Population genetic structure and its implications for adaptive variation in memory and the hippocampus on a continental scale in food-caching black-capped chickadees

Adding the neuro to cognition: from food storing to nest building

Typically, investigations of animal cognition couple careful experimental manipulations with examination of the animal's behavioural responses. Sometimes those questions have included attempts to describe the neural underpinnings of the behavioural outputs. Over the past 25 years, behaviours that involve spatial learning and memory (such as navigation and food storing) has been one context in which such dual or correlated investigations have been both accessible and productive. Here I review some of that work and where it has led. Because of the wealth of data and insights gained from that work and song learning before it, it seems that it might also be useful to try to add some neurobiology to other systems in animal cognition. I finish then, with a description of recent work on the cognition and neurobiology of avian nest building. It is still relatively early days but asking questions about the cognition of nest building has already shown both neural correlates of nest building and that learning and memory play a much greater role in this behaviour than previously considered. While it is not yet clear how putting these components together will be synergistic, the examples of song learning and food storing provide encouragement. Perhaps this might be true for other behaviours too?

Neural Substrates of Homing Pigeon Spatial Navigation: Results From Electrophysiology Studies

Over many centuries, the homing pigeon has been selectively bred for returning home from a distant location. As a result of this strong selective pressure, homing pigeons have developed an excellent spatial navigation system. This system passes through the hippocampal formation (HF), which shares many striking similarities to the mammalian hippocampus; there are a host of shared neuropeptides, interconnections, and its role in the storage and manipulation of spatial maps. There are some notable differences as well: there are unique connectivity patterns and spatial encoding strategies. This review summarizes the comparisons between the avian and mammalian hippocampal systems, and the responses of single neurons in several general categories: (1) location and place cells responding in specific areas, (2) path and goal cells responding between goal locations, (3) context-dependent cells that respond before or during a task, and (4) pattern, grid, and boundary cells that increase firing at stable intervals. Head-direction cells, responding to a specific compass direction, are found in mammals and other birds but not to date in pigeons. By studying an animal that evolved under significant adaptive pressure to quickly develop a complex and efficient spatial memory system, we may better understand the comparative neurology of neurospatial systems, and plot new and potentially fruitful avenues of comparative research in the future.

Pleistocene glacial cycles and physical barriers influence phylogeographic structure in Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), a widespread North American passerine

The nonmigratory Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766)) has a continent-wide distribution extending across large parts of North America. To investigate the phylogeographic structure and verify possible refugia during the last glacial maximum, we sequenced a 678 bp region of the mitochondrial control region from 633 Black-capped Chickadees at 35 sites across North America and performed paleoecological distribution modeling. Two genetically distinct groups were found using multiple analyses: one in Newfoundland (Canada) and a widespread continental group, with additional substructure evident in western continental populations. While gene flow is low throughout the range, it is especially low in peripheral populations. The Newfoundland population has remained isolated from continental populations for at least 65 000 years and contains a number of fixed nucleotide differences. Within the continental populations, Black-capped Chickadees are subdivided into Pacific Coast, Alaska (USA), southeast Rockies, and main-northeast groups consistent with late Pleistocene vicariance events. Evidence of secondary contact was identified between Pacific and main-northeast populations in northwest British Columbia (Canada) and between southeast Rockies and main-northeast groups in Montana (USA). Paleoecological distribution modeling predicted suitable habitat in Alaska, off the coast of Newfoundland, and several locations across the southern United States during the last glacial maximum, whereas suitable habitat during the last interglacial was more similar to the contemporary distribution.

Maladaptive learning and memory in hybrids as a reproductive isolating barrier

Selection against hybrid offspring, or postzygotic reproductive isolation, maintains species boundaries in the face of gene flow from hybridization. In this review, we propose that maladaptive learning and memory in hybrids is an important, but overlooked form of postzygotic reproductive isolation. Although a role for learning in premating isolation has been supported, whether learning deficiencies can contribute to postzygotic isolation has rarely been tested. We argue that the novel genetic combinations created by hybridization have the potential to impact learning and memory abilities through multiple possible mechanisms, and that any displacement from optima in these traits is likely to have fitness consequences. We review evidence supporting the potential for hybridization to affect learning and memory, and evidence of links between learning abilities and fitness. Finally, we suggest several avenues for future research. Given the importance of learning for fitness, especially in novel and unpredictable environments, maladaptive learning and memory in hybrids may be an increasingly important source of postzygotic reproductive isolation.

Intraspecific variation in cue-specific learning in sticklebacks

Animals must identify reliable cues amidst environmental noise during learning, and the cues that are most reliable often depend on the local ecology. Comparing the performance of populations of the same species across multiple versions of a cognitive task can reveal whether some populations learn to use certain cues faster than others. Here, using a criterion-based protocol, we assessed whether two natural populations of sticklebacks differed in how quickly they learned to associate two different discrimination cues with the location of food. One version of the discrimination task required animals to use visual (colour) cues while the other required animals to use egocentric (side) cues. There were significant behavioural differences between the two populations, but no evidence that one population was generally better at learning, or that one version of the task was generally harder than the other. However, the two populations excelled on different tasks: fish from one population performed significantly better on the side version than they did on the colour version, while the opposite was observed in the other population. These results suggest that the two populations are equally capable of discrimination learning, but are primed to form associations with different cues. Ecological differences between the populations in environmental stability might account for the observed variation in learning. These findings highlight the value of comparing cognitive performance on different variations of the same task in order to understand variation in cognitive mechanisms.

Gene Flow of a Forest-Dependent Bird across a Fragmented Landscape

Habitat loss and fragmentation can affect the persistence of populations by reducing connectivity and restricting the ability of individuals to disperse across landscapes. Dispersal corridors promote population connectivity and therefore play important roles in maintaining gene flow in natural populations inhabiting fragmented landscapes. In the prairies, forests are restricted to riparian areas along river systems which act as important dispersal corridors for forest dependent species across large expanses of unsuitable grassland habitat. However, natural and anthropogenic barriers within riparian systems have fragmented these forested habitats. In this study, we used microsatellite markers to assess the fine-scale genetic structure of a forest-dependent species, the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), along 10 different river systems in Southern Alberta. Using a landscape genetic approach, landscape features (e.g., land cover) were found to have a significant effect on patterns of genetic differentiation. Populations are genetically structured as a result of natural breaks in continuous habitat at small spatial scales, but the artificial barriers we tested do not appear to restrict gene flow. Dispersal between rivers is impeded by grasslands, evident from isolation of nearby populations (~ 50 km apart), but also within river systems by large treeless canyons (>100 km). Significant population genetic differentiation within some rivers corresponded with zones of different cottonwood (riparian poplar) tree species and their hybrids. This study illustrates the importance of considering the impacts of habitat fragmentation at small spatial scales as well as other ecological processes to gain a better understanding of how organisms respond to their environmental connectivity. Here, even in a common and widespread songbird with high dispersal potential, small breaks in continuous habitats strongly influenced the spatial patterns of genetic variation.

Population genetic structure of Oryza sativa in East and Southeast Asia and the discovery of elite alleles for grain traits

We investigated the nuclear simple sequence repeat (SSR) genotypes of 532 rice (Oryza sativa L.) accessions collected from East and Southeast Asia and detected abundant genetic diversity within the population. We identified 6 subpopulations and found a tendency towards directional evolution in O. sativa from low to high latitudes, with levels of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the 6 subpopulations ranging from 10 to 30 cM. We then investigated the phenotypic data for grain length, grain width, grain thickness and 1,000-grain weight over 4 years. Using a genome-wide association analysis, we identified 17 marker-trait associations involving 14 SSR markers on 12 chromosome arms, and 8 of the 17 associations were novel. The elite alleles were mined based on the phenotypic effects of the detected quantitative trait loci (QTLs). These elite alleles could be used to improve target traits through optimal cross designs, with the expected results obtained by pyramiding or substituting the elite alleles per QTL (independent of possible epistatic effects). Together, these results provide an in-depth understanding of the genetic diversity pattern among rice-grain traits across a broad geographic scale, which has potential use in future research work, including studies related to germplasm conservation and molecular breeding by design.

Studying the evolutionary ecology of cognition in the wild: a review of practical and conceptual challenges

Cognition is defined as the processes by which animals collect, retain and use information from their environment to guide their behaviour. Thus cognition is essential in a wide range of behaviours, including foraging, avoiding predators and mating. Despite this pivotal role, the evolutionary processes shaping variation in cognitive performance among individuals in wild populations remain very poorly understood. Selection experiments in captivity suggest that cognitive traits can have substantial heritability and can undergo rapid evolution. However only a handful of studies have attempted to explore how cognition influences life-history variation and fitness in the wild, and direct evidence for the action of natural or sexual selection on cognition is still lacking, reasons for which are diverse. Here we review the current literature with a view to: (i) highlighting the key practical and conceptual challenges faced by the field; (ii) describing how to define and measure cognitive traits in natural populations, and suggesting which species, populations and cognitive traits might be examined to greatest effect; emphasis is placed on selecting traits that are linked to functional behaviour; (iii) discussing how to deal with confounding factors such as personality and motivation in field as well as captive studies; (iv) describing how to measure and interpret relationships between cognitive performance, functional behaviour and fitness, offering some suggestions as to when and what kind of selection might be predicted; and (v) showing how an evolutionary ecological framework, more generally, along with innovative technologies has the potential to revolutionise the study of cognition in the wild. We conclude that the evolutionary ecology of cognition in wild populations is a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field providing many opportunities for advancing the understanding of how cognitive abilities have evolved.

Influence of ecological and geological features on rangewide patterns of genetic structure in a widespread passerine

Geological and ecological features restrict dispersal and gene flow, leading to isolated populations. Dispersal barriers can be obvious physical structures in the landscape; however microgeographic differences can also lead to genetic isolation. Our study examined dispersal barriers at both macro- and micro-geographical scales in the black-capped chickadee, a resident North American songbird. Although birds have high dispersal potential, evidence suggests dispersal is restricted by barriers. The chickadee's range encompasses a number of physiological features which may impede movement and lead to divergence. Analyses of 913 individuals from 34 sampling sites across the entire range using 11 microsatellite loci revealed as many as 13 genetic clusters. Populations in the east were largely panmictic whereas populations in the western portion of the range showed significant genetic structure, which often coincided with large mountain ranges, such as the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, as well as areas of unsuitable habitat. Unlike populations in the central and southern Rockies, populations on either side of the northern Rockies were not genetically distinct. Furthermore, Northeast Oregon represents a forested island within the Great Basin; genetically isolated from all other populations. Substructuring at the microgeographical scale was also evident within the Fraser Plateau of central British Columbia, and in the southeast Rockies where no obvious physical barriers are present, suggesting additional factors may be impeding dispersal and gene flow. Dispersal barriers are therefore not restricted to large physical structures, although mountain ranges and large water bodies do play a large role in structuring populations in this study.