Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location: An experimental evidence with two tree species

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F21%3A43903073" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/21:43903073 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/60077344:_____/21:00544047

Result on the web

<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.7869" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.7869</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7869" target="_blank" >10.1002/ece3.7869</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location: An experimental evidence with two tree species

Original language 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, naive 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. Naive 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.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10615 - Ornithology

Project

<a href="/en/project/GJ18-23794Y" target="_blank" >GJ18-23794Y: Latitudinal trends in herbivore performance and herbivore damage in hostile and enemy free space</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Ecology and Evolution

ISSN

2045-7758

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

11

Issue of the periodical within the volume

16

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

10917-10925

UT code for WoS article

000675250200001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85110584241