Skip Navigation



Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on August 22, 2006
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arl039
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/6/925    most recent
arl039v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Jablonski, P. G.
Right arrow Articles by Jerzak, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Jablonski, P. G.
Right arrow Articles by Jerzak, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received December 23, 2005
Revised May 28, 2006
Accepted June 19, 2006

Article

Innate plasticity of a predatory behavior: nonlearned context dependence of avian flush-displays

Piotr G. Jablonski 1 *, Sang Don Lee 2, and Leszek Jerzak 3

1 Centre for Ecological Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Dziekanów Lesny, 05-092 Lomianki, Poland; University of Arizona, Arizona Research Laboratories, Division Neurobiology, 611 Gould-Simpson, Tucson, AZ 85-721, USA; Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea
2 Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea
3 Institute of Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, University of Zielona Gora, ul. Monte Cassino 21 b, PL 65-561 Zielona Gora, Poland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Piotr G. Jablonski, E-mail: piotrjab{at}neurobio.arizona.edu


  Abstract

If a foraging adaptation comprises a signal for sensory exploitation of prey, does the behavior and its use develop through learning, like many foraging behaviors or does it depend on nonlearned stereotypical motor actions, like many signals for sensory exploitation? We asked whether the visually conspicuous motor pattern of body pivoting with spread tail and wings used by the painted redstart (Myioborus pictus) to flush insect prey is a nonlearned phenotypic trait. The motion pattern and the increase in these displays under branches (context dependence based on physical properties of the habitat) help the wild birds in foraging because prey that rest on substrates is visually stimulated, flushed into the air, and consequently chased in aerial pursuits. In unrewarded conditions in the aviary, both the foraging-experienced adults and the foraging-naive hand-raised fledglings increased the frequency of flush-displays at locations with substrates above birds, recreating the pattern of foraging observed in adults in their natural habitats. The results imply that parent-offspring cultural transmission or learning during foraging is not required for the development of both the display motion pattern and the adaptive context-dependent increase in display frequency. Such a nonlearned context dependence based on physical properties of the habitat is remarkable considering that avian foraging context-dependent plasticity is often based on learning. We hypothesize that this innate character of the signals may be a result of evolution to exploit universal properties of visually triggered escape behaviors of various insects that are predictably flushed from their resting sites in the habitat.

Keywords: behavioral evolution; flush-pursuer; foraging mode; innate behavior; Myioborus pictus; predator-prey; sensory exploitation.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.