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Coping Behavior as an Adaptation to Stress in Gulls

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Abstract

In this chapter we employ logistic regression and Darwinian dynamics to explore how a behavior with a crucial physiological function might be co-opted to function as a coping behavior in response to stress generated by the presence of predators. This study was initially reported in the Journal of Biological Dynamics in 2012 by senior researchers Shandelle Henson, Lynelle Weldon, and James Hayward, and students Daniel Greene, Libby Megna, and Maureen Serem [23].

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An attempt is made to explain displacement grooming in approach-avoidance conflict situations on the assumption that grooming is a response to peripheral stimulation. Local and general increases in peripheral stimulations produce specific and general increases in grooming in conflict and non-conflict situations. It is concluded that frequency and composition of grooming in conflict situations are initially determined by intensity and pattern on peripheral stimulation. However, this grooming is further regulated by the opportunity to respond to the stimulation. This can be subdivided into two parts:
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Mouse Hoxb8 mutants show unexpected behavior manifested by compulsive grooming and hair removal, similar to behavior in humans with the obsessive-compulsive disorder spectrum disorder trichotillomania. As Hox gene disruption often has pleiotropic effects, the root cause of this behavioral deficit was unclear. Here we report that, in the brain, Hoxb8 cell lineage exclusively labels bone marrow-derived microglia. Furthermore, transplantation of wild-type bone marrow into Hoxb8 mutant mice rescues their pathological phenotype. It has been suggested that the grooming dysfunction results from a nociceptive defect, also exhibited by Hoxb8 mutant mice. However, bone marrow transplant experiments and cell type-specific disruption of Hoxb8 reveal that these two phenotypes are separable, with the grooming phenotype derived from the hematopoietic lineage and the sensory defect derived from the spinal cord cells. Immunological dysfunctions have been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, but the causative relationships are unclear. In this mouse, a distinct compulsive behavioral disorder is associated with mutant microglia. PaperClip /cms/asset/0aa3578f-19d1-4cb5-b388-cb7924ab826c/mmc1.mp3 Loading ... (mp3, 2.52 MB) Download audio
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Computer-produced typeface. Thesis (M.S.)--Walla Walla College, 1998. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 20-21).
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A recent model by Hamilton and Zuk (1982) suggests that exaggerated secondary sexual traits facilitate mate choice for genetic resistance to parasites. The model predicts that individuals discriminate against parasitized mates by scrutinizing traits indicative of parasite load. In the case of birds and their feather-feeding lice, for example, individuals might avoid parasitized mates bydetecting reduced plumage brightness, reduced courtship display, or increased grooming. I conducted a series of mate choice trials in which female Rock Doves ( Columba livia ) were allowed to choose between “clean” males without lice and “lousy” males with experimentally increased loads. Clean males displayed significantly more often than lousy males and females demonstrated a significant preference for clean males. Lousy males were subject to plumage damage; however, none of the damage was externally visible, and the time spent grooming by clean and lousy males did not differ significantly. Female louse loads, which were also manipulated, were not significantly related to female mating preferences. These results are consistent with the Hamilton-Zuk model. They are also consistent with a model of sexual selection for the avoidance of parasite transmission, which is discussed. The general relevance of lice and other ectoparasites to models of parasite-mediated sexual selection is reviewed.
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In most avian species the plumage also has an important extra function compared with the pelage of mammals: flight. Accordingly preening, as a behavior that conditions the bird's integument, can be expected to play a more important role within the activity repertoire of birds than grooming does in that of mammals. Indeed preening is generally a very elaborate behavior that takes up a considerable proportion of the time budget of birds. For example, van Rhijn 2 has impressively documented the complexity of the preening behavior of gulls, and I have found that during the breeding season and at daytime 150/0 of their time was taken up by this activity.3 During moonlit nights (unpublished observations) the preening took up almost as much of the gulls' time (12%). Pigeons interrupt sleeping in complete darkness virtually only to preen"; gulls can be expected to do likewise. Although preening is such a frequent behavior among birds, our knowledge about it is still sparse and disconnected. To give this brief review the wisp of a plot, it takes the form of a somewhat personal narrative. Besides preening proper (drawing feathers through the beak), a number of other comfort patterns that are more or less closely related to preening, either motivationally or functionally, will be mentioned. The reader should realize that there are several other behaviors of this kind that, though obvi­ ously important to birds, I will not refer to. As a striking, rather exotic example, one can mention anting, or bathing in a heap of ants, an activity many bird species seem to love!
Article
Social facilitation of reproductive behaviour has been studied extensively in gulls and terns, but social facilitation of preening has been reported only anecdotally, and has not been previously quantified. We studied a common tern, Sterna hirundo, colony during the summers of 1996 and 1997 to test for socially facilitated preening. Scan sampling provided evidence of spatial and temporal synchrony of preening behaviour. Preening occurred more often than expected in groups of three or more neighbours. Breeding pairs also preened simultaneously more often than expected. In loafing (resting) areas, the proportion of preeners present increased with tern density. Behavioural observations suggest that preening spread from neighbour to neighbour. The observed clumping in preening behaviour could not be explained by differences in date, time of day or weather. Social facilitation of preening and other maintenance behaviour may be an important aspect of group living that is often overlooked. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Evolutionary analysis, 4th edn
  • S Freeman
  • J C Herron
A comparison of the behavior of resident and intruder glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens) in a colony during territory formation
  • D A Forsyth
Summertime activity budgets of hatching-year mourning doves
  • M P Losito
  • R E Mirarchi
  • G A Baldassarre
Analysis of preening behavior in glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens)
  • M Northam
Published for the British Ornithologists’ Union by Buteo Books
  • Kel Simmons