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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2282/537
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| Title: | Potential risks of olfactory signaling : the effect of predators on scent marking by beavers |
| Authors: | Rosell, Frank
Sanda, Jørn Ingar |
| Issue Date: | 2006 |
| Publishers version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arl022 |
| Citation: | Behavioral ecology 17(2006), No. 6, p. 897-904 |
| Status: | Peer reviewed |
| Abstract: | Mammals scent mark their territories to advertise occupancy and ownership. However, signaling with scent for territorial defense
can have a negative effect by advertising an individual’s presence and location to predators. In this study, we measured responses
to a simulated territorial intrusion by conspecific adult male Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber) either in the localized presence or in
the absence of odor of a predator to test the hypothesis that the territorial defense of free-living beavers would be disrupted by
the presence of predation risk in their natural environment. We predicted that beavers would significantly reduce their willingness
to countermark intruder’s scent in the presence of the scent of predators (wolf [Canis lupus] and lynx [Lynx lynx]), compared
with a control (no odor), as responses are in general stronger to predator scent marks than nonpredator scent. Therefore,
we also predicted that the effects of nonpredatory mammal scent (neophobic control) (eland [Taurotragus oryx] and horse [Equus
cabalus]) are to be expected somewhere in between the effects of the predator odor and a control. Our results suggest that
both predator and nonpredator scents reduce beavers response to a simulated intruder’s scent mounds and therefore disrupt
their territorial defense. However, predator scent had a stronger effect than nonpredator scent. Beavers may therefore be at great
risk on territories with predators present because of the trade-off between predator avoidance and territorial defense. Our
study demonstrates the potential of predation risk as a powerful agent of counterselection on olfactory signaling behavior. |
| Keywords: | Bever
Duftmarkering
Duft
Signaler
Kjemiske signaler
Atferd
Territorial atferd |
| Description: | This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Behavioral ecology following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arl022 |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2282/537 |
| Appears in Collections: | Institutt for natur-, helse- og miljøvernfag
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