Communication amongst the musteloids: signs, signals, and cues

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina D. Buesching ◽  
Theodore Stankowich
Keyword(s):  
Social System ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Intentional Communication ◽  
Predator Cues ◽  
Resource Defence ◽  
Territorial Marking

Most intentional communication is intra-specific and benefits both sender and receiver. Typically, the more complex a species’ social system, the more complex is its communication. Because only ca. 10% of musteloid species are truly social, their communication is generally quite basic, while their solitary, nocturnal lifestyle is reflected in a predominance of olfactory signals. This chapter first discusses the properties of different signal modalities (visual, acoustic, olfactory and tactile), and then provides a review of musteloid communication in the context of signal functionality, starting with a section on defensive signals (warning-, alarm-, and distress signals), proceeding to other modes of inter-specific communication, such as eavesdropping on predator cues by smaller prey species (odours increasingly applied in conservation management), before moving on to more specialised intra-specific communication. It discusses resource defence and territorial marking, before concluding with a section on individual advertisement, including recognition of individuals and group-membership, and fitness advertisement.

Predator chemical cues affect prey feeding activity differently in juveniles and adults

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley R. Johnston ◽  
Markus Molis ◽  
Ricardo A. Scrosati
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Feeding Activity ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Ontogenetic Changes ◽  
Nucella Lapillus ◽  
Nonconsumptive Effects ◽  
Predator Cues ◽  
Predator Effects

Nonconsumptive predator effects on prey behaviour are common in nature, but the possible influence of prey life-history stage on such responses is poorly known. We investigated whether prey life-history stage may be a factor affecting prey feeding activity responses to predator chemical cues, for which we used dogwhelks ( Nucella lapillus (L., 1758)) and their main prey, barnacles ( Semibalanus balanoides (L., 1758)), as a model system. Barnacles use their modified legs (cirri) to filter food from the water column. Through a manipulative laboratory experiment, we tested the hypothesis that the presence of dogwhelks affects the frequency of leg swipes differently in juvenile and adult barnacles. Juveniles showed a similar feeding activity with and without nearby dogwhelks, but adults exhibited a significantly lower frequency of leg swipes when dogwhelks were present. Such an ontogenetic change in the response of barnacles to predatory cues might have evolved as a result of dogwhelks preferring adult barnacles over juvenile barnacles, as found previously. Alternatively, barnacles could learn to recognize predator cues as they age, as shown for other prey species. Overall, our study indicates that the nonconsumptive effects of predators on prey need to be fully understood under consideration of the possible ontogenetic changes in prey responses to predator cues.

scholarly journals The Triggering Track-Ways Theory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kim Shaw-Williams
Keyword(s):  
Prey Species ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Intentional Communication ◽  
Natural Signs ◽  
Scent Trails ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Social Markers

<p>In this thesis I present a new paradigm in human evolutionary theory: the relevance of track-ways reading (TWR) to the evolution of human cognition, culture and communication. Evidence is presented that strongly indicates hominins were exploiting conspecific track-ways 4 million years ago. For a non-olfactory ape that was a specialized forager in open, featureless wetland environments, they were the only viable natural signs to exploit for safety, orienteering, and recognizable social markers. Due to the unique cognitive demands of reading track-ways, as compared to scent-trails all other animals use to find each other and preferred prey species, social TWR triggered the evolution of a unique faculty for narrative elsewhere-and-when cognition in the hominin mind. Two million years later, this narrative faculty was entrenched enough to enable the rather sudden "explosion" of co-operative Oldowan Lithic Culture that began at 2.6mya. This cultural adaptation was a highly successful response to catastrophic environmental change. Thereafter selection for encephalization to increase neural capacity to store and co-operatively exploit socio-ecological knowledge gained from the hominin narrative faculty (via co-evolving, increasingly efficient modes of intentional communication) drove all further biological and cultural developments in the hominin trajectory towards H.sapiens and behavioural modernity.</p>

scholarly journals The Triggering Track-Ways Theory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kim Shaw-Williams
Keyword(s):  
Prey Species ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Intentional Communication ◽  
Natural Signs ◽  
Scent Trails ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Social Markers

<p>In this thesis I present a new paradigm in human evolutionary theory: the relevance of track-ways reading (TWR) to the evolution of human cognition, culture and communication. Evidence is presented that strongly indicates hominins were exploiting conspecific track-ways 4 million years ago. For a non-olfactory ape that was a specialized forager in open, featureless wetland environments, they were the only viable natural signs to exploit for safety, orienteering, and recognizable social markers. Due to the unique cognitive demands of reading track-ways, as compared to scent-trails all other animals use to find each other and preferred prey species, social TWR triggered the evolution of a unique faculty for narrative elsewhere-and-when cognition in the hominin mind. Two million years later, this narrative faculty was entrenched enough to enable the rather sudden "explosion" of co-operative Oldowan Lithic Culture that began at 2.6mya. This cultural adaptation was a highly successful response to catastrophic environmental change. Thereafter selection for encephalization to increase neural capacity to store and co-operatively exploit socio-ecological knowledge gained from the hominin narrative faculty (via co-evolving, increasingly efficient modes of intentional communication) drove all further biological and cultural developments in the hominin trajectory towards H.sapiens and behavioural modernity.</p>

scholarly journals Predator scent induces differing responses in two sympatric macropodids

2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ramp ◽  
Ben G. Russell ◽  
David B. Croft
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Predator Detection ◽  
Ecological Constraints ◽  
Predator Cues ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Aversive Response ◽  
Predator Odour

When prey species encounter the scent of a predator they must make a decision on how to respond. This may be either to ignore, flee, hide or alarm call. While many species are able to derive detailed information from the chemical cues associated with predator scent, for some the decision to respond is often made without being able to identify the actual location and intentions of the predator. Depending on the sociality and ecology of the species, it may pay to flee or to engage in predator inspection where knowledge is impure. We tested for this in two sympatric marsupial macropodids, the parma wallaby (Macropus parma) and the red-necked pademelon (Thylogale thetis), as little is known of how these species detect and respond to olfactory cues of predation risk. We observed that, when presented with a synthetic predator scent mimicking dog urine, the social forager, T. thetis, tended to spend more time close to the predator odour, while the solitary forager, M. parma, exhibited an aversive response. The results suggest that social and ecological constraints on the sensory modalities used in predator detection may influence how macropodids respond to olfactory predator cues.

Does the Name-Race Implicit Association Test Measure Racial Prejudice?

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don van Ravenzwaaij ◽  
Han L. J. van der Maas ◽  
Eric-Jan Wagenmakers
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Model ◽  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Racial Prejudice ◽  
Decision Time ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Model Decomposition ◽  
Test Measure

Research using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has shown that names labeled as Caucasian elicit more positive associations than names labeled as non-Caucasian. One interpretation of this result is that the IAT measures latent racial prejudice. An alternative explanation is that the result is due to differences in in-group/out-group membership. In this study, we conducted three different IATs: one with same-race Dutch names versus racially charged Moroccan names; one with same-race Dutch names versus racially neutral Finnish names; and one with Moroccan names versus Finnish names. Results showed equivalent effects for the Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Finnish IATs, but no effect for the Finnish-Moroccan IAT. This suggests that the name-race IAT-effect is not due to racial prejudice. A diffusion model decomposition indicated that the IAT-effects were caused by changes in speed of information accumulation, response conservativeness, and non-decision time.

The Social System of the Welfare Hotel

1980 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-162
Author(s):  
VERNON L. ALLEN
Keyword(s):  
Social System ◽  
The Social

Learning and the School's Social System

1981 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 614-615
Author(s):  
Wilbur B. Brookover
Keyword(s):  
Social System
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