Exploitation of an Ancient Escape Circuit by an Avian Predator: Prey Sensitivity to Model Predator Display in the Field

Jabłoński, Piotr G.; Strausfeld, Nicholas J.

doi:10.1159/000006680

Cited by 53 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Thus, many predators and prey selectively attend to movement in a visual scene, for obvious reasons. Some predators, such as the painted red-start, capitalize on prey movement in a flushpursuit strategy that triggers escape circuitry, and hence movement, to increase the visual salience of insect prey (20)(21)(22). Our results suggest water shrews could have a similar strategy using the somatosensory, rather than the visual, system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Water shrews detect movement, shape, and smell to find prey underwater

Catania

Hare²,

Campbell³

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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American water shrews (Sorex palustris) are aggressive predators that feed on a variety of terrestrial and aquatic prey. They often forage at night, diving into streams and ponds in search of food. We investigated how shrews locate submerged prey using highspeed videography, infrared lighting, and stimuli designed to mimic prey. Shrews attacked brief water movements, indicating motion is an important cue used to detect active or escaping prey. They also bit, retrieved, and attempted to eat model fish made of silicone in preference to other silicone objects showing that tactile cues are important in the absence of movement. In addition, water shrews preferentially sniffed model prey fish and crickets underwater by exhaling and reinhaling air through the nostrils, suggesting olfaction plays an important role in aquatic foraging. The possibility of echolocation, sonar, or electroreception was investigated by testing for ultrasonic and audible calls above and below water and by presenting electric fields to foraging shrews. We found no evidence for these abilities. We conclude that water shrews detect motion, shape, and smell to find prey underwater. The short latency of attacks to water movements suggests shrews may use a flush-pursuit strategy to capture some prey.insectivore ͉ olfaction ͉ somatosensory ͉ tactile ͉ whiskers

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Water shrews detect movement, shape, and smell to find prey underwater

Catania

Hare²,

Campbell³

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…It has been proposed that variability in spontaneous animal behaviours is an evolutionary necessity, as any form of predictability can be exploited by predators (Jabłoński and Strausfeld, 2000;Catania, 2009). In support of this idea, the spontaneous transitions between down-and up-states exhibited considerable randomness (Fig.…”

Section: Functional Significance Of Preparatory Sensory Acquisition Amentioning

confidence: 76%

Enhanced sensory sampling precedes self-initiated locomotion in an electric fish

Jun

Longtin

Maler

2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Cortical activity precedes self-initiated movements by several seconds in mammals; this observation has led into inquiries on the nature of volition. Preparatory neural activity is known to be associated with decision making and movement planning. Selfinitiated locomotion has been linked to increased active sensory sampling; however, the precise temporal relationship between sensory acquisition and voluntary movement initiation has not been established. Based on long-term monitoring of sensory sampling activity that is readily observable in freely behaving pulse-type electric fish, we show that heightened sensory acquisition precedes spontaneous initiation of swimming. Gymnotus sp. revealed a bimodal distribution of electric organ discharge rate (EODR) demonstrating down-and up-states of sensory sampling and neural activity; movements only occurred during up-states and up-states were initiated before movement onset. EODR during voluntary swimming initiation exhibited greater trial-to-trial variability than the sound-evoked increases in EODR. The sampling variability declined after voluntary movement onset as previously observed for the neural variability associated with decision making in primates. Spontaneous movements occurred randomly without a characteristic timescale, and no significant temporal correlation was found between successive movement intervals. Using statistical analyses of spontaneous exploratory behaviours and associated preparatory sensory sampling increase, we conclude that electric fish exhibit key attributes of volitional movements, and that voluntary behaviours in vertebrates may generally be preceded by increased sensory sampling. Our results suggest that comparative studies of the neural basis of volition may therefore be possible in pulse-type electric fish, given the substantial homologies between the telencephali of teleost fish and mammals.

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“…Behavioral reactions elicited by looming stimuli have been studied in taxa as diverse as insects, amphibians, birds, and mammals (Jablonski and Strausfeld, 2000;Maier et al, 2004;Regan and Hamstra, 1993;Tammero and Dickinson, 2002;Yamamoto et al, 2003). Taking into account that in the crab Chasmagnathus a robust and reliable escape response can be elicited by computer-generated looming stimuli (Oliva et al, 2007), we decided to explore the possibility that virtual collision stimulus might elicit physiological responses as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cardiac response of the crabChasmagnathus granulatusas an index of sensory perception

Burnovicz

Oliva

Hermitte

2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYWhen an animalʼs observable behavior remains unaltered, one can be misled in determining whether it is able to sense an environmental cue. By measuring an index of the internal state, additional information about perception may be obtained. We studied the cardiac response of the crab Chasmagnathus to different stimulus modalities: a light pulse, an air puff, virtual looming stimuli and a real visual danger stimulus. The first two did not trigger observable behavior, but the last two elicited a clear escape response. We examined the changes in heart rate upon sensory stimulation. Cardiac response and escape response latencies were also measured and compared during looming stimuli presentation. The cardiac parameters analyzed revealed significant changes (cardio-inhibitory responses) to all the stimuli investigated. We found a clear correlation between escape and cardiac response latencies to different looming stimuli. This study proved useful to examine the perceptual capacity independently of behavior. In addition, the correlation found between escape and cardiac responses support previous results which showed that in the face of impending danger the crab triggers several coordinated defensive reactions. The ability to escape predation or to be alerted to subtle changes in the environment in relation to autonomic control is associated with the complex ability to integrate sensory information as well as motor output to target tissues. This ʻfear, fight or flightʼ response gives support to the idea of an autonomic-like reflexive control in crustaceans.

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Exploitation of an Ancient Escape Circuit by an Avian Predator: Prey Sensitivity to Model Predator Display in the Field

Cited by 53 publications

References 58 publications

Water shrews detect movement, shape, and smell to find prey underwater

Water shrews detect movement, shape, and smell to find prey underwater

Enhanced sensory sampling precedes self-initiated locomotion in an electric fish

The cardiac response of the crabChasmagnathus granulatusas an index of sensory perception

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