Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals

BACKGROUND: The detection of predator chemical cues is an important antipredatory behaviour as it allows an early assessment of predation risk without encountering the predator and therefore increases survival. For instance, since chemical cues are often by-products of metabolism, olfaction may gath...

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Autores principales:	Amo,Luisa, López-Rull,Isabel, Pagán,Iluminada, García,Constantino Macías
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Sociedad de Biología de Chile 2015
Materias:	Carpodacus mexicanus Olfaction Omnivorous predator Predation risk Predator diet Predator chemical cues
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100005
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0716-078X20150001000052015-12-21Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammalsAmo,LuisaLópez-Rull,IsabelPagán,IluminadaGarcía,Constantino Macías Carpodacus mexicanus Olfaction Omnivorous predator Predation risk Predator diet Predator chemical cues BACKGROUND: The detection of predator chemical cues is an important antipredatory behaviour as it allows an early assessment of predation risk without encountering the predator and therefore increases survival. For instance, since chemical cues are often by-products of metabolism, olfaction may gather information not only on the identity but also about the diet of predators in the vicinity. Knowledge of the role of olfaction in the interactions of birds with their environment, in contexts as important as predator avoidance, is still scarce. We conducted two two-choice experiments to explore 1) whether the house finch Carpodacus mexicanus can detect the chemical cues of a marsupial predatory mammal, the common opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), and 2) whether its response to such cues is influenced by the recent diet of this omnivorous predator, as this would increase the accuracy with which the risk of predation is assessed. RESULTS: House finches avoided the area of the apparatus containing the scent of the predator, and this effect did not depend on the recent diet (bait used to lace the traps) of the predator. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide clear evidence that house finches detect and use the chemical cues of predators to assess the level of predation risk of an area and avoid it.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSociedad de Biología de ChileRevista chilena de historia natural v.88 20152015-01-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100005en10.1186/S40693-015-0036-4
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Carpodacus mexicanus Olfaction Omnivorous predator Predation risk Predator diet Predator chemical cues
spellingShingle	Carpodacus mexicanus Olfaction Omnivorous predator Predation risk Predator diet Predator chemical cues Amo,Luisa López-Rull,Isabel Pagán,Iluminada García,Constantino Macías Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals
description	BACKGROUND: The detection of predator chemical cues is an important antipredatory behaviour as it allows an early assessment of predation risk without encountering the predator and therefore increases survival. For instance, since chemical cues are often by-products of metabolism, olfaction may gather information not only on the identity but also about the diet of predators in the vicinity. Knowledge of the role of olfaction in the interactions of birds with their environment, in contexts as important as predator avoidance, is still scarce. We conducted two two-choice experiments to explore 1) whether the house finch Carpodacus mexicanus can detect the chemical cues of a marsupial predatory mammal, the common opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), and 2) whether its response to such cues is influenced by the recent diet of this omnivorous predator, as this would increase the accuracy with which the risk of predation is assessed. RESULTS: House finches avoided the area of the apparatus containing the scent of the predator, and this effect did not depend on the recent diet (bait used to lace the traps) of the predator. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide clear evidence that house finches detect and use the chemical cues of predators to assess the level of predation risk of an area and avoid it.
author	Amo,Luisa López-Rull,Isabel Pagán,Iluminada García,Constantino Macías
author_facet	Amo,Luisa López-Rull,Isabel Pagán,Iluminada García,Constantino Macías
author_sort	Amo,Luisa
title	Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals
title_short	Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals
title_full	Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals
title_fullStr	Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals
title_full_unstemmed	Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals
title_sort	evidence that the house finch (carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals
publisher	Sociedad de Biología de Chile
publishDate	2015
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2015000100005
work_keys_str_mv	AT amoluisa evidencethatthehousefinchcarpodacusmexicanususesscenttoavoidomnivoremammals AT lopezrullisabel evidencethatthehousefinchcarpodacusmexicanususesscenttoavoidomnivoremammals AT paganiluminada evidencethatthehousefinchcarpodacusmexicanususesscenttoavoidomnivoremammals AT garciaconstantinomacias evidencethatthehousefinchcarpodacusmexicanususesscenttoavoidomnivoremammals
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Evidence that the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) uses scent to avoid omnivore mammals

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