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Otake R, Dobata S. Copy if dissatisfied, innovate if not: contrasting egg-laying decision making in an insect. Anim Cogn 2018; 21:805-812. [PMID: 30167927 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-018-1212-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2018] [Revised: 08/26/2018] [Accepted: 08/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The use of conspecific cues as social information in decision making is widespread among animals; but, because this social information is indirect, it is error-prone. During resource acquisition, conspecific cues also indicate the presence of competitors; therefore, decision makers are expected to utilize direct information from resources and modify their responses to social information accordingly. Here, we show that, in a non-social insect, unattractive egg-laying resources alter the behavioural response to conspecific cues from avoidance to preference, leading to resource sharing. Females of the adzuki bean beetle Callosobruchus chinensis avoid laying eggs onto beans that already have conspecific eggs. However, when we provided females with bean-sized clean glass beads with and without conspecific eggs, the females preferred to add their eggs onto the beads with eggs. The glass beads, once coated with water extracts of adzuki beans, enabled the females to behave as if they were provided with the beans: the females preferred bean-odoured glass beads to clean glass beads and they avoided the substrates with eggs. When females are provided with unattractive egg-laying substrates only, joining behaviour (i.e. copying) might be advantageous, as it takes advantage of information about positive attributes of the substrate that the focal animal might have missed. Our results suggest that given only unsatisfactory options, the benefits of copying outweigh the costs of resource competition. Our study highlights the importance of integrating multiple information sources in animal decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryoga Otake
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - Shigeto Dobata
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan.
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Vale GL, Flynn EG, Kendal J, Rawlings B, Hopper LM, Schapiro SJ, Lambeth SP, Kendal RL. Testing differential use of payoff-biased social learning strategies in children and chimpanzees. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2017.1751. [PMID: 29187629 PMCID: PMC5740275 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2017] [Accepted: 10/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Various non-human animal species have been shown to exhibit behavioural traditions. Importantly, this research has been guided by what we know of human culture, and the question of whether animal cultures may be homologous or analogous to our own culture. In this paper, we assess whether models of human cultural transmission are relevant to understanding biological fundamentals by investigating whether accounts of human payoff-biased social learning are relevant to chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We submitted 4- and 5-year-old children (N = 90) and captive chimpanzees (N = 69) to a token–reward exchange task. The results revealed different forms of payoff-biased learning across species and contexts. Specifically, following personal and social exposure to different tokens, children's exchange behaviour was consistent with proportional imitation, where choice is affected by both prior personally acquired and socially demonstrated token–reward information. However, when the socially derived information regarding token value was novel, children's behaviour was consistent with proportional observation; paying attention to socially derived information and ignoring their prior personal experience. By contrast, chimpanzees' token choice was governed by their own prior experience only, with no effect of social demonstration on token choice, conforming to proportional reservation. We also find evidence for individual- and group-level differences in behaviour in both species. Despite the difference in payoff strategies used, both chimpanzees and children adopted beneficial traits when available. However, the strategies of the children are expected to be the most beneficial in promoting flexible behaviour by enabling existing behaviours to be updated or replaced with new and often superior ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian L Vale
- National Center for Chimpanzee Care, Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA .,Department of Psychology and Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Emma G Flynn
- Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Jeremy Kendal
- Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Bruce Rawlings
- Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Lydia M Hopper
- Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Steven J Schapiro
- National Center for Chimpanzee Care, Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA
| | - Susan P Lambeth
- National Center for Chimpanzee Care, Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA
| | - Rachel L Kendal
- Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Durham University, Durham, UK
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Kendal RL, Boogert NJ, Rendell L, Laland KN, Webster M, Jones PL. Social Learning Strategies: Bridge-Building between Fields. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:651-665. [PMID: 29759889 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 219] [Impact Index Per Article: 36.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2017] [Revised: 04/06/2018] [Accepted: 04/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
While social learning is widespread, indiscriminate copying of others is rarely beneficial. Theory suggests that individuals should be selective in what, when, and whom they copy, by following 'social learning strategies' (SLSs). The SLS concept has stimulated extensive experimental work, integrated theory, and empirical findings, and created impetus to the social learning and cultural evolution fields. However, the SLS concept needs updating to accommodate recent findings that individuals switch between strategies flexibly, that multiple strategies are deployed simultaneously, and that there is no one-to-one correspondence between psychological heuristics deployed and resulting population-level patterns. The field would also benefit from the simultaneous study of mechanism and function. SLSs provide a useful vehicle for bridge-building between cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel L Kendal
- Centre for Coevolution of Biology & Culture, Durham University, Anthropology Department, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
| | - Neeltje J Boogert
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK
| | - Luke Rendell
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9TS, UK
| | - Kevin N Laland
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9TS, UK
| | - Mike Webster
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9TS, UK
| | - Patricia L Jones
- Department of Biology, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011, USA
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Abstract
Since the Industrial Revolution, human societies have experienced high and sustained rates of economic growth. Recent explanations of this sudden and massive change in economic history have held that modern growth results from an acceleration of innovation. But it is unclear why the rate of innovation drastically accelerated in England in the eighteenth century. An important factor might be the alteration of individual preferences with regard to innovation resulting from the unprecedented living standards of the English during that period, for two reasons. First, recent developments in economic history challenge the standard Malthusian view according to which living standards were stagnant until the Industrial Revolution. Pre-industrial England enjoyed a level of affluence that was unprecedented in history. Second, behavioral sciences have demonstrated that the human brain is designed to respond adaptively to variations in resources in the local environment. In particular, Life History Theory, a branch of evolutionary biology, suggests that a more favorable environment (high resources, low mortality) should trigger the expression of future-oriented preferences. In this paper, I argue that some of these psychological traits - a lower level of time discounting, a higher level of optimism, decreased materialistic orientation, and a higher level of trust in others - are likely to increase the rate of innovation. I review the evidence regarding the impact of affluence on preferences in contemporary as well as past populations, and conclude that the impact of affluence on neurocognitive systems may partly explain the modern acceleration of technological innovations and the associated economic growth.
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Patriquin KJ, Kohles JE, Page RA, Ratcliffe JM. Bats without borders: Predators learn novel prey cues from other predatory species. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2018; 4:eaaq0579. [PMID: 29568801 PMCID: PMC5862503 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq0579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2017] [Accepted: 02/08/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Learning from others allows individuals to adapt rapidly to environmental change. Although conspecifics tend to be reliable models, heterospecifics with similar resource requirements may be suitable surrogates when conspecifics are few or unfamiliar with recent changes in resource availability. We tested whether Trachops cirrhosus, a gleaning bat that localizes prey using their mating calls, can learn about novel prey from conspecifics and the sympatric bat Lophostoma silvicolum. Specifically, we compared the rate for naïve T. cirrhosus to learn an unfamiliar tone from either a trained conspecific or heterospecific alone through trial and error or through social facilitation. T. cirrhosus learned this novel cue from L. silvicolum as quickly as from conspecifics. This is the first demonstration of social learning of a novel acoustic cue in bats and suggests that heterospecific learning may occur in nature. We propose that auditory-based social learning may help bats learn about unfamiliar prey and facilitate their adaptive radiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krista J. Patriquin
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, República de Panamá
| | - Jenna E. Kohles
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, República de Panamá
- Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell, Germany
| | - Rachel A. Page
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, República de Panamá
| | - John M. Ratcliffe
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark
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57
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Varela SAM, Matos M, Schlupp I. The role of mate-choice copying in speciation and hybridization. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2018; 93:1304-1322. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2017] [Revised: 12/27/2017] [Accepted: 01/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Susana A. M. Varela
- cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências; Universidade de Lisboa; 1749-016 Lisboa Portugal
| | - Margarida Matos
- cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências; Universidade de Lisboa; 1749-016 Lisboa Portugal
| | - Ingo Schlupp
- Department of Biology; University of Oklahoma; Norman OK 73019 U.S.A
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58
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Bairos-Novak KR, Mitchell MD, Crane AL, Chivers DP, Ferrari MCO. Trust thy neighbour in times of trouble: background risk alters how tadpoles release and respond to disturbance cues. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2017.1465. [PMID: 28954912 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2017] [Accepted: 08/30/2017] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
In aquatic environments, uninjured prey escaping a predator release chemical disturbance cues into the water. However, it is unknown whether these cues are a simple physiological by-product of increased activity or whether they represent a social signal that is under some control by the sender. Here, we exposed wood frog tadpoles (Lithobates sylvaticus) to either a high or low background risk environment and tested their responses to disturbance cues (or control cues) produced by tadpoles from high-risk or low-risk backgrounds. We found an interaction between risk levels associated with the cue donor and cue recipient. While disturbance cues from low-risk donors did not elicit an antipredator response in low-risk receivers, they did in high-risk receivers. In addition, disturbance cues from high-risk donors elicited a marked antipredator response in both low- and high-risk receivers. The response of high-risk receivers to disturbance cues from high-risk donors was commensurate with other treatments, indicating an all-or-nothing response. Our study provides evidence of differential production and perception of social cues and provides insights into their function and evolution in aquatic vertebrates. Given the widespread nature of disturbance cues in aquatic prey, there may exist a social signalling system that remains virtually unexplored by ecologists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin R Bairos-Novak
- Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E2
| | - Matthew D Mitchell
- Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5B4
| | - Adam L Crane
- Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E2
| | - Douglas P Chivers
- Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E2
| | - Maud C O Ferrari
- Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5B4
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59
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White DJ, Davies HB, Agyapong S, Seegmiller N. Nest prospecting brown-headed cowbirds 'parasitize' social information when the value of personal information is lacking. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2017.1083. [PMID: 28835558 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2017] [Accepted: 07/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Brood parasites face considerable cognitive challenges in locating and selecting host nests for their young. Here, we test whether female brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater, could use information acquired from observing the nest prospecting patterns of conspecifics to influence their own patterns of nest selection. In laboratory-based experiments, we created a disparity in the amount of personal information females had about the quality of nests. Females with less personal information about the quality of two nests spent more time investigating the nest that more knowledgeable females investigated. Furthermore, there was a strong negative relationship between individual's ability to track nest quality using personal information and their tendency to copy others. These two contrasting strategies for selecting nests are equally effective, but lead to different patterns of parasitism.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J White
- Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2 L 3C5
| | - Hayden B Davies
- Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2 L 3C5
| | - Samuel Agyapong
- Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2 L 3C5
| | - Nora Seegmiller
- Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2 L 3C5
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60
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Stutz R, Bergvall U, Leimar O, Tuomi J, Rautio P. Cohesiveness reduces foraging efficiency in a social herbivore. Anim Behav 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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61
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62
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Anders N, Fernö A, Humborstad OB, Løkkeborg S, Rieucau G, Utne-Palm AC. Size-dependent social attraction and repulsion explains the decision of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua to enter baited pots. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2017; 91:1569-1581. [PMID: 29139117 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The present study tested whether the presence of already retained fishes inside baited fish pots acted as a social attraction and affected the entrance probability of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua in a fjord in northern Norway. Video analysis revealed that the probability of an entrance initially increased with the presence of low numbers of fishes inside the pot, but subsequently decreased at a critical number of caught fishes. The critical number was dependent on the size of the G. morhua attempting to enter. This demonstrates that social attraction and repulsion play a role in G. morhua pot fishing and has important implications for the capture efficiency of fisheries executed with pots.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Anders
- University of Bergen, Department of Biology, PO Box 7803, N-5020, Bergen, Norway
- Institute of Marine Research, PO Box 1870, N-5817, Bergen, Norway
| | - A Fernö
- University of Bergen, Department of Biology, PO Box 7803, N-5020, Bergen, Norway
| | - O-B Humborstad
- Institute of Marine Research, PO Box 1870, N-5817, Bergen, Norway
| | - S Løkkeborg
- Institute of Marine Research, PO Box 1870, N-5817, Bergen, Norway
| | - G Rieucau
- Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Chauvin, LA, 70344, U.S.A
| | - A C Utne-Palm
- Institute of Marine Research, PO Box 1870, N-5817, Bergen, Norway
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63
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Baracchi D, Vasas V, Jamshed Iqbal S, Alem S. Foraging bumblebees use social cues more when the task is difficult. Behav Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arx143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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64
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Feinerman O, Korman A. Individual versus collective cognition in social insects. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 220:73-82. [PMID: 28057830 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.143891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
The concerted responses of eusocial insects to environmental stimuli are often referred to as collective cognition at the level of the colony. To achieve collective cognition, a group can draw on two different sources: individual cognition and the connectivity between individuals. Computation in neural networks, for example, is attributed more to sophisticated communication schemes than to the complexity of individual neurons. The case of social insects, however, can be expected to differ. This is because individual insects are cognitively capable units that are often able to process information that is directly relevant at the level of the colony. Furthermore, involved communication patterns seem difficult to implement in a group of insects as they lack a clear network structure. This review discusses links between the cognition of an individual insect and that of the colony. We provide examples for collective cognition whose sources span the full spectrum between amplification of individual insect cognition and emergent group-level processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ofer Feinerman
- Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
| | - Amos Korman
- Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale (IRIF), CNRS and University Paris Diderot, Paris 75013, France
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65
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Lagrange P, Gimenez O, Doligez B, Pradel R, Garant D, Pelletier F, Bélisle M. Assessment of individual and conspecific reproductive success as determinants of breeding dispersal of female tree swallows: A capture-recapture approach. Ecol Evol 2017; 7:7334-7346. [PMID: 28944020 PMCID: PMC5606858 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2017] [Revised: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 06/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Breeding dispersal is a key process of population structure and dynamics and is often triggered by an individual's breeding failure. In both colonial and territorial birds, reproductive success of conspecifics (RSc) can also lead individuals to change breeding sites after a failure on a site. Yet, few studies have simultaneously investigated the independent contribution of individual reproductive success (RSi) and of RSc on dispersal decision. Here, we develop a modeling framework to disentangle the effects of RSi and RSc on demographic parameters, while accounting for imperfect individual detection and other confounding factors such as age or dispersal behavior in the previous year. Using a 10‐year capture–recapture dataset composed of 1,595 banded tree swallows, we assessed the effects of nonmanipulated RSi and RSc on female breeding dispersal in this semicolonial passerine. Dispersal was strongly driven by RSi, but not by RSc. Unsuccessful females were 9.5–2.5 times more likely to disperse than successful ones, depending if they had dispersed or not in the previous year, respectively. Unsuccessful females were also three times less likely to be detected than successful ones. Contrary to theoretical and empirical studies, RSc did not drive the decision to disperse but influenced the selection of the following breeding site once dispersal had been initiated. Because detection of individuals was driven by RSi, which was positively correlated to RSc, assuming a perfect detection as in previous studies may have lead us to conclude that RSc affected dispersal patterns, yet our approach corrected for this bias. Overall, our results suggest that the value and use of RSc as public information to guide dispersal decisions are likely dictated by multiple ecological determinants, such as landscape structure and extent, if this cue is indeed used.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paméla Lagrange
- Département de Biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke QC Canada.,CEFE UMR 5175 CNRS - Université de Montpellier Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE Montpellier Cedex 5 France
| | - Olivier Gimenez
- CEFE UMR 5175 CNRS - Université de Montpellier Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE Montpellier Cedex 5 France
| | - Blandine Doligez
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive - CNRS UMR 5558 Université de Lyon 1 Villeurbanne France
| | - Roger Pradel
- CEFE UMR 5175 CNRS - Université de Montpellier Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE Montpellier Cedex 5 France
| | - Dany Garant
- Département de Biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke QC Canada
| | - Fanie Pelletier
- Département de Biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke QC Canada
| | - Marc Bélisle
- Département de Biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke QC Canada
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Suárez‐Seoane S, Álvarez‐Martínez JM, Wintle BA, Palacín C, Alonso JC. Modelling the spatial variation of vital rates: An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of correlative species distribution models. DIVERS DISTRIB 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Susana Suárez‐Seoane
- Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management Facultad de Biología Universidad de León León Spain
| | - Jose Manuel Álvarez‐Martínez
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC) Madrid Spain
- Environmental Hydraulics Institute IH Cantabria Santander Spain
| | - Brendan A. Wintle
- School of Biosciences University of Melbourne Parkville, Melbourne Vic. Australia
| | - Carlos Palacín
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC) Madrid Spain
| | - Juan C. Alonso
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC) Madrid Spain
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67
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Lee AEG, Cowlishaw G. Switching spatial scale reveals dominance-dependent social foraging tactics in a wild primate. PeerJ 2017; 5:e3462. [PMID: 28674647 PMCID: PMC5494171 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2017] [Accepted: 05/24/2017] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
When foraging in a social group, individuals are faced with the choice of sampling their environment directly or exploiting the discoveries of others. The evolutionary dynamics of this trade-off have been explored mathematically through the producer-scrounger game, which has highlighted socially exploitative behaviours as a major potential cost of group living. However, our understanding of the tight interplay that can exist between social dominance and scrounging behaviour is limited. To date, only two theoretical studies have explored this relationship systematically, demonstrating that because scrounging requires joining a competitor at a resource, it should become exclusive to high-ranking individuals when resources are monopolisable. In this study, we explore the predictions of this model through observations of the natural social foraging behaviour of a wild population of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). We collected data through over 800 h of focal follows of 101 adults and juveniles across two troops over two 3-month periods. By recording over 7,900 social foraging decisions at two spatial scales we show that, when resources are large and economically indefensible, the joining behaviour required for scrounging can occur across all social ranks. When, in contrast, dominant individuals can aggressively appropriate a resource, such joining behaviour becomes increasingly difficult to employ with decreasing social rank because adult individuals can only join others lower ranking than themselves. Our study supports theoretical predictions and highlights potentially important individual constraints on the ability of individuals of low social rank to use social information, driven by competition with dominant conspecifics over monopolisable resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander E G Lee
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,The Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom.,Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Guy Cowlishaw
- The Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom
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68
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Kar F, Whiting MJ, Noble DWA. Dominance and social information use in a lizard. Anim Cogn 2017; 20:805-812. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1101-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2016] [Revised: 05/14/2017] [Accepted: 05/26/2017] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
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69
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Schakner ZA, Petelle MB, Tennis MJ, Van der Leeuw BK, Stansell RT, Blumstein DT. Social associations between California sea lions influence the use of a novel foraging ground. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2017; 4:160820. [PMID: 28572986 PMCID: PMC5451787 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2016] [Accepted: 04/19/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Social relationships define an individual's position in its social network, which can influence the acquisition and spread of information and behavioural variants through the population. Thus, when nuisance behaviours spread through wildlife populations, identifying central individuals may provide valuable insights for problem-species management. We studied the effects of network position on California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) discovery and foraging success at a novel foraging ground-the salmonids that aggregate at the Bonneville Dam tail-race, 235 km up the Columbia River. We found that an individual's centrality in their social network influenced discovery of the Bonneville Dam and whether they returned the next year. Foraging success once at the dam was independent of network position. Extensive lethal and non-lethal removal efforts have been implemented at Bonneville Dam and focused on reducing the number of individual sea lions at the dam. Since social relationships forged at the opening of the Columbia River influence both the discovery and return to the Bonneville Dam, efforts to increase salmon recovery may be enhanced by breaking apart social networks at the opening of the river.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary A. Schakner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA
| | - Matthew B. Petelle
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, Phuthaditjhaba, South Africa
| | - Mathew J. Tennis
- Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, Astoria, OR 97103, USA
| | | | - Robert T. Stansell
- Fisheries Field Unit, US Army Corps of Engineers, Cascade Locks, OR 97014, USA
| | - Daniel T. Blumstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA
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70
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Kern JM, Laker PR, Radford AN. Contextual variation in the alarm call responses of dwarf mongooses, Helogale parvula. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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71
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Santos M, Sapage M, Matos M, Varela SAM. Mate-choice copying: A fitness-enhancing behavior that evolves by indirect selection. Evolution 2017; 71:1456-1464. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.13235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2016] [Revised: 02/27/2017] [Accepted: 03/09/2017] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mauro Santos
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia; Grup de Genòmica, Bioinformàtica i Biologia Evolutiva (GGBE), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; 08193 Bellaterra Barcelona Spain
| | - Manuel Sapage
- cE3c-Centre for Ecology; Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa; Campo Grande 1749-016 Lisboa Portugal
| | - Margarida Matos
- cE3c-Centre for Ecology; Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa; Campo Grande 1749-016 Lisboa Portugal
| | - Susana A. M. Varela
- cE3c-Centre for Ecology; Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa; Campo Grande 1749-016 Lisboa Portugal
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72
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Trapp RM, Bell AM. The Effect of Familiarity with Demonstrators on Social Learning in Three-Spined Sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus aculeatus). Ethology 2017; 123:213-220. [PMID: 36883170 PMCID: PMC9988244 DOI: 10.1111/eth.12590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Social learning is an important process in the spread of information, especially in changing environments where inherited behaviors may not remain relevant. In many species, the decision of whom to trust to have reliable information depends on the relationship between individuals. Many fish species, including three-spined sticklebacks, preferentially associate with familiar individuals. Previous studies in three-spined sticklebacks have provided mixed evidence about the effect of familiarity on social learning in this species. Therefore, this study further explores familiarity and social learning in sticklebacks, specifically from a demonstrator-focused perspective. We found that in a food patch discrimination task, individuals with unfamiliar demonstrators performed significantly better than those with familiar demonstrators. In a problem-solving task, we found that focal fish attended to the behavior of demonstrators, but we did not detect an effect of familiarity on performance, and indeed the proportion of individuals to solve the task after observing demonstrators was low. These results suggest that sticklebacks have a preference for unfamiliar demonstrators, but that the use of social information varies depending on context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca M Trapp
- School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Alison M Bell
- School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
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73
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Heyes C. Blackboxing: social learning strategies and cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:rstb.2015.0369. [PMID: 27069046 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning strategies (SLSs) enable humans, non-human animals, and artificial agents to make adaptive decisions aboutwhenthey should copy other agents, andwhothey should copy. Behavioural ecologists and economists have discovered an impressive range of SLSs, and explored their likely impact on behavioural efficiency and reproductive fitness while using the 'phenotypic gambit'; ignoring, or remaining deliberately agnostic about, the nature and origins of the cognitive processes that implement SLSs. Here I argue that this 'blackboxing' of SLSs is no longer a viable scientific strategy. It has contributed, through the 'social learning strategies tournament', to the premature conclusion that social learning is generally better than asocial learning, and to a deep puzzle about the relationship between SLSs and cultural evolution. The puzzle can be solved by recognizing that whereas most SLSs are 'planetary'--they depend on domain-general cognitive processes--some SLSs, found only in humans, are 'cook-like'--they depend on explicit, metacognitive rules, such ascopy digital natives. These metacognitive SLSs contribute to cultural evolution by fostering the development of processes that enhance the exclusivity, specificity, and accuracy of social learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecilia Heyes
- All Souls College and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4AL, UK
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74
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75
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Mate-choice copying, social information processing, and the roles of oxytocin. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 72:232-242. [PMID: 27923732 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2016] [Revised: 11/23/2016] [Accepted: 12/01/2016] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Social and sexual behaviors, including that of mate choice, are dependent on social information. Mate choice can be modified by prior and ongoing social factors and experience. The mate choice decisions of one individual can be influenced by either the actual or potential mate choice of another female or male. Such non-independent mate choice, where individuals gain social information and socially learn about and recognizes potential mates by observing the choices of another female or male, has been termed "mate-choice copying". Here we first briefly review how, why, and under what circumstances individuals engage in mate-choice copying. Secondly, we review the neurobiological mechanisms underlying mate-choice copying. In particular, we consider the roles of the nonapeptide, oxytocin, in the processing of social information and the expression of mate-choice copying.
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76
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Understanding the multiple factors governing social learning and the diffusion of innovations. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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77
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Lee AEG, Ounsley JP, Coulson T, Rowcliffe JM, Cowlishaw G. Information use and resource competition: an integrative framework. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:20152550. [PMID: 26888031 PMCID: PMC4810826 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Organisms may reduce uncertainty regarding how best to exploit their environment by collecting information about resource distribution. We develop a model to demonstrate how competition can facilitate or constrain an individual's ability to use information when acquiring resources. As resource distribution underpins both selection on information use and the strength and nature of competition between individuals, we demonstrate interdependencies between the two that should be common in nature. Individuals in our model can search for resources either personally or by using social information. We explore selection on social information use across a comprehensive range of ecological conditions, generalizing the producer–scrounger framework to a wide diversity of taxa and resources. We show that resource ecology—defined by scarcity, depletion rate and monopolizability—determines patterns of individual differences in social information use. These differences suggest coevolutionary processes linking dominance systems and social information use, with implications for the evolutionary demography of populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander E G Lee
- The Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, UK Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Tim Coulson
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - J Marcus Rowcliffe
- The Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, UK
| | - Guy Cowlishaw
- The Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, UK
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78
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Fonio E, Heyman Y, Boczkowski L, Gelblum A, Kosowski A, Korman A, Feinerman O. A locally-blazed ant trail achieves efficient collective navigation despite limited information. eLife 2016; 5. [PMID: 27815944 PMCID: PMC5142812 DOI: 10.7554/elife.20185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2016] [Accepted: 11/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Any organism faces sensory and cognitive limitations which may result in maladaptive decisions. Such limitations are prominent in the context of groups where the relevant information at the individual level may not coincide with collective requirements. Here, we study the navigational decisions exhibited by Paratrechina longicornis ants as they cooperatively transport a large food item. These decisions hinge on the perception of individuals which often restricts them from providing the group with reliable directional information. We find that, to achieve efficient navigation despite partial and even misleading information, these ants employ a locally-blazed trail. This trail significantly deviates from the classical notion of an ant trail: First, instead of systematically marking the full path, ants mark short segments originating at the load. Second, the carrying team constantly loses the guiding trail. We experimentally and theoretically show that the locally-blazed trail optimally and robustly exploits useful knowledge while avoiding the pitfalls of misleading information. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20185.001 Ants forage to find food and bring it back to the colony. If they come across food items that are too large or heavy for a single individual to carry, some species are able to form teams to cooperatively carry these items to the nest. This collective navigation process hinges on the navigational abilities of the individual ants. However, in natural terrains, the routes that are available to an individual ant are often inaccessible for a large group carrying a bulky item. So how do the ants manage to navigate together? Fonio et al. studied how longhorn crazy ants cooperate to move large items. The experiments show that nearby ants not currently engaged in carrying the item mark the ground with chemical scents. Fonio et al. devised an automated method of detecting scent marking events and this has provided some of the first real time documentation of ant scent trails as they form. This shows that when cooperating to move large objects, the ants use scent marks to form a new type of trail that is highly dynamic. Unlike other ant trails that mark the whole path between the food and the nest, these new trails only direct the next step of the movement. Furthermore, the team of ants carrying the item only follows these local directions in a loose manner and often ignores them. Fonio et al. then used a mathematical model and further experiments to show that this new type of trail effectively solves the problems of collective navigation during cooperative transport. Essentially, the locality of the trail and the loose way in which the group follows it tune the degree to which the collective motion depends on the directions provided by individual ants. This allows the group to benefit from the useful information available to individuals while avoiding local traps that may occur when these individuals wrongly direct them towards dead ends. The next step following on from this work is to understand the mechanisms behind this newly discovered trail, and in particular, understand how the collective motion results from the actions of individual ants that react to single drops of scent. Another challenge for future research would be to find technological applications for this newly discovered strategy, such as routing over communication networks. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20185.002
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehud Fonio
- The Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Yael Heyman
- The Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Lucas Boczkowski
- Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale, CNRS and University Paris Diderot, Paris, France
| | - Aviram Gelblum
- The Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Adrian Kosowski
- Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale, INRIA and University Paris Diderot, Paris, France
| | - Amos Korman
- Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale, CNRS and University Paris Diderot, Paris, France
| | - Ofer Feinerman
- The Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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79
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Duboscq J, Romano V, MacIntosh A, Sueur C. Social Information Transmission in Animals: Lessons from Studies of Diffusion. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1147. [PMID: 27540368 PMCID: PMC4973104 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2015] [Accepted: 07/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The capacity to use information provided by others to guide behavior is a widespread phenomenon in animal societies. A standard paradigm to test if and/or how animals use and transfer social information is through social diffusion experiments, by which researchers observe how information spreads within a group, sometimes by seeding new behavior in the population. In this article, we review the context, methodology and products of such social diffusion experiments. Our major focus is the transmission of information from an individual (or group thereof) to another, and the factors that can enhance or, more interestingly, inhibit it. We therefore also discuss reasons why social transmission sometimes does not occur despite being expected to. We span a full range of mechanisms and processes, from the nature of social information itself and the cognitive abilities of various species, to the idea of social competency and the constraints imposed by the social networks in which animals are embedded. We ultimately aim at a broad reflection on practical and theoretical issues arising when studying how social information spreads within animal groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Duboscq
- Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueStrasbourg, France
- Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Université de StrasbourgStrasbourg, France
- Wildlife Research Centre, Kyoto UniversityKyoto, Japan
| | - Valéria Romano
- Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueStrasbourg, France
- Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Université de StrasbourgStrasbourg, France
| | - Andrew MacIntosh
- Wildlife Research Centre, Kyoto UniversityKyoto, Japan
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto UniversityInuyama, Japan
| | - Cédric Sueur
- Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueStrasbourg, France
- Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Université de StrasbourgStrasbourg, France
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80
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Lindström B, Selbing I, Olsson A. Co-Evolution of Social Learning and Evolutionary Preparedness in Dangerous Environments. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0160245. [PMID: 27487079 PMCID: PMC4972391 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2015] [Accepted: 07/15/2016] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Danger is a fundamental aspect of the lives of most animals. Adaptive behavior therefore requires avoiding actions, objects, and environments associated with danger. Previous research has shown that humans and non-human animals can avoid such dangers through two types of behavioral adaptions, (i) genetic preparedness to avoid certain stimuli or actions, and (ii) social learning. These adaptive mechanisms reduce the fitness costs associated with danger but still allow flexible behavior. Despite the empirical prevalence and importance of both these mechanisms, it is unclear when they evolve and how they interact. We used evolutionary agent-based simulations, incorporating empirically based learning mechanisms, to clarify if preparedness and social learning typically both evolve in dangerous environments, and if these mechanisms generally interact synergistically or antagonistically. Our simulations showed that preparedness and social learning often co-evolve because they provide complimentary benefits: genetic preparedness reduced foraging efficiency, but resulted in a higher rate of survival in dangerous environments, while social learning generally came to dominate the population, especially when the environment was stochastic. However, even in this case, genetic preparedness reliably evolved. Broadly, our results indicate that the relationship between preparedness and social learning is important as it can result in trade-offs between behavioral flexibility and safety, which can lead to seemingly suboptimal behavior if the evolutionary environment of the organism is not taken into account.
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Affiliation(s)
- Björn Lindström
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
| | - Ida Selbing
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Andreas Olsson
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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81
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The content and availability of information affects the evolution of social-information gathering strategies. THEOR ECOL-NETH 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s12080-016-0301-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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82
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Ramakers JJ, Dechmann DK, Page RA, O'Mara MT. Frugivorous bats prefer information from novel social partners. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.03.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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83
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Thornton A, McAuliffe K, Dall SRX, Fernandez-Duque E, Garber PA, Young AJ. Fundamental problems with the cooperative breeding hypothesis. A reply to Burkart & van Schaik. J Zool (1987) 2016; 299:84-88. [PMID: 27570375 PMCID: PMC4982024 DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The cooperative breeding hypothesis (CBH) states that cooperative breeding, a social system in which group members help to rear offspring that are not their own, has important socio‐cognitive consequences. Thornton & McAuliffe (2015; henceforth T&M) critiqued this idea on both conceptual and empirical grounds, arguing that there is no reason to predict that cooperative breeding should favour the evolution of enhanced social cognition or larger brains, nor any clear evidence that it does. In response to this critique, Burkart & van Schaik (2016 henceforth B&vS) attempt to clarify the causal logic of the CBH, revisit the data and raise the possibility that the hypothesis may only apply to primates. They concede that cooperative breeding is unlikely to generate selection pressures for enhanced socio‐cognitive abilities, but argue instead that the CBH operates purely through cooperative breeding reducing social or energetic constraints. Here, we argue that this revised hypothesis is also untenable because: (1) it cannot explain why resources so released would be allocated to cognitive traits per se rather than any other fitness‐related traits, (2) key assumptions are inconsistent with available evidence and (3) ambiguity regarding the predictions leaves it unclear what evidence would be required to falsify it. Ultimately, the absence of any compelling evidence that cooperative breeding is associated with elevated cognitive ability or large brains (indeed data suggest the opposite is true in non‐human primates) also casts doubt on the capacity of the CBH to explain variation in cognitive traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Thornton
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation University of Exeter Penryn UK
| | - K McAuliffe
- Department of Psychology Yale University New Haven CT USA; Department of Psychology Boston College Chestnut Hill MA USA
| | - S R X Dall
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation University of Exeter Penryn UK
| | | | - P A Garber
- Department of Anthropology University of Illinois Urbana IL USA
| | - A J Young
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation University of Exeter Penryn UK
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84
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Do Green Treefrogs Use Social Information to Orient Outside the Breeding Season? Zool Stud 2016; 55:e17. [PMID: 31966162 DOI: 10.6620/zs.2016.55-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2015] [Accepted: 01/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Gerlinde Höbel and Ashley Christie (2016) To decide efficiently where to forage, rest or breed, animals need information about their environment, which they may gather by monitoring the behavior of others. For example, attending to the signals of conspecifics or heterospecifics with similar habitat requirements may facilitate habitat choice. Such social information use seems taxonomically widespread, yet there is currently a dearth of information for amphibians. Anuran amphibians, with their highly developed auditory system and robust phonotaxis towards advertisement calls when searching for mates seem predisposed to use this hearing capability in other behavioral contexts. We conducted playback experiments to test whether anurans exploit acoustic signals in a non-reproductive context. In our experiments female Green Treefrogs did not show phonotaxis to signals associated with the presence of other frogs, and the orientation and speed of their movement was not different from animals randomly moving inside a silent arena. Previous studies documenting social information use in anurans have tested reproductively active frogs during the breeding season. By contrast, our study examined non-reproductive animals, and these did not approach social signals. We propose two non-exclusive hypotheses for this observed difference in phonotaxis behavior: (1) attending to social signals is restricted to ecologically most relevant time periods in a frogs life (i.e., finding breeding sites during the mating season), or (2) the ability of acoustic signals to stimulate the auditory system may be influenced by hormone levels regulating the reproductive state.
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85
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Dunlap AS, Nielsen ME, Dornhaus A, Papaj DR. Foraging Bumble Bees Weigh the Reliability of Personal and Social Information. Curr Biol 2016; 26:1195-9. [PMID: 27133871 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2015] [Revised: 02/17/2016] [Accepted: 03/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Many animals, including insects, make decisions using both personally gathered information and social information derived from the behavior of other, usually conspecific, individuals [1]. Moreover, animals adjust use of social versus personal information appropriately under a variety of experimental conditions [2-5]. An important factor in how information is used is the information's reliability, that is, how consistently the information is correlated with something of relevance in the environment [6]. The reliability of information determines which signals should be attended to during communication [6-9], which types of stimuli animals should learn about, and even whether learning should evolve [10, 11]. Here, we show that bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) account for the reliability of personally acquired information (which flower color was previously associated with reward) and social information (which flowers are chosen by other bees) in making foraging decisions; however, the two types of information are not treated equally. Bees prefer to use social information if it predicts a reward at all, but if social information becomes entirely unreliable, flower color will be used instead. This greater sensitivity to the reliability of social information, and avoidance of conspecifics in some cases, may reflect the specific ecological circumstances of bee foraging. Overall, the bees' ability to make decisions based on both personally acquired and socially derived information, and the relative reliability of both, demonstrates a new level of sophistication and flexibility in animal, particularly insect, decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aimee S Dunlap
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, 1041 E Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, One University Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63121, USA.
| | - Matthew E Nielsen
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, 1041 E Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | - Anna Dornhaus
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, 1041 E Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Daniel R Papaj
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, 1041 E Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
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86
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Crane AL, Mathiron AGE, Ferrari MCO. Social learning in a high-risk environment: incomplete disregard for the 'minnow that cried pike' results in culturally transmitted neophobia. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:20150934. [PMID: 26180068 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Many prey species rely on conspecifics to gather information about unknown predation threats, but little is known about the role of varying environmental conditions on the efficacy of social learning. We examined predator-naive minnows that had the opportunity to learn about predators from experienced models that were raised in either a low- or high-risk environment. There were striking differences in behaviour among models; high-risk models showed a weaker response to the predator cue and became neophobic in response to the control cue (a novel odour, NO). Observers that were previously paired with low-risk models acquired a strong antipredator response only to the predator cue. However, observers that interacted with high-risk models, displayed a much weaker response to the predator odour and a weak neophobic response to the NO. This is the first study reporting such different outcomes of social learning under different environmental conditions, and suggests high-risk environments promote the cultural transmission of neophobia more so than social learning. If such a transfer can be considered similar to secondary traumatization in humans, culturally transmitted neophobia in minnows may provide a good model system for understanding more about the social ecology of fear disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam L Crane
- Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatoon, Canada S7N 5E2
| | - Anthony G E Mathiron
- Department of Veterinary Biomedical Science, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatoon, Canada S7N 5B4
| | - Maud C O Ferrari
- Department of Veterinary Biomedical Science, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatoon, Canada S7N 5B4
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87
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Pasquaretta C, Klenschi E, Pansanel J, Battesti M, Mery F, Sueur C. Understanding Dynamics of Information Transmission in Drosophila melanogaster Using a Statistical Modeling Framework for Longitudinal Network Data (the RSiena Package). Front Psychol 2016; 7:539. [PMID: 27148146 PMCID: PMC4835720 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2015] [Accepted: 03/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning - the transmission of behaviors through observation or interaction with conspecifics - can be viewed as a decision-making process driven by interactions among individuals. Animal group structures change over time and interactions among individuals occur in particular orders that may be repeated following specific patterns, change in their nature, or disappear completely. Here we used a stochastic actor-oriented model built using the RSiena package in R to estimate individual behaviors and their changes through time, by analyzing the dynamic of the interaction network of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster during social learning experiments. In particular, we re-analyzed an experimental dataset where uninformed flies, left free to interact with informed ones, acquired and later used information about oviposition site choice obtained by social interactions. We estimated the degree to which the uninformed flies had successfully acquired the information carried by informed individuals using the proportion of eggs laid by uninformed flies on the medium their conspecifics had been trained to favor. Regardless of the degree of information acquisition measured in uninformed individuals, they always received and started interactions more frequently than informed ones did. However, information was efficiently transmitted (i.e., uninformed flies predominantly laid eggs on the same medium informed ones had learn to prefer) only when the difference in contacts sent between the two fly types was small. Interestingly, we found that the degree of reciprocation, the tendency of individuals to form mutual connections between each other, strongly affected oviposition site choice in uninformed flies. This work highlights the great potential of RSiena and its utility in the studies of interaction networks among non-human animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristian Pasquaretta
- Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueStrasbourg, France
- Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Université de StrasbourgStrasbourg, France
| | - Elizabeth Klenschi
- Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueStrasbourg, France
- Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Université de StrasbourgStrasbourg, France
| | - Jérôme Pansanel
- Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueStrasbourg, France
- Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Université de StrasbourgStrasbourg, France
| | - Marine Battesti
- Evolution, Génomes, Comportement and Ecologie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-SaclayGif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Frederic Mery
- Evolution, Génomes, Comportement and Ecologie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-SaclayGif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Cédric Sueur
- Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueStrasbourg, France
- Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Université de StrasbourgStrasbourg, France
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88
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Senior AM, Lihoreau M, Charleston MA, Buhl J, Raubenheimer D, Simpson SJ. Adaptive collective foraging in groups with conflicting nutritional needs. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2016; 3:150638. [PMID: 27152206 PMCID: PMC4852629 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2015] [Accepted: 03/15/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Collective foraging, based on positive feedback and quorum responses, is believed to improve the foraging efficiency of animals. Nutritional models suggest that social information transfer increases the ability of foragers with closely aligned nutritional needs to find nutrients and maintain a balanced diet. However, whether or not collective foraging is adaptive in a heterogeneous group composed of individuals with differing nutritional needs is virtually unexplored. Here we develop an evolutionary agent-based model using concepts of nutritional ecology to address this knowledge gap. Our aim was to evaluate how collective foraging, mediated by social retention on foods, can improve nutrient balancing in individuals with different requirements. The model suggests that in groups where inter-individual nutritional needs are unimodally distributed, high levels of collective foraging yield optimal individual fitness by reducing search times that result from moving between nutritionally imbalanced foods. However, where nutritional needs are highly bimodal (e.g. where the requirements of males and females differ) collective foraging is selected against, leading to group fission. In this case, additional mechanisms such as assortative interactions can coevolve to allow collective foraging by subgroups of individuals with aligned requirements. Our findings indicate that collective foraging is an efficient strategy for nutrient regulation in animals inhabiting complex nutritional environments and exhibiting a range of social forms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alistair M. Senior
- Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
| | - Mathieu Lihoreau
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI), Toulouse University, CNRS, UPS, France
| | - Michael A. Charleston
- School of Physical Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7005, Australia
| | - Jerome Buhl
- School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - David Raubenheimer
- Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
- Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
| | - Stephen J. Simpson
- Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
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89
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Refoyo P, Olmedo C, Muñoz B. Space use of a reintroduced population of Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) in a protected natural area. CAN J ZOOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1139/cjz-2015-0166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
In Europe, wild ungulates have undergone major expansion and population growth during recent decades. In certain cases, the high density achieved by these populations has led to excessive pressure on the environment, which eventually becomes a limiting factor for the population itself. One of these reintroductions was performed with the Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica Schinz, 1838) in the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (Spain). This reintroduced population was monitored during six field seasons (2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, and 2014) by direct observation of the animals along transects using the distance sampling method to determine the degree of expansion over the years and the use of different habitats according to different seasons. The abundances obtained for each field season showed a significant increase from 4.16 to 8.65 individuals/km, showing a linear relationship between abundance and extent of the area occupied by the species. We observed that differences between habitat availability and use were significant for all seasons. Our data can be used as an example of the colonization process of a population of wild ungulates and their impact on vegetation to better manage future reintroductions.
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Affiliation(s)
- P. Refoyo
- Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, Complutense University of Madrid, C/ José Antonio Novais, 12, E-28040 Madrid
- Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, Complutense University of Madrid, C/ José Antonio Novais, 12, E-28040 Madrid
| | - C. Olmedo
- Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, Complutense University of Madrid, C/ José Antonio Novais, 12, E-28040 Madrid
- Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, Complutense University of Madrid, C/ José Antonio Novais, 12, E-28040 Madrid
| | - B. Muñoz
- Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, Complutense University of Madrid, C/ José Antonio Novais, 12, E-28040 Madrid
- Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, Complutense University of Madrid, C/ José Antonio Novais, 12, E-28040 Madrid
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90
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Burns DD, Sendova-Franks AB, Franks NR. The effect of social information on the collective choices of ant colonies. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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91
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Caiado CCS, Brock WA, Bentley RA, O'Brien MJ. Fitness landscapes among many options under social influence. J Theor Biol 2016; 405:5-16. [PMID: 26851173 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2015] [Revised: 12/14/2015] [Accepted: 12/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Cultural learning represents a novel problem in that an optimal decision depends not only on intrinsic utility of the decision/behavior but also on transparency of costs and benefits, the degree of social versus individual learning, and the relative popularity of each possible choice in a population. In terms of a fitness-landscape function, this recursive relationship means that multiple equilibria can exist. Here we use discrete-choice theory to construct a fitness-landscape function for a bi-axial decision-making map that plots the magnitude of social influence in the learning process against the costs and payoffs of decisions. Specifically, we use econometric and statistical methods to estimate not only the fitness function but also movements along the map axes. To search for these equilibria, we employ a hill-climbing algorithm that leads to the expected values of optimal decisions, which we define as peaks on the fitness landscape. We illustrate how estimation of a measure of transparency, a measure of social influence, and the associated fitness landscape can be accomplished using panel data sets.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - William A Brock
- Department of Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - R Alexander Bentley
- Department of Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
| | - Michael J O'Brien
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
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92
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93
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Thorogood R, Davies NB. Combining personal with social information facilitates host defences and explains why cuckoos should be secretive. Sci Rep 2016; 6:19872. [PMID: 26794435 PMCID: PMC4726410 DOI: 10.1038/srep19872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2015] [Accepted: 12/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals often vary defences in response to local predation or parasitism risk. But how should they assess threat levels when it pays their enemies to hide? For common cuckoo hosts, assessing parasitism risk is challenging: cuckoo eggs are mimetic and adult cuckoos are secretive and resemble hawks. Here, we show that egg rejection by reed warblers depends on combining personal and social information of local risk. We presented model cuckoos or controls at a pair's own nest (personal information of an intruder) and/or on a neighbouring territory, to which they were attracted by broadcasts of alarm calls (social information). Rejection of an experimental egg was stimulated only when hosts were alerted by both social and personal information of cuckoos. However, pairs that rejected eggs were not more likely to mob a cuckoo. Therefore, while hosts can assess risk from the sight of a cuckoo, a cuckoo cannot gauge if her egg will be accepted from host mobbing. Our results reveal how hosts respond rapidly to local variation in parasitism, and why it pays cuckoos to be secretive, both to avoid alerting their targets and to limit the spread of social information in the local host neighbourhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rose Thorogood
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Nicholas B Davies
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
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94
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The Evolution of Individual and Cultural Variation in Social Learning. Trends Ecol Evol 2016; 31:215-225. [PMID: 26775795 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2015.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2015] [Revised: 12/07/2015] [Accepted: 12/07/2015] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
It is often assumed in experiments and models that social learning abilities - how often individuals copy others, plus who and how they copy - are species-typical. Yet there is accruing evidence for systematic individual variation in social learning within species. Here we review evidence for this individual variation, placing it within a continuum of increasing phenotypic plasticity, from genetically polymorphic personality traits, to developmental plasticity via cues such as maternal stress, to the individual learning of social learning, and finally the social learning of social learning. The latter, possibly restricted to humans, can generate stable between-group cultural variation in social learning. More research is needed to understand the extent, causes, and consequences of this individual and cultural variation.
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95
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Czaczkes TJ, Salmane AK, Klampfleuthner FAM, Heinze J. Private information alone can trigger trapping of ant colonies in local feeding optima. J Exp Biol 2016; 219:744-51. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.131847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2015] [Accepted: 12/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Ant colonies are famous for using trail pheromones to make collective decisions. Trail pheromone systems are characterised by positive feedback, which results in rapid decision making. However, in an iconic experiment ants were shown to become ‘trapped’ in exploiting a poor food source, if it was discovered earlier. This has conventionally been explained by the established pheromone trail becoming too strong for new trails to compete. However, many social insects have a well-developed memory, and private information often overrules conflicting social information. Thus, route memory could also explain this collective ‘trapping’ effect. Here we disentangle the effects of social and private information in two ‘trapping’ experiments; one in which ants are presented a good and poor food source, and one in which ants are presented a long and short path to the same food source. We find that private information is sufficient to trigger trapping in selecting the poorer of two food sources, and may be sufficient to cause it altogether. Memories did not trigger trapping in the shortest path experiment, likely as sufficiently detailed memories did not form. The fact that collective decisions can be triggered by private information alone may require other collective patterns previously attributed solely to social information use to be reconsidered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomer J. Czaczkes
- Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Anete K. Salmane
- Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany
- Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Jelgavas street 1, LV-1004, Riga, Latvia
| | | | - Jürgen Heinze
- Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany
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96
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Carr K, Kendal RL, Flynn EG. Imitate or innovate? Children’s innovation is influenced by the efficacy of observed behaviour. Cognition 2015; 142:322-32. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2014] [Revised: 05/05/2015] [Accepted: 05/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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97
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Vander Wal E, Festa-Bianchet M, Réale D, Coltman DW, Pelletier F. Sex-based differences in the adaptive value of social behavior contrasted against morphology and environment. Ecology 2015; 96:631-41. [PMID: 26236860 DOI: 10.1890/14-1320.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The adaptive nature of sociality has long been a central question in ecology and evolution. However, the relative importance of social behavior for fitness, compared to morphology and environment, remains largely unknown. We assessed the importance of sociality for fitness (lamb production and survival) in a population of mark6d bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) over 16 years (n = 1022 sheep-years). We constructed social networks from observations (n = 38,350) of group membership (n = 3150 groups). We then tested whether consistent individual differences in social behavior (centrality) exist and evaluated their relative importance compared to factors known to affect fitness: mass, age, parental effects, and population density. Sheep exhibited consistent individual differences in social centrality. Controlling for maternal carryover effects and age, the positive effect of centrality in a social network on adult female lamb production and survival was equal or greater than the effect of body mass or population density. Social centrality had less effect on male survival and no effect on adult male lamb production or lamb survival. Through its effect on lamb production and survival, sociality in fission-fusion animal societies may ultimately influence population dynamics equally or more than morphological or environmental effects.
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98
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Abstract
To cooperatively transport a large load, it is important that carriers conform in their efforts and align their forces. A downside of behavioural conformism is that it may decrease the group's responsiveness to external information. Combining experiment and theory, we show how ants optimize collective transport. On the single-ant scale, optimization stems from decision rules that balance individuality and compliance. Macroscopically, these rules poise the system at the transition between random walk and ballistic motion where the collective response to the steering of a single informed ant is maximized. We relate this peak in response to the divergence of susceptibility at a phase transition. Our theoretical models predict that the ant-load system can be transitioned through the critical point of this mesoscopic system by varying its size; we present experiments supporting these predictions. Our findings show that efficient group-level processes can arise from transient amplification of individual-based knowledge.
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99
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Mesoudi A, Chang L, Murray K, Lu HJ. Higher frequency of social learning in China than in the West shows cultural variation in the dynamics of cultural evolution. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 282:20142209. [PMID: 25392473 PMCID: PMC4262178 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cultural evolutionary models have identified a range of conditions under which social learning (copying others) is predicted to be adaptive relative to asocial learning (learning on one's own), particularly in humans where socially learned information can accumulate over successive generations. However, cultural evolution and behavioural economics experiments have consistently shown apparently maladaptive under-utilization of social information in Western populations. Here we provide experimental evidence of cultural variation in people's use of social learning, potentially explaining this mismatch. People in mainland China showed significantly more social learning than British people in an artefact-design task designed to assess the adaptiveness of social information use. People in Hong Kong, and Chinese immigrants in the UK, resembled British people in their social information use, suggesting a recent shift in these groups from social to asocial learning due to exposure to Western culture. Finally, Chinese mainland participants responded less than other participants to increased environmental change within the task. Our results suggest that learning strategies in humans are culturally variable and not genetically fixed, necessitating the study of the 'social learning of social learning strategies' whereby the dynamics of cultural evolution are responsive to social processes, such as migration, education and globalization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Mesoudi
- Department of Anthropology and Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Lei Chang
- Department of Educational Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ho Tim Building, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
| | - Keelin Murray
- School of Biology and Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, University of St Andrews, Harold Mitchell Building, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TH, UK
| | - Hui Jing Lu
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
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100
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Penteriani V, del Mar Delgado M, Campioni L. Quantifying space use of breeders and floaters of a long-lived species using individual movement data. Naturwissenschaften 2015; 102:21. [DOI: 10.1007/s00114-015-1271-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2014] [Revised: 01/29/2015] [Accepted: 03/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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