Behavior and Ethology Commons^™

Life History Patterns And The Comparative Social Ecology Of Carnivores, Marc Bekoff, Thomas J. Daniels, John L. Gittleman

Ethology Collection

No abstract provided.

Determinants Of Variation In Avian Mobbing Behavior, Charles Ray Chandler Jr.

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Using three combinations of two experimental stimuli, I initiated mobbing behavior in various species of birds. The objectives of this research were to test the effects of stimuli on mobbing, the predictions of the hypothesis that mobbing functions to drive a predator away, and the effect of other species and individuals on the mobbing behavior of a bird. Mobbing experiments were conducted in a variety of habitats and locations from January 1983 through February 1984.

Only 6.5% of all trials with the mount-only stimulus were successful in attracting birds. Tape-only and mount-and-tape stimuli were equally effective in attracting birds, but …

The Role Of Colonization Predation And Season In Determining Macroinvertebrate Community Structure In A Temperate Lake, Cheryl Lynn Frew

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Field experiments were conducted to examine the effects of distance from shore, vertebrate predation, and season on macroinvertebrate colonization dynamics in a temperate lake in Suffolk, VA. In a year-long colonization study, artificial plants, half of which were caged to exclude vertebrate predators, were deployed in patches at three distances from shore (2m, 15m, 50m). Artificial plant subsamples were removed at weekly intervals over 28 days during four seasons to monitor colonization by macroinvertebrates. Colonization of artificial plants occurred more quickly in the summer and spring than in fall and winter. The interactive effect of distance from shore and cage …

Life History Aspects Of Reithrodontomys Humulis In Southeastern Virginia, Michelle Cawthorn Chandler

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Reithrodontomys humulis, the eastern harvest mouse, is a small cricetid rodent which is common in old field communities in the eastern U.S. A live-trapping study was conducted in Suffolk, Virginia from March 1983 through February 1984 in order to learn the details of its life history and the vegetational characteristics which best describe its microhabitat. Specifically, population densities, trap-revealed survival times, home ranges, plant species composition of the study area, and vegetational structure were examined. In order to trap as many Reithrodontomys as possible, special traps which excluded animals weighing over 20 g were constructed. Densities of harvest mice …

Social Play Behavior, Marc Bekoff

Ethology Collection

Recent studies clearly indicate that animal play is an important behavioral phenotype, and that detailed analyses of the phenomenon are useful for furthering our understanding of the evolution of social behavior and the interaction of phylogeny, ecology, and behavioral development. This article is concerned mainly with evolutionary, ecological, and developmental aspects of social play behavior in mammals.

Limitations On Spatial Memory In Mice, Robert H.I. Dale, Martin Bedard

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Rats have an impressive ability to remember locations they have visited. Two experiments used an eight-arm radial maze to determine whether mice showed two important characteristics of this spatial memory: its durability, and its dependence on stimuli outside the maze (extreme stimuli). In Experiment 1, food-deprived mice were allowed to eat from four of the eight arms of the maze then, after delays of 5 sec, 1 min, or 5 min, they were permitted to choose the remaining arms. Choice accuracy declined significantly with the longer delays, but always remained above chance. In Experiment 2, the maze was rotated 180° …

Social Transmission Of Behavioural Traditions In A Coral Reef Fish, Gene Helfman, Eric T. Schultz

EEB Articles

Traditional behaviours involve the non-genetic transmission of social information across age classes or generations. French grunts (Haemulon flavolineatum) exhibit social traditions of daytime schooling sites and twilight migration routes. Individuals transplanted to new schooling sites and allowed to follow residents at the new sites used the new migration routes and returned to the new sites in the absence of resident fish. Control fish with no opportunity to learn showed no such directionality or return. This is the first demonstration of apparent pre-cultural behaviour in free-living fish. Our observations suggest additional classes of behaviour and taxonomic groups in which …

A Closer Look At Parrots As Pests, John L. Long

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Small parrots have been attacking fruit and grain crops in the south of Western Australia at least since agriculture expanded into their native habitats in the early 1900s. The parrots are capable of quickly adapting to new situations so it is not surprising that they have eaten crops.

It is not known whether parrot numbers have increased since European settlement began, but this appears likely. The present landscape of islands of uncleared country interspersed with areas of agriculture appears to favour the survival of the red-capped parrot, western rosella and the Port Lincoln parrot. These species were investigated during a …

The Secretive Silvereyes, I J. Rooke

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Durinf the past five years the agricultural Protection Board, in co-operation with scientists from CSIRO's Division of Wildlife Research and the University of Western Australia, had studied the biology and control of the silvereye in the South-West of Western Asustralia. The project was partially funded by a voluntary levy on vignerons in the Margaret River and Mt Barker areas.

The first part of the study investigated the bird's bioloogy - its food requirements, reproductive rate, how it interacted with other birds and its seasonal movements, It was hoped that this knowledge would help develop effective techniques for either controlling the …

Dingoes And Sheep In Pastoral Areas, P C. Thomson

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Since 1975, a long-term study of dingoes in the Fortescue River area of northern Western Australia has sought to provide the detailed information necessary to devise efficient dingo management strategies.

Dingoes have been fitted with radio-transmitter collars, then tracked and observed from a specially equipped aircraft. Their movements, breeding, hunting and social behaviour have been monitered in the rugged, spinifex-covered ironstone terrain which represents typicaldingo refuge country, and in neighbouring sheep country.

Although the pastoral and agricultural industry have long recognised the need to control dingoes to protect livestock, particularily sheep, there is little published evidence about the type of …

Aquatic Feeding By Moose: Selection Of Plant Species And Feeding Areas In Relation To Plant Chemical Composition And Characteristics Of Lakes, D. Fraser, E R. Chavez, J. E. Paleheimo

Feeding Behavior Collection

Aquatic feeding by moose was studied with emphasis on (i) the chemical composition of aquatic plants compared with terrestrial browse, (ii) the chemical composition of preferred and unpreferred aquatic plant species and (iii) characteristics of preferred feeding areas. Compared with woody browse, aquatic plants had much higher levels of sodium and iron, and similar levels of other nutrients tested. In a "cafeteria" selection experiment, moose consistently ate seven species of aquatic plants (preferred plants), consistently rejected five species (unpreferred plants), and gave an intermediate response to seven species. Preferred species had significantly higher sodium content. Those in the intermediate class …

Resources And The Evolution Of Social Behavior, Con Slobodchikoff

Social Behavior Collection

No abstract provided.

Simulation Analyses Of Space Use: Home Range Estimates, Variability, And Sample Size, Marc Bekoff, L. David Mech

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Simulations of space use by animals were run to determine the relationship among home range area estimates, variability, and sample size (number of locations). As sample size increased, home range size increased asymptotically, whereas variability decreased among mean home range area estimates generated by multiple simulations for the same sample size. Our results suggest that field workers should ascertain between 100 and 200 locations in order to estimate reliably home range area. In some cases, this suggested guideline is higher than values found in the few published studies in which the relationship between home range area and number of locations …

The Origins Of Empathy And Altruism, Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, Barbara Hollenbeck, Marian Radke-Yarrow

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

We will describe theories and research that try to explain the development, especially in children, of sensitivity to the needs of others. Are children born with empathy? Is it instinctive or learned? What kinds of changes do humane feelings and behaviors undergo as children develop? How do the environments in which children are reared determine whether they will be more or less likely to show concern and to assume responsibility for the welfare of others? We have examined these issues in a series of studies of (a) the early origins of emotional concern (empathy) and (b) the translation of concerned …

Discrimination And Generalization Of Leaf Damage By Blue Jays (Cyanocitta Cristata), Pamela G. Real, Ruth Iannazzi, Alan C. Kamil, Bernd Heinrich

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

Blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) responded to projected black-and-white silhouettes of cherry leaves that were either undamaged or were damaged by either cryptic caterpillars that disguise leaf damage due to their feeding or by noncryptic caterpillars that do not disguise leaf damage due to their feeding. Pecks to the key on which the images were projected were reinforced only if interresponse times fell within specified temporal boundaries. These boundaries were different in the presence of the two types of leaf damage. Following training with one exemplar of each damage type, the jays correctly categorized novel instances of both types. …

Dummy-Elicited Aggressive Behavior In The Polychromatic Midas Cichlid, George W. Barlow, William Rogers, Alan B. Bond

Alan Bond Publications

Aggressive responses of 12 individuals of the polychromatic Midas cichlid Cichlasoma citrinellum were tested with five different sizes of neutrally colored (spot pattern) life-like dummies. The dummies were presented daily over six days, for one minute apiece, in a balanced design. Color (gold or normal morph) and sex of the subjects were varied independently. The attacks and threats at the dummies were positively correlated in their occurrence so they were combined to yield an aggregate measure of aggression. Attacks on blinded juveniles, five minutes before and five minutes after viewing a dummy, were analyzed to test for the occurrence of …

Operant Conditioning In The Psittacine, Amazona Amazonica, Gloria J. Nadolski

Masters Theses

Two Orange-winged Amazon Parrots, (Amazona amazonica) were subjected to operant conditioning involving three tests: two-choice spatial discrimination and reversal, three-choice color discrimination and reversal, and the oddity principle. Results of the habit reversal tests were compared to those of Gossett (1968) to determine the phylogenetic ranking of the learning capabilities of psittacines. In the first two habit reversal tests, the subjects completed twenty reversals using sunflower seeds as positive reinforcements. In the oddity principle test, the parrots completed the equivalent of 20 reversals, again using sunflower seeds. Criterion was met when they completed 8 consecutive correct choices with …

Seasonal Lekking Behavior Of The Greater Prairie-Chicken In Illinois, Scott A. Simpson

Masters Theses

Spring behavior of prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) has been studied extensively, however there is little information on fall-winter lekking activity. Greater prairie-chickens were observed weekly on a lek from 25 September 1982 to 23 June 1983 during morning and evening hours in Jasper County, Illinois. The peak number of prairie-chicken males on the lek occurred in February although hen attendance did not occur until 10 March 1983. All spring lekking activities were higher compared to that of the fall-winter period. Fall-winter lek activity was aggression which centered on probably brief, less intense male aggression which probably establishes or maintains …

Research Objectives In Vertebrate Pest Control, A J. Oliver

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The European rabbit, introduced into Australia in 856 by an early settler for hunting, caused massive losses to agricultural production in Western Australia in 1940s and 1950s.

In those years most of the country's recources and efforts allocated to vertebrate pest problems were aimed at controlling this animal.

Research and control measures by Commonwealth and State agencies, including the introduction of myxomatosis, were largely responsible for reducing the rabbit problem to the comparatively minor one it is now.

Today, the Agricultural Protection Board is involved in the control of a much wider range of mammals and birds which cause losses …

Preventing Vineyard Damage By Silvereyes, I J. Rooke

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In the previous article, Dr I Rooke outlined the studies which helped to devise practical ways of controlling attacks by silvereyes on vineyards in the South-West of Western Australia. The preventative methods vignerons can use are discussed here.

Keeping Starlings Out Of W.A, John L. Long

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In Europe and North America huge flocks of starlings cause millions of dollars worth of damage to grain and fruit crops each year and large sums of money are spent trying to control them.

Starlings were introduced into australia in the late 1890s when more than 200 birds were released near Melbourne. They are now well established over much of eastern Australia, ranging from central Queensland, south to Tasmania and along the Great Australian Bight to the South Australian-Western Australian border, occasionally crossing it and sometimes moving as far west as the Esperance region on the south coast.

Some people …

Operant Conditioning In The Water Snake (Nerodia Sipedon), Angela R. Deitz

Masters Theses

Six subjects of Nerodia sipedon were tested for runway acquisition. Five of six subjects met criterion for runway learning, demonstrating a significant decrease over the 25 day testing period in mean latency and running times. Four subjects completed 170 trials in a T-maze to test two-choice discrimination and reversal learning. All subjects met criterion for the initial discrimination and one reversal while two subjects completed four reversals and one subject met criterion for six reversals. Results are similar or superior to those previously reported for reptiles and other non-human vertebrates.

Avoidance Learning And Memory In Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) Fed Bufo Tadpoles, Randy John Gawlik

Masters Theses

Tadpoles of the American toad (Bufo americanus) have been shown to be distasteful to largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) predators who learn, on the short term, to avoid them. How long bass retain this learned avoidance of Bufo larvae is unknown so an experimental design was constructed in an attempt to answer this question.

Largemouth bass were divided into four treatment groups. Two groups were initially fed exclusively larvae of Bufo americanus (one group was fed large tadpoles, the other group fed small larvae). Similarily, the other two groups were initially fed spring peeper (Hyla crucifer …