Injected serotonin decreases foraging aggression in black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus), but dopamine has no effect.

A fundamental goal of animal behavior research is to discover the proximate mechanisms driving individual behavioral differences. Biogenic amines are known to mediate various aspects of behavior across many species, including aggression, one of the most commonly measured behavioral traits in animals. Arthropods provide an excellent system to manipulate biogenic amines and quantify subsequent behavioral changes. Here, we investigated the role of dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) on foraging aggression in western black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus), as measured by the number of attacks on a simulated prey animal in the web. We injected spiders with DA or 5-HT and then quantified subsequent changes in behavior over 48 h. Based on previous work on insects and spiders, we hypothesized that increasing DA levels would increase aggression, while increasing 5-HT would decrease aggression. We found that injection of 5-HT did decrease black widow foraging aggression, but DA had no effect. This could indicate that the relationship between DA and aggression is complex, or that DA may not play as important a role in driving aggressive behavior as previously thought, at least in black widow spiders. Aggressive behavior is likely also influenced by other factors, such as inter-individual differences in genetics, metabolic rates, environment, and other neurohormonal controls.

You're Just My Type: Mate Choice and Behavioral Types.

Consistent individual differences in behavior [i.e., behavioral types (BTs)], are common across the animal kingdom. Consistency can make behavior an adaptive trait for mate choice decisions. Here, we present a conceptual framework to explain how and why females might evaluate a male's BT before mating. Because BTs are consistent across time or context, a male's BT can be a reliable indicator of his potential to provide direct benefits. Heritable BTs can enable informed mate choice via indirect benefits. Many key issues regarding patterns of mate choice, including sensory biases, context dependence, and assortative mating apply to BT-dependent mate choice. Understanding the relationship between BTs and mate choice may offer insights into patterns of variation and consistency common in behavioral traits.

Huffin' and puffin: seabirds use large bills to dissipate heat from energetically demanding flight.

Endothermic animals regulate body temperature by balancing metabolic heat production and heat exchange with the environment. Heat dissipation is especially important during and immediately after demanding activities such as flapping flight, the most energetically expensive mode of locomotion. As uninsulated appendages, bird bills present a potential avenue for efficient heat dissipation. Puffins possess large bills and are members of the bird family with the highest known flight cost. Here, we used infrared thermography to test whether wild tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) use their bills to dissipate excess heat after energetically expensive flight. Both bill surface temperature and the proportion of total heat exchange occurring at the bill decreased with time since landing, suggesting that bills are used to dissipate excess metabolic heat. We propose that bill size in puffins may be shaped by opposing selective pressures that include dissipating heat after flight and conserving heat in cold air and water temperatures.

Infrared-sensing snakes select ambush orientation based on thermal backgrounds.

Sensory information drives the ecology and behaviour of animals, and some animals are able to detect environmental cues unavailable to us. For example, rattlesnakes use infrared (IR) radiation to detect warm prey at night when visual cues are reduced. Until recently these sensory worlds have been inaccessible to human observers; now technology can allow us to "eavesdrop" on these species and understand how sensory perception drives ecology and behaviour. We used thermography and computer simulations to examine how prey-background temperature contrast and areas of temperature transitions influence the angular orientation of free-ranging rattlesnakes once they have selected an ambush site. We tracked free-ranging sidewinder rattlesnakes Crotalus cerastes to their selected ambush sites and recorded 360° near-ground thermographic panoramas from the centre of the ambush site. A computer simulation then moved a simulated prey item across the panorama and computed a contrast index for all directions. Rattlesnakes did not face ambush directions that offered stronger contrast than average, but they demonstrated a striking tendency to face directions with strong thermal transitions. Background transitions likely create a readily detected, rapidly changing stimulus when a prey animal passes. Quantifications of sensory environments like this one can boost our comprehension of how sensory function impacts the ecology, behaviour, and evolution of animals.

Cooler snakes respond more strongly to infrared stimuli, but we have no idea why.

The pit organ defining pit vipers (Crotalinae) contains a membrane covered with temperature receptors that detect thermal radiation from environmental surfaces. Temperature is both the environmental parameter being sensed and the mechanism by which the pit membrane detects the signal. As snakes are ectotherms, temperature also has a strong influence on neurological and locomotor responses to the signal. This study of Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus) systematically examined the effect of body, target and background temperatures on response to a moving target. We presented each snake with a moving pendulum bob regulated at a series of six temperatures against a uniform background regulated at one of three temperatures. Snake body temperatures varied from 18 to 36°C. As expected, we found stronger responses to positive contrasts (target warmer than background) than to negative contrasts, and stronger responses to greater contrasts. However, the effect of body temperature was contrary to expectations based on studies of the TRPA1 ion channel (believed to be the molecular basis for pit membrane temperature receptors) and typical thermal reaction norms for neural and motor performance. These predict (1) no response below the threshold where the TRPA1 channel opens, (2) response increasing as temperature increases, peaking near preferred body temperature, and (3) declining thereafter. Remarkably, this behavioral response decreased as body temperature increased from 18 to 36°C, with no threshold or peak in this range. We review various possible physiological mechanisms related to body temperature proposed in the literature, but find none that can satisfactorily explain this result.

Do free-ranging rattlesnakes use thermal cues to evaluate prey?

Rattlesnakes use infrared radiation to detect prey animals such as small mammals and lizards. Because ectotherm locomotor performance depends on temperature, rattlesnakes could use prey temperature to evaluate the potential of lizards to evade attacks. Here, we tested whether hunting rattlesnakes use infrared information to (1) detect and (2) evaluate prey before attack. We expected thermal contrast between prey and background to be the best predictor of predatory behaviour under the prey detection hypothesis, and absolute prey temperature under the prey evaluation hypothesis. We presented lizard carcasses of varying temperatures to free-ranging sidewinder rattlesnakes (Crotalus cerastes) and scored behavioural responses as a function of thermal contrast, absolute lizard temperature, and light level. Thermal contrast and light level were the most salient predictors of snake behaviour. Snakes were more likely to respond to lizards and/or respond at greater distances at night and when thermal contrast was high, supporting the known prey detection function of infrared sensing. Absolute lizard temperature was not an important predictor of snake behaviour; thus, we found no evidence for temperature-based prey evaluation. Infrared sensing is still poorly understood in ecologically relevant contexts; future research will test whether rattlesnakes learn to evaluate prey based on temperature with experience.

Kangaroo rats change temperature when investigating rattlesnake predators.

Predator presence causes acute stress in mammals. A prey animal's stress response increases its chance of survival during life-threatening situations through adaptive changes in behavior and physiology. Some components of the physiological stress response can lead to changes in body surface temperatures. Body temperature changes in prey could provide information about prey state to predators that sense heat, such as pit vipers. We determined whether wild rodents undergo a stress-induced change in body surface temperature upon detecting and investigating rattlesnake predators. We staged encounters between free-ranging Merriam's kangaroo rats (Dipodomys merriami) and tethered Mojave rattlesnakes (Crotalus scutulatus) at baited feeding stations, and recorded interactions with a thermal-imaging camera. Kangaroo rats showed a significant change in maximum head temperature, snout temperature, and hind leg temperature during interactions with rattlesnakes. This supports the hypothesis that presence of a predator induces body temperature changes in prey animals. If changes in prey heat signature are detectable by heat-sensitive rattlesnakes, rattlesnakes could use this information to evaluate prey vigilance or arousal before striking; however, more detailed information on the sensory ecology of the pit organ under field conditions is needed to evaluate this possibility.