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1. Do bats use scent cues from guano and urine to find roosts?

   https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.09.01.09.2022  

   Brown, Bridget; Carter, Gerald (February 2022, Animal Behavior and Cognition)

   Selection of habitat is a key determinant of reproductive success, and the process of finding and choosing these sites is often influenced by the presence of conspecifics. Many bats frequently switch roosts, and some bats repeatedly find new roosts. To find roosts with conspecifics or group members, bats can use social cues. However, most research on how bats use social cues for roost-finding has focused on acoustic cues. Here, we review and discuss the evidence for bat roost selection using scent cues from guano and urine stains, which are present at most bat roosts. We outline reasons why bats might, or might not, use scent in roost detection and selection, and we review evidence on the possible use of guano and urine in roost-finding from eight studies with 12 bat species (across four families). Overall, the sparse evidence that exists indicates that scent cues from guano and urine are not a strong and consistent lure in the species and situations that were tested. Most studies had unclear results or found no effect. Two of the eight studies found weak experimental evidence for bats using guano or urine to select a roosting site. Even if guano and urine can indicate the presence of bats at a roost, it is possible that the resulting olfactory cues do not contain sufficient social information to be used in roost selection, in contrast to olfactory cues from scent marking. Studies of how bats use sensory cues beyond sound could contribute to a better understanding of bat social behavior and roosting ecology. 

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2. Sex Steroids as Regulators of Gestural Communication

   https://doi.org/10.1210/endocr/bqaa064  

   Tobiansky, Daniel J; Fuxjager, Matthew J (July 2020, Endocrinology)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Gestural communication is ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom, occurring in species that range from humans to arthropods. Individuals produce gestural signals when their nervous system triggers the production of limb and body movement, which in turn functions to help mediate communication between or among individuals. Like many stereotyped motor patterns, the probability of a gestural display in a given social context can be modulated by sex steroid hormones. Here, we review how steroid hormones mediate the neural mechanisms that underly gestural communication in humans and nonhumans alike. This is a growing area of research, and thus we explore how sex steroids mediate brain areas involved in language production, social behavior, and motor performance. We also examine the way that sex steroids can regulate behavioral output by acting in the periphery via skeletal muscle. Altogether, we outline a new avenue of behavioral endocrinology research that aims to uncover the hormonal basis for one of the most common modes of communication among animals on Earth. 

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3. Chemical Communication in Lizards and a Potential Role for Vasotocin in Modulating Social Interactions

   https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icab044  

   Campos, Stephanie M; Belkasim, Selma S (May 2021, Integrative and Comparative Biology)

   Synopsis Lizards use chemical communication to mediate many reproductive, competitive, and social behaviors, but the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying chemical communication in lizards are not well understood and understudied. By implementing a neuroendocrine approach to the study of chemical communication in reptiles, we can address a major gap in our knowledge of the evolutionary mechanisms shaping chemical communication in vertebrates. The neuropeptide arginine vasotocin (AVT) and its mammalian homolog vasopressin are responsible for a broad spectrum of diversity in competitive and reproductive strategies in many vertebrates, mediating social behavior through the chemosensory modality. In this review, we posit that, though limited, the available data on AVT-mediated chemical communication in lizards reveal intriguing patterns that suggest AVT plays a more prominent role in lizard chemosensory behavior than previously appreciated. We argue that these results warrant more research into the mechanisms used by AVT to modify the performance of chemosensory behavior and responses to conspecific chemical signals. We first provide a broad overview of the known social functions of chemical signals in lizards, the glandular sources of chemical signal production in lizards (e.g., epidermal secretory glands), and the chemosensory detection methods and mechanisms used by lizards. Then, we review the locations of vasotocinergic populations and neuronal projections in lizard brains, as well as sites of peripheral receptors for AVT in lizards. Finally, we end with a case study in green anoles (Anolis carolinensis), discussing findings from recently published work on the impact of AVT in adult males on chemosensory communication during social interactions, adding new data from a similar study in which we tested the impact of AVT on chemosensory behavior of adult females. We offer concluding remarks on addressing several fundamental questions regarding the role of AVT in chemosensory communication and social behavior in lizards. 

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4. Fruit odorants mediate co-specialization in a multispecies plant–animal mutualism

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0312  

   Santana, Sharlene E.; Kaliszewska, Zofia A.; Leiser-Miller, Leith B.; Lauterbur, M. Elise; Arbour, Jessica H.; Dávalos, Liliana M.; Riffell, Jeffrey A. (August 2021, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)

   null (Ed.)

   Despite the widespread notion that animal-mediated seed dispersal led to the evolution of fruit traits that attract mutualistic frugivores, the dispersal syndrome hypothesis remains controversial, particularly for complex traits such as fruit scent. Here, we test this hypothesis in a community of mutualistic, ecologically important neotropical bats ( Carollia spp.) and plants ( Piper spp.) that communicate primarily via chemical signals. We found greater bat consumption is significantly associated with scent chemical diversity and presence of specific compounds, which fit multi-peak selective regime models in Piper . Through behavioural assays, we found Carollia prefer certain compounds, particularly 2-heptanol, which evolved as a unique feature of two Piper species highly consumed by these bats. Thus, we demonstrate that volatile compounds emitted by neotropical Piper fruits evolved in tandem with seed dispersal by scent-oriented Carollia bats. Specifically, fruit scent chemistry in some Piper species fits adaptive evolutionary scenarios consistent with a dispersal syndrome hypothesis. While other abiotic and biotic processes likely shaped the chemical composition of ripe fruit scent in Piper , our results provide some of the first evidence of the effect of bat frugivory on plant chemical diversity. 

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5. Reproductive- and Social-State Plasticity of Multiple Sensory Systems in a Cichlid Fish

   https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icab062  

   Maruska, Karen P; Butler, Julie M (May 2021, Integrative and Comparative Biology)

   Synopsis Intra- and inter-sexual communications are vital to the survival and reproductive success of animals. In species that cycle in and out of breeding or other physiological condition, sensory function can be modulated to optimize communication at crucial times. Little is known, however, about how widespread this sensory plasticity is across taxa, whether it occurs in multiple senses or both sexes within a species, and what potential modulatory substances and substrates are involved. Thus, studying modulation of sensory communication in a single species can provide valuable insights for understanding how sensory abilities can be altered to optimize detection of salient signals in different sensory channels and social contexts. The African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni uses multimodal communication in social contexts such as courtship, territoriality, and parental care and shows plasticity in sensory abilities. In this review, we synthesize what is known about how visual, acoustic, and chemosensory communication is used in A. burtoni in inter- and intra-specific social contexts, how sensory funtion is modulated by an individual’s reproductive, metabolic, and social state, and discuss evidence for plasticity in potential modulators that may contribute to changes in sensory abilities and behaviors. Sensory plasticity in females is primarily associated with the natural reproductive cycle and functions to improve detection of courtship signals (visual, auditory, chemosensory, and likely mechanosensory) from high-quality males for reproduction. Plasticity in male sensory abilities seems to function in altering their ability to detect the status of other males in the service of territory ownership and future reproductive opportunities. Changes in different classes of potential modulators or their receptors (steroids, neuropeptides, and biogenic amines) occur at both peripheral sensory organs (eye, inner ear, and olfactory epithelium) and central visual, olfactory, and auditory processing regions, suggesting complex mechanisms contributing to plasticity of sensory function. This type of sensory plasticity revealed in males and females of A. burtoni is likely more widespread among diverse animals than currently realized, and future studies should take an integrative and comparative approach to better understand the proximate and ultimate mechanisms modulating communication abilities across taxa. 

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