O'Connor Constance M, Reddon Adam R, Odetunde Aderinsola, Jindal Shagun, Balshine Sigal
Aquatic Behavioural Ecology Lab, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
Aquatic Behavioural Ecology Lab, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
Behav Processes. 2015 Dec;121:21-9. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.10.002. Epub 2015 Oct 20.
Predation is one of the primary drivers of fitness for prey species. Therefore, there should be strong selection for accurate assessment of predation risk, and whenever possible, individuals should use all available information to fine-tune their response to the current threat of predation. Here, we used a controlled laboratory experiment to assess the responses of individual Neolamprologus pulcher, a social cichlid fish, to a live predator stimulus, to the odour of damaged conspecifics, or to both indicators of predation risk combined. We found that fish in the presence of the visual predator stimulus showed typical antipredator behaviour. Namely, these fish decreased activity and exploration, spent more time seeking shelter, and more time near conspecifics. Surprisingly, there was no effect of the chemical cue alone, and fish showed a reduced response to the combination of the visual predator stimulus and the odour of damaged conspecifics relative to the visual predator stimulus alone. These results demonstrate that N. pulcher adjust their anti-predator behaviour to the information available about current predation risk, and we suggest a possible role for the use of social information in the assessment of predation risk in a cooperatively breeding fish.
捕食是猎物物种适应性的主要驱动因素之一。因此，对捕食风险进行准确评估应该会受到强烈的选择作用，并且只要有可能，个体就应该利用所有可用信息来微调其对当前捕食威胁的反应。在这里，我们进行了一项对照实验室实验，以评估群居丽鱼科鱼类新亮丽鲷个体对活体捕食者刺激、受损同种个体的气味或这两种捕食风险指标组合的反应。我们发现，在视觉捕食者刺激存在的情况下，鱼类表现出典型的反捕食行为。也就是说，这些鱼减少了活动和探索，花更多时间寻找庇护所，以及花更多时间靠近同种个体。令人惊讶的是，单独的化学信号没有影响，并且相对于仅视觉捕食者刺激，鱼类对视觉捕食者刺激和受损同种个体气味的组合表现出降低的反应。这些结果表明，新亮丽鲷会根据有关当前捕食风险的可用信息调整其反捕食行为，并且我们提出了在合作繁殖鱼类的捕食风险评估中使用社会信息的一种可能作用。
