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Výstražná signalizace barevných forem slunéčka východního (\kur{Harmonia axyridis})
BOROVIČKA, Martin
The efficiency of the aposematic defenses (colouration and chemical defence) used by three rare colour forms of Harmonia axyridis were tested using in the wild caught great tits (Parus major) as predators. I predicted that visually orienting predator will pay more attention to the rare colour forms, as they are not familiar with them and need to generalize the learned aversion to some other ladybirds to these novel ones.
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A test of "object permanence" in Paridae and effect of neophobia and individual explorative strategies on success in solving object permanence tasks
Marhounová, Lucie ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence (OP) is a cognitive ability that enables animals to mentally represent the existence of hidden objects even if they can not be perceived by senses. In humans, OP develops during six qualitative stages, in which the understanding of relationships between objects in space and time changes. Current research shows that primates, some carnivores and several species of birds also acquire various degrees of this ability depending on their social life and foraging strategies. Many studies of OP have focused on food-storing birds but yet only in the Corvidae family. Therefore we decided to test this ability in two species of the Paridae family, food-storing coal tit (Periparus ater, N=23) and non-storing great tit (Parus major, N=24) to find out which stage they can achieve and whether there is a difference between these species in relation to their caching ability. Our results suggest that food-storing coal tits search for completely hidden objects significantly better than great tits. Most of the great tits were not able to solve this task. However, the upper limit for both species is probably Stage 4 because coal tits probably solved OP tasks with more screens randomly or used alternative strategies rather than mental representation. Substantial interindividual variability in the...
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Neophobia, neophilia, and dietary conservatism in birds
Beranová, Eliška ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Hotová Svádová, Kateřina (referee)
Birds` reactions towards novelty are demonstrated by two significant processes - neophobia and neophilia. These reactions often vary according to specific type of novel stimulus. Differences in levels of neophobia and neophilia enable birds to deal with potential costs and benefits arising from encountering a novel stimulus. Reactions towards novelty in birds may vary between different species as well as within them. In between species variability in levels of neophobia/neophilia may be related to dietary strategy and lifestyle. Differences in neophobia/neophilia of an individual bird may be related to sex, age, and personality. Long-term avoidance of novel food - dietary conservatism may follow the initial food neophobia. Again it varies a lot between species as well as within them. Key words: neophobia, neophilia, dietary conservatism, novel stimulus, novel object, novel food
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Food neophobia and food preference in rodents (Rodentia) and its interaction with social learning.
Rudolfová, Veronika ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Telenský, Petr (referee)
Neophobia (fear of novelty) is first protection from ingesting potentially dangerous food in rodents. After overcoming the fear an animal begins to sample the food (take small parts). The animal then forms an aversion to dangerous food and preference for safe and nutritionally favourable food on the grounds of its experience with its ingestion. These mechanisms of behaviour towards food can be learned individually but an individual's behaviour is also influenced by other animals, especially in social animals. Whether an individual will act on its own experiences and therefore learn or if it will learn from others, depends on the situation and the environment in which the animal currently is. Key words: food neophobia, food preferences, social learning, individual learning, Rodentia, Rattus
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Factors influencing variability i behaviour towards novel and aposematic prey in tits (Paridae)
Adamová, Dana
Inter-specific and intra-specific variation in reactions towards novel and aposematic prey was found in several species of tits (Paridae). This Ph.D. thesis is focusing on various factors influencing reactions towards novel and aposematic prey in three European species of tits. We tested differences in exploration behaviour, neophobia, dietary conservatism, personality, age and experience as well as ability of avoidance learning and generalisation. We found no difference in exploration behaviour and in reaction towards novel prey in two different populations of great tits (Parus major). But the birds from the Finnish population were more neophobic than Czech birds, but they attacked aposematic firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus) more often and faster than Czech birds. The difference can be explained by a different experience with local aposematic prey communities. Than we studied initial wariness in naive juveniles of great tits (P. major), coal tits (Periparus ater) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), and we tested how the initial wariness towards novel and aposematic prey can be deactivated by experience with palatable prey. Great tits and coal tits from experienced groups significantly decreased their neophobia towards both types of prey while blue tits did not change their strongly neophobic...
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Factors influencing variability i behaviour towards novel and aposematic prey in tits (Paridae)
Adamová, Dana
Inter-specific and intra-specific variation in reactions towards novel and aposematic prey was found in several species of tits (Paridae). This Ph.D. thesis is focusing on various factors influencing reactions towards novel and aposematic prey in three European species of tits. We tested differences in exploration behaviour, neophobia, dietary conservatism, personality, age and experience as well as ability of avoidance learning and generalisation. We found no difference in exploration behaviour and in reaction towards novel prey in two different populations of great tits (Parus major). But the birds from the Finnish population were more neophobic than Czech birds, but they attacked aposematic firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus) more often and faster than Czech birds. The difference can be explained by a different experience with local aposematic prey communities. Than we studied initial wariness in naive juveniles of great tits (P. major), coal tits (Periparus ater) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), and we tested how the initial wariness towards novel and aposematic prey can be deactivated by experience with palatable prey. Great tits and coal tits from experienced groups significantly decreased their neophobia towards both types of prey while blue tits did not change their strongly neophobic...
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Factors influencing variability i behaviour towards novel and aposematic prey in tits (Paridae)
Adamová, Dana ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee) ; Šálek, Miroslav (referee)
Inter-specific and intra-specific variation in reactions towards novel and aposematic prey was found in several species of tits (Paridae). This Ph.D. thesis is focusing on various factors influencing reactions towards novel and aposematic prey in three European species of tits. We tested differences in exploration behaviour, neophobia, dietary conservatism, personality, age and experience as well as ability of avoidance learning and generalisation. We found no difference in exploration behaviour and in reaction towards novel prey in two different populations of great tits (Parus major). But the birds from the Finnish population were more neophobic than Czech birds, but they attacked aposematic firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus) more often and faster than Czech birds. The difference can be explained by a different experience with local aposematic prey communities. Than we studied initial wariness in naive juveniles of great tits (P. major), coal tits (Periparus ater) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), and we tested how the initial wariness towards novel and aposematic prey can be deactivated by experience with palatable prey. Great tits and coal tits from experienced groups significantly decreased their neophobia towards both types of prey while blue tits did not change their strongly neophobic...
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Repeatability and personality in tests of exploratory behaviour
Žampachová, Barbora ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Personality, or behavioural differences among individuals, which are stable both in time and across contexts, is a highly popular topic. Currently there has been an increase of interest in the relationship between personality and repeatability, which is a methodical approach developed to measure the stability of interindividual differences in time. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the personality of rats according to behavioural patterns exhibited under widely used testing procedures in new environment (open field test, hole board test) and to compare, how behavioural traits in these tests mutually correlate and change over time. Each test trial was repeated eight times with different intervals (24 hours, 6 days, 4 weeks). The results suggest that most of the recorded behavioural variability can be explained with three principal axes. The first one is associated with loco-exploratory activity of the subject. The elements of behaviour associated with this axis are the most repeatable. The second axis is mostly associated with time the animal spent in the central part of the arena and the third axis represents the interest in holes in hole board test. These two axes are less repeatable. A significant effect of the identity of the animal was found in all behavioural traits, associated with these...
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Food neophobia and food preference in rodents (Rodentia) and its interaction with social learning.
Rudolfová, Veronika ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Telenský, Petr (referee)
Neophobia (fear of novelty) is first protection from ingesting potentially dangerous food in rodents. After overcoming the fear an animal begins to sample the food (take small parts). The animal then forms an aversion to dangerous food and preference for safe and nutritionally favourable food on the grounds of its experience with its ingestion. These mechanisms of behaviour towards food can be learned individually but an individual's behaviour is also influenced by other animals, especially in social animals. Whether an individual will act on its own experiences and therefore learn or if it will learn from others, depends on the situation and the environment in which the animal currently is. Key words: food neophobia, food preferences, social learning, individual learning, Rodentia, Rattus
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Object permanence as a method to study higher cognitive functions of primates
Englerová, Kateřina ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence is a cognitive ability, which allows individual to realize the existence of an object even it is not directly accessible to its senses. This ability is essential for successful using of complex cognitive operations. Object permanence is qualitatively and gradually change throughout the development of a child. Congruently, it is not developed to the same level in various species of animals. The aim of this study is to study object permanence in naive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), because there is still some uncertainty about the development of this ability in macaques. Our results show that the naive subjects do not have the highest stage of object permanence (and they do not use representative strategy to solve the tasks), however, other results of our team suggest that more experienced individuals are able to achieve the highest stage under certain circumstances. We show that experimental design used to test object permanence can be modified and used also for studying of other cognitive abilities. We test the preferences of macaque monkeys toward novel non-food stimuli. The reactions of different species of animals can vary. The reactions depend on the type of stimuli (food or non-food), but also on the ecology and ethology of the species. Age, sex and personality of the...
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