Conspecific and heterospecific disturbance cues facilitate predator recognition learning in teleost fishes

Within aquatic ecosystems, chemosensory cues are important sources of risk assessment information and allow prey to make context appropriate behavioural decisions. Additionally, these cues can facilitate learned recognition of ecologically relevant cues. While the role of damage-released alarm cues in the associative learning of predator cues is well established, the similar role of disturbance cues has received little attention. Disturbance cues are released by stressed or disturbed prey prior to attack and are thought to function as an “early warning” signal of predation risk among nearby conspecifics and heterospecifics. Recent studies also suggest that prey with recent experience with high background predation risk exhibit stronger responses to disturbance cues compared to those from lower risk conditions. Here, we test the role of disturbance cues in associative learning in juvenile Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and convict cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofasciata). Guppies and cichlids were held under high vs low background risk conditions and then exposed to a novel lemon odour paired with either conspecific or heterospecific disturbance cues (or a water control). We then tested for recognition to lemon odour alone 1 day later. Our results suggest that both guppies and cichlids can learn to recognize lemon odour as risk when paired with conspecific or heterospecific disturbance cues, but only if they had experienced high risk backgrounds. These results emphasize the importance of prior experience in behavioural responses. They also help clarify conflicting literature regarding the possibility of associative learning using disturbance cues.