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Boycott TJ, Sherrard MG, Gall MD, Ronald KL. Deer management influences perception of avian plumage in temperate deciduous forests. Vision Res 2023; 213:108312. [PMID: 37703599 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2023.108312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2023] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023]
Abstract
Many animals use visual signals to communicate; birds use colorful plumage to attract mates and repel intruders. Visual signal conspicuousness is influenced by the lighting environment, which can be altered by human-induced changes. For example, deer-management efforts can affect vegetation structure and light availability. Whether these changes alter animal communication is still unknown. We investigated the effect of deer management on forest light and the contrast of understory birds against the forest background. We modeled visual perception using: (1) an ultraviolet-sensitive (UVS) avian model and plumage parameters representative of red, yellow, and blue birds (2) species-specific turkey visual and plumage parameters, and (3) individual-specific brown-headed cowbird visual and plumage parameters. Deer management led to greater light irradiance and lowered forest background reflectance. Management increased chromatic contrasts in the UVS model, primarily in deciduous forests and low understory, and across all habitat types in turkey and cowbird models. Deer management did not affect achromatic contrasts in the UVS model, but was associated with lower contrast in mixed forests for turkeys and across habitats for cowbirds. Together, this suggests that management of deer browsing is likely to impact visual signaling for a wide range of avian species. However, we also suspect that species- and individual-specific parameters increased the resolution of models, warranting consideration in future studies. Further work should determine if differences in visual perception translate to biologically relevant consequences. Our results suggest that, at least for some species, deer browsing and anthropogenic change may impose an evolutionary driver on visual communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy J Boycott
- Department of Biology, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, USA; New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, 226 Mann Drive, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Morgan G Sherrard
- Department of Biology, Hope College, 35 East 12th Street, Holland, MI 49423, USA; University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Detroit, MI 48208-2576, USA
| | - Megan D Gall
- Department of Biology, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, USA; Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, USA
| | - Kelly L Ronald
- Department of Biology, Hope College, 35 East 12th Street, Holland, MI 49423, USA.
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Toomey MB, Ronald KL. Avian color expression and perception: is there a carotenoid link? J Exp Biol 2021; 224:269205. [PMID: 34142139 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.203844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Carotenoids color many of the red, orange and yellow ornaments of birds and also shape avian vision. The carotenoid-pigmented oil droplets in cone photoreceptors filter incoming light and are predicted to aid in color discrimination. Carotenoid use in both avian coloration and color vision raises an intriguing question: is the evolution of visual signals and signal perception linked through these pigments? Here, we explore the genetic, physiological and functional connections between these traits. Carotenoid color and droplet pigmentation share common mechanisms of metabolic conversion and are both affected by diet and immune system challenges. Yet, the time scale and magnitude of these effects differ greatly between plumage and the visual system. Recent observations suggest a link between retinal carotenoid levels and color discrimination performance, but the mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. Therefore, we performed a modeling exercise to ask whether and how changes in droplet carotenoid content could alter the perception of carotenoid-based plumage. This exercise revealed that changing oil droplet carotenoid concentration does not substantially affect the discrimination of carotenoid-based colors, but might change how reliably a receiver can predict the carotenoid content of an ornament. These findings suggest that, if present, a carotenoid link between signal and perception is subtle. Deconstructing this relationship will require a deeper understanding of avian visual perception and the mechanisms of color production. We highlight several areas where we see opportunities to gain new insights, including comparative genomic studies of shared mechanisms of carotenoid processing and alternative approaches to investigating color vision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew B Toomey
- Department of Biological Science, University of Tulsa, 800 S Tucker Dr., Tulsa, OK 74104, USA
| | - Kelly L Ronald
- Department of Biology, Hope College, 35 East 12th Street, Holland, MI 49422, USA
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Ronald KL, Zhang X, Morrison MV, Miller R, Hurley LM. Male mice adjust courtship behavior in response to female multimodal signals. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229302. [PMID: 32241020 PMCID: PMC7117945 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Multimodal signaling is nearly ubiquitous across animal taxa. While much research has focused on male signal production contributing to female mate-choice or preferences, females often give their own multimodal signals during intersexual communication events. Multimodal signal components are often classified based on whether they contain redundant information (e.g., the backup hypothesis) or non-redundant information (e.g., the multiple messages hypothesis) from the perspective of the receiver. We investigated the role of two different female vocalizations produced by the female house mouse (Mus musculus): the broadband, relatively low-frequency squeaks (broadband vocalizations or BBVs,), and the higher-frequency ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). These female vocalizations may convey differently valenced information to the male receivers. We paired these vocalizations with and without female urine to examine the influence of combining information across multiple modalities. We found evidence that female urine and vocalizations act as non-redundant multimodal cues as males responded with different behaviors and vocalization rates depending on the female signal presented. Additionally, male mice responded with greater courtship effort to the multimodal combination of female USVs paired with female urine than any other signal combination. These results suggest that the olfactory information contained in female urine provides the context by which males can then evaluate potentially ambiguous female vocalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly L. Ronald
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
- Department of Biology, Hope College, Holland, MI, United States of America
| | - Xinzhu Zhang
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Matthew V. Morrison
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
| | - Ryan Miller
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
| | - Laura M. Hurley
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
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Ronald KL, Fernández-Juricic E, Lucas JR. Mate choice in the eye and ear of the beholder? Female multimodal sensory configuration influences her preferences. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2018.0713. [PMID: 29769366 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2018] [Accepted: 04/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
A common assumption in sexual selection studies is that receivers decode signal information similarly. However, receivers may vary in how they rank signallers if signal perception varies with an individual's sensory configuration. Furthermore, receivers may vary in their weighting of different elements of multimodal signals based on their sensory configuration. This could lead to complex levels of selection on signalling traits. We tested whether multimodal sensory configuration could affect preferences for multimodal signals. We used brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) females to examine how auditory sensitivity and auditory filters, which influence auditory spectral and temporal resolution, affect song preferences, and how visual spatial resolution and visual temporal resolution, which influence resolution of a moving visual signal, affect visual display preferences. Our results show that multimodal sensory configuration significantly affects preferences for male displays: females with better auditory temporal resolution preferred songs that were shorter, with lower Wiener entropy, and higher frequency; and females with better visual temporal resolution preferred males with less intense visual displays. Our findings provide new insights into mate-choice decisions and receiver signal processing. Furthermore, our results challenge a long-standing assumption in animal communication which can affect how we address honest signalling, assortative mating and sensory drive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly L Ronald
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Jordan Hall, 1001 E 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA .,Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, Lilly Hall, 915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Esteban Fernández-Juricic
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Jordan Hall, 1001 E 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
| | - Jeffrey R Lucas
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Jordan Hall, 1001 E 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
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Ronald KL, Ensminger AL, Shawkey MD, Lucas JR, Fernández-Juricic E. Testing a key assumption in animal communication: between-individual variation in female visual systems alters perception of male signals. Biol Open 2017; 6:1771-1783. [PMID: 29247048 PMCID: PMC5769651 DOI: 10.1242/bio.028282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Variation in male signal production has been extensively studied because of its relevance to animal communication and sexual selection. Although we now know much about the mechanisms that can lead to variation between males in the properties of their signals, there is still a general assumption that there is little variation in terms of how females process these male signals. Variation between females in signal processing may lead to variation between females in how they rank individual males, meaning that one single signal may not be universally attractive to all females. We tested this assumption in a group of female wild-caught brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), a species that uses a male visual signal (e.g. a wingspread display) to make its mate-choice decisions. We found that females varied in two key parameters of their visual sensory systems related to chromatic and achromatic vision: cone densities (both total and proportions) and cone oil droplet absorbance. Using visual chromatic and achromatic contrast modeling, we then found that this between-individual variation in visual physiology leads to significant between-individual differences in how females perceive chromatic and achromatic male signals. These differences may lead to variation in female preferences for male visual signals, which would provide a potential mechanism for explaining individual differences in mate-choice behavior. Summary: Animal communication studies often assume receiver perception is equal across individuals; we found females vary in their visual physiology and perception of male signals which could influence their mating decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly L Ronald
- Indiana University, Department of Biology, Jordan Hall, 1001 E 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA .,Purdue University, Department of Biological Sciences, Lilly Hall, 915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Amanda L Ensminger
- Morningside College, Biology Department, 1501 Morningside Avenue, Sioux City, IA 51106, USA
| | - Matthew D Shawkey
- Evolution and Optics of Nanostructure Group, Department of Biology, University of Ghent, Ledeganckstraat 35, Ghent 9000, Belgium
| | - Jeffrey R Lucas
- Purdue University, Department of Biological Sciences, Lilly Hall, 915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Esteban Fernández-Juricic
- Purdue University, Department of Biological Sciences, Lilly Hall, 915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
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Ronald KL, Sesterhenn TM, Fernandez-Juricic E, Lucas JR. The sensory substrate of multimodal communication in brown-headed cowbirds: are females sensory 'specialists' or 'generalists'? J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2017; 203:935-943. [PMID: 28819686 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-017-1203-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2017] [Revised: 07/31/2017] [Accepted: 08/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Many animals communicate with multimodal signals. While we have an understanding of multimodal signal production, we know relatively less about receiver filtering of multimodal signals and whether filtering capacity in one modality influences filtering in a second modality. Most multimodal signals contain a temporal element, such as change in frequency over time or a dynamic visual display. We examined the relationship in temporal resolution across two modalities to test whether females are (1) sensory 'specialists', where a trade-off exists between the sensory modalities, (2) sensory 'generalists', where a positive relationship exists between the modalities, or (3) whether no relationship exists between modalities. We used female brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) to investigate this question as males court females with an audiovisual display. We found a significant positive relationship between female visual and auditory temporal resolution, suggesting that females are sensory 'generalists'. Females appear to resolve information well across multiple modalities, which may select for males that signal their quality similarly across modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly L Ronald
- Purdue University, 915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN, USA. .,Indiana University, 1001 East 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN, USA.
| | - Timothy M Sesterhenn
- Purdue University, 915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN, USA.,Morningside College, 1501 Morningside Avenue, Sioux City, IA, USA
| | | | - Jeffrey R Lucas
- Purdue University, 915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN, USA
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Ronald KL, Zeng R, White DJ, Fernández-Juricic E, Lucas JR. What makes a multimodal signal attractive? A preference function approach. Behav Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arx015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Andy Lin
- Purdue University West Lafayette IN USA
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Gall MD, Ronald KL, Bestrom ES, Lucas JR. Effects of habitat and urbanization on the active space of brown-headed cowbird song. J Acoust Soc Am 2012; 132:4053-4062. [PMID: 23231134 DOI: 10.1121/1.4764512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
The ability of a receiver to detect a signal is a product of the signal characteristics at the sender, habitat-specific degradation of the signal, and properties of the receiver's sensory system. Active space describes the maximum distance at which a receiver with a given sensory system can detect a signal in a given habitat. Here the effect of habitat structure and urbanization on brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) perched song active space was explored. The active space of the cowbird song was affected by both habitat type and level of urbanization. High frequency (4 to 6 kHz) portions of song resulted in the maximum active space. Surprisingly, the active space was the largest in open urban environments. The hard surfaces found in open urban areas (e.g., sidewalks, buildings) may provide a sound channel that enhances song propagation. When the introductory phrase and final phrase were analyzed separately, the active space of the introductory phrase was found to decrease in open urban environments but the active space of the final phrase increased in open urban environments. This suggests that different portions of the vocalization may be differentially influenced by habitat and level of urbanization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan D Gall
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USA.
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Ronald KL, Fernández-Juricic E, Lucas JR. Taking the sensory approach: how individual differences in sensory perception can influence mate choice. Anim Behav 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.09.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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