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Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons

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SelectedWorks

1996

Chemical Ecology, Sensory Biology

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Bird Aversive Properties Of Methyl Anthranilate, Yucca, Xanthoxylum, And Their Mixtures, Larry Clark, Bruce Bryant, Igor Mezine Jan 1996

Bird Aversive Properties Of Methyl Anthranilate, Yucca, Xanthoxylum, And Their Mixtures, Larry Clark, Bruce Bryant, Igor Mezine

Larry Clark

We tested the bird aversive properties of methyl anthranilate, yucca extracts, and Xanthoxylum spp. extracts in one- and two-bottle drinking assays that used European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). In one- and two-bottle tests, methyl anthranilate proved to be the more potent stimulus in producing an avoidance response. Starlings avoided consuming Xanthoxylum and yucca only in the two-bottle tests. Previous studies showed that yucca was a good adjuvant in stabilizing lipophilic compounds in water. Starlings did not avoid binary mixtures of methyl anthranilate and yucca differently from what would be expected if they were only responding to the solution's methyl anthranilate content. …


Avoidance Of Cabbage Fields By Snow Geese, J. Russell Mason, Larry Clark Jan 1996

Avoidance Of Cabbage Fields By Snow Geese, J. Russell Mason, Larry Clark

Larry Clark

now Goose activity levels were significantly less in cabbage fields than in control fields. Although the data do not unambiguously address the issue of sulfur repellency, we believe that the activity difference is consistent with avoidance of the former and not preference for the latter. Sulfurous volatiles were readily apparent to us during our visits to cabbage fields throughout the study period. Similar odors were not detected in control fields. If sulfurous volatiles were important, then avoidance could reflect some characteristic of the cover crop (e.g., unpalatability acquired through the absorption and translocation of degra­ dation products) or it could …