Dataset Information

Acquired predator recognition via epidermal alarm cues but not dietary alarm cues by isolated pupfish.

ABSTRACT: We tested whether Shoshone pupfish Cyprinodon nevadensis shoshone and Amargosa River pupfish C. n. amargosae respond behaviourally to conspecific chemical alarm cues released when epidermal tissue is damaged by a predator. We found that both subspecies reduced activity and vertical position in the water column in response to alarm cues. We then tested if pupfish can use alarm cue to acquire recognition of a novel predator. We trained pupfish with (1) water + odour of largemouth bass fed a diet of earthworms, (2) alarm cues from skin extract (epidermal alarm cues) + odour of bass fed a diet of earthworms, or (3) water + odour of bass fed a diet of pupfish (dietary alarm cues). Pupfish responded to epidermal alarm cues but not to dietary alarm cues. Pupfish were retested with the odour of bass that were fed an earthworm diet. Pupfish that had previously received epidermal alarm cues reduced vertical position and activity relative to the other two treatments. This is the first demonstration of acquired recognition of a novel predator by a pupfish, the first report of partial predator naiveté, and opens the possibility of predator-recognition training as a tool for management and conservation of endangered desert fishes.

SUBMITTER: Wisenden BD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10498034 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Acquired predator recognition via epidermal alarm cues but not dietary alarm cues by isolated pupfish.

Wisenden Brian D BD Anderson Cody M CM Hanson Kathryn A KA Johnson Molly I M MIM Stockwell Craig A CA

Royal Society open science 20230913 9

We tested whether Shoshone pupfish <i>Cyprinodon nevadensis shoshone</i> and Amargosa River pupfish <i>C. n. amargosae</i> respond behaviourally to conspecific chemical alarm cues released when epidermal tissue is damaged by a predator. We found that both subspecies reduced activity and vertical position in the water column in response to alarm cues. We then tested if pupfish can use alarm cue to acquire recognition of a novel predator. We trained pupfish with (1) water + odour of largemouth bas ...[more]

PMID: 37711143

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Project description:AbstractPredator presentation experiments are widely used to investigate animal alarm vocalizations. They usually involve presentations of predator models or playbacks of predator calls, but it remains unclear whether the two paradigms provide similar results, a major limitation when investigating animal syntactic and semantic capacities. Here, we investigate whether visual and acoustic predator cues elicit different vocal reactions in black-fronted titi monkeys (Callicebus nigrifrons). We exposed six groups of wild titi monkeys to visual models or playbacks of vocalizations of raptor or felid. We characterized each group's vocal reactions using sequence parameters known to reliably encode predatory events in this species. We found that titi monkeys' vocal reactions varied with the predator species but also with the experimental paradigm: while vocal reactions to raptor vocalizations and models were similar, felid vocalizations elicited heterogeneous, different reactions from that given to felid models. We argue that subjects are not familiar with felid vocalizations, because of a lack of learning opportunities due to the silent behaviour of felids. We discuss the implication of these findings for the semantic capacities of titi monkeys. We finally recommend that playbacks of predator vocalizations should not be used in isolation but in combination with visual model presentations, to allow fine-grained analyses of the communication system of prey species.Significance statementIt is common to present prey species with predator models or predator calls to study their vocal reactions. The two paradigms are often used independently, but it remains unclear whether they provide similar results. Here, we studied the vocal reactions of titi monkeys to calls and models of raptors and felids. We show that titi monkeys seem to recognize the vocalizations of raptors but not those of felids. The study of the vocal reactions emitted when titi monkeys cannot clearly identify the threat allows us to draw accurate hypotheses about the meaning of titi monkeys' alarm utterances. We argue that playbacks of predator calls should be used in conjunction with model presentations, which can allow us to better investigate the information and the structure of the alarm systems.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-022-03250-1.

Dataset Information

Acquired predator recognition via epidermal alarm cues but not dietary alarm cues by isolated pupfish.

Publications

Acquired predator recognition via epidermal alarm cues but not dietary alarm cues by isolated pupfish.

Similar Datasets

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