A.; Stafford, Joshua D.

doi:10.1525/auk.2012.12040

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…To test whether egg covering is an antipredatory strategy in blue tit, we increased the perceived risk of predation by adding predator scent inside the nest boxes during the laying period. Many prey species can detect predator chemical cues and use them to assess the level of predation risk (Kats & Dill, ), including birds (Amo, Galván, Tomás, & Sanz, ; Amo, López‐Rull, Pagán, & Macías‐Garcia, ; Amo, Visser, & van Oers, ; Eichholz, Dassow, Stafford, & Weatherhead, ; Roth, Cox, & Lima, ; Zidar & Lovlie, ), and including blue tits (Amo et al, ). Therefore, predator chemical cues can be used to simulate an increase in the perceived risk of predation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Egg concealment is an antipredatory strategy in a cavity‐nesting bird

Saavedra

Amo

2019

Ethology

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Birds have developed different behavioural strategies to reduce the risk of predation during the breeding period. Bird species that nest in the open often cover their eggs to decrease the risk of predators detecting the clutches. However, in cavity nesters, the potential functions of egg covering have not been explored despite some bird species that nest in cavities also covering their eggs as open nesters do. We analysed whether egg covering is an antipredatory behaviour in the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). We simulated an increase in the perceived risk of predation at experimental nests by adding predator scent inside the nest boxes during the egg‐laying period, whilst adding lemon essence or water to control nest boxes. Birds exposed to predator chemical cues in the nest of experimental pairs more frequently covered their eggs than birds exposed to an odorous control. These results suggest that egg covering may have evolved as an antipredatory behaviour also in cavity nesters to reduce the risk of egg predation and thus increase reproductive success in birds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Egg concealment is an antipredatory strategy in a cavity‐nesting bird

Saavedra

Amo

2019

Ethology

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“…Animals can reduce their risk of predation by attending to cues in the environment such as predator odours (Eichholz, Dassow, Stafford, & Weatherhead, 2012), observations of predators (Cooper, 2005) and observations of predators with prey (Conover & Perito, 1981;Kruuk, 1976). Risk may also be communicated through conspecific and heterospecific alarms such as vocalizations (Shriner, 1998;Templeton, Greene, & Davis, 2005) and olfactory cues (Ferrari, Wisenden, & Chivers, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

Wild American crows gather around their dead to learn about danger

Swift

Marzluff

2015

Animal Behaviour

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Available online MS. number: A15-00310R Keywords: American crow Columba livia conditioned predator learning Corvus brachyrhynchos fear extinction necrophobia risk assessment rock pigeonWhile a growing number of animals demonstrate avoidance of areas associated with conspecific death, the extent to which wild populations may use these experiences to learn about novel predators remains unclear. Here we demonstrate with experiments that wild American crows, Corvus brachyrhynchos, respond to dead conspecifics by mobbing, increasing the time to approach food in areas associated with these events, and learning new predators based on their proximity to dead crows and hawks. Avoidance of either dead conspecifics or areas associated with them is not shared by another urban bird, the rock pigeon, Columba livia. Crows mobbed and increased the time to approach food over the next 72 h after observing novel humans paired with a dead crow, a red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, or a hawk with a dead crow. The sight of a dead pigeon did not elicit these responses. These findings suggest that, for crows, dead conspecifics, but not dead heterospecifics, represent a salient danger akin to the observation of a predator. On the day the stimulus was presented, the number of trials that resulted in mobbing and avoidance of the food was strongest when crows were presented a hawk with a dead crow. In addition, we demonstrate that crows use the proximity of a human to predators, to dead conspecifics and to predators with dead conspecifics as cues to learn to recognize and subsequently scold the associated human after only one training event, and that this association can last 6 weeks. Together, our results support previous findings that crows learn places associated with conspecific death, and further demonstrate that crows can learn and remember people who appear complicit in these events.

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“…; Eichholz et al . ; Zidar & Løvlie ) and recognise their nest (Minguez ; Bonadonna et al . ; Caspers & Krause ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although long underappreciated, birds, including passerines, have a well-developed sense of smell. Birds use their sense of smell to navigate and orientate (Gagliardo 2013), locate food (Nevitt, Veit & Kareiva 1995;Amo et al 2013), avoid predators (Amo et al 2008;Eichholz et al 2012;Zidar & Løvlie 2012) and recognise their nest (Minguez 1997;Bonadonna et al 2003;Caspers & Krause 2011). Furthermore, birds have been documented to manipulate the olfactory nest environment by adding aromatic plants that may act as a courtship signal (Brouwer & Komdeur 2004) or reduce nest microbes (Gwinner & Berger 2005;Mennerat et al 2009a) and parasites (Lafuma, Lambrechts & Raymond 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Begging blue tit nestlings discriminate between the odour of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics

et al. 2017

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Summary Offspring often solicit, and compete for, limited parental care by elaborate begging behaviour. Kin selection theory predicts that competing offspring should modify the intensity of their begging depending on the degree of relatedness to their nest‐ or litter‐mates. Empirical evidence in birds, which are a key model in the study of parent‐offspring interactions, indeed indicates that a lower level of relatedness between offspring in the nest correlates with more intense begging (i.e. more ‘selfish’ behaviour). This implies that competing nestlings can recognize kin, but the mechanism underlying such discrimination is unclear. Birds have long been thought to mainly rely on visual and auditory cues in their social communication, but there is now growing evidence for the importance of olfactory cues too. To assess the potential importance of olfactory cues in modulating nestling begging behaviour, we experimentally tested in a free‐living bird, the blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus, if nestlings discriminate and adjust their begging behaviour depending on their familiarity with a conspecific nestling odour stimulus. We found that individuals responded with longer and more intense begging bouts to an unfamiliar compared with a familiar odour stimulus. Our findings provide first evidence for a role of olfaction in modulating offspring begging behaviour in a wild bird population. Although our experiment cannot differentiate between the effects of familiarity and relatedness, it raises the interesting possibility that blue tit nestlings may also discriminate between odours of close kin and less related individuals, and adjust their begging behaviour accordingly. This hypothesis requires further testing. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12886/suppinfo is available for this article.

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Experimental evidence that nesting ducks use mammalian urine to assess predator abundance

Cited by 26 publications

References 51 publications

Egg concealment is an antipredatory strategy in a cavity‐nesting bird

Egg concealment is an antipredatory strategy in a cavity‐nesting bird

Wild American crows gather around their dead to learn about danger

Begging blue tit nestlings discriminate between the odour of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics

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