Krams Indrikis, Krama Tatjana, Berzins Arnis, Rantala Markus J
Commun Integr Biol. 2010 May;3(3):243-4. doi: 10.4161/cib.3.3.11395.
Empirical studies have shown that animals often focus on short-term benefits under conditions of predation risk, which reduces the likelihood that they will cooperate with others. However, some theoretical studies predict that animals in adverse conditions should not avoid cooperation with their neighbors since it may decrease individual risks and increase long-term benefits of reciprocal help. We experimentally tested these two alternatives to find out whether increased predation risk enhances or diminishes the occurrence of cooperation in mobbing, a common anti-predator behavior, among breeding pied flycatchers, Ficedula hypoleuca. Our results show that birds attended mobs initiated by their neighbors more often, approached the stuffed predator significantly more closely, and mobbed it at a higher intensity in areas where the perceived risk of predation was experimentally increased. This study demonstrates a positive impact of predation risk on cooperation in breeding songbirds, which might help to explain the emergence and evolution of cooperation.
实证研究表明，在存在捕食风险的情况下，动物通常会关注短期利益，这降低了它们与其他动物合作的可能性。然而，一些理论研究预测，处于不利条件下的动物不应避免与邻居合作，因为这可能会降低个体风险并增加互惠帮助的长期利益。我们通过实验测试了这两种可能性，以弄清楚增加的捕食风险是会增强还是减少在围攻行为（一种常见的反捕食行为）中的合作发生率，围攻行为发生在繁殖期的斑姬鹟（Ficedula hypoleuca）中。我们的结果表明，在实验中感知到捕食风险增加的区域，鸟类更频繁地参与邻居发起的围攻，更接近填充的捕食者，并且以更高的强度围攻它。这项研究证明了捕食风险对繁殖鸣禽合作的积极影响，这可能有助于解释合作的出现和进化。
