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Steele EP, Laidre ME. Wild social behavior differs following experimental loss of vision in social hermit crabs. THE SCIENCE OF NATURE - NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN 2023; 110:20. [PMID: 37199869 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-023-01847-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Revised: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Even for animals with multiple senses at their disposal, there may be a strong reliance on a single sense, like vision, for social behavior. Experimentally blocking or eliminating vision offers a powerful means of testing impacts on social behavior, though few studies have followed experimentally blinded individuals in the wild to test potential changes in social behavior in natural settings. Here we conducted experiments with social hermit crabs (Coenobita compressus), applying opaque material overtop their eyes to temporarily blind individuals. We then released these experimentally blinded individuals and non-blinded control individuals into the wild as well as into captive social settings. Compared to control individuals, experimentally blinded individuals initiated significantly fewer social contacts with conspecifics in the wild. These experimentally blinded individuals were not, however, differentially targeted by conspecifics. Interestingly, unlike the wild experiments, the captive experiments showed no differences in social behavior between experimentally blinded and non-blinded control individuals, suggesting that experiments in natural settings in the wild may be essential to fully unraveling impacts of blindness on social behavior. Broadly, for social animals that are highly reliant on the visual modality, social behavior may change dramatically if they lose their vision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elliott P Steele
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, 78 College Street, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA.
- Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolution, Environment, and Society, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA.
| | - Mark E Laidre
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, 78 College Street, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA.
- Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolution, Environment, and Society, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA.
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Li W, Luo S, Wan C. Characterization of fever and sickness behavior regulated by cytokines during infection. BEHAVIOUR 2020. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
In response to invasion of pathogens, hosts present fever and a series of behavioural changes including reduced grooming, reduction of foraging, decreased locomotion, withdrawing from social activities and reproductive process, which are collectively termed sickness behaviour. Fever as well as sickness behaviour are adaptive and benefit the host to reduce pathology caused by infections and opportunity costs for time away from foraging, reproduction and predator avoidance. Antipathogenic fever and sickness behaviour are mediated proximately by cytokines including pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Pro-inflammation cytokines trigger these sickness responses, while anti-inflammatory cytokines constrain these responses and prevent damage to host from exaggerated responses. The present study reviews the characterization of fever and sickness behaviour regulated by cytokines during infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiran Li
- aDepartment of Pediatrics, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, No 20, 3rd section of Renmin South Road, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China
- bKey Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China
| | - Shuanghong Luo
- aDepartment of Pediatrics, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, No 20, 3rd section of Renmin South Road, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China
- bKey Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China
| | - Chaomin Wan
- aDepartment of Pediatrics, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, No 20, 3rd section of Renmin South Road, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China
- bKey Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610041, P.R. China
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Adelman JS, Mayer C, Hawley DM. Infection reduces anti-predator behaviors in house finches. JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY 2017; 48:519-528. [PMID: 29242677 PMCID: PMC5724792 DOI: 10.1111/jav.01058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Infectious diseases can cause host mortality through direct or indirect mechanisms, including altered behavior. Diminished anti-predator behavior is among the most-studied causes of indirect mortality during infection, particularly for systems in which a parasite's life-cycle requires transmission from prey to predator. Significantly less work has examined whether directly-transmitted parasites and pathogens also reduce anti-predator behaviors. Here we test whether the directly-transmitted bacterial pathogen, Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), reduces responses to predation-related stimuli in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). MG causes conjunctivitis and reduces survival among free-living finches, but rarely causes mortality in captivity, suggesting a role for indirect mechanisms. Wild-caught finches were individually housed in captivity and exposed to the following treatments: 1) visual presence of a stuffed, mounted predator (a Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)) or control object (a vase or a stuffed, mounted mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos)), 2) vocalizations of the same predator and non-predator, 3) approach of a researcher to enclosures, and 4) simulated predator attack (capture by hand). MG infection reduced anti-predator responses during visual exposure to a mounted predator and simulated predator attack, even for birds without detectable visual obstruction from conjunctivitis. However, MG infection did not significantly alter responses during human approach or audio playback. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that predation plays a role in MG-induced mortality in the wild, with reduced locomotion, a common form of sickness behavior for many taxa, as a likely mechanism. Our results therefore suggest that additional research on the role of sickness behaviors in predation could prove illuminating.
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Affiliation(s)
- James S. Adelman
- Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University, 339 Science Hall II, Ames, Iowa, 50011
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, 2119 Derring Hall, 1405 Perry St., Blacksburg, VA 24061
| | - Corinne Mayer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, 2119 Derring Hall, 1405 Perry St., Blacksburg, VA 24061
- Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, 205 Duck Pond Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24061
| | - Dana M. Hawley
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, 2119 Derring Hall, 1405 Perry St., Blacksburg, VA 24061
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Moldoff DE, Westneat DF. Foraging sparrows exhibit individual differences but not a syndrome when responding to multiple kinds of novelty. Behav Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arx014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Adelman JS, Hawley DM. Tolerance of infection: A role for animal behavior, potential immune mechanisms, and consequences for parasite transmission. Horm Behav 2017; 88:79-86. [PMID: 27984034 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.10.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2016] [Revised: 10/24/2016] [Accepted: 10/24/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Infected organisms can resist or tolerate infection, with tolerance of infection defined as minimizing per-parasite reductions in fitness. Although tolerance is well studied in plants, researchers have only begun to probe the mechanisms and transmission consequences of tolerance in animals. Here we suggest that research on tolerance in animals would benefit from explicitly incorporating behavior as a component of tolerance, given the importance of behavior for host fitness and parasite transmission. We propose two distinct manifestations of tolerance in animals: tissue-specific tolerance, which minimizes fitness losses due to tissue damage during infection, and behavioral tolerance, which minimizes fitness losses by maintaining normal, fitness-enhancing behaviors during infection. Here we briefly review one set of potential immune mechanisms underlying both responses in vertebrate animals: inflammation and its associated signaling molecules. Inflammatory responses, including broadly effective resistance mechanisms like the production of reactive oxygen species, can incur severe costs in terms of damage to a host's own tissues, thereby reducing tissue-specific tolerance. In addition, signaling molecules involved in these responses facilitate stereotypical behavioral changes during infection, which include lethargy and anorexia, reducing normal behaviors and behavioral tolerance. We consider how tissue-specific and behavioral tolerance may vary independently or in conjunction and outline potential consequences of such covariation for the transmission of infectious diseases. We put forward the distinction between tissue-specific and behavioral tolerance not as a definitive framework, but to help stimulate and broaden future research by considering animal behavior as intimately linked to the mechanisms and consequences of tolerance in animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- James S Adelman
- Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University, 339 Science Hall II, 2310 Pammel Dr., Ames, IA 50011, United States.
| | - Dana M Hawley
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, 1405 Perry St. Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States.
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Kaczorowski RL, Markman S. Nectar alkaloids of tree tobacco can reduce Palestine sunbird foraging performance in a colour discrimination task. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
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Rowe M, Pierson KL, McGraw KJ. Exploratory behavior is associated with plasma carotenoid accumulation in two congeneric species of waterfowl. Behav Processes 2015; 115:181-90. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2014] [Revised: 03/27/2015] [Accepted: 04/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Meitern R, Sild E, Lind MA, Männiste M, Sepp T, Karu U, Hõrak P. Effects of Endotoxin and Psychological Stress on Redox Physiology, Immunity and Feather Corticosterone in Greenfinches. PLoS One 2013; 8:e67545. [PMID: 23805316 PMCID: PMC3689720 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2013] [Accepted: 05/20/2013] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Assessment of costs accompanying activation of immune system and related neuroendocrine pathways is essential for understanding the selective forces operating on these systems. Here we attempted to detect such costs in terms of disruption to redox balance and interference between different immune system components in captive wild-caught greenfinches (Carduelis chloris). Study birds were subjected to an endotoxin-induced inflammatory challenge and temporary exposure to a psychological stressor (an image of a predator) in a 2*2 factorial experiment. Injection of bacterial endotoxin resulted in up-regulation of two markers of antioxidant protection – erythrocyte glutathione, and plasma oxygen radical absorbance (OXY). These findings suggest that inflammatory responses alter redox homeostasis. However, no effect on markers of oxidative damage to proteins or DNA in erythrocytes could be detected. We found no evidence that the endotoxin injection interfered with antibody production against Brucella abortus antigen or the intensity of chronic coccidiosis. The hypothesis of within-immune system trade-offs as a cost of immunity was thus not supported in our model system. We showed for the first time that administration of endotoxin can reduce the level of corticosterone deposited into feathers. This finding suggests a down-regulation of the corticosterone secretion cascade due to an endotoxin-induced immune response, a phenomenon that has not been reported previously. Exposure to the predator image did not affect any of the measured physiological parameters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Meitern
- Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Tartu University, Tartu, Estonia
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