Spatial planning with long visual range benefits escape from visual predators in complex naturalistic environments

Mugan, Ugurcan; MacIver, Malcolm A.

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16102-1

Cited by 30 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…The perception and subsequent behavioural response of an animal to a specific landscape of fear will depend to a large degree on the sensory and cognitive capabilities of the animal (Gaynor et al 2019). Outstanding visual capabilities for example, might enable an animal to plan ahead and better avoid predators (Mugan and MacIver 2020). Studies on a variety of animal taxa showed that prey and mesopredator individuals forage longer in safer habitats, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual differences in risk‐taking affect foraging across different landscapes of fear

Steinhoff

Warfen

Voigt

et al. 2020

Oikos

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One of the strongest determinants of behavioural variation is the tradeoff between resource gain and safety. Although classical theory predicts optimal foraging under risk, empirical studies report large unexplained variation in behaviour. Intrinsic individual differences in risk‐taking behaviour might contribute to this variation. By repeatedly exposing individuals of a small mesopredator to different experimental landscapes of risks and resources, we tested 1) whether individuals adjust their foraging behaviour according to predictions of the general tradeoff between energy gain and predation avoidance and 2) whether individuals differ consistently and predictably from each other in how they solve this tradeoff. Wild‐caught individuals (n = 42) of the jumping spider Marpissa muscosa, were subjected to repeated release and open‐field tests to quantify among‐individual variation in boldness and activity. Subsequently, individuals were tested in four foraging tests that differed in risk level (white/dark background colour) and risk variation (constant risk/variable risk simulated by bird dummy overflights) and contained inaccessible but visually perceivable food patches. When exposed to a white background, individuals reduced some aspects of movement and foraging intensity, suggesting that the degree of camouflage serves as a proxy of perceived risk in these predators. Short pulses of acute predation risk, simulated by bird overflights, had only small effects on aspects of foraging behaviour. Notably, a significant part of variation in foraging was due to among‐individual differences across risk landscapes that are linked to consistent individual variation in activity, forming a behavioural syndrome. Our results demonstrate the importance of among‐individual differences in behaviour of animals that forage under different levels of perceived risk. Since these differences likely affect food‐web dynamics and have fitness consequences, future studies should explore the mechanisms that maintain the observed variation in natural populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual differences in risk‐taking affect foraging across different landscapes of fear

Steinhoff

Warfen

Voigt

et al. 2020

Oikos

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“…This conceptual gap between ecological (animals as stochastic unthinking agents) and neuroscience (animals with sensory systems, memory, and processing) approaches to foraging has a rich historical background ( Hein et al, 2016 ; Mobbs et al, 2018 ). Newer work bridges the gap ( Namboodiri et al, 2016 ; Kolling et al, 2012 ), such as showing that the turbulent structure of wind-borne odors give rise to Lévy-flight like displacements in seabird navigation ( Reynolds et al, 2015 ), that nematode turning movements while looking for food is not stochastic, as previously believed, but rather predictable from recent sensory experience ( Calhoun et al, 2015 ), and that planning in volatile environments leverages patchy habitat statistics with processing over the cognitive map and visual sensorium ( Mugan and MacIver, 2020 ). Appendix 5 explores connections between our approach and stochastic models more generally, including some limited data indicating that energy-constrained proportional betting may also predict behavior during searching for targets outside of sensory range ( Figure 6—figure supplement 5 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuning movement for sensing in an uncertain world

Chen

Murphey

MacIver

2020

eLife

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While animals track or search for targets, sensory organs make small unexplained movements on top of the primary task-related motions. While multiple theories for these movements exist—in that they support infotaxis, gain adaptation, spectral whitening, and high-pass filtering—predicted trajectories show poor fit to measured trajectories. We propose a new theory for these movements called energy-constrained proportional betting, where the probability of moving to a location is proportional to an expectation of how informative it will be balanced against the movement’s predicted energetic cost. Trajectories generated in this way show good agreement with measured trajectories of fish tracking an object using electrosense, a mammal and an insect localizing an odor source, and a moth tracking a flower using vision. Our theory unifies the metabolic cost of motion with information theory. It predicts sense organ movements in animals and can prescribe sensor motion for robots to enhance performance.

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“…Additionally, computational models have found that the usefulness of planning is directly tied to visual range. Visual range in water is so poor that computational models suggest planning in water is barely useful at all ( Mugan and MacIver, 2020 ), whereas on land, such planning is highly adaptive.…”

Section: Behavioral Abilities That Emerged In Early Mammalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Behavioral Abilities Emerged at Key Milestones in Human Brain Evolution? 13 Hypotheses on the 600-Million-Year Phylogenetic History of Human Intelligence

Bennett

2021

Front. Psychol.

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This paper presents 13 hypotheses regarding the specific behavioral abilities that emerged at key milestones during the 600-million-year phylogenetic history from early bilaterians to extant humans. The behavioral, intellectual, and cognitive faculties of humans are complex and varied: we have abilities as diverse as map-based navigation, theory of mind, counterfactual learning, episodic memory, and language. But these faculties, which emerge from the complex human brain, are likely to have evolved from simpler prototypes in the simpler brains of our ancestors. Understanding the order in which behavioral abilities evolved can shed light on how and why our brains evolved. To propose these hypotheses, I review the available data from comparative psychology and evolutionary neuroscience.

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Spatial planning with long visual range benefits escape from visual predators in complex naturalistic environments

Cited by 30 publications

References 66 publications

Individual differences in risk‐taking affect foraging across different landscapes of fear

Individual differences in risk‐taking affect foraging across different landscapes of fear

Tuning movement for sensing in an uncertain world

What Behavioral Abilities Emerged at Key Milestones in Human Brain Evolution? 13 Hypotheses on the 600-Million-Year Phylogenetic History of Human Intelligence

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