Abstract
The utilization of social cues is usually considered an important adaptation to living in social groups, but recent evidence suggests that social information use may be more prevalent in the animal kingdom than previously thought. However, it is debated whether such information can efficiently diffuse in temporary aggregations of non-grouping individuals where social cohesion does not facilitate information transmission. Here, we provide experimental evidence that a simple social cue, the movement of conspecifics in a structured environment affected individuals' spatial decisions in common frog (Rana temporaria) tadpoles and thereby facilitated the discovery rate of a novel food patch. However, this was true only in those tadpole collectives that consisted solely of untutored individuals. In those collectives where tutors with prior experience with the presented food type were also present, this social effect was negligible most probably due to the difference in activity between naive and tutor individuals. We also showed that the proportion of tadpoles that discovered the food patch was higher in the control than in the tutored collectives, while the proportion of feeding tadpoles was only marginally higher in the latter collectives. Our findings indicate that social information use can influence resource acquisition in temporary aggregations of non-grouping animals, but individual differences in satiety may hinder effective information spread associated with exploitable food patches.
Highlights
The presence, behaviour or product of the behaviour of others often serve as social cues for group-living animals, conveying inadvertent social information (ISI) that may be used adaptively during decision-making [1]
We found that the proportion of time moving was significantly lower in the Spirulinatreated tadpoles compared to the control individuals (EMMs with 95% CI: 0.14 [0.07, 0.21] versus 0.25 [0.18, 0.32]; C–S contrast ± s.e.: 0.11 ± 0.05, t-ratio20.9 = 2.31, p = 0.031; figure 1)
We investigated how common frog tadpoles used social cues during a foraging task
Summary
The presence, behaviour or product of the behaviour of others often serve as social cues for group-living animals, conveying inadvertent social information (ISI) that may be used adaptively during decision-making [1]. If the response of an individual to predation threat exerts similar behavioural adjustments in conspecific observers, such socially acquired information may diffuse among nearby individuals and generate behavioural responses beyond the detection range of the original cue [14] Such diffusion can occur through the network of connections that represent the number of opportunities an individual has to observe the behaviour of others [15,16], i.e. observations based on visual and/or non-visual (e.g. chemical, acoustic or vibration-related) perception, and may facilitate predator avoidance or resource localization/acquisition in various species and ecological scenarios [17,18,19]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
