The Experts below are selected from a list of 3258 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jerome Casas - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Background colour matching by a crab spider in the field: a community Sensory Ecology perspective
Journal of Experimental Biology, 2010Co-Authors: Jérémy Defrize, Marc Théry, Jerome CasasAbstract:The question of whether a species matches the colour of its natural background in the perspective of the correct receiver is complex to address for several reasons; however, the answer to this question may provide invaluable support for functional interpretations of colour. In most cases, little is known about the identity and visual Sensory abilities of the correct receiver and the precise location at which interactions take place in the field, in particular for mimetic systems. In this study, we focused on Misumena vatia, a crab spider meeting the criteria for assessing crypsis better than many other models, and claimed to use colour changes for both aggressive and protective crypsis. We carried out a systematic field survey to quantitatively assess the exactness of background colour matching in M. vatia with respect to the visual system of many of its receivers within the community. We applied physiological models of bird, bee and blowfly colour vision, using flower and spider spectral reflectances measured with a spectroradiometer. We observed that crypsis at long distance is systematically achieved, exclusively through achromatic contrast, in both bee and bird visions. At short distance, M. vatia is mostly chromatically detectable, whatever the substrate, for bees and birds. However, spiders can be either poorly discriminable or quite visible depending on the substrate for bees. Spiders are always chromatically undetectable for blowflies. We discuss the biological relevance of these results in both defensive and aggressive contexts of crypsis within a community Sensory perspective.
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variability in Sensory Ecology expanding the bridge between physiology and evolutionary biology
The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2009Co-Authors: Olivier Dangles, Duncan Irschick, Lars Chittka, Jerome CasasAbstract:ABSTRACT Sensory organs represent the interface between the central nervous system of organisms and the environment in which they live. To date, we still lack a true integration of ecological and evolutionary perspectives in our understanding of many Sensory systems. We argue that scientists working in Sensory Ecology should expand the bridge between Sensory and evolutionary biology, and, in working toward this goal, we advocate a combination of the experimental rigor of the Sensory physiologist with population-based as well as evolutionary views.
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textbook cricket goes to the field the ecological scene of the neuroethological play
The Journal of Experimental Biology, 2006Co-Authors: Olivier Dangles, Jerome Casas, Isabelle CoolenAbstract:Sensory Ecology has recently emerged as a new focus in the study of how organisms acquire and respond to information from and about their environment. Many Sensory scientists now routinely explore the physiological basis of sensing, such as vision, chemoreception or echolocation, in an ecological context. By contrast, research on one of the most performing sensors in the animal kingdom, the wind-sensitive escape system of crickets and cockroaches, has failed so far to encompass ecological and evolutionary considerations. We report survival and behavioural experiments in which wood crickets interacted freely with natural predators in the field. Our results illustrate how the lack of knowledge about the Ecology of these insects may entail our understanding of the biological relevance of their wind sensors. We found that predation pressure was most important on early stage crickets. Because laboratory studies have focused exclusively on adults' Sensory systems, it is crucial that physical, physiological and neurobiological studies now turn to juveniles. Another common assumption challenged by our results is the nature of the air flow to which crickets are sensitive. Our results identify wolf spiders as the major predatory risk for wood crickets. Air movement stimuli produced by hunting spiders are likely to be strikingly different from air flows produced by flying insects. Yet, our theoretical understanding of air motion sensing is currently drawn from oscillatory flows of flying predators only.
Patrizia Dettorre - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the evolution of queen pheromones in the ant genus lasius
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2013Co-Authors: Luke Holman, Patrizia Dettorre, Robert LanfearAbstract:Queen pheromones are among the most important chemical messages regulating insect societies yet they remain largely undiscovered, hindering research into interesting proximate and ultimate questions. Identifying queen pheromones in multiple species would give new insight into the selective pressures and evolutionary constraints acting on these ubiquitous signals. Here, we present experimental and comparative evidence that 3-methylalkanes, hydrocarbons present on the queen's cuticle, are a queen pheromone throughout the ant genus Lasius. Interspecific variation in the chemical profile is consistent with 3-methylalkanes evolving more slowly than other types of hydrocarbons, perhaps due to differential selection or evolutionary constraints. We argue that the Sensory Ecology of the worker response imposes strong stabilizing selection on queen pheromones relative to other hydrocarbons. 3-Methylalkanes are also strongly physiologically and genetically coupled with fecundity in at least one Lasius species, which may translate into evolutionary constraints. Our results highlight how honest signalling could minimize evolutionary conflict over reproduction, promoting the evolution and maintenance of eusociality.
T. Aran Mooney - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Sound detection by the American lobster (Homarus americanus).
The Journal of Experimental Biology, 2021Co-Authors: Youenn Jézéquel, Ian T. Jones, Julien Bonnel, Laurent Chauvaud, Jelle Atema, T. Aran MooneyAbstract:ABSTRACT Although many crustaceans produce sounds, their hearing abilities and mechanisms are poorly understood, leaving uncertainties regarding whether or how these animals use sound for acoustic communication. Marine invertebrates lack gas-filled organs required for sound pressure detection, but some of them are known to be sensitive to particle motion. Here, we examined whether the American lobster (Homarus americanus) could detect sound and subsequently sought to discern the auditory mechanisms. Acoustic stimuli responses were measured using auditory evoked potential (AEP) methods. Neurophysiological responses were obtained from the brain using tone pips between 80 and 250 Hz, with best sensitivity at 80–120 Hz. There were no significant differences between the auditory thresholds of males and females. Repeated controls (recordings from deceased lobsters, moving electrodes away from the brain and reducing seawater temperature) indicated the evoked potentials9 neuronal origin. In addition, AEP responses were similar before and after antennules (including statocysts) were ablated, demonstrating that the statocysts, a long-proposed auditory structure in crustaceans, are not the Sensory organs responsible for lobster sound detection. However, AEPs could be eliminated (or highly reduced) after immobilizing hairfans, which cover much of lobster bodies. These results suggest that these external cuticular hairs are likely to be responsible for sound detection, and imply that hearing is mechanistically possible in a wider array of invertebrates than previously considered. Because the lobsters9 hearing range encompasses the fundamental frequency of their buzzing sounds, it is likely that they use sound for intraspecific communication, broadening our understanding of the Sensory Ecology of this commercially vital species. The lobsters9 low-frequency acoustic sensitivity also underscores clear concerns about the potential impacts of anthropogenic noise.
Bjorn Martin Siemers - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the Sensory Ecology of foraging for animal prey
2012Co-Authors: Bjorn Martin SiemersAbstract:Many prosimians eat animal food, including arthropods and small vertebrates. This chapter explores the clues prosimians rely on to detect and identify animal prey, and their Sensory adaptations for predation. Available observational and experimental datasets suggest that acoustic and visual (especially motion) cues, as well as olfactory and tactile ones, to a lesser degree, play a role. Different Sensory channels are likely to operate in prey perception over different distances. It appears that acoustic cues first draw the animal’s attention to prey at a distance, while visual cues are used for precise localization at closer range, and olfactory cues operate at very close range to allow the animal to abandon attacks on unpalatable arthropods. Future work should address the role of Sensory Ecology in shaping prey selection and resource partitioning in prosimians.
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implications of Sensory Ecology for species coexistence biased perception links predator diversity to prey size distribution
Evolutionary Ecology, 2010Co-Authors: Kamran Safi, Bjorn Martin SiemersAbstract:Inherent to Sensory systems is a discrepancy between the perceived and the actual environment. We modelled prey perception in different species of echolocating bats and show that differences in Sensory systems can be important for shaping the niches of animals and for structuring animal communities. We argue that Sensory specialization can lower interspecific competition by making the same world appear different. We specifically raise the claim that it is important to consider the interaction of Sensory bias and the distribution of (prey) resource size. Using a modeling approach we assessed the potential contribution of Sensory bias for species coexistence for the example of bat echolocation. We show that even relatively small Sensory differences among coexisting species can translate into significant differences in access to food resources, if prey size distribution is skewed towards small prey. Specifically, for the prey size distribution occurring most frequently in nature, differences in Sensory access to resources seem large enough to relax competition and facilitate species coexistence. Interaction between Sensory bias and prey size distribution in a way that enhances species coexistence may be a general phenomenon not limited to bat echolocation.
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differences in Sensory Ecology contribute to resource partitioning in the bats myotis bechsteinii and myotis nattereri chiroptera vespertilionidae
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2006Co-Authors: Bjorn Martin Siemers, Susan M SwiftAbstract:Coexisting animal species frequently differ in resource use in at least one niche dimension and thus avoid competition. While a range of morphological differences that lead to differentiation in animals' mechanical access to food have been identified, the role of Sensory differences in within-guild niche differentiation has received less attention. We tested the hypothesis that differences in Sensory access to prey contribute to resource partitioning between potentially competing species using two sympatric, similar-sized, congeneric bat species as a model system. Nursery colonies of Natterer's bat (Myotis nattereri) and Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii) roost in bat boxes in the same orchard and forage in forests and orchards nearby. In observations and behavioural experiments with freshly captured M. bechsteinii, we showed that individuals are able to hunt using prey-generated sound alone. In contrast, M. nattereri rarely uses prey-generated sound, but instead is able to find prey by echolocation very close to vegetation. In accordance with these behavioural data, we showed that M. bechsteinii has significantly larger ears than M. nattereri, providing it with superior detection and localization abilities for relatively low-frequency prey rustling sounds. We hypothesized that these differences in Sensory Ecology of the two syntopic, congeneric species would contribute to resource partitioning, so that M. bechsteinii would find more noisy prey taxa, possibly hidden in vegetation, by listening for prey sounds, while M. nattereri would have better access to still prey using echolocation or associative learning. Analysis of faecal samples collected on the same nights from bat boxes occupied by each species corroborated this prediction. The diets of the two species differed significantly, reflecting their different prey perception techniques and thereby supporting the hypothesis that differences in Sensory Ecology contribute to niche differentiation.
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echolocation signals reflect niche differentiation in five sympatric congeneric bat species
Nature, 2004Co-Authors: Bjorn Martin Siemers, Hansulrich SchnitzlerAbstract:Echolocating bats can be divided into guilds according to their preferred habitat and foraging behaviour, which coincide with distinct adaptations in wing morphology and structure of echolocation signals. Although coarse structuring of niche space between different guilds is generally accepted, it is not clear how niches differ within guilds, or whether there is fine-grained niche differentiation reflected in echolocation signal structure. Using a standardized performance test, here we show clutter-dependent differences in prey-capture success for bats from five species of European Myotis. These species are morphologically similar, sympatric, and all belong to the guild labelled "edge space aerial/trawling foragers". We further demonstrate a strong correlation between the prey-detection ability of the species and the respective search-call bandwidth. Our findings indicate that differences in echolocation signals contribute to within-guild niche differentiation. This is the first study relating Sensory abilities of a set of potentially competing animal species to a direct measure of their respective foraging performance, suggesting an important role of Sensory Ecology in the structuring of animal communities.
Carlos Martel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Plant attractants: integrating insights from pollination and seed dispersal Ecology
Evolutionary Ecology, 2017Co-Authors: Kim Valenta, Omer Nevo, Carlos MartelAbstract:Reproduction in many angiosperms depends on attracting animals that provide pollination and seed dispersal services. Flowers and fleshy fruits present various features that can attract animal mutualists through visual, olfactory, acoustic, and tactile cues and signals, and some of these traits may result from selection exerted by pollinators and seed dispersers. Plant attractants can provide information regarding the presence, location, and quality of the reward. However, because of the different functional outcomes of pollination and seed dispersal, pollination systems are thought to be more highly specialized than seed dispersal systems. Despite these interesting parallels and contrasts, theoretical and empirical insights in the Sensory Ecology of pollination and seed dispersal are rarely considered together. Here, we review extant theory and data of Sensory attractants from both pollination and seed dispersal systems. We discuss theoretical and empirical similarities and differences between pollination and seed dispersal and offer suggestions for ways in which insights from each field may benefit the other in future.
