Predation risk may affect the foraging behavior of birds. However, there has been little research on the ability of domestic birds to perceive predation risk and thus adjust their feeding behavior. In this study, we tested whether domestic budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) perceived predation risk after the presentation of specimens and sounds of sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus), domestic cats (Felis catus), and humans, and whether this in turn influenced their feeding behavior. When exposed to visual or acoustic stimuli, budgerigars showed significantly longer latency to feed under sparrowhawk, domestic cat, and human treatments than with controls. Budgerigars responded more strongly to acoustic stimuli than visual stimuli, and they showed the longest latency to feed and the least number of feeding times in response to sparrowhawk calls. Moreover, budgerigars showed shorter latency to feed and greater numbers of feeding times in response to human voices than to sparrowhawk or domestic cat calls. Our results suggest that domestic budgerigars may identify predation risk through visual or acoustic signals and adjust their feeding behavior accordingly.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-024-01847-9 | DOI Listing |
BMC Womens Health
January 2025
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
Background: Prenatal maternal smoking, lower birthweight, and shorter breastfeeding duration have all been associated with an earlier age at menopause in daughters. We estimated the extent to which birthweight-for-gestational-age z-score and breastfeeding duration mediate the effect of prenatal maternal smoking on time to natural menopause in daughters.
Methods: Using pooled data from two prospective birth cohort studies - the 1970 British Cohort Study (n = 3,878) followed-up to age 46 years and the 1958 National Child Development Study (n = 4,822) followed-up to age 50 years - we perform mediation analysis with inverse odds weighting implemented in Cox proportional-hazards models.
Ecol Evol
January 2025
College of Life Sciences, Guizhou University Guiyang Guizhou China.
The risk of predation has always been a significant impact on wild birds. Birds, facing with limited energy, must balance their investment between foraging and vigilance. There were currently limited understandings of the vigilant behavior feedback of birds under different hunger pressure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcology
January 2025
Department of Biology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA.
How consumer diversity determines consumption efficiency is a central issue in ecology. In the context of predation and biological control, this relationship concerns predator diversity and predation efficiency. Reduced predation efficiency can result from different predator taxa eating each other in addition to their common prey (interference due to intraguild predation).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Infect Dis
January 2025
Division of Gastroenterological, General and Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major infectious complication in solid-organ transplant recipients, particularly in the context of pediatric liver transplantation. CMV serostatus is a well-established risk factor for postoperative CMV infection, with CMV seronegative recipients who receive organs from seropositive donors (D+/R-) being at the highest risk. Our previous research indicated a higher incidence of CMV infection in recipients with inherited metabolic diseases (IMDs) compared with those with biliary atresia (BA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States of America.
Among the most immediate drivers of American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus Olivier) declines, nontarget toxicity to pesticides is poorly understood. Acute, episodic exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides at environmentally relevant concentrations is linked to negative impacts on beneficial terrestrial insect taxa. Beyond mortality, behavioral indicators of toxicity are often better suited to assess sublethal effects of residual concentrations in the environment.
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