User:Lindseeclark/sandbox

Article Evaluation for "Supernormal Stimulus"

While this article presented many necessary points regarding supernormal stimuli, there are several flaws in content and tone. The major flaw in content lies within the grammar of much of this article; many sentences are much too long and wander until they come to the point in a very wordy manner. For example, in the first paragraph under the header "In biology", there is a paragraph with three full lines and one period. This is a run-on sentence and it has multiple comma splices which is not appropriate for an article supplying information about the scientific world. Secondly, there is a typo in the second paragraph underneath the "Manipulation by parasites" sub-header with the use of the word "evolutionary". The sentence should read "... the only evolutionarily stable strategy..." instead of the use of the word "evolutionary" that is currently present in the article. Along with grammar, a lot of the material presented is not elaborated upon well enough which results in a lack of coherence for the article overall. One example of this in the sixth paragraph beneath the "In biology" header where the author presents information about research conducted by Mauck and colleagues about the attraction of aphids to different types of plants. Here the findings of the studies were given but with no explanation with regards to how it relates to supernormal stimuli, this piece of information is loose and fairly pointless in the grand scheme of the entire article. This is not an isolated incident as it happens frequently in the style of writing chosen by the author. One positive of this article is the fact that it presents the concept of supernormal stimuli amongst a wide range of different topics. The author presents this concept in the context of biology, psychology, and art, which is a very useful tactic as it makes this accessible to people from many backgrounds. That being said, the author could have also presented more points for psychology and the arts but that is easily rectifiable with the addition of a little bit more information for these topics. While there are many issues with content, the tone of this piece is very neutral which is a major asset as well. This article is a useful resource, but is in need of a major grammatical overhaul to be completely correct.

Bibliography for the Display (zoology) article edit/rewrite:

Alton, L., Portugal, S., & White, C. (2013). Balancing the competing requirements of air-breathing and display behaviour during male–male interactions in Siamese fighting fish Betta splendens. Comparative Biochemistry And Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 164(2), 363-367. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2012.11.012

Cárdenas-Posada, G., Cadena, C., Blake, J., & Loiselle, B. (2017). Display behaviour, social organization and vocal repertoire of Blue-backed Manakin Chiroxiphia pareola napensis in northwest Amazonia. Ibis, 160(2), 269-282. doi: 10.1111/ibi.12548

Van Parijs, S., Hastie, G., & Thompson, P. (2000). Individual and geographical variation in display behaviour of male harbour seals in Scotland. Animal Behaviour, 59(3), 559-568. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1999.1307

Rough Draft:

Display behaviour is a set of ritualized behaviours that enable an animal to communicate to other animals (typically of the same species) about specific stimuli. These ritualized behaviours can be visual however many animals depend on a mixture of visual, audio, tactical and/or chemical signals as well. Evolution has tailored these stereotyped behaviours to allow animals to communicate both conspecifically and interspecifically which allows for a broader connection in different niches in an ecosystem. Typically, display behaviour is used for courtship between two animals and to signal to the female that a viable male is ready to mate. Animals from a broad range of evolutionary hierarchies avail of display behaviours- from invertebrates such as the simple jumping spider to the more complex vertebrates like the harbour seal.

Insects
Communication is very important for animals all throughout the animal kingdom, even those with fairly simple nervous systems and body plans. For example, since female praying mantids are sexually cannibalistic, the male will typically avail of a concealment form of display behaviour. This is a series of creeping movements executed by the male as it approaches the female with freezing of the body whenever the female looks towards the male. However, according to laboratory studies conducted by Loxton in 1979, one type of praying mantis, Ephestiasula arnoena, shows both male and female counterparts performing overt and ritualized behaviour before mating. Both displayed a semaphore behaviour, meaning both displayed their front legs in a boxing fashion before the slow approach of the male from behind. This semaphore display in E. arnoenais key in communicating between both mantids that both are ready for copulation and, by extension, the continuance of their genetic line.

Along with the display behaviour shown by the praying mantid, flies belonging to the genus Megaselia also show such behaviour. Contrary to the typically female-selected mating that occurs for most organisms, these flies have females that show the display behaviour and males that choose the mate. Females have a bright orange colouring that attracts the male and also perform a series of fluttering wing movements that make the insect appear to "dance" and make the openings on their abdomens to swell in order to attract a male. It is also interesting to note that there is experimental evidence that implies the female may also release pheromones that attract the male; this is an instance of chemical display behaviour that plays a large role in animal communication.

Arachnids
Along with mantids, jumping spiders also show display behaviour. The family Salticidae consists of jumping spiders with keen vision which results in very clear display behaviours for courting in particular. Salticids are very similar in appearance to ants that live in the same area and therefore use their appearance to avoid predators. Since this similarity in appearance is so obvious, salticid spiders can use display behaviours to communicate both with members of their own species and also with members of the ants that they mimic.

Birds
Birds also very commonly use display behaviours for courtship and communication. Manakin birds (in the family Pipridae) in the Amazon undergo large demonstrations of display behaviour in order to court females in the population. Since males provide no other immediate benefit to females, they must undergo ritualized behaviours in order to show their fitness to possible mates; the female then uses the information she gathers from this interaction to make a decision on who she will mate with. This display behaviour consists of various flight patterns, wing and colour displays, and particular vocalizations  . As a result of this performance, the males will be chosen by the female and reproduction will commence.

Mammals
Along with invertebrates and birds, vertebrates like the harbour seal also show display behaviour. Since the harbour seal resides in an aquatic environment, the display behaviours expressed are slightly different from those seen in terrestrial mammal species. Male harbour seals show specific vocalization and diving behaviours while demonstrating such behaviours for possible mates. As seals are distributed over such a large area, these display behaviours can slightly change geographically as males try to appeal to the largest amount of females possible over a large geographical range. Dive displays, head flicks, and various vocalizations all work together in a display behaviour that signifies to the females in a colony that the males are ready to mate.

Factors influencing display behaviour
Display behaviour is a set of very conspicuous behaviours that allows for the attraction of mates but also can result in the attraction of predators. As a result, animals have certain environmental and social cues that they can use to decide when is the most beneficial time to show such behaviours; they use these triggers to minimize cost (predator avoidance) and maximize gain (mate attraction). The first factor is temporal. Depending on the time of the season, animals (more specifically, tropical frogs, in this study) show strong seasonal trends in display behaviour favouring times closer to the beginning of the mating season. This is plausible as this allows the most time for the attraction of a mate and the decline in calling to the end of the season is also valid because most organisms will have a mate by then and not have any need to continue such display behaviour. Depending upon the species and evolutionary histories, environmental factors such as temperature, elevation, and precipitation can affect the presence of these behaviours. Along with environmental cues, social cues can also play a role in the demonstration of display behaviour. For example, aggressive display behaviour in the crayfish Orconectes virilis tends to be triggered by impositions of other crayfish on previously established territory. Such displays consist of a preliminary raising of claws between 4 to 5 times and if this is not sufficient to warn the other to not encroach on the territory then tactile engagement will occur. In this case, display behaviour is a preliminary step to the engagement of aggressive tactile behaviour whereas many cases of display behaviour result in the engagement of mating rituals.