Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species
When searching for food, great tits (Parus major) can use herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) as an indicator of arthropod presence. Their ability to detect HIPVs was shown to be learned, and not innate, yet the flexibility and generalization of learning remain unclear. We studied if, and if s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153808 |
| _version_ | 1811688528971563008 |
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| author | Sam, Katerina Kovarova, Eliska Freiberga, Inga Uthe, Henriette Weinhold, Alexander Jorge, Leonardo R. Sreekar, Rachakonda |
| author2 | School of Biological Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Biological Sciences Sam, Katerina Kovarova, Eliska Freiberga, Inga Uthe, Henriette Weinhold, Alexander Jorge, Leonardo R. Sreekar, Rachakonda |
| author_sort | Sam, Katerina |
| collection | NTU |
| description | When searching for food, great tits (Parus major) can use herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) as an indicator of arthropod presence. Their ability to detect HIPVs was shown to be learned, and not innate, yet the flexibility and generalization of learning remain unclear. We studied if, and if so how, naïve and trained great tits (Parus major) discriminate between herbivore-induced and noninduced saplings of Scotch elm (Ulmus glabra) and cattley guava (Psidium cattleyanum). We chemically analyzed the used plants and showed that their HIPVs differed significantly and overlapped only in a few compounds. Birds trained to discriminate between herbivore-induced and noninduced saplings preferred the herbivore-induced saplings of the plant species they were trained to. Naïve birds did not show any preferences. Our results indicate that the attraction of great tits to herbivore-induced plants is not innate, rather it is a skill that can be acquired through learning, one tree species at a time. We demonstrate that the ability to learn to associate HIPVs with food reward is flexible, expressed to both tested plant species, even if the plant species has not coevolved with the bird species (i.e., guava). Our results imply that the birds are not capable of generalizing HIPVs among tree species but suggest that they either learn to detect individual compounds or associate whole bouquets with food rewards. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:33:39Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/153808 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:33:39Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1538082023-02-28T17:10:03Z Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species Sam, Katerina Kovarova, Eliska Freiberga, Inga Uthe, Henriette Weinhold, Alexander Jorge, Leonardo R. Sreekar, Rachakonda School of Biological Sciences Science::Biological sciences Avian Olfaction Foraging When searching for food, great tits (Parus major) can use herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) as an indicator of arthropod presence. Their ability to detect HIPVs was shown to be learned, and not innate, yet the flexibility and generalization of learning remain unclear. We studied if, and if so how, naïve and trained great tits (Parus major) discriminate between herbivore-induced and noninduced saplings of Scotch elm (Ulmus glabra) and cattley guava (Psidium cattleyanum). We chemically analyzed the used plants and showed that their HIPVs differed significantly and overlapped only in a few compounds. Birds trained to discriminate between herbivore-induced and noninduced saplings preferred the herbivore-induced saplings of the plant species they were trained to. Naïve birds did not show any preferences. Our results indicate that the attraction of great tits to herbivore-induced plants is not innate, rather it is a skill that can be acquired through learning, one tree species at a time. We demonstrate that the ability to learn to associate HIPVs with food reward is flexible, expressed to both tested plant species, even if the plant species has not coevolved with the bird species (i.e., guava). Our results imply that the birds are not capable of generalizing HIPVs among tree species but suggest that they either learn to detect individual compounds or associate whole bouquets with food rewards. Published version KS acknowledges Grant Agency of Czech Replublic project 18-23794Y and European Research Council project BABE 805189. HU and AW gratefully ackowledge the German Research Foundation for funding the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Reasearch (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig (DFG-FZT 118,202548816). 2021-12-29T04:30:58Z 2021-12-29T04:30:58Z 2021 Journal Article Sam, K., Kovarova, E., Freiberga, I., Uthe, H., Weinhold, A., Jorge, L. R. & Sreekar, R. (2021). Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species. Ecology and Evolution, 11(16), 10917-10925. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7869 2045-7758 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153808 10.1002/ece3.7869 34429890 2-s2.0-85110584241 16 11 10917 10925 en Ecology and Evolution © 2021 The Author(s). Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original works is properly cited. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Science::Biological sciences Avian Olfaction Foraging Sam, Katerina Kovarova, Eliska Freiberga, Inga Uthe, Henriette Weinhold, Alexander Jorge, Leonardo R. Sreekar, Rachakonda Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species |
| title | Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species |
| title_full | Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species |
| title_fullStr | Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species |
| title_full_unstemmed | Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species |
| title_short | Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location : an experimental evidence with two tree species |
| title_sort | great tits parus major flexibly learn that herbivore induced plant volatiles indicate prey location an experimental evidence with two tree species |
| topic | Science::Biological sciences Avian Olfaction Foraging |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153808 |
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