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Articles 1 - 30 of 36
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Two Modal Action Patterns With A Continuous Temporal Distribution, Alan B. Bond, George W. Barlow, William Rogers
Two Modal Action Patterns With A Continuous Temporal Distribution, Alan B. Bond, George W. Barlow, William Rogers
Alan B. Bond
Most methods of quantitative analysis of animal behavior assume that action patterns can be unambiguously classified into discrete, exclusive categories. This is not invariably the case. The digging behavior of the Midas cichlid (Cichlasoma citrinellum), for example, exhibits two functionally distinct modalities, scoop and pi&, that intergrade continuously in form but are separable probabilistically. We present a technique for analyzing such behaviors that provides a reliable basis for formulating and verifying categories and allows a quantitative assessment of functional dissimilarity. Die meisten Methoden quantitativer Verhaltensanalysen setzen eindeutige Klassifizierung der Verhaltensweisen in sich wechselseitig ausschlieißende Kategorien voraus. Die sind aber nicht …
Searching Image In Blue Jays: Facilitation And Interference In Sequential Priming, Alan B. Bond, Alan C. Kamil
Searching Image In Blue Jays: Facilitation And Interference In Sequential Priming, Alan B. Bond, Alan C. Kamil
Alan B. Bond
Repeated exposure to a single target type (sequential priming) during visual search for multiple cryptic targets commonly improves performance on subsequent presentations of that target. It appears to be an attentional phenomenon, a component of the searching image effect. It has been argued, however, that if searching image is an attentional process, sequential priming should also interfere with performance on subsequent nonprimed targets, and such interference has never been unequivocally demonstrated. In blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) searching in an operant apparatus for targets derived from images of cryptic moths, detection performance was strongly facilitated in the course of a sequential …
The Transmission Of Learned Behavior: An Observational Study Of Father-Child Interactions During Fishing, Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond
The Transmission Of Learned Behavior: An Observational Study Of Father-Child Interactions During Fishing, Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
Mechanisms of transmission of learned behavior were described in terms of the behavioral interactions between fathers and their children as they fished from a pier on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Verbal and nonverbal behaviors were analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis and the patterns of association in the behavioral repertoire were described in detail. Groupings of associated behaviors ranged from clusters suggestive of modeling or simple showing to complex combinations of behaviors involved in teaching. There were indications that the transmission behaviors varied with the content of the transmitted information and the role of the performer. Role differentiation in the transmission behaviors …
Toward A Resolution Of The Paradox Of Aggressive Displays: I. Optimal Deceit In The Communication Of Fighting Ability, Alan Bond
Alan B. Bond
One inference from game theory models of animal conflict is that adversaries should not inform one another about concealed components of their fighting ability. This poses a paradox for the customary ethological account of aggressive displays in that it is usually assumed that the primary function of such behavior is to make such information available. To resolve the paradox, I propose that the information in aggressive displays may not be strictly truthful, but may instead represent "optimal deceit," a balance between the advantages of deceit or bluffing and the disadvantages of selecting for skepticism in the receiver. Numerical simulation of …
Population Estimates Of Kea In Arthur's Pass National Park, Alan B. Bond, Judy Diamond
Population Estimates Of Kea In Arthur's Pass National Park, Alan B. Bond, Judy Diamond
Alan B. Bond
The population dynamics of a local group of Kea (Nestor notabilis) was studied at a refuse dump in Arthur's Pass National Park over the course of three successive summers. The mean number of buds that foraged at the dump during the summer was estimated as 20 juveniles, 10 subadults, and 36 adults. An average of 11% of these birds were females. The number of adults was quite stable across years. The total population of Kea in this area was estimated to be between 88 and 119, or in the order of 0.018 to 0.040 buds per hectare. Mortality did not …
Food Deprivation And The Regulation Of Meal Size In Larvae Of Chrysopa Carnea, Alan B. Bond
Food Deprivation And The Regulation Of Meal Size In Larvae Of Chrysopa Carnea, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
The course of repletion and the effects of food deprivation on meal size were explored in three experiments on larvae of Chrysopa carnea (Neuroptera). Feeding to repletion was found to occur within the first 30 min of exposure to food. Meal size increased as an ogival function of deprivation, up to the limit of gut capacity. Behavioral components involved in the initiation of feeding were little affected by deprivation and did not appear to be inhibited by distention of the gut. Termination of a meal may be mediated by the stimulation of prey-release behavior, rather than by inhibition of feeding.
Apostatic Selection By Blue Jays Produces Balanced Polymorphism In Virtual Prey, Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil
Apostatic Selection By Blue Jays Produces Balanced Polymorphism In Virtual Prey, Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil
Alan B. Bond
Apostatic selection, in which predators overlook rare prey types while consuming an excess of abundant ones, has been assumed to contribute to the maintenance of prey polymorphisms. Such an effect requires predators to respond to changes in the relative abundance of prey, switching to alternatives when a focal prey type becomes less common. Apostatic selection has often been investigated using fixed relative proportions of prey, but its effects on predator–prey dynamics have been difficult to demonstrate. Here we report results from a new technique that incorporates computer-generated displays into an established experimental system, that of blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) hunting …
Social Play In Kaka (Nestor Meridionalis) With Comparisons To Kea (Nestor Notabilis), Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond
Social Play In Kaka (Nestor Meridionalis) With Comparisons To Kea (Nestor Notabilis), Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
Social play in the kaka (Nestor meridionalis), a New Zealand parrot, is described and contrasted with that of its closest relative, the kea (Nestor notabilis), in one of the first comparative studies of social play in closely related birds. Most play action patterns were clearly homologous in these two species, though some contrasts in the form of specific play behaviors, such as kicking or biting, could be attributed to morphological differences. Social play in kakas is briefer, more predictable, and less sequentially diverse than that shown by keas. Kaka play also appears to be restricted to fledglings and juveniles, while …
The Geometry Of Foraging Patterns: Components Of Thoroughness In Random Searching, Alan B. Bond
The Geometry Of Foraging Patterns: Components Of Thoroughness In Random Searching, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
A Monte Carlo simulation of the movements of a randomly-searching predator was used to develop a novel geometrical measure, the "thoroughness" of the search, and to investigate the effects of meander, turn asymmetry, and path length. Thoroughness varied directly with the meander and the square of the asymmetry measure and remained relatively invariant with path length. The regularity of its relationship to the generating parameters of the search and the ease with which it may be estimated from field data recommend thoroughness for use in characterizing empirical search patterns and in testing for the occurrence of systematic searching.
Sexual Dimorphism In The Kea Nestor Notabilis, Alan B. Bond, Kerry-Jayne Wilson, Judy Diamond
Sexual Dimorphism In The Kea Nestor Notabilis, Alan B. Bond, Kerry-Jayne Wilson, Judy Diamond
Alan B. Bond
Morphological differences between the sexes in Keas Nestor notabilis were quantified from a sample of 86 sexed museum specimens, nine sexed zoo captives and 129 live, wild-caught birds. The results demonstrate that Kea are sexually dimorphic. Males are about 5% larger than females in linear measurements of body size and their upper bills are on average 12-14% longer, with a slightly larger radius of curvature. The dimorphism in bill size was statistically independent of the difference in overall body size, suggesting the possibility of intersexual differences in niche utilisation. Culmen length appears to be a useful means for distinguishing sexes …
Selective Attention, Priming, And Foraging Behavior, Alan Kamil, Alan B. Bond
Selective Attention, Priming, And Foraging Behavior, Alan Kamil, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
Animals selectively filter and transform their sensory input, increasing the accuracy with which some stimuli are detected and effectively ignoring others. This filtering process, collectively referred to as “selective attention,” takes place at a variety of different levels in the nervous system. It was described in considerable detail by William James over a century ago (James, 1890/1950) and has been a principal focus of research in cognitive psychology for nearly 50 years (Parasuraman & Davies, 1984; Pashler, 1998; Richards, 1998). Investigations of selective attention have also been central to the study of animal cognition, where the process of attention has …
Lasting Responsiveness Of A Kea (Nestor Notabilis) Toward Its Mirror Image, Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond
Lasting Responsiveness Of A Kea (Nestor Notabilis) Toward Its Mirror Image, Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
At the San Diego Zoo we had the opportunity of observing the behaviour of a Kea Nestor notabilis toward its mirror image under conditions of constant exposure over a period of 12 months. ... The introduction of the mirrors appears to have had a striking impact on the bird's listless state. Reports from keepers indicated that the Kea's appetite was restored after the introduction of the mirrors, and the animal was generally more active. Incidents of feather pulling were generally reduced in frequency.
Geographic And Ontogenetic Variation In The Contact Calls Of The Kea, Alan B. Bond, Judy Diamond
Geographic And Ontogenetic Variation In The Contact Calls Of The Kea, Alan B. Bond, Judy Diamond
Alan B. Bond
Regional and ontogenetic variation in the contact calls of the kea (Nestor notabilis), an omnivorous and socially complex New Zealand parrot, were examined throughout the range of the species. We recorded samples of kee-ah contact calls from sixteen resident adults and eleven juveniles and demonstrated significant differences between age classes in the acoustic form of the vocalization. Canonical correlation analysis revealed a gradient in the form of the kee-ah call in both adults and juveniles along and across the escarpment of the Southern Alps, the primary longitudinal mountain range on the South Island of New Zealand. Although the juvenile call …
The Evolution Of Virtual Ecology, Alan Kamil, Alan B. Bond
The Evolution Of Virtual Ecology, Alan Kamil, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
The relationship between the perceptual and cognitive abilities of predatory birds and the appearance of their insect prey has long been of intense interest to evolutionary biologists. One classic example is crypsis, the correspondence between the appearance of prey species and of the substrates on which they rest which has long been considered a prime illustration of effects of natural selection, in this case operating against individuals that were more readily detected by predators (Poulton 1890; Wallace 1891). But the influences of predator psychology are broader, more complex, and more subtle than just pattern matching. Many cryptic prey, including the …
Searching Image In The Pigeon: A Test Of Three Hypothetical Mechanisms, Alan B. Bond, Donald A. Riley
Searching Image In The Pigeon: A Test Of Three Hypothetical Mechanisms, Alan B. Bond, Donald A. Riley
Alan B. Bond
The searching image hypothesis was originally proposed to account for the observation that animals selecting among disparate foods often consume an excess of the more common types. The hypothesis states that animals searching for a particular cryptic food item focus on visual features that are characteristic of that item, thereby facilitating its discrimination from the background. A change in stimulus discriminability is not, however, the only feasible explanation for the effect. One alternative is a simple change in response bias, an increased predisposition to respond to food-related stimuli. Another possible hypothesis derives from the fact that the amount of time …
A Comparative Analysis Of Social Play In Birds, Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond
A Comparative Analysis Of Social Play In Birds, Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
Although social play is broadly distributed among mammals, it is infrequently encountered in other vertebrate taxa. It is, however, displayed in a fully realized and complex form in several groups of birds. Unambiguous accounts of social play have been recorded from thirteen species of parrots, seven species of corvids, and several hornbills and Eurasian babblers. We conducted an analysis of the avian play literature, testing for differences between avian taxa, as well as for correlations between play complexity, brain size, and age of first reproduction. Corvids were far more likely to show social object play than parrots. Corvids, parrots, and …
Visual Search For Natural Grains In Pigeons (Columba Livia) : Search Images And Selective Attention, Cynthia M. Langley, Donald A. Riley, Alan B. Bond, Namni Goel
Visual Search For Natural Grains In Pigeons (Columba Livia) : Search Images And Selective Attention, Cynthia M. Langley, Donald A. Riley, Alan B. Bond, Namni Goel
Alan B. Bond
The experiments reported here were designed to test the suggestion of many researchers that selective attention to visual features of a prey can account for search-image effects. In 3 experiments pigeons ate wheat and vetch grains presented on multicolored and gray gravel trays. In Experiment 1 search-image effects were evident when grains were cryptic but not when they were conspicuous. Experiment 2 demonstrated that search images can be activated when the grains encountered are either cryptic or conspicuous but that search images affect search performance only when the grains are cryptic. Experiment 3 demonstrated that search images are short-term in …
Spatial Memory And The Performance Of Rats And Pigeons In The Radial-Arm Maze, Alan Bond, Robert Cook, Marvin Lamb
Spatial Memory And The Performance Of Rats And Pigeons In The Radial-Arm Maze, Alan Bond, Robert Cook, Marvin Lamb
Alan B. Bond
The resource-distribution hypothesis states that the ability of an animal to remember the spatial location of past events is related to the typical distribution of food resources for the species. It appears to predict that Norway rats would perform better than domestic pigeons in tasks requiring spatial event memory. Pigeons, tested in an eight-arm radial maze, exhibited no more than half of the memory capacity observed in rats in the same apparatus and may not have used spatial memory at all. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis.
Visual Search And Selection Of Natural Stimuli In The Pigeon: The Attention Threshold Hypothesis, Alan Bond
Visual Search And Selection Of Natural Stimuli In The Pigeon: The Attention Threshold Hypothesis, Alan Bond
Alan B. Bond
During visual search for samples of varying proportions of familiar, natural food grains displayed against a complex gravel background, pigeons exhibited “matching selection,” a tendency to overselect the more common grain. The matching selection effect was decreased at low levels of stimulus/background contrast and reversed when the grains were highly conspicuous. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that stimulus detectability should be enhanced by recent experience with a particular grain type, but they showed no convincing indications of a corresponding effect on the response criterion. An explanatory model, termed the attention threshold hypothesis, argues that the mean latency of …
Social Behavior And The Ontogeny Of Foraging In The Kea (Nestor Notabilis), Judy Diamond, Alan Bond
Social Behavior And The Ontogeny Of Foraging In The Kea (Nestor Notabilis), Judy Diamond, Alan Bond
Alan B. Bond
Kea are omnivorous parrots endemic to the high mountains of the South Island of New Zealand. Over a two-year period, we recorded quantitative behavioral data from 38 banded male kea foraging at a refuse dump outside Arthur's Pass National Park and analyzed the effects of social factors on the ontogeny of foraging. Members of the four distinguishable age classes — fledglings, juveniles, subadults, and adults — displayed characteristic differences in foraging ability and in the social behavior used to obtain access to resources. Adults performed most of the excavation that uncovered new food resources. Fledglings explored and manipulated objects almost …
Spatial Heterogeneity, Predator Cognition, And The Evolution Of Color Polymorphism In Virtual Prey, Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil
Spatial Heterogeneity, Predator Cognition, And The Evolution Of Color Polymorphism In Virtual Prey, Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil
Alan B. Bond
Cryptically colored prey species are often polymorphic, occurring in multiple distinctive pattern variants. Visual predators promote such phenotypic variation through apostatic selection, in which they attack more abundant prey types disproportionately often. In heterogeneous environments, disruptive selection to match the coloration of disparate habitat patches could also produce polymorphism, but how apostatic and disruptive selection interact in these circumstances is unknown. Here we report the first controlled selection experiment on the evolution of prey coloration on heterogeneous backgrounds, in which blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) searched for digital moths on mixtures of dark and light patches at three different scales of …
The Foraging Behavior Of Lacewing Larvae On Vertical Rods, Alan B. Bond
The Foraging Behavior Of Lacewing Larvae On Vertical Rods, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
The foraging behavior of lacewing larvae (Chrysopa carnea Stephens, Chrysopidae, Neuroptera) on vertical lucite rods was observed under a variety of experimental conditions to investigate the decision processes responsible for the distribution of foraging effort. Food deprivation increased the duration of searching on all parts of the rod, whereas contact with prey at the rod tip induced only a local enhancement of searching activity. Searching at the rod tip did not decline with repeated trials on the same rod, but the duration of searching on the rest of the rod was reduced, evidently reflecting recognition and avoidance of previously-searched …
Giving-Up As A Poisson Process: The Departure Decision Of The Green Lacewing, Alan B. Bond
Giving-Up As A Poisson Process: The Departure Decision Of The Green Lacewing, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
Predators that forage for aggregated prey appear to require a decision rule for determining the point at which to discontinue their search in a given prey patch and move on to another. Although the optimum rule depends heavily on features of the searching behavior of the predator and the distribution of the prey (Oaten 1977), most previous authors have assumed that the decision must involve an assessment of the capture rate within a patch and a comparison with the mean capture rate in the environment as a whole (Krebs 1978). When the perceived quality of the given patch becomes significantly …
Aggressive Motivation In The Midas Cichlid: Evidence For Behavioral Efference, Alan B. Bond
Aggressive Motivation In The Midas Cichlid: Evidence For Behavioral Efference, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
Behavioral Efference is a hypothetical positive feedback from the performance of an aggressive display that augments the level of aggressive motivation. The hypothesis was proposed (Bond, 1989) to account for the occurrence of truthful communication during aggressive encounters, even in the face of a presumed selective pressure in favor of deceit (Maynard Smith, 1984). Evidence of Behavioral Efference was sought in an experimental study of adult Midas cichlids Cichlasoma citrinellum, in which subjects responded aggressively to varying sizes of dummy fish. Before and after each aggression trial, the level of aggressive motivation was estimated from the intensity of the subject’s …
A Method For Estimating Marine Habitat Values Based On Fish Guilds, With Comparisons Between Sites In The Southern California Bight, Alan Bond, John Stephens, Daniel Pondella, James Allen, Mark Helvey
A Method For Estimating Marine Habitat Values Based On Fish Guilds, With Comparisons Between Sites In The Southern California Bight, Alan Bond, John Stephens, Daniel Pondella, James Allen, Mark Helvey
Alan B. Bond
Habitat valuation is an essential tool for tracking changes in habitat quality and in adjudicating environmental mitigation. All current methods for estimating habitat values of coastal marine sites rely heavily on the opinion of experts or on data variables that can readily be manipulated to influence the outcome. As a result, unbiased, quantitative comparisons between the values of different marine habitats are generally unavailable. We report here on a robust, objective technique for the valuation of marine habitats that makes use of data that are commonly gathered in surveys of marine fish populations: density, fidelity, and mean size. To insure …
The Bead Game: Response Strategies In Free Assortment, Alan Bond
The Bead Game: Response Strategies In Free Assortment, Alan Bond
Alan B. Bond
Subjects were presented with a collection of spherical beads of four different colors and were instructed to sort them as fast and as accurately as possible. The sequence in which the beads were sorted was recorded, along with the time intervals between successive beads. Subjects were observed to sort in nonrandom sequences, producing runs in which a given bead type was taken exclusively. The speed and accuracy of the sorting process was positively correlated with the degree of nonrandomness of the sorting sequence. This relationship appeared to be primarily attributable to perceptual factors involved in the initiation of a run …
Serial Reversal Learning And The Evolution Of Behavioral Flexibility In Three Species Of North American Corvids (Gymnorhinus Cyanocephalus, Nucifraga Columbiana, Aphelocoma Californica), Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil, Russell P. Balda
Serial Reversal Learning And The Evolution Of Behavioral Flexibility In Three Species Of North American Corvids (Gymnorhinus Cyanocephalus, Nucifraga Columbiana, Aphelocoma Californica), Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil, Russell P. Balda
Alan B. Bond
In serial reversal learning, subjects learn to respond differentially to 2 stimuli. When the task is fully acquired, reward contingencies are reversed, requiring the subject to relearn the altered associations. This alternation of acquisition and reversal can be repeated many times, and the ability of a species to adapt to this regimen has been considered as an indication of behavioral flexibility. Serial reversal learning of 2-choice discriminations was contrasted in 3 related species of North American corvids: pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), which are highly social; Clark’s nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana), which are relatively solitary but specialized for spatial memory; and western …
Social Play In Kakapo (Strigops Habroptilus) With Comparisons To Kea (Nestor Notabilis) And Kaka (Nestor Meridionalis), Judy Diamond, Daryl Eason, Clio Reid, Alan B. Bond
Social Play In Kakapo (Strigops Habroptilus) With Comparisons To Kea (Nestor Notabilis) And Kaka (Nestor Meridionalis), Judy Diamond, Daryl Eason, Clio Reid, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
The play behavior of the critically endangered kakapo (Strigops habroptilus; Aves: Psittaciformes: Psittacidae) is here compared to that of its closest relatives, the kea (Nestor notabilis) and the kaka (Nestor meridionalis). Contrasting kakapos, which are relatively solitary, with the more social Nestor parrots provides an attractive test of the relative contributions of phylogeny and sociality to the evolution of play. Overlapping cluster analysis of play sequences using a hypergeometric similarity metric indicated that kakapo play is generally less complex, lacking the intensity, duration, structure, and reciprocity of play in the Nestor parrots. Kakapos have a later age of first reproduction …
Optimal Foraging In A Uniform Habitat: The Search Mechanism Of The Green Lacewing, Alan B. Bond
Optimal Foraging In A Uniform Habitat: The Search Mechanism Of The Green Lacewing, Alan B. Bond
Alan B. Bond
The effects of food deprivation and prey contact on the components of searching behavior in larval green lacewings (Chrysopa carnea Stephens) were examined to test the applicability of optimal foraging theory to predation in a uniform habitat. Variation in foraging intensity was primarily the result of changes in the meander. Modulation of the response to prey contact with increasing deprivation involved changes in the velocity and the response persistence and suggested the occurrence of adaptation to inferred differences in the spatial distribution of the prey. The ratio of giving-up times at different levels of deprivation was in accordance with the …
Pinyon Jays Use Transitive Inference To Predict Social Dominance, Guillermo Paz-Y-Miño C, Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil, Russell P. Balda
Pinyon Jays Use Transitive Inference To Predict Social Dominance, Guillermo Paz-Y-Miño C, Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil, Russell P. Balda
Alan B. Bond
Living in large, stable social groups is often considered to favor the evolution of enhanced cognitive abilities, such as recognizing group members, tracking their social status and inferring relationships among them. An individual’s place in the social order can be learned through direct interactions with others, but conflicts can be time-consuming and even injurious. Because the number of possible pairwise interactions increases rapidly with group size, members of large social groups will benefit if they can make judgments about relationships on the basis of indirect evidence. Transitive reasoning should therefore be particularly important for social individuals, allowing assessment of relationships …