| Title: | Insectivorous birds can see and smell systemically herbivore-induced pines |
| Author(s): | Mantyla E; Kipper S; Hilker M; |
| Address: | Applied Zoology/Animal Ecology Institute of Biology Freie Universitat Berlin Berlin Germany. Institute of Entomology Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic. Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic. Section of Ecology Department of Biology University of Turku Turku Finland. Animal Behaviour Institute of Biology Freie Universitat Berlin Berlin Germany. Technische Universitat Munchen Freising Germany |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2045-7758 (Print) 2045-7758 (Electronic) 2045-7758 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Several studies have shown that insectivorous birds are attracted to herbivore-damaged trees even when they cannot see or smell the actual herbivores or their feces. However, it often remained an open question whether birds are attracted by herbivore-induced changes in leaf odor or in leaf light reflectance or by both types of changes. Our study addressed this question by investigating the response of great tits (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) to Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) damaged by pine sawfly larvae (Diprion pini). We released the birds individually to a study booth, where they were simultaneously offered a systemically herbivore-induced and a noninfested control pine branch. In the first experiment, the birds could see the branches, but could not smell them, because each branch was kept inside a transparent, airtight cylinder. In the second experiment, the birds could smell the branches, but could not see them, because each branch was placed inside a nontransparent cylinder with a mesh lid. The results show that the birds were more attracted to the herbivore-induced branch in both experiments. Hence, either type of the tested cues, the herbivore-induced visual plant cue alone as well as the olfactory cues per se, is attractive to the birds" |
| Keywords: | herbivory olfaction systemic induction vision volatile organic compounds; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEMantyla, Elina Kipper, Silke Hilker, Monika eng England 2020/09/22 Ecol Evol. 2020 Aug 4; 10(17):9358-9370. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6622. eCollection 2020 Sep" |
