Behavioral attraction of Leach's storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide
A recent model for olfactory foraging by procellariiform seabirds suggests that these birds use biogenic sulfur compounds to locate productive areas for foraging in the southern oceans. The present study refines a simple approach to test birds' responses to odors on land and extends our knowled...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jexbio:206/9/1497 2023-05-15T17:52:20+02:00 Behavioral attraction of Leach's storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide Nevitt, Gabrielle A. Haberman, Karen 2003-05-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/206/9/1497 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00287 en eng Company of Biologists http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/206/9/1497 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00287 Copyright (C) 2003, Company of Biologists Research Article TEXT 2003 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00287 2015-02-28T20:06:54Z A recent model for olfactory foraging by procellariiform seabirds suggests that these birds use biogenic sulfur compounds to locate productive areas for foraging in the southern oceans. The present study refines a simple approach to test birds' responses to odors on land and extends our knowledge to a northern species, the Leach's storm-petrel ( Oceanodroma leucorhoa ). Rather than working at sea, we tested the behavioral response to dimethyl sulfide (DMS) at night in breeding colonies on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada. Birds were presented with either 5 ml DMS (100 μmol l–1 concentration) or control (water) solutions from a platform 1.5 m in height positioned in a flyway 10 m from a breeding colony. We also tested birds' responses to cod liver oil, a well-established olfactory attractant of procellariiforms foraging at sea. Leach's storm-petrels approached DMS presentations nearly twice as frequently as they approached controls. We next compared the distribution of approaches against a Poisson process to test for evidence of social cueing. We found that approaches to DMS were significantly clustered. By contrast, the distribution of approaches did not depart significantly from a Poisson distribution for either cod liver oil or control presentations. Taken together, these results suggest that Leach's storm-petrels can smell DMS and potentially use it as a foraging cue. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the detection of biogenic sulfur compounds in combination with other cues assists birds in locating foraging hotspots. Text Oceanodroma leucorhoa HighWire Press (Stanford University) Canada Kent Island ENVELOPE(70.133,70.133,-49.033,-49.033) Journal of Experimental Biology 206 9 1497 1501 |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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fthighwire |
language |
English |
topic |
Research Article |
spellingShingle |
Research Article Nevitt, Gabrielle A. Haberman, Karen Behavioral attraction of Leach's storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
A recent model for olfactory foraging by procellariiform seabirds suggests that these birds use biogenic sulfur compounds to locate productive areas for foraging in the southern oceans. The present study refines a simple approach to test birds' responses to odors on land and extends our knowledge to a northern species, the Leach's storm-petrel ( Oceanodroma leucorhoa ). Rather than working at sea, we tested the behavioral response to dimethyl sulfide (DMS) at night in breeding colonies on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada. Birds were presented with either 5 ml DMS (100 μmol l–1 concentration) or control (water) solutions from a platform 1.5 m in height positioned in a flyway 10 m from a breeding colony. We also tested birds' responses to cod liver oil, a well-established olfactory attractant of procellariiforms foraging at sea. Leach's storm-petrels approached DMS presentations nearly twice as frequently as they approached controls. We next compared the distribution of approaches against a Poisson process to test for evidence of social cueing. We found that approaches to DMS were significantly clustered. By contrast, the distribution of approaches did not depart significantly from a Poisson distribution for either cod liver oil or control presentations. Taken together, these results suggest that Leach's storm-petrels can smell DMS and potentially use it as a foraging cue. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the detection of biogenic sulfur compounds in combination with other cues assists birds in locating foraging hotspots. |
format |
Text |
author |
Nevitt, Gabrielle A. Haberman, Karen |
author_facet |
Nevitt, Gabrielle A. Haberman, Karen |
author_sort |
Nevitt, Gabrielle A. |
title |
Behavioral attraction of Leach's storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide |
title_short |
Behavioral attraction of Leach's storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide |
title_full |
Behavioral attraction of Leach's storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide |
title_fullStr |
Behavioral attraction of Leach's storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide |
title_full_unstemmed |
Behavioral attraction of Leach's storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide |
title_sort |
behavioral attraction of leach's storm-petrels (oceanodroma leucorhoa) to dimethyl sulfide |
publisher |
Company of Biologists |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/206/9/1497 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00287 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(70.133,70.133,-49.033,-49.033) |
geographic |
Canada Kent Island |
geographic_facet |
Canada Kent Island |
genre |
Oceanodroma leucorhoa |
genre_facet |
Oceanodroma leucorhoa |
op_relation |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/206/9/1497 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00287 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2003, Company of Biologists |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00287 |
container_title |
Journal of Experimental Biology |
container_volume |
206 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1497 |
op_container_end_page |
1501 |
_version_ |
1766159724427870208 |