Summary Peking ducklings followed one model in preference to another only if they had actually followed the former during a previous training period. However, neither the degree of choice nor the total amount of subsequent following were functions of the amount of initial following (contra “Law of Effort”). Furthermore, a “complexly configured” training model produced a firmer subsequent choice than did a “plain” training model, although modelcharacteristics influenced neither the elicitation of initial following nor the total amount of subsequent following. Temperature “reinforcement” had no effects. Zusammenfassung Stockentchen zogen ein sehr buntes Entenmodell einem weißen nur dann vor, wenn sie jenem während einer vorhergegangenen Dressurzeit wirklich gefolgt waren. Doch hing im Wahlversuch weder der Grad der Bevorzugung noch das Gesamtausmaß des Folgens von dem des Dressurfolgens ab, was gegen das “Gesetz der aufgewendeten Anstrengung” spricht. Zudem zogen sie im Wahlversuch das bunte Modell dem weißen vor, obwohl die Merkmale des Modells weder die Bereitschaft zum ersten Folgen noch das Ausmaß des zweiten Folgens beeinflußten. Huderwärme fördert die Güte der Prägung nicht.

Previous articleNext article No AccessNew Biological BooksSignals for Survival: Animal Communication through the Lives of Great Black‐backed Gulls and Herring Gulls. A Production of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Shoals Marine Laboratory. Film produced by David O. Brown and Marc S. Dantzker; Written by Marc S. Dantzker. Sunderland (Massachusetts): Sinauer Associates. $49.95 (DVD). ISBN: 978‐0‐87893‐359‐4. 2009.Jack P. HailmanJack P. HailmanArchbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Florida and Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin Search for more articles by this author Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Florida and Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WisconsinPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 85, Number 1March 2010 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/650248 Views: 36Total views on this site © 2010 by The University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The science that is discussed in a scientific presentation, like the science described in written proposals and reports, can fail to make an impression if the presentation is lacking in clarity, organization, and interest value. Therefore, learning how to give effective scientific presentations is as important in communicating your research findings as any written product.

The great tragedy of Science – the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)

This concise guide to planning, writing, and presenting research is intended for biology students of all levels, especially those in behavioral ecology, The reader is guided through a discussion of the nature of scientific research, how to plan research, and how to obtain funding. The authors give advice and guidelines for presenting results at research seminars and scientific meetings, and also provide useful tips on preparing abstracts and posters for scientific meetings. They discuss how to write an effective C.V. and give general tips on how to write clearly. The book is illuminated throughout with personal examples from the authors' own experiences and emphasis is placed on problems associated with field studies. All biologists will find this a valuable resource and guide for the early years of their scientific careers and established faculty will find it an essential instructional tool.

HE reaction of adult Mockingbirds (Minus polyglottos) to mammals during the breeding season has been mentioned by several field ob- servers (e.g., Michener and Michener, 1935; Laskey, 1935)) but apparently never described in detail. This paper presents various observations on the Mockingbird's predator-display durin g the nesting season of 1958. The ob- servations are principally of a single pair of Mockingbirds which successfully raised two broods; a few observations could have included neighboring birds. Mockingbirds displayed to four species of mammals: dogs (Canis fami- Ziaris), a cat (Felis domestica), a human (Homo sapiens), and a Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) . The specific behavior pattern discussed here

A-not-B behavior in various mammals and birds suggests it has been selected for during evolution. One scenario is that displacement to B of one food item from a trove at A should not distract the forager. Piagetian stage V experiments may not test for object permanence, but rather for the more abstract notion that physical objects can be unique.

Prebreeders of the Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) are less likely to be found on their natal territories with a same-sex stepparent than with parents or an opposite-sex stepparent. We tested two models that had been proposed to account for this sexual asymmetry. The dominance hypothesis states that stepparents perceive same-sex prebreeders as competitors, primarily for a mate, so behave aggressively toward them. The pair-formation hypothesis states that prebreeders remain home to pair eventually with the opposite-sex stepparent. Predictions from these two models were tested by analyses from a quarter-century of records on a study population at Archbold Biological Station and by new behavioral field observations at the Station. Results clearly rejected the latter and strongly supported the former hypothesis. No prediction from the pair-formation hypothesis was confirmed: no pairing by a prebreeder of either sex has ever occurred with a stepparent; remaining home was equally frequent in age-one males with stepmothers and genetic mothers, and in females with stepfathers and genetic fathers; and the same results were found in age-two prebreeders. By contrast, the data strongly supported the dominance hypothesis. Field data showed higher aggression rates by stepfathers to male prebreeders and stepmothers to female prebreeders than by parents to their same-sex genetic offspring. Fewer age-one males remained home with a stepfather than with the genetic father, and the same was found for age-one females with a stepmother and genetic mother; at age two, the effect occurred only in female prebreeders. The two hypotheses make different predictions about prebreeders with two stepparents versus with both parents, thus providing a critical test. The dominance hypothesis correctly predicted decreased duration at home by age-one males and females; data for age-two females were in the direction of predicted difference but not significant, and, as in other tests, no effect was found for age-two males. We propose that age-two male prebreeders remain home despite elevated aggression from stepfathers because these prebreeders retain the possibility of budding from or inheriting the natal territory.

ABSTRACT The vocabulary of Siberian tits Parus cinctus in South Norway and East Siberia is compared by means of tape recordings and spectrograms. The species has many different calls that are greatly confused in the literature. In this paper ten main call types are examined. On the whole, the equivalent utterings are geographically so similar that a distinction is usually impossible or questionable. This similarity also applies to the contextual use of the calls. Consistent structural differences in certain calls were nevertheless found. The sit foraging call embraced on average a broader frequency range and was of a slightly longer duration in Siberia than in Norway. The complex ‘gargle’ system could at both places be divided into three main groups equally represented in the populations: (1) trilled, (2) tonal and (3) simple gargles. The tonal gargles are characterized by a terminal tonal element (T) that varies in shape. In Norway, tonal gargles terminating with an even or upslurred T dominated, in Siberia those with a chevron-formed T. Historically, the west-east distribution throughout Eurasia was apparently continuous until quite recently, allowing an effective gene flow. Considering the huge distance from Norway to East Siberia and the markedly resident behaviour of the Siberian tit, it is nevertheless somewhat unexpected that so few vocal differences have evolved. Several of the calls of the Siberian tit are structurally very similar to equivalent (most likely homologous) calls in other species belonging to the subgenus Poecile, e.g. the willow tit Parus montanus and the black-capped chickadee P. atricapillus, suggesting that the multicall repertoire of their common ancestor remained largely intact despite Poecile's differentiation into different species.