Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 5, 2026
10:58
Obtaining Specimens with Slowed, Accelerated and Reversed Aging in the Honey Bee Model
Published on: August 29, 2013
Cooperative sentinel calling? Foragers gain increased biomass intake
Linda I Hollén1, Matthew B V Bell, Andrew N Radford
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, United Kingdom.
Current Biology : CB
|April 22, 2008
Summary
Sentinel birds
Area of Science:
- Animal behavior
- Evolutionary biology
- Ecology
Background:
- Foraging animals balance predation and starvation risks.
- Sentinel behavior, where individuals watch for predators, is common in social species.
- The function of sentinel vocalizations (sentinel calls) remains debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of sentinel calls on the foraging success of group members.
- To determine if sentinel calling is a cooperative behavior.
Main Methods:
- Observational and experimental data collection.
- Studied pied babblers (Turdoides bicolor).
- Analyzed foraging behavior and biomass intake in response to sentinel calls.
Main Results:
- Foraging birds spread out more and used more exposed patches when hearing sentinel calls.
- Birds spent less time vigilant and looking up, increasing foraging time.
- This led to a significant increase in biomass intake for foragers.
Conclusions:
- Sentinel calls enhance foraging success by allowing group members to exploit resources more effectively.
- This increased foraging success likely improves survival, supporting sentinel calling as a cooperative behavior.
Related Concept Videos
00:48Optimal Foraging
How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
02:39Predator-Prey Interactions
Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.Although predation is commonly associated with carnivory, for...
00:51Energy Budgets and Reproductive Strategies
Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance, and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species reproduce only once in their lifetime, often investing most available resources into that single reproductive event. Iteroparous species, by contrast, reproduce multiple times over their lifetimes, typically allocating fewer resources to any single...
01:28Microbial Interactions: Predation
Microbial predation refers to the process by which one microorganism kills and consumes another to obtain nutrients and energy. It encompasses both bacterial and protozoan predators. This interaction plays a crucial role in shaping microbial communities and regulating nutrient cycling.Bacterial Predators: Epibiotic vs. EndobioticBacterial predators are classified based on their mode of attack as either epibiotic or endobiotic. Epibiotic predators, such as Vampirococcus, attach to the surface of...
00:46Trophic Efficiency
Trophic level transfer efficiency (TLTE) is a measure of the total energy transfer from one trophic level to the next. Due to extensive energy loss as metabolic heat, an average of only 10% of the original energy obtained is passed on to the next level. This pattern of energy loss severely limits the possible number of trophic levels in a food chain.
02:26Defenses Against Pathogens and Herbivores
Plants present a rich source of nutrients for many organisms, making it a target for herbivores and infectious agents. Plants, though lacking a proper immune system, have developed an array of constitutive and inducible defenses to fend off these attacks.