Am Nat. 2021 Sep;198(3):421-432. doi: 10.1086/715434. Epub 2021 Jul 12.
AbstractThe environment contains different forms of ecological noise that can reduce the ability of animals to detect information. Here, we ask whether animals adapt their behavior to either exploit or avoid areas of their environment with increased dynamic visual noise. Three-spined sticklebacks () were immersed in environments with a simulated form of naturally occurring visual noise-moving light bands that form on underwater substrates caused by the refraction of light through surface waves. We tested whether this form of visual noise affected fish's habitat selection, movements, and prey-targeting behavior. Fish avoided areas of the environment with increased visual noise and achieved this by increasing their activity as a function of the locally perceived noise level. Fish were less likely to respond to virtual prey in environments with increased visual noise, highlighting a potential impact that visual noise has on their perceptual abilities. Fish did not increase or decrease their refuge use in environments with increased visual noise, providing no evidence that visual noise increased either exploratory or risk-aversive behavior. Our results indicate that animals can use simple behavioral strategies to avoid visually noisy environments, thereby mitigating the impacts that these environments appear to have on their perceptual abilities.
摘要环境中存在着不同形式的生态噪声，这可能会降低动物察觉信息的能力。在这里，我们想知道动物是否会调整自身行为，以利用或避免环境中动态视觉噪声增加的区域。我们将三刺鱼（）浸入一种模拟的自然视觉噪声环境中，即水下基质上移动的光带，这是由光线通过表面波折射而产生的。我们测试了这种形式的视觉噪声是否会影响鱼类的栖息地选择、运动和猎食目标行为。鱼类会避开视觉噪声增加的区域，其方法是根据局部感知到的噪声水平增加自身的活跃度。鱼类在视觉噪声增加的环境中对虚拟猎物的反应性降低，这突出表明视觉噪声可能会对其感知能力产生影响。鱼类在视觉噪声增加的环境中没有增加或减少对庇护所的使用，这表明视觉噪声并没有增加探索或避险行为。我们的研究结果表明，动物可以利用简单的行为策略来避开视觉噪声环境，从而减轻这些环境对其感知能力的影响。
