16
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Mandrills use olfaction to socially avoid parasitized conspecifics

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Mandrills use olfactory cues from feces of conspecifics to evaluate parasite status and avoid social contact with infectious animals.

          Abstract

          The evolutionary transition from a solitary to a social lifestyle entails an elevated parasite cost because the social proximity associated with group living favors parasite transmission. Despite this cost, sociality is widespread in a large range of taxonomic groups. In this context, hosts would be expected to have evolved behavioral mechanisms to reduce the risk of parasite infection. Few empirical studies have focused on the influence of pathogen-mediated selection on the evolution of antiparasitic behavior in wild vertebrates. We report an adaptive functional relationship between parasitism and social behavior in mandrills, associated with evidence that they are able to gauge parasite status of their group members. Using long-term observations, controlled experiments, and chemical analyses, we show that (i) wild mandrills avoid grooming conspecifics infected with orofecally transmitted parasites; (ii) mandrills receive significantly more grooming after treatment that targets these parasites; (iii) parasitism influences the host’s fecal odors; and (iv) mandrills selectively avoid fecal material from parasitized conspecifics. These behavioral adaptations reveal that selecting safe social partners may help primates to cope with parasite-mediated costs of sociality and that “behavioral immunity” plays a crucial role in the coevolutionary dynamics between hosts and their parasites.

          Related collections

          Most cited references50

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: not found
          • Article: not found

          Observational Study of Behavior: Sampling Methods

            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: not found
            • Article: not found

            Observational study of behavior: sampling methods.

            J Altmann (1974)
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              A New Evolutionary Law

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Sci Adv
                Sci Adv
                SciAdv
                advances
                Science Advances
                American Association for the Advancement of Science
                2375-2548
                April 2017
                07 April 2017
                : 3
                : 4
                : e1601721
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE)–CNRS, UMR 5175, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
                [2 ]Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), UMR 5554, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
                [3 ]CNRS, Université de Lille–Sciences et Technologies, UMR 8198, Evo-Eco-Paléo, F-59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France.
                [4 ]Centre de Primatologie, Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF), BP 769, Franceville, Gabon.
                [5 ]Projet Mandrillus, Société d’exploitation du Parc de Lékédi (SODEPAL), BP 52, Bakoumba, Gabon.
                [6 ]Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author. Email: marie.charpentier@ 123456cefe.cnrs.fr
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4098-955X
                Article
                1601721
                10.1126/sciadv.1601721
                5384805
                28435875
                61d52541-b13e-4494-89cd-276dfea7bd11
                Copyright © 2017, The Authors

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 25 July 2016
                : 10 February 2017
                Funding
                Funded by: DFG;
                Award ID: ID0EPPCI14125
                Award ID: KA 1082-20-1
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: INEE-CNRS;
                Award ID: ID0ERUCI14126
                Award ID: SEEG
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: INEE-CNRS;
                Award ID: ID0EEZCI14127
                Award ID: LIA
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: INEE-CNRS;
                Award ID: ID0EX4CI14128
                Award ID: PEPS ECOSAN
                Award Recipient :
                Categories
                Research Article
                Research Articles
                SciAdv r-articles
                Behavioral Ecology
                Custom metadata
                Mau Buenaventura

                anti-parasitic strategy,olfactory-guided mechanism,social avoidance,primate

                Comments

                Comment on this article