Social Information use by Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis, an Experiment Revisited

摘要

Reproducingresearchresultsisoneofthecornerstonesofscience.However,fewbiologicalfindingsareactuallyreplicated.Here,werepeatastudydonemorethan35yearsagoonsocialinformationuseinBarnacleGeese.Intheoriginalstudy,modelsofBarnacleGeesewereusedtomeasurehowtheyattractedwildBarnacleGeese(Drentamp;Swierstra1977).ModelswereplacedindifferentlocationsinapastureandthesemodelsattractedmanywildBarnacleGeese,providingstrongevidencefortheuseofsocialinformation.37yearslaterwerepeatedthisexperiment,usingthesamemodels,thesameareaandasimilarresearchprotocol.DespiteanabundanceofwildBarnacleGeeseintheareafrequentlyflyingoverthemodels,themodelsdidnotelicitalandingresponse.Inlinewiththeoriginalstudy,wescoredvigilanceratesandabundanceofgeese.Comparingthesedatatopreviousrecordswefoundthattotalabundanceincreasedbutthatvigilancerateswerelowerthanpreviouslyrecorded.Thedecreasedvigilancesuggeststhatthelandscapehasbecomesaferorthatcompetitionbetweengeesehasintensified;bothcouldexplainareduceduseofsocialinformation.Moregenerally,ourstudyshowstheimportanceofrepeatingexperimentsinecology,especiallyinarapidlychangingworld.