Living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats

Abstract Living in mix-species aggregations provides animals with substantive anti-predator, foraging and locomotory advantages while simultaneously exposing them to costs, including increased competition and pathogen exposure. Given each species possess unique morphology, competitive ability, paras...

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Autores principales:	Douglas P. Chivers, Mark I. McCormick, Eric P. Fakan, Randall P. Barry, Maud C. O. Ferrari
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/91b58e576dc84a538abd3f19a82984f2
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:91b58e576dc84a538abd3f19a82984f22021-12-02T19:16:59ZLiving in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats10.1038/s41598-021-98224-02045-2322https://doaj.org/article/91b58e576dc84a538abd3f19a82984f22021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98224-0https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Living in mix-species aggregations provides animals with substantive anti-predator, foraging and locomotory advantages while simultaneously exposing them to costs, including increased competition and pathogen exposure. Given each species possess unique morphology, competitive ability, parasite vulnerability and predator defences, we can surmise that each species in mixed groups will experience a unique set of trade-offs. In addition to this unique balance, each species must also contend with anthropogenic changes, a relatively new, and rapidly increasing phenomenon, that adds further complexity to any system. This complex balance of biotic and abiotic factors is on full display in the exceptionally diverse, yet anthropogenically degraded, Great Barrier Reef of Australia. One such example within this intricate ecosystem is the inability of some damselfish to utilize their own chemical alarm cues within degraded habitats, leaving them exposed to increased predation risk. These cues, which are released when the skin is damaged, warn nearby individuals of increased predation risk and act as a crucial associative learning tool. Normally, a single exposure of alarm cues paired with an unknown predator odour facilitates learning of that new odour as dangerous. Here, we show that Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, a species with impaired alarm responses in degraded habitats, failed to learn a novel predator odour as risky when associated with chemical alarm cues. However, in the same degraded habitats, the same species learned to recognize a novel predator as risky when the predator odour was paired with alarm cues of the closely related, and co-occurring, whitetail damselfish, Pomacentrus chrysurus. The importance of this learning opportunity was underscored in a survival experiment which demonstrated that fish in degraded habitats trained with heterospecific alarm cues, had higher survival than those we tried to train with conspecific alarm cues. From these data, we conclude that redundancy in learning mechanisms among prey guild members may lead to increased stability in rapidly changing environments.Douglas P. ChiversMark I. McCormickEric P. FakanRandall P. BarryMaud C. O. FerrariNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Douglas P. Chivers Mark I. McCormick Eric P. Fakan Randall P. Barry Maud C. O. Ferrari Living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats
description	Abstract Living in mix-species aggregations provides animals with substantive anti-predator, foraging and locomotory advantages while simultaneously exposing them to costs, including increased competition and pathogen exposure. Given each species possess unique morphology, competitive ability, parasite vulnerability and predator defences, we can surmise that each species in mixed groups will experience a unique set of trade-offs. In addition to this unique balance, each species must also contend with anthropogenic changes, a relatively new, and rapidly increasing phenomenon, that adds further complexity to any system. This complex balance of biotic and abiotic factors is on full display in the exceptionally diverse, yet anthropogenically degraded, Great Barrier Reef of Australia. One such example within this intricate ecosystem is the inability of some damselfish to utilize their own chemical alarm cues within degraded habitats, leaving them exposed to increased predation risk. These cues, which are released when the skin is damaged, warn nearby individuals of increased predation risk and act as a crucial associative learning tool. Normally, a single exposure of alarm cues paired with an unknown predator odour facilitates learning of that new odour as dangerous. Here, we show that Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, a species with impaired alarm responses in degraded habitats, failed to learn a novel predator odour as risky when associated with chemical alarm cues. However, in the same degraded habitats, the same species learned to recognize a novel predator as risky when the predator odour was paired with alarm cues of the closely related, and co-occurring, whitetail damselfish, Pomacentrus chrysurus. The importance of this learning opportunity was underscored in a survival experiment which demonstrated that fish in degraded habitats trained with heterospecific alarm cues, had higher survival than those we tried to train with conspecific alarm cues. From these data, we conclude that redundancy in learning mechanisms among prey guild members may lead to increased stability in rapidly changing environments.
format	article
author	Douglas P. Chivers Mark I. McCormick Eric P. Fakan Randall P. Barry Maud C. O. Ferrari
author_facet	Douglas P. Chivers Mark I. McCormick Eric P. Fakan Randall P. Barry Maud C. O. Ferrari
author_sort	Douglas P. Chivers
title	Living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats
title_short	Living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats
title_full	Living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats
title_fullStr	Living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats
title_full_unstemmed	Living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats
title_sort	living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/91b58e576dc84a538abd3f19a82984f2
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Living in mixed species groups promotes predator learning in degraded habitats

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