Multisensory integration supports configural learning of a home refuge in the whip spider \u3ci\u3ePhrynus marginemaculatus\u3c/i\u3e

Predator diets represent a potential interaction between local prey availability, prey antipredator defenses, and predator foraging behavior. Female spider-specialist muddauber wasps (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) collect spiders and provision them intact, but paralyzed, to their developing larvae, providing a unique means of quantifying the diversity and abundance of prey that they capture. Mud-dauber wasps are hypothesized to be a major source of selection on antipredator defenses in web-building spiders, and the spiny and thickened abdomens of female spiny orb-weaving spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) are hypothesized to function as antiwasp defenses. We inventoried spider prey from nests of the mud-dauber wasps Sceliphron caementarium (Drury) and Chalybion californicum (Saussure), and surveyed for spider fauna in areas surrounding nest collection sites, to specifically investigate if the spiny orb-weaver Micrathena gracilis (Walckenaer) was collected as prey by these wasps. We collected nests from six sites in southeastern Nebraska from two regions that we classify based on habitat—a forest corridor and agricultural land. We collected 761 intact spider prey from 87 nests and identified them to the family level. None of these spiders were M. gracilis. Micrathena gracilis were rare in faunal surveys on agricultural land and, surprisingly, absent in forest corridor surveys. Mud-dauber wasps were more common; we collected more spiders on agricultural land than in the forest corridor. We propose that in agricultural landscapes, the lack of certain spiders in mud-dauber wasp nests is driven by habitat use differences between predators and prey rather than physical antipredator defenses

Sensitivity Analysis for Optimal Parameters for Marine Radar Data Processing

A bird and bat monitoring system has been developed that uses marine radar, IR camera and acoustic recorders for wind farm applications. IR video recording is used to monitor birds and bats activity which will be useful for wildlife biologists in developing mit igation techniques to minimize impact of wind turbines on birds and bats. The goal is to quantify birds and bats activity near wind turbines. Radar will provide z-coordinate (alt itude) and IR camera will provide (x, y) coordinates of birds/bats. Acous tic monitoring is used to identify birds and bats at their species level. This paper deals with the use of marine radar for determining altitudes, direction and quantity (passage rates) of birds/bats. Data from the marine radar is digitized and processed with open source radR software. Since the data is unknown tracking and quantification can be very challenging. This paper deals with the sensitivity analysis and effects of various parameters used in the tracking algorithm so resulting data can be meaningful

Visual control of refuge recognition in the whip spider \u3ci\u3ePhrynus marginemaculatus\u3c/i\u3e

Amblypygids, or whip spiders, are nocturnally active arachnids which live in structurally complex environments. Whip spiders are excellent navigators that can re-locate a home refuge without relying on visual input. Therefore, an open question is whether visual input can control any aspect of whip spider spatial behavior. In the current study, Phrynus marginemaculatus were trained to locate an escape refuge by discriminating between differently oriented black and white stripes placed either on the walls of a testing arena (frontal discrimination) or on the ceiling of the same testing arena (overhead discrimination). Regardless of the placement of the visual stimuli, the whip spiders were successful in learning the location of the escape refuge. In a follow-up study of the overhead discrimination, occluding the median eyes was found to disrupt the ability of the whip spiders to locate the shelter. The data support the conclusion that whip spiders can rely on vision to learn and recognize an escape shelter. We suggest that visual inputs to the brain’s mushroom bodies enable this ability

Visual Lateralization in Wild Striped Dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) in Response to Stimuli with Different Degrees of Familiarity

Background: Apart from findings on both functional and motor asymmetries in captive aquatic mammals, only few studies have focused on lateralized behaviour of these species in the wild. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study we focused on lateralized visual behaviour by presenting wild striped dolphins with objects of different degrees of familiarity (fish, ball, toy). Surveys were conducted in the Gulf of Taranto, the northern Ionian Sea portion delimited by the Italian regions of Calabria, Basilicata and Apulia. After sighting striped dolphins from a research vessel, different stimuli were presented in a random order by a telescopic bar connected to the prow of the boat. The preferential use of the right/left monocular viewing during inspection of the stimuli was analysed. Conclusion: Results clearly showed a monocular viewing preference with respect to the type of the stimulus employed. Due to the complete decussation of the optical nerves in dolphin brain our results reflected a different specialization of brain hemispheres for visual scanning processes confirming that in this species different stimuli evoked different patterns of eye use. A preferential use of the right eye (left hemisphere) during visual inspection of unfamiliar targets was observed supporting the hypothesis that, in dolphins, the organization of the functional neural structures which reflected cerebral asymmetries for visual object recognition could have been subjected to a deviation from the evolutionary line of mos

Plasticity in D1-Like Receptor Expression Is Associated with Different Components of Cognitive Processes

Dopamine D1-like receptors consist of D1 (D1A) and D5 (D1B) receptors and play a key role in working memory. However, their possibly differential contribution to working memory is unclear. We combined a working memory training protocol with a stepwise increase of cognitive subcomponents and real-time RT-PCR analysis of dopamine receptor expression in pigeons to identify molecular changes that accompany training of isolated cognitive subfunctions. In birds, the D1-like receptor family is extended and consists of the D1A, D1B, and D1D receptors. Our data show that D1B receptor plasticity follows a training that includes active mental maintenance of information, whereas D1A and D1D receptor plasticity in addition accompanies learning of stimulus-response associations. Plasticity of D1-like receptors plays no role for processes like response selection and stimulus discrimination. None of the tasks altered D2 receptor expression. Our study shows that different cognitive components of working memory training have distinguishable effects on D1-like receptor expression

Sun Compass-Based Spatial Learning Impaired in Homing Pigeons with Hippocampal Lesions

The hippocampal formation is known to be critical for spatial cognition, for example, regulating the learning of environmental maps. But how is a spatial map learned, and what is the role of the hippocampal formation in the learning process? The sun compass is perhaps the most ubiquitous, naturally occurring spatial orientation mechanism found in the animal kingdom. The sun compass may also serve as a directional reference that supports spatial learning. We report that homing pigeons with hippocampal lesions were unable to use the sun compass to learn the directional location of food in an outdoor, experimental arena. Homing pigeons with lesions of the caudal neostriatum readily learned the same task, and showed appropriately shifted directional responses following a clock-shift manipulation demonstrating that they were indeed using the sun compass to learn the task. Finally, both hippocampal and control lesioned birds quickly learned a procedurally similar task where a color cue identified the location of food in the same experimental arena. The results indicate that hippocampal lesions impair sun compass use in the context of learning. As such, the results support the hypothesis that the importance of the hippocampal formation in spatial cognition may be related to its participation in a neural process in which information from a directional reference, in this case the sun compass, is used to learn the directional relationship among stimuli in space

Slope-based and geometric encoding of a goal location by the terrestrial toad, Rhinella arenarum

The current study was designed to test for the ability of terrestrial toads, Rhinella arenarum, to use slope as source of spatial information to locate a goal, and investigate the relative importance of slope and geometric information for goal localization. Toads were trained to locate a single, water-reward goal location in a corner of rectangular arena placed on an incline. Once the toads learned the task, three types of probe trials were carried out to determine the relative use of slope and geometric information for goal localization. The probe trials revealed that the toads were able to independently use slope, and as previously reported, geometry to locate the goal. However, the boundary geometry of the experimental arena was found to be preferentially used by the toads when geometric and slope information were set in conflict.Fil: Sotelo, María Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Bingman, Verner Peter. Bowling Green State University; Estados UnidosFil: Muzio, Ruben Nestor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentin

Goal orientation by geometric and feature cues: spatial learning in the terrestrial toad Rhinella arenarum

Although of crucial importance in vertebrate evolution, amphibians are rarely considered in studies of comparative cognition. Using water as reward, we studied whether the terrestrial toad, Rhinella arenarum, is also capable of encoding geometric and feature information to navigate to a goal location. Experimental toads, partially dehydrated, were trained in either a white rectangular box (Geometry-only, Experiment 1) or in the same box with a removable colored panel (Geometry-Feature, Experiment 2) covering one wall. Four water containers were used, but only one (Geometry-Feature), or two in geometrically equivalent corners (Geometry-only), had water accessible to the trained animals. After learning to successfully locate the water reward, probe trials were carried out by changing the shape of the arena or the location of the feature cue. Probe tests revealed that, under the experimental conditions used, toads can use both geometry and feature to locate a goal location, but geometry is more potent as a navigational cue. The results generally agree with findings from other vertebrates and support the idea that at the behavioral-level geometric orientation is a conserved feature shared by all vertebrates.Fil: Sotelo, María Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (i); Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicologia; ArgentinaFil: Bingman, Verner Peter. Bowling Green State University. J. P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind & Behavior.; Estados UnidosFil: Muzio, Ruben Nestor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (i); Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicologia; Argentin

Evidence for Discrete Landmark Use by Pigeons During Homing

Considerable efforts have been made to investigate how homing pigeons (Columba livia f. domestica) are able to return to their loft from distant, unfamiliar sites while the mechanisms underlying navigation in familiar territory have received less attention. With the recent advent of global positioning system (GPS) data loggers small enough to be carried by pigeons, the role of visual environmental features in guiding navigation over familiar areas is beginning to be understood, yet, surprisingly, we still know very little about whether homing pigeons can rely on discrete, visual landmarks to guide navigation. To assess a possible role of discrete, visual landmarks in navigation, homing pigeons were first trained to home from a site with four wind turbines as salient landmarks as well as from a control site without any distinctive, discrete landmark features. The GPS-recorded flight paths of the pigeons on the last training release were straighter and more similar among birds from the turbine site compared with those from the control site. The pigeons were then released from both sites following a clock-shift manipulation. Vanishing bearings from the turbine site continued to be homeward oriented as 13 of 14 pigeons returned home. By contrast, at the control site the vanishing bearings were deflected in the expected clock-shift direction and only 5 of 13 pigeons returned home. Taken together, our results offer the first strong evidence that discrete, visual landmarks are one source of spatial information homing pigeons can utilize to navigate when flying over a familiar area

Telencephalic neuronal activation associated with spatial memory in the terrestrial toad, Rhinella arenarum: Participation of the medial pallium during navigation by geometry

Amphibians are central to discussions of vertebrate evolutionbecause they represent the transition from aquatic toterrestrial life, a transition with profound consequences forthe selective pressures shaping brain evolution. Spatial navigationis one class of behavior that has attracted the interestof comparative neurobiologists because of the relevance ofthe medial pallium/hippocampus, yet, surprisingly, in this regardamphibians have been sparsely investigated. In the currentstudy, we trained toads to locate a water goal relying onthe boundary geometry of a test environment (GeometryOnly)or boundary geometry coupled with a prominent, visualfeature cue (Geometry-Feature). Once learning hadbeen achieved, the animals were given one last training sessionand their telencephali were processed for c-Fos activation.Compared to control toads exposed to the test environmentfor the first time, geometry-only toads were found to have increased neuronal labeling in the medial pallium, thepresumptive hippocampal homologue, while geometry-featuretoads were found to have increased neuronal labelingin the medial, dorsal, and lateral pallia. The data indicate medialpallial participation in guiding navigation by environmentalgeometry and lateral, and to a lesser extent dorsal,pallial participation in guiding navigation by a prominent visualfeature. As such, participation of the medial pallium/hippocampus in spatial cognition appears to be a conservedfeature of terrestrial vertebrates even if their life history is stilltied to water, a brain-behavior feature seemingly at least asancient as the evolutionary transition to life on land.Fil: Sotelo, María Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; ArgentinaFil: Daneri, Maria Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; ArgentinaFil: Bingman, Verner Peter. Bowling Green State University; Estados UnidosFil: Muzio, Ruben Nestor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; Argentin