Validation of 2D‐animated pictures as an investigative tool in the behavioural sciences: A case study with a West African cichlid fish, Pelvicachromis pulcher
Validation of 2D‐animated pictures as an investigative tool in the behavioural sciences: A case study with a West African cichlid fish, Pelvicachromis pulcher
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DOI：
10.1111/eth.12630
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发表时间：
2017-06
期刊：
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
U. Scherer;J. Godin;W. Schuett
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
U. Scherer;J. Godin;W. Schuett
虚拟刺激是动物行为研究中越来越受欢迎的工具。现代技术有可能简化和改进使用活体刺激的传统实验。然而，越来越多的不同技术的可用性与问题和限制有关。虽然已经开发了许多新方法，但它们的有效性在很大程度上仍未得到测试。因此，在本研究中，我们进行了两个实验，以测试是否2-D动画的捕食者和同种引起生物学上适当的行为反应，在男性彩虹kribs，Pelvicachromis pulcher。个体对同域性天然鱼类捕食者Parachanna obscura的反应使用活体捕食者和静止彩色照片进行测试，使用PowerPoint©制作动画。与对照试验（空水族馆和白色电脑屏幕，分别）相比，个人减少了他们的活动，以应对生活和动画捕食者。我们没有发现活的和动画试验之间的活动差异。此外，我们测试了个体攻击（攻击行为的频率）表现出对生活和动画同种。个体攻击行为表现出对生活和动画同种呈正相关。此外，一个人的平均距离对对手是一个合适的代理个人的侵略允许便利化和标准化的个人的侵略，通过使用跟踪软件相比，更费力，传统的手动评估。我们的研究结果表明，简单，廉价的动画技术有可能提供一个易于应用和有用的技术进步，在动物行为研究。
Virtual stimuli represent an increasingly popular tool in the study of animal behaviour. Modern techniques have the potential to simplify and improve traditional experiments using live stimuli. However, the increasing availability of diverse techniques is associated with problems and limitations. Although many new methods have been developed, their validation remains largely untested. In the present study, we therefore performed two experiments to test whether 2-D animations of predators and conspecifics elicit biologically appropriate behavioural responses in male rainbow kribs, Pelvicachromis pulcher. Individual responses towards a sympatric natural fish predator, Parachanna obscura, were tested using live predators and still colour photographs, animated using PowerPoint©. Compared to control trials (empty aquarium and white computer screen, respectively), individuals decreased their activity in response to both live and animated predators. We found no difference in activity between live and animation trials. Further, we tested individual aggression (frequency of aggressive behaviours) exhibited towards live and animated conspecifics. Individual aggressive behaviours shown towards live and animated conspecifics were positively correlated. Moreover, an individual's mean distance towards the opponent was a suitable proxy for individual aggression permitting the facilitation and standardisation of an individual's aggression through the use of a tracking software compared with the more laborious, traditional manual assessment. Our results show that simple, inexpensive animation techniques have the potential to provide an easy-to-apply and useful technological advance in animal behaviour research.