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Lourie E, Shamay T, Toledo S, Nathan R. Spatial memory obviates following behaviour in an information centre of wild fruit bats. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20240060. [PMID: 39230458 PMCID: PMC11449202 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2024.0060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2024] [Revised: 04/10/2024] [Accepted: 05/20/2024] [Indexed: 09/05/2024] Open
Abstract
According to the information centre hypothesis (ICH), colonial species use social information in roosts to locate ephemeral resources. Validating the ICH necessitates showing that uninformed individuals follow informed ones to the new resource. However, following behaviour may not be essential when individuals have a good memory of the resources' locations. For instance, Egyptian fruit bats forage on spatially predictable trees, but some bear fruit at unpredictable times. These circumstances suggest an alternative ICH pathway in which bats learn when fruits emerge from social cues in the roost but then use spatial memory to locate them without following conspecifics. Here, using an unique field manipulation and high-frequency tracking data, we test for this alternative pathway: we introduced bats smeared with the fruit odour of the unpredictably fruiting Ficus sycomorus trees to the roost, when they bore no fruits, and then tracked the movement of conspecifics exposed to the manipulated social cue. As predicted, bats visited the F. sycomorus trees with significantly higher probabilities than during routine foraging trips (of >200 bats). Our results show how the integration of spatial memory and social cues leads to efficient resource tracking and highlight the value of using large movement datasets and field experiments in behavioural ecology. This article is part of the theme issue 'The spatial-social interface: a theoretical and empirical integration'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Lourie
- Movement Ecology Laboratory, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel , Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Tomer Shamay
- Movement Ecology Laboratory, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel , Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Sivan Toledo
- Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Tel-Aviv University , Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Ran Nathan
- Movement Ecology Laboratory, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel , Jerusalem, Israel
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Kohles JE, O'Mara MT, Dechmann DKN. A conceptual framework to predict social information use based on food ephemerality and individual resource requirements. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2022; 97:2039-2056. [PMID: 35932159 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2021] [Revised: 06/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Environmental variability poses a range of challenges to foraging animals trying to meet their energetic needs. Where food patches are unpredictable but shareable, animals can use social information to locate patches more efficiently or reliably. However, resource unpredictability can be heterogeneous and complex. The behavioural strategies animals employ to exploit such resources also vary, particularly if, when, and where animals use available social information. We reviewed the literature on social information use by foraging animals and developed a novel framework that integrates four elements - (1) food resource persistence; (2) the relative value of social information use; (3) behavioural context (opportunistic or coordinated); and (4) location of social information use - to predict and characterize four strategies of social information use - (1) local enhancement; (2) group facilitation; (3) following; and (4) recruitment. We validated our framework by systematically reviewing the growing empirical literature on social foraging in bats, an ideal model taxon because they exhibit extreme diversity in ecological niche and experience low predation risk while foraging but function at high energy expenditures, which selects for efficient foraging behaviours. Our framework's predictions agreed with the observed natural behaviour of bats and identified key knowledge gaps for future studies. Recent advancements in technology, methods, and analysis will facilitate additional studies in bats and other taxa to further test the framework and our conception of the ecological and evolutionary forces driving social information use. Understanding the links between food distribution, social information use, and foraging behaviour will help elucidate social interactions, group structure, and the evolution of sociality for species across the animal kingdom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenna E Kohles
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315, Radolfzell, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Konstanz, Germany.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Panama
| | - M Teague O'Mara
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315, Radolfzell, Germany.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Panama.,Department of Biological Sciences, Southeastern Louisiana University, 808 N. Pine Street, Hammond, LA, 70402, USA
| | - Dina K N Dechmann
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315, Radolfzell, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Konstanz, Germany.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Panama
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