Social learning plays an important role in acquiring new foraging skills and food preferences in many bird species but its potential role in learning to avoid aposematic prey has never been studied. We tested the effect of social learning on the acquisition of avoidance of aposematic insect prey (firebug Pyrrhocoris apterus; Heteroptera) in juvenile, hand-reared great tits (Parus major). Behaviour towards aposematic prey was compared between two groups of birds: (1) the observers that were, prior to encounter with firebugs, allowed to watch the experienced conspecific demonstrator repeatedly refuse to attack the prey, and (2) the control birds that lacked this opportunity. Observing an experienced demonstrator was not sufficient for learning complete avoidance, because birds from both groups attacked at least the first firebug they had encountered in avoidance training. However, the opportunity to observe the avoidance behaviour of another bird significantly increased the rate of subsequent individual learning of observers in comparison with control birds. Social learning also decreased mortality of firebugs killed by the birds during the avoidance learning. Socially enhanced learning to avoid aposematic prey might be a mechanism important especially for naive juvenile birds learning from their parents, but it could also enhance learning in adults from their more experienced flock mates. Because social learning of avoidance may also lead to decreased mortality of aposematic prey, its effect should be taken into account in scenarios considering evolution and maintenance of prey warning signals.

• MeSH
• Heteroptera fyziologie   MeSH
• Passeriformes fyziologie   MeSH
• predátorské chování * MeSH
• sociální učení * MeSH
• učení vyhýbat se * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Animals that do not provide parental care have to secure the survival of their offspring by ensuring a safe reproductive environment or smart timing tactics. Nocturnal spawning behaviour of many fish species is an example of the latter behaviour in the animal kingdom and is hypothesized to provide a survival advantage to the eggs spawned during the night. In order to test the efficiency of the smart timing tactics in a freshwater fish, a study was carried out of the interaction of the rheophilic spawner (asp Leuciscus aspius) and the predator of its drifting eggs (bleak Alburnus alburnus) using passive telemetry. According to a model based on acquired data, asp laid 63% of its eggs at night, while vision-oriented bleak was present in 92% of the time during the day. This study gives support to the predator avoidance hypothesis, which expects animals to reproduce in a period when the probability of offspring predation is at its lowest.

• MeSH
• cirkadiánní rytmus * MeSH
• Cyprinidae růst a vývoj   fyziologie   MeSH
• potravní řetězec MeSH
• predátorské chování * MeSH
• rozmnožování * MeSH
• učení vyhýbat se * MeSH
• vejce MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Due to the extensive use of copper (Cu) in various commercial products, its existence in aquatic bodies (freshwater and marine) is not unusual. Cu is well known for its effect on the olfactory physiology of fish. However, there are limited studies on the effect of Cu on important ecological functions in fish (predator-prey dynamics) that are primarily influenced by olfaction. In a series of experiments, we studied the effect of Cu exposure on the chemoreceptive behavior of the prey fish, Lepidocephalichthys thermalis. Prey fishes were exposed to an environmentally relevant concentration (5 μg/L) of Cu for 3 h and the anti-predator responses against native (Channa gachua) and alien predatory fish (tilapia) were quantified using an ethological assay. Cu exposed prey fishes did not recognize the native predator and had a lower survival rate than control (unexposed) fishes in predation trials. Cu exposed prey fishes have failed to learn associatively to detect a non-native predator resulting in higher mortality in prey population in direct encounters with tilapia. However, such a lack of predator recognition was found to be short-term and the treated prey fishes recovered anti-predator responses within 72 h. In addition, Cu inactivated the alarm cue which acts as a signal for the presence of predators and ensures associative learning and therefore it was considered to be an 'info-disruptor' in the present study. These outcomes together demonstrate that even at low concentration, Cu influences ecological decisions and survival against predators. Owing to the ubiquitous occurrence of Cu in water bodies, the present investigation will contribute to the knowledge of how environmental stressors alter the crucial ecological decisions of prey individuals in aquatic ecosystems. In addition, we suggest that freshwater reservoirs containing high levels of Cu could be unsuitable for the long-term survival of prey fishes and freshwater biodiversity.

• MeSH
• ekosystém MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• máloostní * MeSH
• měď * toxicita   MeSH
• predátorské chování MeSH
• ryby MeSH
• sladká voda MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Variation in reactions to aposematic prey is common among conspecific individuals of bird predators. It may result from different individual experience but it also exists among naive birds. This variation may possibly be explained by the effect of personality--a complex of correlated, heritable behavioural traits consistent across contexts. In the great tit (Parus major), two extreme personality types have been defined. 'Fast' explorers are bold, aggressive and routine-forming; 'slow' explorers are shy, non-aggressive and innovative. Influence of personality type on unlearned reaction to aposematic prey, rate of avoidance learning and memory were tested in naive, hand-reared great tits from two opposite lines selected for exploration (slow against fast). The birds were subjected to a sequence of trials in which they were offered aposematic adult firebugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus). Slow birds showed a greater degree of unlearned wariness and learned to avoid the firebugs faster than fast birds. Although birds of both personality types remembered their experience, slow birds were more cautious in the memory test. We conclude that not only different species but also populations of predators that differ in proportions of personality types may have different impacts on survival of aposematic insects under natural conditions.

• MeSH
• chování zvířat fyziologie   MeSH
• Heteroptera růst a vývoj   MeSH
• osobnost MeSH
• Passeriformes klasifikace   fyziologie   MeSH
• predátorské chování fyziologie   MeSH
• učení vyhýbat se fyziologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

The object categorization is only scarcely studied using untrained wild ranging animals and relevant stimuli. We tested the importance of the spatial position of features salient for categorization of a predator using wild ranging birds (titmice) visiting a winter feeder. As a relevant stimulus we used a dummy of a raptor, the European sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), placed at the feeding location. This dummy was designed to be dismantled into three parts and rearranged with the head in the correct position, in the middle or at the bottom of the dummy. When the birds had the option of visiting an alternative feeder with a dummy pigeon, they preferred this option to visiting the feeder with the dummy sparrowhawk with the head in any of the three positions. When the birds had the option of visiting an alternative feeder with an un-rearranged dummy sparrowhawk, they visited both feeders equally often, and very scarcely. This suggests that the titmice considered all of the sparrowhawk modifications as being dangerous, and equally dangerous as the un-rearranged sparrowhawk. The position of the head was not the most important cue for categorization. The presence of the key features was probably sufficient for categorization, and their mutual spatial position was of lower importance.

• MeSH
• divoká zvířata psychologie   MeSH
• některé rody čeledi Accipitridae MeSH
• Passeriformes * MeSH
• podněty MeSH
• stravovací zvyklosti psychologie   MeSH
• učení vyhýbat se * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Although animals often learn and monitor the spatial properties of relevant moving objects such as conspecifics and predators to properly organize their own spatial behavior, the underlying brain substrate has received little attention and hence remains elusive. Because the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) participates in conflict monitoring and effort-based decision making, and ACC neurons respond to objects in the environment, it may also play a role in the monitoring of moving cues and exerting the appropriate spatial response. We used a robot avoidance task in which a rat had to maintain at least a 25cm distance from a small programmable robot to avoid a foot shock. In successive sessions, we trained ten Long Evans male rats to avoid a fast-moving robot (4cm/s), a stationary robot, and a slow-moving robot (1cm/s). In each condition, the ACC was transiently inactivated by bilateral injections of muscimol in the penultimate session and a control saline injection was given in the last session. Compared to the corresponding saline session, ACC-inactivated rats received more shocks when tested in the fast-moving condition, but not in the stationary or slow robot conditions. Furthermore, ACC-inactivated rats less frequently responded to an approaching robot with appropriate escape responses although their response to shock stimuli remained preserved. Since we observed no effect on slow or stationary robot avoidance, we conclude that the ACC may exert cognitive efforts for monitoring dynamic updating of the position of an object, a role complementary to the dorsal hippocampus.

• MeSH
• agonisté receptorů GABA-A farmakologie   MeSH
• cingulární gyrus účinky léků   fyziologie   MeSH
• krysa rodu rattus MeSH
• muscimol farmakologie   MeSH
• neurony účinky léků   fyziologie   MeSH
• podněty MeSH
• potkani Long-Evans MeSH
• pozornost účinky léků   fyziologie   MeSH
• prostorové chování účinky léků   fyziologie   MeSH
• reakční čas fyziologie   MeSH
• učení vyhýbat se účinky léků   fyziologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• krysa rodu rattus MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

We develop a decision tree based game-theoretical approach for constructing functional responses in multi-prey/multi-patch environments and for finding the corresponding optimal foraging strategies. Decision trees provide a way to describe details of predator foraging behavior, based on the predator's sequence of choices at different decision points, that facilitates writing down the corresponding functional response. It is shown that the optimal foraging behavior that maximizes predator energy intake per unit time is a Nash equilibrium of the underlying optimal foraging game. We apply these game-theoretical methods to three scenarios: the classical diet choice model with two types of prey and sequential prey encounters, the diet choice model with simultaneous prey encounters, and a model in which the predator requires a positive recognition time to identify the type of prey encountered. For both diet choice models, it is shown that every Nash equilibrium yields optimal foraging behavior. Although suboptimal Nash equilibrium outcomes may exist when prey recognition time is included, only optimal foraging behavior is stable under evolutionary learning processes.

• MeSH
• predátorské chování MeSH
• teoretické modely * MeSH
• teorie her * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

• MeSH
• biologická evoluce MeSH
• fobie * etiologie   patofyziologie   MeSH
• hadi * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mozek fyziologie   MeSH
• percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• pozornost MeSH
• predátorské chování MeSH
• psychologické techniky MeSH
• psychologické testy MeSH
• teoretické modely MeSH
• učení MeSH
• vývoj dítěte MeSH
• znaky a insignie MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH

• MeSH
• behaviorální vědy MeSH
• biologická evoluce MeSH
• etologie MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• vývojová biologie MeSH
• životní prostředí MeSH

• Konspekt
• Biologické vědy
• NLK Obory
• biologie
• NLK Publikační typ
• kolektivní monografie

• MeSH
• duševní poruchy MeSH
• kriminologie MeSH
• poruchy sociálního chování klasifikace   MeSH
• právní odpovědnost MeSH
• zločinci MeSH
• Publikační typ
• přehledy MeSH

• Konspekt
• Psychiatrie
• NLK Obory
• psychiatrie
• sociologie
• právo, zákonodárství