200 research outputs found
Quantifying nutritional trade-offs across multidimensional performance landscapes
We are grateful to Fleur Ponton, Russell Bonduriansky, and Emilie Snell-Rood as well as two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript.We are grateful to Ben Fanson, Kwang Lee, and Phil Taylor for sharing their data. This research was funded by a grant from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche to M.L. (ANR-16-CE02-0002-01).Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Bee positive: the importance of electroreception in pollinator cognitive ecology
International audienceThe global atmospheric circuit generates a permanent electric field between the Earth surface and outer atmosphere (Rycroft et al., 2000). The ground and plants conductively linked to it are negatively charged (Bowker and Crenshaw, 2007), whereas animals build up positive charge as they move in contact with air molecules (Jackson and McGonigle, 2005). Electric fields emanating from plants and pollinators, such as bees, are believed to promote pollination by enabling pollen grains to " jump " from flowers to pol-linators and vice versa (Corbet et al., 1982). Two recent studies reveal that bees not only detect these electric fields but also learn to discriminate them, indicating that electroreception should be seriously considered alongside vision and olfaction when studying bee behavior and ecology. Writing in Science, Clarke et al. (2013) demonstrated that bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) detect electric fields around plants and learn to use them to decide whether or not to visit flowers. Using a Faraday pail to measure electric fields generated by bees and plants, the team described how a bee visit temporarily modifies the electric charge of (Petunia) flowers, suggesting that floral electric properties could be used by future visitors to assess the reward value without necessarily needing to probe the flower. To explore this possibility, the authors used differential conditioning in which bees were trained to associate an electrically charged feeder (30 V) with a sucrose reward (CS+) and an uncharged feeder with an aversive quinine solution (CSâ). After extensive training (50 trials), bees chose the rewarding feeder in around 80% of trials. Similar levels of performance were observed when bees were trained with two feeders carrying the same charge but different electric field patterns (homogeneous vs. bull's eye shape), indicating that these insects can learn both the magnitude and geometry of an electric field. Bees learned to perform even better in discrimination tasks if the two feeders differed both in color (shade of green) and their electric field pattern compared to if they differed only in color. Natural electric fields around flowers may therefore contribute to the multimodal sources of information that bees use to learn and memorize floral rewards, in conjunction with color, pattern, shape, texture
Food, âCulture,â and Sociality in Drosophila
International audiencewith naĂŻve " observers " with two fresh, flavored media (without quinine). In the critical test phase, demonstrators and observers were exposed separately to the two flavored media. Social transmission occurred if the oviposition choices of observers mirrored that of demonstrators. Using this methodology, Battesti et al. (2012) first showed that observer flies relied heavily on social information and acquired oviposition preferences from demonstrators , even if they had the opportunity to sample the two equally suitable media during the transmission phase, thus confirming previous observations in this species (Sarin and Dukas, 2009). The authors next investigated the mechanisms of social transmission and showed that social learning did not occur when observers were exposed to social cues only (freshly laid eggs and aggregation phero-mone) on one of the two media. Social transmission, however, always occurred when observers interacted directly with demonstrators, even if the media were unflavored. Although the precise mechanism of social learning remains an open A commentary on Spread of social information and dynamics of social transmission within Drosophila groups by Battesti Communication with and learning from others are key features of social life. We humans rely extensively on the advice of others before making important decisions. Social insects too, such as bees and ants, use social information to learn about foraging opportunities and engage in collective tasks (Dussutour and Simpson, 2009; Seeley et al., 2012). Growing interest into the learning abilities of small-brained animals has revealed that social learning in insects is more diverse and more common than previously thought (Leadbeater and Chittka, 2007), thus offering new opportunities for comparative analyses of the role of cognition in the regulation of social behavior across a rich spectrum of social forms. Recently, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (Figure 1A) has emerged as a key species for studying social learning in simple insect groups (Mery et al., 2009; Sarin and Dukas, 2009). Flies aggregate on food resources, where they feed, reproduce, lay eggs, and glean information from each other. Writing in a recent issue of Current Biology, Battesti et al. (2012) present evidence that Drosophila females not only use social information to select oviposition sub-strates, but also that these socially acquired preferences can propagate and stabilize within groups, a phenomenon resembling cultural transmission of knowledge in vertebrates (Laland, 2008). The authors used a three-step experimental paradigm (Figure 1B). A group of flies was first trained to associate an aversive gustatory cue (quinine) with an artificial flavor (banana or strawberry) characterizing one of two standard ovipo-sition media (agar and sugar). These conditioned " demonstrators " were then caged question, presumably, it can be explained by relatively simple associative learning processes occurring during physical contacts between observer and demonstrator flies through the perception of the olfactory cues (banana or strawberry flavors) carried by the demonstrators. Such mechanism, for instance, underpins social transmission of food preferences in rats (Galef et al., 1985). In a third set of experiments, Battesti et al. (2012) have gone a step further into the understanding of how flies balance their use of social and personal information. By exposing observers to the two flavored media at the different phases of the experimental paradigm they demonstrated that the socially acquired preference vanished if observers were allowed to acquire personal information after the transmission phase. Considering the short lifespan of Drosophila (Lee et al., 2008), rapidly adopting the behavior of the majority may provide naĂŻve flies with cues to choices that are locally adaptive and prevent costly trial and error. However, if information about resources is abundant and not costly t
Kin recognition and incest avoidance in a group-living insect
International audienceMate choice theories predict that animals evolved strategies to mate with optimally genetically dissimilar partners, providing fitness benefits. In group-living species, when adults do not disperse, assessment of relatedness between conspecifics can be a key factor for choosing mates. Here, we report for the first time, kin recognition abilities and their implication in mate choice in the gregarious cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.). Binary choice tests showed that females mated preferentially with nonsibling rather than with sibling males, thus avoiding incest. In addition, inbreeding induced an important decrease of their reproductive success. Contrary to what could be expected when females had the choice between a nonsibling strain member and a nonstrain member, they did not avoid mating with distantly related nonstrain members, and extreme outbreeding induced an increase of their reproductive success. Furthermore, our mate choice experiments disentangled the influences of familiarity from those of relatedness and evidenced that kin discrimination was based on genetic cues independently of familiarity. Phenotype matching was a plausible mechanism for kin recognition. Contrary to many insect species, body size was not a salient criterion for mate choice and had no consequences on reproductive success
Genetic bases of collective decisions in Drosophila
Dissertação de mestrado em Psicologia ClĂnica e da SaĂșde (IntervençÔes Cognitivo-Comportamentais nas PerturbaçÔes PsicolĂłgicas da SaĂșde), apresentada Ă Faculdade de Psicologia e CiĂȘncias da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra.A compaixĂŁo pode ser definida como uma sensibilidade ao sofrimento
com uma motivação genuĂna para o aliviar. Este construto tem sido associado
a felicidade, bem-estar, satisfação com a vida e menos psicopatologia.
Pesquisas tĂȘm demonstrado que o treino da compaixĂŁo ajuda a desenvolver e
trabalhar com experiĂȘncias internas de calor, segurança e tranquilização,
através da compaixão e autocompaixão. De acordo com Gilbert (2010a) a
capacidade de ser compassivo envolve vĂĄrias competĂȘncias e atributos, como
sensibilidade, simpatia e empatia. Estes sĂŁo elementos interconectados que
formam o ciclo da compaixĂŁo, levando a uma mente compassiva.
Neste sentido, o presente estudo pretende estudar as caraterĂsticas
psicométricas para a população portuguesa da Escala de Atributos e AçÔes
Compassivas (EAAC; Gilbert, 2014). Este instrumento baseia-se na avaliação
de competĂȘncias e atributos compassivos dirigidas ao prĂłprio, aos outros ou
dos outros, em situaçÔes de dificuldade, sendo neste sentido, constituĂda por
trĂȘs escalas, cada uma destas comportando duas secçÔes/subescalas: AçÔes e
Atributos. Para isto, recorreu-se a uma amostra de 764 sujeitos, constituĂda
por estudantes e população geral (78.5% do género feminino e 21.2% do
género masculino), na qual através de vårias Anålises Fatorias Exploratórias
se testou a estrutura fatorial da escala. Os resultados estiveram de acordo com
a estrutura fatorial encontrada na versĂŁo original, isto Ă©, no geral as subescalas
foram unifatoriais com exceção da escala de Autocompaixão, na qual se
encontrou uma estrutura com dois fatores na subescala Atributos. Os
resultados demonstraram, ainda, boa consistĂȘncia interna para todas as
subescalas, boa fidelidade temporal e validade convergente e divergente.
Desta forma, a escala mostrou caraterĂsticas psicomĂ©tricas adequadas e
constitui-se como um instrumento Ăștil para avaliação e investigação da
compaixĂŁo.Compassion can be defined has a sensibility to the suffering with a
genuine motivarion to relive that. This construct has been associated with
happiness, wellbeing, life satisfaction and less psychopathology. Previous
research showed that training compassion helps to develop inner experiences
of warmth, safeness and soothing via compassion and self-compassion
(Gilbert, 2009b). According to Gilbert (2010a), the hability to be
compassionate involves a lot of skills and attributes such as sensibility,
sympathy and empathy. These are interconnected elements that form the
compassionate cycle, leading to a compassionate mind.
The present study aims to assess and study the psychometric
charateristics of the EAAC to the Portuguese population (EAAC, Gilbert,
2014). This instrument is based on evaluation of compassionate skills and
attributes, directed to self, others or received from others when in difficult
situations. They are composed by three scales, each containing two
sections/subscales: Actions and Attributes. A sample of 764 subjects (78.5 %
females and 21.2 % males) was used to test the factorial structure of the scales
through several EFAs. The results were in line with the factorial structure
found in the original version, that found a unifactorial structure, but with the
exception of Self-compassion scale, that shows two factors on the Attributes
section. The results demonstrate good reliability to all scales, good temporal
fidelity and good convergent and divergent validity. Therefore, the scales have
shown good psychometric characteristics and constitute a useful instrument to
evaluate and investigate compassion
Organisation et fonctionnement des groupes sociaux chez une blatte grĂ©gaire : un autre modĂšle de sociĂ©tĂ© dâinsectes
The study of social evolution is traditionally linked to the study of the most integrated societies. Key theories in insect sociobiology have been based mainly on the functioning rules of eusocial species, while the great majority of non-eusocial species were neglected, although their study is a necessary step to improve our understanding of social evolution. In this context, cockroaches constitute a good model because of their phylogenetic proximity with solitary as well as eusocial species. My thesis focused on the analysis of the organization and functioning of social groups in a gregarious cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.). An interdisciplinary approach including ethology, behavioural ecology, chemical ecology and mathematical modeling, enabled me to highlight the main characteristics of social life of this species. I demonstrated interdependence of group members related to physiological and behavioural group effects, thus stressing the importance of social relations and gregariousness. I identified a kin recognition mechanism that shapes interactions among group members in relation to context (social or sexual). Then, I demonstrated the occurrence of cooperation between group members to exploit food resources, based on a self-organized collective decision mechanism underlying recruitment. My results evidence that B. germanica is more than just a gregarious insect, as their aggregates form real social groups involving communication and cooperation. All my data allow me to present another model of insect society that can be qualified as a âmixed-family herdâ when group-living is primarily based on ecological benefits. Our results offer promising perspectives for the study of social evolution in insects.ï»żLâĂ©tude de lâĂ©volution de la socialitĂ© est traditionnellement liĂ©e Ă lâĂ©tude des sociĂ©tĂ©s les plus intĂ©grĂ©es. Ainsi chez les insectes, les thĂ©ories clĂ©s en sociobiologie ont principalement Ă©tĂ© Ă©laborĂ©es Ă partir des rĂšgles de fonctionnement observĂ©es chez les espĂšces eusociales, au dĂ©triment de la grande majoritĂ© des espĂšces non-eusociales, dont lâĂ©tude est cependant une Ă©tape indispensable pour une comprĂ©hension globale de lâĂ©volution de la socialitĂ©. Dans ce contexte, les blattes constituent un modĂšle de choix, par leur proximitĂ© phylogĂ©nĂ©tique avec des espĂšces solitaires et des espĂšces eusociales. Ce travail est consacrĂ© Ă lâanalyse de lâorganisation et du fonctionnement des groupes sociaux chez une blatte grĂ©gaire, Blattella germanica (L.). GrĂące Ă une approche interdisciplinaire faisant appel Ă lâĂ©thologie, lâĂ©cologie comportementale, lâĂ©cologie chimique et la modĂ©lisation, nous dĂ©crivons les principales caractĂ©ristiques de la vie sociale chez cette espĂšce. Nous dĂ©montrons une interdĂ©pendance des individus envers le groupe au travers dâeffets de groupe physiologiques et comportementaux, soulignant ainsi lâimportance des relations sociales et de la vie grĂ©gaire. Nous identifions Ă©galement un mĂ©canisme de reconnaissance de parentĂšle qui rĂ©git une grande partie des interactions entre les membres du groupe en fonction du contexte social ou sexuel. Enfin, nous dĂ©montrons lâexistence de coopĂ©ration entre les membres du groupe sous forme dâun recrutement alimentaire pour exploiter les ressources du milieu, sous-tendu par une dĂ©cision collective auto-organisĂ©e. Ces rĂ©sultats dĂ©montrent que B. germanica est davantage quâune simple espĂšce grĂ©gaire, les agrĂ©gats constituant des groupes sociaux organisĂ©s, siĂšges de communication et de coopĂ©ration. Lâensemble de ce travail nous permet de dĂ©crire un autre modĂšle de sociĂ©tĂ© dâinsectes principalement basĂ© sur les avantages Ă©cologiques de la vie en groupe que nous qualifions de « troupe de familles », et laisse envisager dâintĂ©ressantes perspectives pour lâĂ©tude de lâĂ©volution de la socialitĂ© chez les insectes
A Simple Iterative Model Accurately Captures Complex Trapline Formation by Bumblebees Across Spatial Scales and Flower Arrangements
PMCID: PMC3591286This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
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