Biology subjects

Kulahci, I. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Kulahci, I. G..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Using insertable cardiac monitors to test determinants of heart rate and activity in captive baboons

BackgroundInsertable cardiac monitors (ICMs) provide fine-grained, continuous data on cardiac activity. These data have great potential to reveal individual physiology, energetics, and stress responses, with implications for animal health, cognition, welfare, and conservation. However, these devices must be tested for safety, accuracy, and biological validity before being deployed in new species. Here we do so for the Reveal LINQTM ICM (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN USA) over an 8-month period in 10 adult female baboons (Papio anubis and P. cynocephalus) at the Kenya Institute of Primate Research in Kenya. We also report data on heart rate, physical activity, and body temperature in unrestrained, conscious, captive baboons during their normal activities. Finally, we test how heart rate and activity levels are predicted by baboon species, body mass, time of day, ambient temperature, social dominance rank, and ovarian cycle phase. ResultsThe baboons had no adverse reactions to the Reveal LINQTM ICM. Their mean daytime heart rates (HRs) ranged from 89.6 to 128.0 beats per minute (bpm), and their resting HRs ranged from 74.4 to 98.2 bpm. The fastest observed R-wave interval validated by electrocardiogram (ECG) was 230 milliseconds (ms) (260 bpm), and the slowest was 1270 ms (47.4 bpm). In terms of predictors of HR and activity, HR was highly individualized, while activity level was not: baboon identity explained 41% of the variation in HR, but identity only 2% of variation in activity levels. HR was positively correlated with physical activity and HR was highest during daylight hours when the baboons were more active. Dominant baboons had higher HRs controlling for activity and were more active than low ranking individuals. In terms of ovarian cycle phase, HR was higher when individuals were in the periovulatory and luteal phases of the ovarian cycle compared to the follicular phase. ConclusionsOur findings support the future use of ICMs to investigate physiological responses in baboons. These devices safety and validity represent the plausibility of understanding inter-individual and inter-species variation in heart rate and activity in response to variation in the external environment and in individual internal state.

zoology↗

bioRxiv2025

Demographic, behavioral, and ecological data from a long-term field study of wild baboons in Amboseli, Kenya

Long-term data sets on individually recognized animals and their environments are critical to understanding animal behavior, evolution, and ecology. However, they are resource- and time-intensive and seldom made publicly available. The Amboseli Baboon Research Project (ABRP) is one of the longest-running studies of a wild mammal population in the world and has collected extensive data on the baboon population of the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya since 1971. Here, we describe four ABRP data sets newly available to the evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, and primatology communities: (1) the sizes and demographic compositions of 21 social groups from 1971-2023; (2) the activity budgets of adult females and immatures from 1984-2023; (3) behavioral data on diet for adult females and immatures from 1984-2023; and (4) weather data, including precipitation from 1976-2023 and temperature from 1976-2022. Data are aggregated annually and monthly to enable cross-data set analyses. These data offer a rare longitudinal perspective on behavioral and ecological change in a wild mammal population.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

Inhibitory control, personality, and manipulated ecological conditions influence foraging plasticity in the great tit

O_LIOrganisms are consistently under selection to respond effectively to a diversity of, sometimes rapid, changes in their environment. Behavioural plasticity can allow individuals to do so instantaneously, but why individuals vary in this respect is poorly understood. Although personality and cognitive traits are often hypothesised to influence plasticity, the effects reported are highly inconsistent, which we hypothesise is because ecological context is usually not considered. C_LIO_LIHere we explore the roles of individual cognitive and personality variation - assayed using standard tasks for inhibitory control, a measure of self-control, and reactive-proactive personality axis (RPPA), respectively - in driving foraging plasticity, and asked how these effects varied across two experimentally manipulated ecological contexts: food value and predation risk. C_LIO_LIAfter great tits (Parus major) had initially been trained to retrieve high value food hidden in sand, they were then simultaneously offered the hidden food and an alternative food choice on the surface, that was either high or low value. Their choices were further examined under high and low perceived predation risk treatments. Individuals choices were classified in terms of whether they continued to forage on the hidden but familiar food source, or instead switched to the new visible food source. We defined the latter option as the plastic response. C_LIO_LIOur assays captured consistent differences among individuals in foraging behaviour. Both inhibitory control and exploration influenced whether birds switched from the familiar but hidden food source to the new alternative visible food on the surface. These effects depended on the relative value of the food items available and on the perceived level of predation risk, but also on the time scale over which the response was measured. C_LIO_LIOur results demonstrate how an executive cognitive function and one specific personality axis can simultaneously influence plasticity in a key functional behaviour. That their effects on foraging were primarily observed as interactions with food value or predation risk treatments also suggest that the population level consequences of behavioural mechanisms, such as these, may only be revealed across key ecological conditions or gradients. C_LI

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2019

Diet-induced changes to host gut microbiota are linked to foraging innovation in a wild bird.

The microbial community in the gut is influenced by environmental factors, especially diet, which can moderate host behaviour through the microbiome-gut-brain axis. However, the ecological relevance of microbiome-mediated behavioural plasticity in wild animals is unknown. We presented wild-caught great tits (Parus major) with a problem-solving task and showed that performance was weakly associated with variation in the gut microbiome. We then manipulated the gut microbiome by feeding birds one of two diets that differed in their relative levels of fat, protein and fibre content: an insect diet (low content), or a seed diet (high content). Microbial communities were less diverse among individuals given the insect compared to those on the seed diet. Individuals were less likely to problem-solve after being given the insect diet, and the same microbiota metrics that were altered as a consequence of diet were also those that correlated with variation in problem solving performance. Although the effect on problem-solving behaviour could have been caused by motivational or nutritional differences between our treatments, our results nevertheless raise the possibility that dietary induced changes in the gut microbiota could be an important mechanism underlying individual behavioural plasticity in wild populations.

ecology↗