Dataset Information

Current desires of conspecific observers affect cache-protection strategies in California scrub-jays and Eurasian jays.

ABSTRACT: Many corvid species accurately remember the locations where they have seen others cache food, allowing them to pilfer these caches efficiently once the cachers have left the scene [1]. To protect their caches, corvids employ a suite of different cache-protection strategies that limit the observers' visual or acoustic access to the cache site [2,3]. In cases where an observer's sensory access cannot be reduced it has been suggested that cachers might be able to minimise the risk of pilfering if they avoid caching food the observer is most motivated to pilfer [4]. In the wild, corvids have been reported to pilfer others' caches as soon as possible after the caching event [5], such that the cacher might benefit from adjusting its caching behaviour according to the observer's current desire. In the current study, observers pilfered according to their current desire: they preferentially pilfered food that they were not sated on. Cachers adjusted their caching behaviour accordingly: they protected their caches by selectively caching food that observers were not motivated to pilfer. The same cache-protection behaviour was found when cachers could not see on which food the observers were sated. Thus, the cachers' ability to respond to the observer's desire might have been driven by the observer's behaviour at the time of caching.

SUBMITTER: Ostojic L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5266788 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Current desires of conspecific observers affect cache-protection strategies in California scrub-jays and Eurasian jays.

Ostojić Ljerka L Legg Edward W EW Brecht Katharina F KF Lange Florian F Deininger Chantal C Mendl Michael M Clayton Nicola S NS

Current biology : CB 20170101 2

Many corvid species accurately remember the locations where they have seen others cache food, allowing them to pilfer these caches efficiently once the cachers have left the scene [1]. To protect their caches, corvids employ a suite of different cache-protection strategies that limit the observers' visual or acoustic access to the cache site [2,3]. In cases where an observer's sensory access cannot be reduced it has been suggested that cachers might be able to minimise the risk of pilfering if t ...[more]

PMID: 28118584

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Project description:Self-control underlies goal-directed behaviour in humans and other animals. Delayed gratification - a measure of self-control - requires the ability to tolerate delays and/or invest more effort to obtain a reward of higher value over one of lower value, such as food or mates. Social context, in particular, the presence of competitors, may influence delayed gratification. We adapted the 'rotating-tray' paradigm, where subjects need to forgo an immediate, lower-quality (i.e. less preferred) reward for a delayed, higher-quality (i.e. more preferred) one, to test social influences on delayed gratification in two corvid species: New Caledonian crows and Eurasian jays. We compared choices for immediate vs. delayed rewards while alone, in the presence of a competitive conspecific and in the presence of a non-competitive conspecific. We predicted that, given the increased risk of losing a reward with a competitor present, both species would similarly, flexibly alter their choices in the presence of a conspecific compared to when alone. We found that species differed: jays were more likely to select the immediate, less preferred reward than the crows. We also found that jays were more likely to select the immediate, less preferred reward when a competitor or non-competitor was present than when alone, or when a competitor was present compared to a non-competitor, while the crows selected the delayed, highly preferred reward irrespective of social presence. We discuss our findings in relation to species differences in socio-ecological factors related to adult sociality and food-caching (storing). New Caledonian crows are more socially tolerant and moderate cachers, while Eurasian jays are highly territorial and intense cachers that may have evolved under the social context of cache pilfering and cache protection strategies. Therefore, flexibility (or inflexibility) in delay of gratification under different social contexts may relate to the species' social tolerance and related risk of competition.

Project description:BackgroundHaldane's Rule, the tendency for the heterogametic sex to show reduced fertility in hybrid crosses, can obscure the signal of gene flow in mtDNA between species where females are heterogametic. Therefore, it is important when studying speciation and species limits in female-heterogametic species like birds to assess the signature of gene flow in the nuclear genome as well. We studied introgression of microsatellites and mtDNA across a secondary contact zone between coastal and interior lineages of Western Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma californica) to test for a signature of Haldane's Rule: a narrower cline of introgression in mtDNA compared to nuclear markers.ResultsOur initial phylogeographic analysis revealed that there is only one major area of contact between coastal and interior lineages and identified five genetic clusters with strong spatial structuring: Pacific Slope, Interior US, Edwards Plateau (Texas), Northern Mexico, and Southern Mexico. Consistent with predictions from Haldane's Rule, mtDNA showed a narrower cline than nuclear markers across a transect through the hybrid zone. This result is not being driven by female-biased dispersal because neutral diffusion analysis, which included estimates of sex-specific dispersal rates, also showed less diffusion of mtDNA. Lineage-specific plumage traits were associated with nuclear genetic profiles for individuals in the hybrid zone, indicating that these differences are under genetic control.ConclusionsThis study adds to a growing list of studies that support predictions of Haldane's Rule using cline analysis of multiple loci of differing inheritance modes, although alternate hypotheses like selection on different mtDNA types cannot be ruled out. That Haldane's Rule appears to be operating in this system suggests a measure of reproductive isolation between the Pacific Slope and interior lineages. Based on a variety of evidence from the phenotype, ecology, and genetics, we recommend elevating three lineages to species level: A. californica (Pacific Slope); A. woodhouseii (Interior US plus Edwards Plateau plus Northern Mexico); A. sumichrasti (Southern Mexico). The distinctive Edwards Plateau population in Texas, which was monophyletic in mtDNA except for one individual, should be studied in greater detail given habitat threat.

Dataset Information

Current desires of conspecific observers affect cache-protection strategies in California scrub-jays and Eurasian jays.

Publications

Current desires of conspecific observers affect cache-protection strategies in California scrub-jays and Eurasian jays.

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