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Nathalia X, Vinicius M, Danilo Brito R, Felipe G, Rodrigo W. The Influence of Substance Properties on Arthropod Chemical Defenses: A Meta-Analysis. J Chem Ecol 2024; 50:42-51. [PMID: 38133704 DOI: 10.1007/s10886-023-01457-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Among defenses against predation, chemical defenses are possibly the most studied. However, when addressing the effectiveness of those chemical defenses, previous studies did not include properties of the chemical substances themselves. Lipophilicity, for instance, may facilitate crossing membranes, and boiling point may define the duration of the substances in the air. Moreover, other variables may also be relevant: the predator taxon; the prey model chosen to conduct experiments; whether the prey is presented grouped or not in experiments; and whether the chemical defense is a mixture of many substances or only one. To understand how those factors influence chemical defenses' effectiveness, we conducted a multilevel meta-analysis with 43 studies (127 effect sizes), accounting for different types of dependence. We used Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) to select the best model. The model with the lowest AICc value included only the boiling point, which defines how quickly a chemical substance volatilizes. This model indicated that the most effective chemical defenses had lower boiling point values, i.e., higher volatility. Moreover, we did not find chemicals with very low boiling points, suggesting there might be an optimum range of volatility. Other models, including the intercept-only model, were also recovered among the best models, therefore further studies are needed to confirm the relationship between volatility and chemical defenses' effectiveness. Our results highlight the value of incorporating physicochemical properties in the ecological and evolutionary study of chemical defense.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ximenes Nathalia
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
- Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Laboratory of Sensory Ecology and Behavior of Arthropods, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
| | - Moraes Vinicius
- Laboratório de Taxonomia Ecologia e Interações de Aracnídeos, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil
| | | | - Gawryszewski Felipe
- Departamento de Zoologia, Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Willemart Rodrigo
- Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
- Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Laboratory of Sensory Ecology and Behavior of Arthropods, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
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Protti-Sánchez F, Mayer U, Rowland HM. In paired preference tests, domestic chicks innately choose the colour green over red, and the shape of a frog over a sphere when both stimuli are green. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:1973-1983. [PMID: 37610527 PMCID: PMC10769926 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01821-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/24/2023]
Abstract
Many animals express unlearned colour preferences that depend on the context in which signals are encountered. These colour biases may have evolved in response to the signalling system to which they relate. For example, many aposematic animals advertise their unprofitability with red warning signals. Predators' innate biases against these warning colours have been suggested as one of the potential explanations for the initial evolution of aposematism. It is unclear, however, whether unlearned colour preferences reported in a number of species is truly an innate behaviour or whether it is based on prior experience. We tested the spontaneous colour and shape preferences of dark-hatched, unfed, and visually naive domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). In four experiments, we presented chicks with a choice between either red (a colour typically associated with warning patterns) or green (a colour associated with palatable cryptic prey), volume-matched spheres (representing a generalised fruit shape) or frogs (representing an aposematic animal's shape). Chicks innately preferred green stimuli and avoided red. Chicks also preferred the shape of a frog over a sphere when both stimuli were green. However, no preference for frogs over spheres was present when stimuli were red. Male chicks that experienced a bitter taste of quinine immediately before the preference test showed a higher preference for green frog-shaped stimuli. Our results suggest that newly hatched chicks innately integrate colour and shape cues during decision making, and that this can be augmented by other sensory experiences. Innate and experience-based behaviour could confer a fitness advantage to novel aposematic prey, and favour the initial evolution of conspicuous colouration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Protti-Sánchez
- Max Planck Research Group Predators and Toxic Prey, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans Knöll Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany.
| | - Uwe Mayer
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy
| | - Hannah M Rowland
- Max Planck Research Group Predators and Toxic Prey, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans Knöll Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany
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Raška J, Chalušová K, Krajiček J, Čabala R, Bosáková Z, Štys P, Exnerová A. Ontogenetic change in effectiveness of chemical defence against different predators in Oxycarenus true bugs. J Evol Biol 2023; 36:1050-1064. [PMID: 37428808 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2022] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
Many prey species change their antipredator defence during ontogeny, which may be connected to different potential predators over the life cycle of the prey. To test this hypothesis, we compared reactions of two predator taxa - spiders and birds - to larvae and adults of two invasive true bug species, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis and Oxycarenus lavaterae (Heteroptera: Oxycarenidae) with life-stage-specific chemical defence mechanisms. The reactions to larvae and adults of both true bug species strikingly differed between the two predator taxa. The spiders were deterred by the defences of adult bugs, but the larval defences were ineffective against them. By contrast, birds attacked the larvae considerably less often than the adult bugs. The results indicate a predator-specific ontogenetic change in defence effectiveness of both Oxycarenus species. The change in defence is likely linked to the life-stage-specific composition of secretions in both species: whereas secretions of larvae are dominated by unsaturated aldehydes, secretions of adults are rich in terpenoids, which probably serve dual function of defensive chemicals and pheromones. Our results highlight the variation in defence between different life stages and the importance of testing responses of different types of predators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Raška
- Department of Zoology, Charles University Faculty of Science, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Kateřina Chalušová
- Department of Zoology, Charles University Faculty of Science, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Krajiček
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Charles University Faculty of Science, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Radomír Čabala
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Charles University Faculty of Science, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Zuzana Bosáková
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Charles University Faculty of Science, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Štys
- Department of Zoology, Charles University Faculty of Science, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Alice Exnerová
- Department of Zoology, Charles University Faculty of Science, Praha, Czech Republic
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Protti-Sánchez F, Corrales Parada CD, Mayer U, Rowland HM. Activation of the Nucleus Taeniae of the Amygdala by Umami Taste in Domestic Chicks (Gallus gallus). Front Physiol 2022; 13:897931. [PMID: 35694389 PMCID: PMC9178096 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.897931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In chickens, the sense of taste plays an important role in detecting nutrients and choosing feed. The molecular mechanisms underlying the taste-sensing system of chickens are well studied, but the neural mechanisms underlying taste reactivity have received less attention. Here we report the short-term taste behaviour of chickens towards umami and bitter (quinine) taste solutions and the associated neural activity in the nucleus taeniae of the amygdala, nucleus accumbens and lateral septum. We found that chickens had more contact with and drank greater volumes of umami than bitter or a water control, and that chicks displayed increased head shaking in response to bitter compared to the other tastes. We found that there was a higher neural activity, measured as c-Fos activation, in response to umami taste in the right hemisphere of the nucleus taeniae of the amygdala. In the left hemisphere, there was a higher c-Fos activation of the nucleus taeniae of the amygdala in response to bitter than in the right hemisphere. Our findings provide clear evidence that chickens respond differently to umami and bitter tastes, that there is a lateralised response to tastes at the neural level, and reveals a new function of the avian nucleus taeniae of the amygdala as a region processing reward information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Protti-Sánchez
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
- *Correspondence: Francesca Protti-Sánchez,
| | | | - Uwe Mayer
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
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Pattern contrast influences wariness in naïve predators towards aposematic patterns. Sci Rep 2020; 10:9246. [PMID: 32514003 PMCID: PMC7280217 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65754-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2019] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
An apparent and common feature of aposematic patterns is that they contain a high level of achromatic (luminance) contrast, for example, many warning signals combine black spots and stripes with a lighter colour such as yellow. However, the potential importance of achromatic contrast, as distinct from colour contrast, in reducing predation has been largely overlooked. Here, using domestic chicks as a model predator, we manipulated the degree of achromatic contrast in warning patterns to test if high luminance contrast in aposematic signals is important for deterring naïve predators. We found that the chicks were less likely to approach and eat prey with high contrast compared to low contrast patterns. These findings suggest that aposematic prey patterns with a high luminance contrast can benefit from increased survival through eliciting unlearned biases in naïve avian predators. Our work also highlights the importance of considering luminance contrast in future work investigating why aposematic patterns take the particular forms that they do.
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Hämäläinen L, Mappes J, Rowland HM, Thorogood R. Social information use about novel aposematic prey is not influenced by a predator's previous experience with toxins. Funct Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Johanna Mappes
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Finland
| | - Hannah M. Rowland
- Department of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UK
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena Germany
- Institute of Zoology Zoological Society of London London UK
| | - Rose Thorogood
- Department of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UK
- HiLIFE Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland
- Research Programme in Organismal & Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland
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Abstract
The anatomical structure and function of beaks, bills and tongue together with the mechanics of deglutition in birds have contributed to the development of a taste system denuded of macrostructures visible to the human naked eye. Studies in chickens and other birds have revealed that the avian taste system consists of taste buds not clustered in papillae and located mainly (60 %) in the upper palate hidden in the crevasses of the salivary ducts. That explains the long delay in the understanding of the avian taste system. However, recent studies reported 767 taste buds in the oral cavity of the chicken. Chickens appear to have an acute sense of taste allowing for the discrimination of dietary amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, quinine, Ca and salt among others. However, chickens and other birds have small repertoires of bitter taste receptors (T2R) and are missing the T1R2 (related to sweet taste in mammals). Thus, T1R2-independent mechanisms of glucose sensing might be particularly relevant in chickens. The chicken umami receptor (T1R1/T1R3) responds to amino acids such as alanine and serine (known to stimulate the umami receptor in rodents and fish). Recently, the avian nutrient chemosensory system has been found in the gastrointestinal tract and hypothalamus related to the enteroendocrine system which mediates the gut-brain dialogue relevant to the control of feed intake. Overall, the understanding of the avian taste system provides novel and robust tools to improve avian nutrition.
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Raška J, Štys P, Exnerová A. How variation in prey aposematic signals affects avoidance learning, generalization and memory of a salticid spider. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Veselý P, Ernestová B, Nedvěd O, Fuchs R. Do predator energy demands or previous exposure influence protection by aposematic coloration of prey? Curr Zool 2017; 63:259-267. [PMID: 29491984 PMCID: PMC5804175 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zow057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2016] [Accepted: 04/30/2016] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Growing evidence exists that aposematic and toxic prey may be included in a predator's diet when the predator experiences physiological stress. The tree sparrow Passer montanus is known to have a significant portion of aposematic and toxic ladybirds in its natural diet. Here, we present experiments testing the attack and eating rate of the tree sparrow toward the invasive aposematic harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis. We wondered whether the sparrow's ability to prey on native ladybirds predisposes them to also prey on harlequin ladybirds. We compared the attack and eating rates of tree sparrows of particular age and/or experience classes to test for any changes during ontogeny (hand-reared × young wild-caught ×adult wild-caught) and with differing perceived levels of physiological stress (summer adult × winter adult). Winter adult tree sparrows commonly attacked and ate the offered ladybirds with no evidence of disgust or metabolic difficulties after ingestion. Naïve and wild immature tree sparrows attacked the ladybirds but hesitated to eat them. Adult tree sparrows caught in the summer avoided attacking the ladybirds. These results suggest that tree sparrows are able to cope with chemicals ingested along with the ladybirds. This pre-adaptation enables them to include ladybirds in their diet; though they commonly do this only in times of shortage in insect availability (winter). Young sparrows showed avoidance toward the chemical protection of the ladybirds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petr Veselý
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Barbora Ernestová
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Oldřich Nedvěd
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Roman Fuchs
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
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Adamová-Ježová D, Hospodková E, Fuchsová L, Štys P, Exnerová A. Through experience to boldness? Deactivation of neophobia towards novel and aposematic prey in three European species of tits (Paridae). Behav Processes 2016; 131:24-31. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2015] [Revised: 07/23/2016] [Accepted: 07/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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12
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Bailey IE, Nicolson SW. Do sunbirds use taste to decide how much to drink? J Anim Ecol 2015; 85:497-506. [PMID: 26618299 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2015] [Accepted: 11/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Nectarivorous birds typically consume smaller meals of more concentrated than of less concentrated sugar solutions. It is not clear, however, whether they use taste to decide how much to consume or whether they base this decision on post-ingestive feedback. Taste, a cue to nectar concentration, is available to nectarivores during ingestion whereas post-ingestive information about resource quality becomes available only after a meal. When conditions are variable, we would expect nectarivorous birds to base their decisions on how much to consume on taste, as post-ingestive feedback from previous meals would not be a reliable cue to current resource quality. Here, we tested whether white-bellied sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala), foraging from an array of artificial flowers, use taste to decide how much to consume per meal when nectar concentration is highly variable: they did not. Instead, how much they chose to consume per meal appeared to depend on the energy intake at the previous meal, that is how hungry they were. Our birds did, however, appear to use taste to decide how much to consume per flower visited within a meal. Unexpectedly, some individuals preferred to consume more from flowers with lower concentration rewards and some preferred to do the opposite. We draw attention to the fact that many studies perhaps misleadingly claim that birds use sweet taste to inform their foraging decisions, as they analyse mean data for multiple meals over which post-ingestive feedback will have become available rather than data for individual meals when only sensory information is available. We discuss how conflicting foraging rules could explain why sunbirds do not use sweet taste to inform their meal size decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ida E Bailey
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Harold Mitchell Building, St Andrews, KY16 9TH, UK
| | - Susan W Nicolson
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa
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Aversion for bitter taste reveals sexual differences in alimentation strategies in a praying mantis. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Hotová Svádová K, Exnerová A, Kopečková M, Štys P. How Do Predators Learn to Recognize a Mimetic Complex: Experiments with Naive Great Tits and Aposematic Heteroptera. Ethology 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kateřina Hotová Svádová
- Department of Zoology; Faculty of Science; Charles University in Prague; Prague; Czech Republic
| | - Alice Exnerová
- Department of Zoology; Faculty of Science; Charles University in Prague; Prague; Czech Republic
| | - Michala Kopečková
- Department of Zoology; Faculty of Science; Charles University in Prague; Prague; Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Štys
- Department of Zoology; Faculty of Science; Charles University in Prague; Prague; Czech Republic
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Rowland HM, Ruxton GD, Skelhorn J. Bitter taste enhances predatory biases against aggregations of prey with warning coloration. Behav Ecol 2013. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/art013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Roura E, Baldwin M, Klasing K. The avian taste system: Potential implications in poultry nutrition. Anim Feed Sci Technol 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2012.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Food sensory characteristics: their unconsidered roles in the feeding behaviour of domestic ruminants. Animal 2012; 7:806-13. [PMID: 23218003 DOI: 10.1017/s1751731112002145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
When domestic ruminants are faced with food diversity, they can use pre-ingestive information (i.e. food sensory characteristics perceived by the animal before swallowing the food) and post-ingestive information (i.e. digestive and metabolic consequences, experienced by the animal after swallowing the food) to evaluate the food and make decisions to select a suitable diet. The concept of palatability is essential to understand how pre- and post-ingestive information are interrelated. It refers to the hedonic value of the food without any immediate effect of post-ingestive consequences and environmental factors, but with the influence of individual characteristics, such as animal's genetic background, internal state and previous experiences. In the literature, the post-ingestive consequences are commonly considered as the main force that influences feeding behaviour whereas food sensory characteristics are only used as discriminatory agents. This discriminatory role is indeed important for animals to be aware of their feeding environment, and ruminants are able to use their different senses either singly or in combination to discriminate between different foods. However, numerous studies on ruminants' feeding behaviour demonstrate that the role of food sensory characteristics has been underestimated or simplified; they could play at least two other roles. First, some sensory characteristics also possess a hedonic value which influences ruminants' intake, preferences and food learning independently of any immediate post-ingestive consequences. Further, diversity of food sensory characteristics has a hedonic value, as animals prefer an absence of monotony in food sensory characteristics at similar post-ingestive consequences. Second, some of these food sensory characteristics become an indicator of post-ingestive consequences after their initial hedonic value has acquired a positive or a negative value via previous individual food learning or evolutionary processes. These food sensory characteristics thus represent cues that could help ruminants to anticipate the post-ingestive consequences of a food and to improve their learning efficiency, especially in complex environments. This review then suggests that food sensory characteristics could be of importance to provide pleasure to animals, to increase palatability of a food and to help them learn in complex feeding situations which could improve animal welfare and productivity.
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DE WERT LEONI, MAHON KEVIN, RUXTON GRAEMED. Protection by association: evidence for aposematic commensalism. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2012. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2012.01855.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Gilby BL, Burfeind DD, Tibbetts IR. Better red than dead? Potential aposematism in a harpacticoid copepod, Metis holothuriae. MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2012; 74:73-76. [PMID: 22209520 DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2011.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2011] [Revised: 11/25/2011] [Accepted: 12/01/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The conspicuous, red harpacticoid Metis holothuriae grows to a large size (∼600 μm length) and accounts for 29.51% of the numerical meiofaunal abundance within blooms of the toxic, benthic cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula. Despite this, the meiobenthic juvenile trumpeter whiting, Sillago maculata, consume M. holothuriae at only 2.16% of numerical meiofaunal biomass within simulated blooms, despite their apparent ease of predation. We compared the predation rates of copepods that had been dyed red (primarily Canuellidae and not known to be toxic) to M. holothuriae by S. maculata, to assess whether avoidance by predators is possibly a response to an aposematic signal conveyed by the colouration of the copepods and reinforced by their potential toxicity from exposure to L. majuscula. M. holothuriae were again strongly avoided, with only 6.25% of M. holothuriae consumed, whereas dyed copepods were consumed with relative alacrity, indicating that predation was not deterred by colouration alone. M. holothuriae copepodites were consumed in preference to adult individuals, supporting the idea that toxin accumulation or other factors relating to maturation might explain avoidance by benthivorous fishes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben L Gilby
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
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Food preferences and aversions in human health and nutrition: how can pigs help the biomedical research? Animal 2012; 6:118-36. [DOI: 10.1017/s1751731111001315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
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Disengtangling the evolution of weak warning signals: high detection risk and low production costs of chemical defences in gregarious pine sawfly larvae. Evol Ecol 2011. [DOI: 10.1007/s10682-010-9456-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Effect of an early bitter taste experience on subsequent feather-pecking behaviour in laying hens. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2010.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Rowland HM, Wiley E, Ruxton GD, Mappes J, Speed MP. When more is less: the fitness consequences of predators attacking more unpalatable prey when more are presented. Biol Lett 2010; 6:732-5. [PMID: 20444759 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In 1879, Fritz Müller hypothesized that mimetic resemblance in which defended prey display the same warning signal would share the costs of predator education. Although Müller argued that predators would need to ingest a fixed number of prey with a given visual signal when learning to avoid unpalatable prey, this assumption lacks empirical support. We report an experiment which shows that, as the number of unpalatable prey presented to them increased, avian predators attacked higher numbers of those prey. We calculated that, when predators increase attacks, the fitness costs incurred by unpalatable prey can be substantial. This suggests that the survival benefits of mimicry could be lower than Müller proposed. An important finding is, however, that these costs decline in importance as the total number of available prey increases.
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Harlander-Matauschek A, Beck P, Piepho HP. Taste aversion learning to eliminate feather pecking in laying hens, Gallus gallus domesticus. Anim Behav 2009. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.05.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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