Novel predator recognition by Allenby's gerbil (Gerbillus andersoni allenbyi): do gerbils learn to respond to a snake that can “see” in the dark?

Bleicher, Sonny S.; Brown, Joel S.; Embar, Keren; Kotler, Burt P.

doi:10.1080/15659801.2016.1176614

Cited by 22 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…The most likely explanation is that our systems were devoid of environmental heterogeneity. During the exposure period, we found species-specific—spatially explicit—responses to the distribution of risk posed by each snake and in combination with barn owls [ 28 , 30 , 33 , 57 ]. However, in the enclosed systems, where individual gerbils forage without competition, the response of both species to the risk of predations is similar.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used an “interview” approach [ 27 – 29 ] to measure the response of each rodent species to the risks posed by the two snake species. We measured the response prior to exposure of the rodents to the novel viper species and following a two-month exposure to both snake species in a semi-natural arena as described in Bleicher (2014) and Bleicher et al (2016) [ 28 , 30 ]. As our scoring criteria, we assessed the response of each species to the vipers using a metric borrowed from foraging theory, the giving-up density (GUD) [ 31 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Divergent behavior amid convergent evolution: A case of four desert rodents learning to respond to known and novel vipers

et al. 2018

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Desert communities world-wide are used as natural laboratories for the study of convergent evolution, yet inferences drawn from such studies are necessarily indirect. Here, we brought desert organisms together (rodents and vipers) from two deserts (Mojave and Negev). Both predators and prey in the Mojave have adaptations that give them competitive advantage compared to their middle-eastern counterparts. Heteromyid rodents of the Mojave, kangaroo rats and pocket mice, have fur-lined cheek pouches that allow them to carry larger loads of seeds under predation risk compared to gerbilline rodents of the Negev Deserts. Sidewinder rattlesnakes have heat-sensing pits, allowing them to hunt better on moonless nights when their Negev sidewinding counterpart, the Saharan horned vipers, are visually impaired. In behavioral-assays, we used giving-up density (GUD) to gauge how each species of rodent perceived risk posed by known and novel snakes. We repeated this for the same set of rodents at first encounter and again two months later following intensive “natural” exposure to both snake species. Pre-exposure, all rodents identified their evolutionarily familiar snake as a greater risk than the novel one. However, post-exposure all identified the heat-sensing sidewinder rattlesnake as a greater risk. The heteromyids were more likely to avoid encounters with, and discern the behavioral difference among, snakes than their gerbilline counterparts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent behavior amid convergent evolution: A case of four desert rodents learning to respond to known and novel vipers

et al. 2018

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“…The most likely explanation is that our systems were devoid of environmental heterogeneity. During the exposure period, we found species-specific—spatially explicit—responses to the distribution of risk posed by each snake and in combination with barn owls [28,30,32,56]. However, in the enclosed systems, where individual gerbils forage without competition, the response of both species to the risk of predations is similar.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite being naïve to the dangers of the sidewinder rattlesnake at the start of the experiments, both gerbils quickly learned to respond to the snakes and both rank them as a risk. In out measurements in the aviary they both ranked snakes as a lower risk than (lower GUDs) than owls [28,30,32]. The results of the comparison between the gerbils highlight the importance of competition to species that have less spatial segregation than the North American heteromyids [44,47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent Behavior Amid Convergent Evolution: A Case of Four Desert Rodents Learning to Respond to Known and Novel Vipers

Bleicher

Kotelr

Shalev

et al. 2018

Preprint

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14Desert communities word-wide are used as natural laboratories for the study of convergent 15 evolution, yet inferences drawn from such studies are necessarily indirect. Here, we brought 16 desert organisms together (rodents and vipers) from two deserts (Mojave and Negev). Both 17 predators and prey in the Mojave have adaptations that give them competitive advantage 18 compared to their middle-eastern counterparts. Heteromyid rodents, kangaroo rats and pocket 19 mice, have fur-lined cheek pouches that allow the rodents to carry larger loads under predation 20 risk compared to gerbilline rodents. Sidewinder rattlesnakes have heat-sensing pits, allowing 21 them to hunt better on moonless nights when their Negev sidewinding counterpart, the Saharan 22 horned vipers, are visually impaired. In behavioral-assays, we used giving-up density (GUD) to 23 gage how each species of rodent perceived risk posed by known and novel snakes. We repeated 24 this for the same set of rodents at first encounter and again two months later following intensive 25 "natural" exposure to both snake species. Pre-exposure, all rodents identified their evolutionarily 26 familiar snake as a greater risk than the novel one. However, post-exposure all identified the 27 heat-sensing sidewinder rattlesnake as a greater risk. The heteromyids were more likely to avoid 28 encounters with, and discern the behavioral difference among, snakes than their gerbilline 29 counterparts. 30 31 34Deserts, and desert rodents in particular, provide a model system for studying parallel and 35 convergent evolution. Deserts around the world form at least five evolutionarily independent 36 laboratories of adaptation, ecology, and evolution [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Shared environmental conditions of 37 temperature, precipitation, and aridity force evolutionary processes in a manner that results in 38 similar adaptations in species that fill similar ecological roles. Not only do species converge, but 39 communities may too [7][8][9][10]. A good example of this can be studied in desert dunes of the 40 Mojave and of the Negev deserts. In both of these systems we find an array of plants that drop 41 their seeds onto the sand (creating a seed bank); a variety of rodent species feed on these seeds 42 [11][12][13]; and medium-sized sidewinding vipers feed on the rodents [14,15]. 43The Mojave and Negev deserts of North America and the Middle East, respectively, 44 possess rodents with similar ecologies [5,7,13,16,17]. These rodents are nocturnal, semi-45 fossorial, seed-eating, and seed caching. However, the heteromyid rodents of the Mojave may 46 have a constraint breaking adaptation compared to their convergent counterparts in the Negev, 47 the gerbilline rodents. A constraint-breaking adaptation is a game-changing evolutionary 48 adaptation that alters, relaxes or eliminates tradeoffs and confers a competitive advantage to its 49 holder over those lacking the trait as defined by Rosenzweig and McCord [18]. The heteromyids 50 have external fur lined cheek pouches that allow...

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“…Finally, island systems also contain habitats that differ in structure and predation risk (Orrock & Fletcher, 2014), making it possible to examine hypotheses about how rodent activity timing is affected by particular predators in particular habitats. For example, we might expect that small mammals residing in habitat with dense vegetative cover may be active later at night in an effort to avoid strong overlap with peak activity windows of diurnal or crepuscular snakes (e.g., Diller & Wallace, 1996;Ealy, Fleet, & Rudolph, 2004) that preferentially hunt underneath shrub cover (Bleicher, Brown, Embar, & Kotler, 2016;Bouskila, 1995;Kotler et al, 1993). Small mammals residing in more open habitats may shift onset of activity sooner in the evening to minimize overlap with the activity times of nocturnal mammalian predators (e.g., foxes, skunks) or owls that move or hunt more commonly in open habitats (e.g., Farías, Fuller, & Sauvajot, 2012;Laughrin, 1977;Longland & Price, 1991).…”

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confidence: 99%

Habitat‐specific capture timing of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) suggests that predators structure temporal activity of prey

Connolly

Orrock

2017

Ethology

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Timing is an essential component of the choices that animals make: The likelihood of successful resource capture (and predator avoidance) depends not just on what an animal chooses to do, but when it chooses to do it. Despite the importance of activity timing, our ability to understand the forces that constrain activity timing has been limited because this aspect of animal behavior is shaped by several factors (e.g., interspecific competitors, predators, physical conditions), and it is difficult to examine activity timing in a setting where only a single factor is operating. Using an island system that makes it possible to focus on the effect of predation risk in the absence of interspecific competition, we examine how the onset of activity of the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) varies between habitats with unique predation risks (i.e., minimal‐shrub cover versus abundant‐shrub cover sites). Using capture time to assess the timing of mouse activity, we found that mice in habitats with minimal shrub cover were captured 1.7 hr earlier than mice in habitats with abundant shrub cover. This difference in timing between habitats was likely a direct response to differences in predation risk between the two habitats: There were no differences in thermal conditions between the two habitats, and the difference in activity timing disappeared during a night when overcast skies reduced island‐wide predation risk. Our results demonstrate that predation risk, independent of interspecific competition, can generate significant changes in animal activity timing. Our work suggests that habitat structure that provides safety (i.e., refuge habitats) plays a direct role in the timing of prey activity and that habitat modification that alters refuge availability (e.g., shrub dominance) may alter the timing of animal activity.

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Novel predator recognition by Allenby's gerbil (Gerbillus andersoni allenbyi): do gerbils learn to respond to a snake that can “see” in the dark?

Cited by 22 publications

References 21 publications

Divergent behavior amid convergent evolution: A case of four desert rodents learning to respond to known and novel vipers

Divergent behavior amid convergent evolution: A case of four desert rodents learning to respond to known and novel vipers

Divergent Behavior Amid Convergent Evolution: A Case of Four Desert Rodents Learning to Respond to Known and Novel Vipers

Habitat‐specific capture timing of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) suggests that predators structure temporal activity of prey

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