Dataset Information

Can video playback provide social information for foraging blue tits?

ABSTRACT: Video playback is becoming a common method for manipulating social stimuli in experiments. Parid tits are one of the most commonly studied groups of wild birds. However, it is not yet clear if tits respond to video playback or how their behavioural responses should be measured. Behaviours may also differ depending on what they observe demonstrators encountering. Here we present blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) videos of demonstrators discovering palatable or aversive prey (injected with bitter-tasting Bitrex) from coloured feeding cups. First we quantify variation in demonstrators' responses to the prey items: aversive prey provoked high rates of beak wiping and head shaking. We then show that focal blue tits respond differently to the presence of a demonstrator on a video screen, depending on whether demonstrators discover palatable or aversive prey. Focal birds faced the video screen more during aversive prey presentations, and made more head turns. Regardless of prey type, focal birds also hopped more frequently during the presence of a demonstrator (compared to a control video of a different coloured feeding cup in an empty cage). Finally, we tested if demonstrators' behaviour affected focal birds' food preferences by giving individuals a choice to forage from the same cup as a demonstrator, or from the cup in the control video. We found that only half of the individuals made their choice in accordance to social information in the videos, i.e., their foraging choices were not different from random. Individuals that chose in accordance with a demonstrator, however, made their choice faster than individuals that chose an alternative cup. Together, our results suggest that video playback can provide social cues to blue tits, but individuals vary greatly in how they use this information in their foraging decisions.

SUBMITTER: Hamalainen L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5363260 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Can video playback provide social information for foraging blue tits?

Hämäläinen Liisa L Rowland Hannah M HM Mappes Johanna J Thorogood Rose R

PeerJ 20170321

Video playback is becoming a common method for manipulating social stimuli in experiments. Parid tits are one of the most commonly studied groups of wild birds. However, it is not yet clear if tits respond to video playback or how their behavioural responses should be measured. Behaviours may also differ depending on what they observe demonstrators encountering. Here we present blue tits (<i>Cyanistes caeruleus</i>) videos of demonstrators discovering palatable or aversive prey (injected with bi ...[more]

PMID: 28344901

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Project description:Vertebrates obtain social information about predation risk by eavesdropping on the alarm calls of sympatric species. In the Holarctic, birds in the family Paridae function as sentinel species; however, factors shaping eavesdroppers' reliance on their alarm calls are unknown. We compared three hypothesized drivers of eavesdropper reliance: (a) foraging ecology, (b) degree of sociality, and (c) call relevance (caller-to-eavesdropper body-size difference). In a rigorous causal-comparative design, we presented Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) alarm calls to 242 individuals of 31 ecologically diverse bird species in Florida forests and recorded presence/absence and type (diving for cover or freezing in place) of response. Playback response was near universal, as individuals responded to 87% of presentations (N = 211). As an exception to this trend, the sit-and-wait flycatcher Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) represented 48% of the nonresponses. We tested 12 predictor variables representing measures relevant to the three hypothesized drivers, distance to playback speaker, and vulnerability at time of playback (eavesdropper's microhabitat when alarm call is detected). Using model-averaged generalized linear models, we determined that foraging ecology best predicted playback response, with aerial foragers responding less often. Foraging ecology (distance from trunk) and microhabitat occupied during playback (distance to escape cover) best predicted escape behavior type. We encountered a sparsity of sit-and-wait flycatchers (3 spp.), yet their contrasting responses relative to other foraging behaviors clearly identified foraging ecology as a driver of species-specific antipredator escape behavior. Our findings align well with known links between the exceptional visual acuity and other phenotypic traits of flycatchers that allow them to rely more heavily on personal rather than social information while foraging. Our results suggest that foraging ecology drives species-specific antipredator behavior based on the availability and type of escape cover.

Project description:Blue-green and brown-spotted eggshells in birds have been proposed as sexual signals of female physiological condition and egg quality, reflecting maternal investment in the egg. Testing this hypothesis requires linking eggshell coloration to egg content, which is lacking for brown protoporphyrin-based pigmentation. As protoporphyrins can induce oxidative stress, and a large amount in eggshells should indicate either high female and egg quality if it reflects the female's high oxidative tolerance, or conversely poor quality if it reflects female physiological stress. Different studies supported either predictions but are difficult to compare given the methodological differences in eggshell-spottiness measurements. Using the blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus as a model species, we aimed at disentangling both predictions in testing if brown-spotted eggshell could reflect the quality of maternal investment in antibodies and carotenoids in the egg, and at improving between-study comparisons in correlating several common measurements of eggshell coloration (spectral and digital measures, spotted surface, pigmentation indices). We found that these color variables were weakly correlated highlighting the need for comparable quantitative measurements between studies and for multivariate regressions incorporating several eggshell-color characteristics. When evaluating the potential signaling function of brown-spotted eggshells, we thus searched for the brown eggshell-color variables that best predicted the maternal transfer of antibodies and carotenoids to egg yolks. We also tested the effects of several parental traits and breeding parameters potentially affecting this transfer. While eggshell coloration did not relate to yolk carotenoids, the eggs with larger and less evenly-distributed spots had higher antibody concentrations, suggesting that both the quantity and distribution of brown pigments reflected the transfer of maternal immune compounds in egg yolks. As yolk antibody concentrations were also positively related to key proxies of maternal quality (egg volume, number, yellow feather brightness, tarsus length), eggshells with larger spots concentrated at their broad pole may indicate higher-quality eggs.

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Can video playback provide social information for foraging blue tits?

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Can video playback provide social information for foraging blue tits?

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