Behavior and Ethology Commons^™

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 …

Assessment And Decision Making In Animals: A Mechanistic Model Underlying Behavioral Flexibility Can Prevent Ambiguity, Amos Bouskila, Daniel T. Blumstein

Amos Bouskila

Understanding how animals make decisions is a fundamental question in behavioral ecology which has cascading effects on how animals respond to environmental variation. An explicit model of the mechanisms of information processing and decision making can help prevent conflated definitions and ambiguous interpretations. Unambiguous definitions are crucial for clear communication between theoreticians and empiricists and for the rapid advancement of studies of decision making, Moreover, employing a clear model of underlying proximal processes will help bridge the gap between cognitive psychology and behavioral ecology and should aid scientific advancement. We present a simple model to guide studies of assessment and …

Concaveation And Maintenance Of Maternal Behavior In A Burrower Bug (Sehirus Cinctus): A Comparative Perspective, Scott Kight

Scott Kight