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Risk-induced neophobia: does sensory modality matter?

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Abstract

Recent studies have documented that exposure to high levels of background risk can induce neophobic predator avoidance in prey animals, whereby they respond to any novel cue with an anti-predator response. Such phenotypically plastic predator avoidance may allow prey to maximize anti-predator benefits in variable risk environments. It remains poorly understood whether risk assessment information from different sensory modalities can be integrated to induce generalized, cross-sensory system neophobic responses. Here, we directly test this hypothesis by exposing juvenile convict cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) to high- versus low-risk environments using either conspecific alarm cue (chemosensory risk) or a model avian predator (visual/mechanical risk) and testing their response to a novel chemosensory cue (Experiment 1) or visual cue (Experiment 2). Our results suggest that regardless of the sensory modality used to increased perceived risk, cichlids pre-exposed to high-risk conditions exhibited increased predator avoidance in response to any novel visual or chemical cue. As expected, cichlids pre-exposed to low-risk conditions did not display any neophobic responses. Our results suggest that induced neophobia is not cue specific; rather, it may function as a generalized response to perceived predation risk.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ebony E. Demers, Laurence Feyten and Amanda Jeanson for assistance in the laboratory. All work reported herein was conducted in accordance with Concordia University Animal Research Ethics protocol # AREC-BROW-2011 and # 30000255. Financial support was provided by Concordia University and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to G.E.B. and the University of Saskatchewan and NSERC to D.P.C. and M.C.O.F.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada

    Grant E. Brown, Christopher D. Jackson & Brendan J. Joyce

  2. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada

    Douglas P. Chivers

  3. Department of Biomedical Sciences, WCVM, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5B4, Canada

    Maud C. O. Ferrari

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  1. Grant E. Brown
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Correspondence to Grant E. Brown.

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Brown, G.E., Jackson, C.D., Joyce, B.J. et al. Risk-induced neophobia: does sensory modality matter?. Anim Cogn 19, 1143–1150 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-1021-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-1021-2

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