No evidence of predator odor avoidance in a North American bird community
Recent advances in our understanding of avian chemical communication have highlighted the importance of olfaction in many aspects of avian life. Prior studies investigating predator avoidance behaviors in response to predator odor cues have produced mixed results across species and contexts. Here we...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Avian Research |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2053716623000816 |
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| author | Austin Dotta Batur Yaman Alex Van Huynh |
| author_facet | Austin Dotta Batur Yaman Alex Van Huynh |
| author_sort | Austin Dotta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent advances in our understanding of avian chemical communication have highlighted the importance of olfaction in many aspects of avian life. Prior studies investigating predator avoidance behaviors in response to predator odor cues have produced mixed results across species and contexts. Here we assess if a community of birds in eastern Pennsylvania displays avoidance behaviors towards predator odor cues in a natural foraging setting. We use clay caterpillars to measure foraging activity by birds in the presence of predator (bobcat) urine, non-predator (rabbit) urine, and water controls in two different environmental contexts (field vs. forest). Although we detected a weak trend for birds to forage less at predator urine-treated sites, we found no significant difference in avian foraging between the site types. We did find that foraging rates between environmental contexts changed significantly over the course of the experiment, with forest sites showing decreasing foraging rates and field sites showing increasing foraging rates. Our results reinforce the published literature that avoidance of predator odors by birds may not be ubiquitous across contexts and species. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e1db58dbb26a486e939efa7a42dda602 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2053-7166 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Avian Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-e1db58dbb26a486e939efa7a42dda6022025-08-20T02:21:06ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Avian Research2053-71662024-01-011510015510.1016/j.avrs.2023.100155No evidence of predator odor avoidance in a North American bird communityAustin Dotta0Batur Yaman1Alex Van Huynh2Department of Biology, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA, USADepartment of Biology, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA, USACorresponding author.; Department of Biology, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA, USARecent advances in our understanding of avian chemical communication have highlighted the importance of olfaction in many aspects of avian life. Prior studies investigating predator avoidance behaviors in response to predator odor cues have produced mixed results across species and contexts. Here we assess if a community of birds in eastern Pennsylvania displays avoidance behaviors towards predator odor cues in a natural foraging setting. We use clay caterpillars to measure foraging activity by birds in the presence of predator (bobcat) urine, non-predator (rabbit) urine, and water controls in two different environmental contexts (field vs. forest). Although we detected a weak trend for birds to forage less at predator urine-treated sites, we found no significant difference in avian foraging between the site types. We did find that foraging rates between environmental contexts changed significantly over the course of the experiment, with forest sites showing decreasing foraging rates and field sites showing increasing foraging rates. Our results reinforce the published literature that avoidance of predator odors by birds may not be ubiquitous across contexts and species.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2053716623000816ForagingOdorOlfactionPredationPredator-avoidance |
| spellingShingle | Austin Dotta Batur Yaman Alex Van Huynh No evidence of predator odor avoidance in a North American bird community Avian Research Foraging Odor Olfaction Predation Predator-avoidance |
| title | No evidence of predator odor avoidance in a North American bird community |
| title_full | No evidence of predator odor avoidance in a North American bird community |
| title_fullStr | No evidence of predator odor avoidance in a North American bird community |
| title_full_unstemmed | No evidence of predator odor avoidance in a North American bird community |
| title_short | No evidence of predator odor avoidance in a North American bird community |
| title_sort | no evidence of predator odor avoidance in a north american bird community |
| topic | Foraging Odor Olfaction Predation Predator-avoidance |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2053716623000816 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT austindotta noevidenceofpredatorodoravoidanceinanorthamericanbirdcommunity AT baturyaman noevidenceofpredatorodoravoidanceinanorthamericanbirdcommunity AT alexvanhuynh noevidenceofpredatorodoravoidanceinanorthamericanbirdcommunity |