Webster M M, Ward A J W, Hart P J B
Department of Biology, University of Leicester, Adrian Building, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2008 Jan 22;275(1631):203-8. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1178.
Animals can use socially transmitted information to learn about the distribution and quality of resources without incurring the costs associated with having to search for and sample them first hand. Recently, it has been shown that the use of chemical social information specific to patterns of diet and habitat use is an important mechanism underpinning recognition and social organization in shoaling fishes. In this study we revealed that the use of resource-specific chemical information is not limited to conspecifics, or even members of the same taxon. In a series of laboratory experiments, we showed that threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) could recognize similar patterns of habitat use in common prawns (Leander serratus), preferentially orientating towards groups of prawns exposed to the same habitats as themselves, and even selecting foraging patches located close to them. Prawns were seen to use habitat-specific cues generated by conspecifics, but not by sticklebacks, suggesting that the benefits of forming these heterospecific social association patterns may be unequal for prawns and fishes. Our findings suggest that some species might use co-occurring, unrelated species as information centres in order to orient and locate resources within their surroundings.
动物可以利用社会传播信息来了解资源的分布和质量，而无需承担亲自寻找和采样资源所带来的成本。最近的研究表明，利用特定于饮食和栖息地使用模式的化学社会信息是支撑群居鱼类识别和社会组织的重要机制。在本研究中，我们揭示了对特定资源化学信息的利用并不局限于同种个体，甚至也不限于同一分类单元的成员。在一系列实验室实验中，我们发现三刺鱼（Gasterosteus aculeatus）能够识别普通对虾（Leander serratus）类似的栖息地使用模式，优先朝向与自身暴露于相同栖息地的对虾群体游动，甚至选择靠近它们的觅食区域。我们观察到对虾会利用同种个体产生的特定于栖息地的线索，但不会利用三刺鱼产生的线索，这表明形成这些异种社会关联模式对虾和鱼类的益处可能并不相同。我们的研究结果表明，一些物种可能会将同时出现的、不相关的物种用作信息中心，以便在其周围环境中定位和获取资源。
