Fruits, fingers, and fermentation: The sensory cues available to foraging primates
Fruits, fingers, and fermentation: The sensory cues available to foraging primates
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DOI：
10.1093/icb/44.4.295
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发表时间：
2004-08-01
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Dominy, NJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dominy, NJ
生存和繁殖的成功取决于对环境刺激的感知。在这方面，觅食效率取决于辨别食物中的预测信号。乙醇在水果中的广泛存在表明食果动物长期暴露于这种化合物。因此，达德利（2000，Quart. Rev. Biol. 75：3-15）提出，乙醇可以代表灵长类动物的一个突出的感官线索，因为直接和间接相关的热量和生理奖励。然而，很少有人知道乙醇与这些参数相关的程度。这些信息对于评估检测和解毒水果中乙醇的重要性至关重要。在这里，我提出了一个初步的分析，从东南亚的水果，低水平的乙醇存在于水果的所有发展阶段（范围：0.005-0.48%）。此外，乙醇与可溶性糖的浓度呈正相关，这表明它可能是一个有价值的觅食线索。最近关于灵长类动物嗅觉和味觉对乙醇的敏感性的研究结果与这一观点一致。然而，当灵长类动物故意闻到水果时，它经常与数字和/或牙科质地评估一起发生。在这里，我表明软化的质地也是水果成熟过程的特征，并且颜色对于拥有三色视觉的灵长类动物来说具有模糊的重要性。我讨论了这些研究结果的灵长类动物的起源和生态学的关键感官系统的相关性，并推断，检测和选择水果的线索的基础上，而不是颜色是灵长类动物进化的一个持久的主题。乙醇在灵长类动物觅食行为的调节中可能发挥了重要而被低估的作用。
Survival and reproductive success hinge on the perception of environmental stimuli. In this regard, foraging efficiency depends on discerning predictive signals in food. A widespread occurrence of ethanol in fruits indicates a sustained historical exposure of frugivores to this compound. Accordingly, Dudley (2000, Quart. Rev. Biol. 75:3-15) proposed that ethanol could represent a prominent sensory cue to primates because of direct and indirectly associated caloric and physiological rewards. However, little is known regarding the extent to which ethanol correlates with such parameters. This information is essential to estimating the importance of detecting and detoxifying ethanol in fruits. Here I present a preliminary analysis of fruits from Southeast Asia; low levels of ethanol were present in fruits of all developmental stages (range: 0.005-0.48%). Moreover, ethanol correlated positively with concentrations of soluble sugars, suggesting that it could be a valuable foraging cue. Recent findings on the sensitivity of primate olfaction and gustation to ethanol are consistent with this notion. However, when primates smell fruits deliberately, it often occurs together with digital and/or dental evaluation of texture. Here I show that softening texture also characterizes the fruit ripening process, and that color is of ambiguous importance to primates possessing trichromatic vision. I discuss the relevance of these findings to the origins of primates and the ecology of key sensory systems and deduce that detecting and selecting fruits on the basis of cues other than color is a persistent theme in primate evolution. Ethanol has likely played a significant and underestimated role in the regulation of primate foraging behavior.