In animal communication systems, individuals that detect a cue (i.e., “receivers”) are often influenced by characteristics of the cue emitter. For instance, in many species, receivers avoid chemical cues that are released by emitters experiencing disturbance. These chemical “disturbance cues” appear to benefit receivers by warning them about nearby danger, such as a predator’s approach. While the active ingredients in disturbance cues have been largely unexplored, by-products of metabolized protein are thought to play a role for some species. If so, the content (quality) and volume (quantity) of the emitter’s diet should affect their disturbance cues, thus altering how receivers perceive the cues and respond. Guppies Poecilia reticulata are a species known to discriminate among disturbance cues from different types of donors, but dietary variation has yet to be explored. In this study, we found evidence that diet quality and quantity can affect disturbance cues released by guppy emitters (i.e., experimental “donors”). Receivers discriminated between donor cue treatments, responding more strongly to cues from donors fed a protein-rich bloodworm diet (Experiment 1), as well as an overall larger diet (Experiment 2). We also found that receivers exposed to higher background risk were more sensitive to disturbance cue variation, with the strongest avoidance responses displayed by high-risk receivers toward disturbance cues from donors fed the high-quality diet. Therefore, diet, and perhaps protein specifically, affects either the concentration or composition of disturbance cues released by guppies. Such variation may be important in information signaling in social species like the guppy.

中文翻译：

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特立尼达孔雀鱼的发射器饮食和接收器背景风险塑造了干扰提示通信

在动物交流系统中，检测到提示的个体（即“接收者”）通常会受到提示发射器特性的影响。例如，在许多物种中，接收器会避免受到干扰的发射器释放的化学信号。这些化学“干扰信号”似乎通过警告他们附近的危险（例如捕食者的接近）而使接收者受益。虽然干扰线索中的活性成分在很大程度上尚未开发，但代谢蛋白质的副产物被认为对某些物种起作用。如果是这样，发射者饮食的内容（质量）和数量（数量）应该会影响他们的干扰线索，从而改变接收者感知线索和反应的方式。孔雀鱼 Poecilia reticulata 是一种已知可以区分来自不同类型供体的干扰线索的物种，但饮食变化还有待探索。在这项研究中，我们发现证据表明饮食质量和数量会影响孔雀鱼发射器（即实验性“捐助者”）释放的干扰信号。接受者区分供体提示治疗，对喂食富含蛋白质的红虫饮食（实验 1）以及整体较大饮食（实验 2）的供体的提示反应更强烈。我们还发现，暴露于较高背景风险的接受者对干扰线索变化更敏感，高风险接受者对来自喂食高质量饮食的捐赠者的干扰线索表现出最强的回避反应。因此，饮食，尤其是蛋白质，会影响孔雀鱼释放的干扰信号的浓度或组成。