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Stanton LA, Cooley-Ackermann C, Davis EC, Fanelli RE, Benson-Amram S. Wild raccoons demonstrate flexibility and individuality in innovative problem-solving. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20240911. [PMID: 39043237 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Revised: 06/11/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Cognitive skills, such as innovative problem-solving, are hypothesized to aid animals in urban environments. However, the significance of innovation in wild populations, and its expression across individuals and socio-ecological conditions, is poorly understood. To identify how and when innovation arises in urban-dwelling species, we used advanced technologies and new testing and analytical methods to evaluate innovative problem-solving abilities of wild raccoons (Procyon lotor). We deployed multi-compartment puzzle boxes with either one or multiple solution types and identified raccoons using radio frequency identification. Raccoons solved these novel extractive foraging tasks, and their success was influenced by age and exploratory diversity. Successful raccoons always discovered multiple different solution types, highlighting flexible problem-solving. Using a unique, comparative sequence analysis approach, we found that variation in raccoon solving techniques was greater between individuals than within individuals, and this self-similarity intensified during times of competition. Finally, the inclusion of an easier solution in the multi-solution trials enabled previously unsuccessful raccoons to bootstrap their learning and successfully open multiple difficult solutions. Our study suggests that innovative problem-solving is probably influenced by many factors and has provided novel field and analytical methods, as well as new insights on the socio-ecological dynamics of urban populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A Stanton
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
- Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA
| | | | - Emily C Davis
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
| | - Rachel E Fanelli
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
| | - Sarah Benson-Amram
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
- Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
- Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, 3041-2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Center, University of British Columbia, 4200-6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
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2
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Vincze E, Kačergytė I, Gaviraghi Mussoi J, Urhan U, Brodin A. Are comparable studies really comparable? Suggestions from a problem-solving experiment on urban and rural great tits. Anim Cogn 2024; 27:47. [PMID: 38980424 PMCID: PMC11233327 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-024-01885-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2024] [Revised: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/21/2024] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
Performance in tests of various cognitive abilities has often been compared, both within and between species. In intraspecific comparisons, habitat effects on cognition has been a popular topic, frequently with an underlying assumption that urban animals should perform better than their rural conspecifics. In this study, we tested problem-solving ability in great tits Parus major, in a string-pulling and a plug-opening test. Our aim was to compare performance between urban and rural great tits, and to compare their performance with previously published problem solving studies. Our great tits perfomed better in string-pulling than their conspecifics in previous studies (solving success: 54%), and better than their close relative, the mountain chickadee Poecile gambeli, in the plug-opening test (solving success: 70%). Solving latency became shorter over four repeated sessions, indicating learning abilities, and showed among-individual correlation between the two tests. However, the solving ability did not differ between habitat types in either test. Somewhat unexpectedly, we found marked differences between study years even though we tried to keep conditions identical. These were probably due to small changes to the experimental protocol between years, for example the unavoidable changes of observers and changes in the size and material of test devices. This has an important implication: if small changes in an otherwise identical set-up can have strong effects, meaningful comparisons of cognitive performance between different labs must be extremely hard. In a wider perspective this highlights the replicability problem often present in animal behaviour studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ernő Vincze
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, S-223 62, Sweden.
- HUN-REN - PE Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Centre for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, Veszprém, Hungary.
| | - Ineta Kačergytė
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, S-223 62, Sweden
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, Uppsala, 750 07, Sweden
| | - Juliane Gaviraghi Mussoi
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, S-223 62, Sweden
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Utku Urhan
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, S-223 62, Sweden
- Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Anders Brodin
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, S-223 62, Sweden
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3
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Broad HR, Dibnah AJ, Smith AE, Thornton A. Anthropogenic disturbance affects calling and collective behaviour in corvid roosts. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230185. [PMID: 38768208 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Acoustic communication plays an important role in coordinating group dynamics and collective movements across a range of taxa. However, anthropogenic disturbance can inhibit the production or reception of acoustic signals. Here, we investigate the effects of noise and light pollution on the calling and collective behaviour of wild jackdaws (Corvus monedula), a highly social corvid species that uses vocalizations to coordinate collective movements at winter roosting sites. Using audio and video monitoring of roosts in areas with differing degrees of urbanization, we evaluate the influence of anthropogenic disturbance on vocalizations and collective movements. We found that when levels of background noise were higher, jackdaws took longer to settle following arrival at the roost in the evening and also called more during the night, suggesting that human disturbance may cause sleep disruption. High levels of overnight calling were, in turn, linked to disruption of vocal consensus decision-making and less cohesive group departures in the morning. These results raise the possibility that, by affecting cognitive and perceptual processes, human activities may interfere with animals' ability to coordinate collective behaviour. Understanding links between anthropogenic disturbance, communication, cognition and collective behaviour must be an important research priority in our increasingly urbanized world. This article is part of the theme issue 'The power of sound: unravelling how acoustic communication shapes group dynamics'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah R Broad
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter , Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Alex J Dibnah
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter , Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
- Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales , Sydney, 2052 NSW, Australia
| | - Anna E Smith
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter , Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Alex Thornton
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter , Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
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4
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Ridley AR, Speechley EM. Problem-solving ability: a link between cognition and conservation? Trends Ecol Evol 2024; 39:609-611. [PMID: 38821782 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2024.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2024] [Revised: 05/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
Traditionally, conservation and cognition have been disparate research disciplines. However, Audet et al.'s recent research contributes to an increasing body of evidence that innovative behaviours may determine the ability of species to respond to rapid environmental change, identifying an opportunity for cognition research to directly contribute to conservation outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda R Ridley
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
| | - Elizabeth M Speechley
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
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5
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Chow PKY, Uchida K, Koizumi I. 'Ripple effects' of urban environmental characteristics on cognitive performances in Eurasian red squirrels. J Anim Ecol 2024. [PMID: 38924529 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Urban areas are expanding exponentially, leading more species of wildlife living in urban environments. Urban environmental characteristics, such as human disturbance, induce stress for many wildlife and have been shown to affect some cognitive traits, such as innovative problem-solving performance. However, because different cognitive traits have common cognitive processes, it is possible that urban environmental characteristics may directly and indirectly affect related cognitive traits (the ripple effect hypothesis). We tested the ripple effect hypothesis in urban Eurasian red squirrels residing in 11 urban areas that had different urban environmental characteristics (direct human disturbance, indirect human disturbance, areas of green coverage and squirrel population size). These squirrels were innovators who had previously repeatedly solved a food extraction task (the original task). Here, we examined whether and how urban environmental characteristics would directly and indirectly influence performance in two related cognitive traits, generalisation and (long-term) memory. The generalisation task required the innovators to apply the learned successful solutions when solving a similar but novel problem. The memory task required them to recall the learned solution of the original task after an extended period of time. Some of the selected urban environmental characteristics directly influenced the task performance, both at the population level (site) and at individual levels. Urban environmental characteristics, such as increased direct and indirect human disturbance, decreased the proportion of success in solving the generalisation task or the memory task at the population (site) level. Increased direct human disturbance and less green coverage increased the solving efficiency at individual levels. We also found an indirect effect in one of the urban environmental characteristics, indirect human disturbance, in the generalisation task, but not the memory task. Such an effect was only seen at the individual level but not at the population level; indirect human disturbance decreased the first original latency, which then decreased the generalisation latency across successes. Our results partially support the ripple effect hypothesis, suggesting that urban environmental characteristics are stressors for squirrels and have a greater impact on shaping cognitive performance than previously shown. Together, these results provide a better understanding of cognitive traits that support wildlife in adapting to urban environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pizza Ka Yee Chow
- Division of Psychology, University of Chester, Chester, UK
- Ecology and Genetic Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Division of Biosphere Science, Faculty of Env.Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Kenta Uchida
- Division of Biosphere Science, Faculty of Env.Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Itsuro Koizumi
- Division of Biosphere Science, Faculty of Env.Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
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6
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Sueur C, Huffman MA. Co-cultures: exploring interspecies culture among humans and other animals. Trends Ecol Evol 2024:S0169-5347(24)00122-8. [PMID: 38902164 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2024.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Revised: 05/21/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/22/2024]
Abstract
The concept of 'co-culture' is introduced as a novel framework for understanding the mutual cultural evolution between animal species, including, but not only, humans. It explores the dynamics of interspecies interactions, particularly in how different species influence each other's behavioural and cognitive adaptations. Various instances of interspecies cultural exchange are highlighted, such as the acquisition of medicinal plants from animals resulting in a shared medicinal culture, adaptive behaviours of urban wildlife, and cooperative behaviours between animal species. Co-culture challenges the notion of species-specific culture, underscoring the complexity and interconnectedness of human and animal societies, and between animal societies. Further research into co-culture is advocating and emphasising its implications for conservation, urban planning, and a deeper understanding of animal cognition and behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Sueur
- Université de Strasbourg, IPHC UMR7178, CNRS, Strasbourg, France; Anthropo-lab, ETHICS EA 7446, Université Catholique de Lille, Lille, France; Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
| | - Michael A Huffman
- Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan; Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
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7
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Damas-Moreira I, Szabo B, Drosopoulos G, Stober C, Lisičić D, Caspers BA. Smarter in the city? Lizards from urban and semi-natural habitats do not differ in a cognitive task in two syntopic species. Curr Zool 2024; 70:361-370. [PMID: 39035752 PMCID: PMC11255991 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoae010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Urbanization occurs at a global scale, imposing dramatic and abrupt environmental changes that lead to biodiversity loss. Yet, some animal species can handle these changes, and thrive in such artificial environments. One possible explanation is that urban individuals are equipped with better cognitive abilities, but most studies have focused on birds and mammals and yielded varied results. Reptiles have received much less attention, despite some lizard species being common city dwellers. The Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus, and the common wall lizard, Podarcis muralis, are two successful lizards in anthropogenic habitats that thrive in urban locations. To test for differences in a cognitive skill between urban and semi-natural environments, we investigated inhibitory control through a detour task in syntopic populations of the two species, across 249 lizards that were tested in partially artificial field settings. Sophisticated inhibitory control is considered essential for higher degrees of cognitive flexibility and other higher-level cognitive abilities. In this task, we confronted lizards with a transparent barrier, separating them from a desired shelter area that they could only reach by controlling their impulse to go straight and instead detour the barrier. We found no differences between lizards in urban and semi-natural environments, nor between species, but females overall performed better than males. Moreover, 48% of the lizards in our study did not perform a correct trial in any of the 5 trials, hinting at the difficulty of the task for these species. This study is among the first to address lizard cognition, through their inhibitory control, as a potential explanation for success in cities and highlights one should be careful with assuming that urban animals generally have enhanced cognitive performance, as it might be taxa, task, or condition dependent.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Birgit Szabo
- Division of Behavioural Ecology, University of Bern, 3032, Switzerland
| | | | - Carolin Stober
- Department of Behavioural Ecology, Bielefeld University, 33615, Germany
| | - Duje Lisičić
- Department of Biology, University of Zagreb, 10000, Croatia
| | - Barbara A Caspers
- Department of Behavioural Ecology, Bielefeld University, 33615, Germany
- Joint Institute of Individualisation in a Changing Environment (JICE), University of Münster and Bielefeld University, 33615, Germany
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8
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Breen AJ, Deffner D. Risk-sensitive learning is a winning strategy for leading an urban invasion. eLife 2024; 12:RP89315. [PMID: 38562050 PMCID: PMC10987091 DOI: 10.7554/elife.89315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
In the unpredictable Anthropocene, a particularly pressing open question is how certain species invade urban environments. Sex-biased dispersal and learning arguably influence movement ecology, but their joint influence remains unexplored empirically, and might vary by space and time. We assayed reinforcement learning in wild-caught, temporarily captive core-, middle-, or edge-range great-tailed grackles-a bird species undergoing urban-tracking rapid range expansion, led by dispersing males. We show, across populations, both sexes initially perform similarly when learning stimulus-reward pairings, but, when reward contingencies reverse, male-versus female-grackles finish 'relearning' faster, making fewer choice-option switches. How do male grackles do this? Bayesian cognitive modelling revealed male grackles' choice behaviour is governed more strongly by the 'weight' of relative differences in recent foraging payoffs-i.e., they show more pronounced risk-sensitive learning. Confirming this mechanism, agent-based forward simulations of reinforcement learning-where we simulate 'birds' based on empirical estimates of our grackles' reinforcement learning-replicate our sex-difference behavioural data. Finally, evolutionary modelling revealed natural selection should favour risk-sensitive learning in hypothesised urban-like environments: stable but stochastic settings. Together, these results imply risk-sensitive learning is a winning strategy for urban-invasion leaders, underscoring the potential for life history and cognition to shape invasion success in human-modified environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis J Breen
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyLeipzigGermany
| | - Dominik Deffner
- Science of Intelligence Excellence Cluster, Technical University BerlinBerlinGermany
- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human DevelopmentBerlinGermany
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9
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Blackburn G, Ashton BJ, Thornton A, Woodiss-Field S, Ridley AR. Cognition mediates response to anthropogenic noise in wild Western Australian magpies (Gmynorhina tibicen dorsalis). GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:6912-6930. [PMID: 37846601 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 09/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic noise is a pollutant of growing concern, with wide-ranging effects on taxa across ecosystems. Until recently, studies investigating the effects of anthropogenic noise on animals focused primarily on population-level consequences, rather than individual-level impacts. Individual variation in response to anthropogenic noise may result from extrinsic or intrinsic factors. One such intrinsic factor, cognitive performance, varies between individuals and is hypothesised to aid behavioural response to novel stressors. Here, we combine cognitive testing, behavioural focals and playback experiments to investigate how anthropogenic noise affects the behaviour and anti-predator response of Western Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen dorsalis), and to determine whether this response is linked to cognitive performance. We found a significant population-level effect of anthropogenic noise on the foraging effort, foraging efficiency, vigilance, vocalisation rate and anti-predator response of magpies, with birds decreasing their foraging, vocalisation behaviours and anti-predator response, and increasing vigilance when loud anthropogenic noise was present. We also found that individuals varied in their response to playbacks depending on their cognitive performance, with individuals that performed better in an associative learning task maintaining their anti-predator response when an alarm call was played in anthropogenic noise. Our results add to the growing body of literature documenting the adverse effects of anthropogenic noise on wildlife and provide the first evidence for an association between individual cognitive performance and behavioural responses to anthropogenic noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace Blackburn
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Benjamin J Ashton
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Alex Thornton
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - Sarah Woodiss-Field
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Amanda R Ridley
- Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
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10
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Soravia C, Ashton BJ, Thornton A, Ridley AR. High temperatures are associated with reduced cognitive performance in wild southern pied babblers. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231077. [PMID: 37989242 PMCID: PMC10688443 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Global temperatures are increasing rapidly. While considerable research is accumulating regarding the lethal and sublethal effects of heat on wildlife, its potential impact on animal cognition has received limited attention. Here, we tested wild southern pied babblers (Turdoides bicolor) on three cognitive tasks (associative learning, reversal learning and inhibitory control) under naturally occurring heat stress and non-heat stress conditions. We determined whether cognitive performance was explained by temperature, heat dissipation behaviours, individual and social attributes, or proxies of motivation. We found that temperature, but not heat dissipation behaviours, predicted variation in associative learning performance. Individuals required on average twice as many trials to learn an association when the maximum temperature during testing exceeded 38°C compared with moderate temperatures. Higher temperatures during testing were also associated with reduced inhibitory control performance, but only in females. By contrast, we found no temperature-related decline in performance in the reversal learning task, albeit individuals reached learning criterion in only 14 reversal learning tests. Our findings provide novel evidence of temperature-mediated cognitive impairment in a wild animal and indicate that its occurrence depends on the cognitive trait examined and individual sex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Soravia
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia 6009
| | - Benjamin J. Ashton
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia 6009
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2109
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 7701
| | - Alex Thornton
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Amanda R. Ridley
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia 6009
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 7701
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11
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Chyb A, Włodarczyk R, Drzewińska‐Chańko J, Jedlikowski J, Walden KKO, Minias P. Urbanization is associated with non-coding polymorphisms in candidate behavioural genes in the Eurasian coot. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10572. [PMID: 37791294 PMCID: PMC10542476 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 10/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Extensive transformation of natural land cover into urbanized areas enhances accumulation of phenotypic differences between animals from urban and nonurban populations, but there is little information on whether these changes, especially in terms of animal behaviour and circadian rhythm, have a genetic basis. The aim of this study was to investigate genetic background of behavioural differences between four pairs of urban and nonurban populations of a common waterbird, the Eurasian coot Fulica atra. For this purpose, we quantified polymorphisms in personality-related candidate genes, previously reported to be associated with avian circadian rhythms and behavioural traits that may be crucial for urban life. We found general associations between landscape urbanization level and polymorphisms in 3'UTR region of CREB1 gene encoding transcriptional factor, which participates in development of cognitive functions and regulation of circadian rhythm. We also found significant differentiation between urban and nonurban populations in the intronic region of CKIɛ gene responsible for regulation of circadian clock. Although we lacked evidence for linkage of this intronic variation with coding polymorphisms, genetic differentiation between urban populations was significantly stronger at CKIɛ intron compared with neutral microsatellite markers, suggesting possible local adaptations of CKIɛ expression regulation to specific urban sites. Our results indicate that behavioural differentiation between urban and nonurban coot populations may be the effect of habitat-specific selective pressure resulting in genetic adaptations to urban environment and supporting the microevolutionary scenario. These adaptations, however, prevailed in non-coding regulatory rather than coding gene regions and showed either general or local patterns, revealing high complexity of associations between behaviour and landscape urbanization in birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia Chyb
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental ProtectionUniversity of ŁódźŁódźPoland
| | - Radosław Włodarczyk
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental ProtectionUniversity of ŁódźŁódźPoland
| | - Joanna Drzewińska‐Chańko
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental ProtectionUniversity of ŁódźŁódźPoland
| | - Jan Jedlikowski
- Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research CentreUniversity of WarsawWarsawPoland
| | - Kimberly K. O. Walden
- Roy J. Carver Biotechnology CenterUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignUrbanaIllinoisUSA
| | - Piotr Minias
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental ProtectionUniversity of ŁódźŁódźPoland
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12
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Dubois F. Skill trade-offs promote persistent individual differences and specialized tactics. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10578. [PMID: 37809359 PMCID: PMC10550786 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals generally differ in their ability to perform challenging behaviours, but the causes of such variability remain incompletely understood. Because animals can usually use different behavioural tactics to achieve their goals, we might expect individual differences in skill to be maintained when the available tactics require different abilities to perform well. To explore this idea, I used the producer-scrounger (PS) paradigm, which considers interactions between foragers that may either invest effort in searching for resources (i.e. produce) or exploit others' discoveries (i.e. scrounge). Specifically, I tested whether individual differences in cognitive traits (i.e. the ability to find food) might result from a trade-off with competitiveness (i.e. the ability to steal food) that would exert disruptive selection pressure and, as such, might explain the coexistence of condition-dependent foraging tactics. If individuals differ in their competitiveness, with strong contestants being better able to monopolize food resources (and hence to scrounge), the model predicts that strong and weak competitors should rely more on scrounging and producing, respectively, especially when the finder's advantage is low. These findings indicate that the existence of individual differences in competitive abilities may be sufficient to explain short-term individual foraging tactic specialization. Yet, the degree of behavioural specialization is expected to depend on both the social and ecological context. Furthermore, persistent phenotypic differences, that are necessary for stable individual specialization, require the existence of a trade-off between competitive abilities that enable greater success as scroungers and cognitive abilities that are associated with better efficiency to detect and/or capture prey and, as such, enable greater success as producers. Therefore, this study further highlights the importance of considering the existence of alternative tactics to measure and predict the evolution of traits, including cognitive traits, within populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédérique Dubois
- Département de Sciences BiologiquesUniversité de MontréalMontrealQuebecCanada
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13
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Arbon JJ, Hahn LG, McIvor GE, Thornton A. Competition and generalization impede cultural formation in wild jackdaws. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230705. [PMID: 37554031 PMCID: PMC10410225 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal cultures have now been demonstrated experimentally in diverse taxa from flies to great apes. However, experiments commonly use tasks with unrestricted access to equal pay-offs and innovations seeded by demonstrators who are trained to exhibit strong preferences. Such conditions may not reflect those typically found in nature. For example, the learned preferences of natural innovators may be weaker, while competition for depleting resources can favour switching between strategies and generalizing from past experience. Here we show that in experiments where wild jackdaws (Corvus monedula) can freely discover depleting supplies of novel foods, generalization has a powerful effect on learning, allowing individuals to exploit multiple new opportunities through both social and individual learning. Further, in contrast to studies with trained demonstrators, individuals that were first to innovate showed weak preferences. As a consequence, many individuals ate all available novel foods, displaying no strong preference and no group-level culture emerged. Individuals followed a 'learn from adults' strategy, but other demographic factors played a minimal role in shaping social transmission. These results demonstrate the importance of generalization in allowing animals to exploit new opportunities and highlight how natural competitive dynamics may impede the formation of culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josh J. Arbon
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall, UK
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, UK
| | - Luca G. Hahn
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall, UK
| | - Guillam E. McIvor
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall, UK
| | - Alex Thornton
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall, UK
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14
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Clark FE, Greggor AL, Montgomery SH, Plotnik JM. The endangered brain: actively preserving ex-situ animal behaviour and cognition will benefit in-situ conservation. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230707. [PMID: 37650055 PMCID: PMC10465207 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
Endangered species have small, unsustainable population sizes that are geographically or genetically restricted. Ex-situ conservation programmes are therefore faced with the challenge of breeding sufficiently sized, genetically diverse populations earmarked for reintroduction that have the behavioural skills to survive and breed in the wild. Yet, maintaining historically beneficial behaviours may be insufficient, as research continues to suggest that certain cognitive-behavioural skills and flexibility are necessary to cope with human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC). This paper begins by reviewing interdisciplinary studies on the 'captivity effect' in laboratory, farmed, domesticated and feral vertebrates and finds that captivity imposes rapid yet often reversible changes to the brain, cognition and behaviour. However, research on this effect in ex-situ conservation sites is lacking. This paper reveals an apparent mismatch between ex-situ enrichment aims and the cognitive-behavioural skills possessed by animals currently coping with HIREC. After synthesizing literature across neuroscience, behavioural biology, comparative cognition and field conservation, it seems that ex-situ endangered species deemed for reintroduction may have better chances of coping with HIREC if their natural cognition and behavioural repertoires are actively preserved. Evaluating the effects of environmental challenges rather than captivity per se is recommended, in addition to using targeted cognitive enrichment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fay E. Clark
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | | | | | - Joshua M. Plotnik
- Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
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15
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Levey DJ, Poulsen JR, Schaeffer AP, Deochand ME, Oswald JA, Robinson SK, Londoño GA. Wild mockingbirds distinguish among familiar humans. Sci Rep 2023; 13:10259. [PMID: 37355713 PMCID: PMC10290633 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36225-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Although individuals of some species appear able to distinguish among individuals of a second species, an alternative explanation is that individuals of the first species may simply be distinguishing between familiar and unfamiliar individuals of the second species. In that case, they would not be learning unique characteristics of any given heterospecific, as commonly assumed. Here we show that female Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) can quickly learn to distinguish among different familiar humans, flushing sooner from their nest when approached by people who pose increasingly greater threats. These results demonstrate that a common small songbird has surprising cognitive abilities, which likely facilitated its widespread success in human-dominated habitats. More generally, urban wildlife may be more perceptive of differences among humans than previously imagined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas J Levey
- Division of Environmental Biology, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Ave, Alexandria, VA, 22314, USA.
| | - John R Poulsen
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - Andrew P Schaeffer
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Michelle E Deochand
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Jessica A Oswald
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Scott K Robinson
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Gustavo A Londoño
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Icesi, Cali, Colombia.
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16
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Feist F, Graham P. An ethogram identifies behavioural markers of attention to humans in European herring gulls (Larus argentatus). Biol Open 2023; 12:bio060016. [PMID: 37309817 PMCID: PMC10281265 DOI: 10.1242/bio.060016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are one of few species thriving in anthropogenic landscapes. Their history of urbanisation and familiarity with people makes them a good target for studies of human-wildlife interactions. Previous research highlights a connection between food-stealing behaviour, success in anthropogenic areas, and increased attention towards humans, raising questions about the exact extent of a gull's knowledge of human food cues. To explore these, behavioural responses to human cues in a food-related context were investigated and presented in a systematic ethogram, which identified three distinct markers of attention. Head turns, approaches, and angular body position all differed significantly between control and food conditions, showing that attention towards humans in a food-related context was upregulated and reflected in behaviour. In food condition trials, head turns occurred more often and gulls faced more towards the experimenter with occasional approaches that were never seen in control conditions. Acoustic and behavioural human food-like cues alone seemed insufficient to elicit these responses, indicating that gulls specifically paid attention to the details of human behaviour or had specific knowledge of anthropogenic food items. These results show situation-dependent attentional modulation in gulls and provide a description of attentive behaviours that can be used in further study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska Feist
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 9QG, United Kingdom
| | - Paul Graham
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 9QG, United Kingdom
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17
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Templeton CN, O’Connor A, Strack S, Meraz F, Herranen K. Traffic noise inhibits inhibitory control in wild-caught songbirds. iScience 2023; 26:106650. [PMID: 37168571 PMCID: PMC10165181 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 01/08/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Anthropogenic noise is ubiquitous across environments and can have negative effects on animals, ranging from physiology to community structure. Recent work with captive-bred zebra finches demonstrated that traffic noise also affects cognitive performance. We examined whether these results extend to animals that have experienced noise in the wild. We collected black-capped chickadees from areas frequently exposed to road traffic noise and tested them on a detour reaching task, a commonly used measure of inhibitory control. Those chickadees exposed to traffic noise playback had much lower performance on the task than control birds, indicating that noise negatively impacts inhibitory control. These data corroborate previous findings in lab-reared zebra finches. Furthermore, these results suggest that prior experience with traffic noise is not sufficient for animals to habituate to noise and overcome its negative effects on cognitive performance. Instead, noise-induced cognitive effects might have broad impacts on animal species living in noise-polluted habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Amber O’Connor
- Department of Biology, Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR 97116, USA
| | - Sarah Strack
- Department of Biology, Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR 97116, USA
| | - Franco Meraz
- Department of Biology, Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR 97116, USA
| | - Katri Herranen
- Department of Biology, Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR 97116, USA
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18
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Fear generalization and behavioral responses to multiple dangers. Trends Ecol Evol 2023; 38:369-380. [PMID: 36428124 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2022] [Revised: 10/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Animals often exhibit consistent-individual differences (CIDs) in boldness/fearfulness, typically studied in the context of predation risk. We focus here on fear generalization, where fear of one danger (e.g., predators) is correlated with fear of other dangers (e.g., humans, pathogens, moving vehicles, or fire). We discuss why fear generalization should be ecologically important, and why we expect fear to correlate across disparate dangers. CIDs in fear are well studied for some dangers in some taxa (e.g., human fear of pathogens), but not well studied for most dangers. Fear of some dangers has been found to correlate with general fearfulness, but some cases where we might expect correlated fears (e.g., between fear of humans, familiar predators, and exotic predators) are surprisingly understudied.
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19
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Bernal XE, Page RA. Tactics of evasion: strategies used by signallers to deter eavesdropping enemies from exploiting communication systems. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:222-242. [PMID: 36176190 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Revised: 09/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Eavesdropping predators, parasites and parasitoids exploit signals emitted by their prey and hosts for detection, assessment, localization and attack, and in the process impose strong selective pressures on the communication systems of the organisms they exploit. Signallers have evolved numerous anti-eavesdropper strategies to mitigate the trade-off between the costs imposed from signal exploitation and the need for conspecific communication. Eavesdropper strategies fall along a continuum from opportunistic to highly specialized, and the tightness of the eavesdropper-signaller relationship results in differential pressures on communication systems. A wide variety of anti-eavesdropper strategies mitigate the trade-off between eavesdropper exploitation and conspecific communication. Antagonistic selection from eavesdroppers can result in diverse outcomes including modulation of signalling displays, signal structure, and evolutionary loss or gain of a signal from a population. These strategies often result in reduced signal conspicuousness and in decreased signal ornamentation. Eavesdropping enemies, however, can also promote signal ornamentation. While less common, this alternative outcome offers a unique opportunity to dissect the factors that may lead to different evolutionary pathways. In addition, contrary to traditional assumptions, no sensory modality is completely 'safe' as eavesdroppers are ubiquitous and have a broad array of sensory filters that allow opportunity for signal exploitation. We discuss how anthropogenic change affects interactions between eavesdropping enemies and their victims as it rapidly modifies signalling environments and community composition. Drawing on diverse research from a range of taxa and sensory modalities, we synthesize current knowledge on anti-eavesdropper strategies, discuss challenges in this field and highlight fruitful new directions for future research. Ultimately, this review offers a conceptual framework to understand the diverse strategies used by signallers to communicate under the pressure imposed by their eavesdropping enemies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ximena E Bernal
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, 915 W State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama
| | - Rachel A Page
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama
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20
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Global invasion history and native decline of the common starling: insights through genetics. Biol Invasions 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10530-022-02982-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
AbstractFew invasive birds are as globally successful as the Common or European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). Native to the Palearctic, the starling has been intentionally introduced to North and South America, South Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, enabling us to explore species traits that may contribute to its invasion success. Coupling the rich studies of life history and more recent explorations of genomic variation among invasions, we illustrate how eco-evolutionary dynamics shape the invasion success of this long-studied and widely distributed species. Especially informative is the comparison between Australian and North American invasions, because these populations colonized novel ranges concurrently and exhibit shared signals of selection despite distinct population histories. In this review, we describe population dynamics across the native and invasive ranges, identify putatively selected traits that may influence the starling’s spread, and suggest possible determinants of starling success world-wide. We also identify future opportunities to utilize this species as a model for avian invasion research, which will inform our understanding of species’ rapid evolution in response to environmental change.
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21
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Caspi T, Johnson JR, Lambert MR, Schell CJ, Sih A. Behavioral plasticity can facilitate evolution in urban environments. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:1092-1103. [PMID: 36058767 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Revised: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Plasticity-led evolution is central to evolutionary theory. Although challenging to study in nature, this process may be particularly apparent in novel environments such as cities. We document abundant evidence of plastic behavioral changes in urban animals, including learning, contextual, developmental, and transgenerational plasticities. Using behavioral drive as a conceptual framework, our analysis of notable case studies suggests that plastic behaviors, such as altered habitat use, migration, diurnal and seasonal activity, and courtship, can have faciliatory and cascading effects on urban evolution via spatial, temporal, and mate-choice mechanisms. Our findings highlight (i) the need to incorporate behavioral plasticity more formally into urban evolutionary research and (ii) the opportunity provided by urban environments to study behavioral mechanisms of plasticity-led processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tal Caspi
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
| | - Jacob R Johnson
- Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
| | - Max R Lambert
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Science Division, Habitat Program, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, WA, USA
| | - Christopher J Schell
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
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22
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Lamarre J, Cheema SK, Robertson GJ, Wilson DR. Foraging on anthropogenic food predicts problem-solving skills in a seabird. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 850:157732. [PMID: 35931163 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Species and populations with greater cognitive performance are more successful at adapting to changing habitats. Accordingly, urban species and populations often outperform their rural counterparts on problem-solving tests. Paradoxically, urban foraging also might be detrimental to the development and integrity of animals' brains because anthropogenic foods often lack essential nutrients such as the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are important for cognitive performance in mammals and possibly birds. We tested whether urbanization or consumption of EPA and DHA are associated with problem-solving abilities in ring-billed gulls, a seabird that historically exploited marine environments rich in omega-3 fatty acids but now also thrives in urban centres. Using incubating adults nesting across a range of rural to urban colonies with equal access to the ocean, we tested whether urban gulls preferentially consumed anthropogenic food while rural nesters relied on marine organisms. As we expected individual variation in foraging habits within nesting location, we characterized each captured gulls' diet using stable isotope and fatty acid analyses of their red blood cells. To test their problem-solving abilities, we presented the sampled birds with a horizontal rendition of the string-pull test, a foraging puzzle often used in animal cognitive studies. The isotopic and fatty acid profiles of urban nesters indicated a diet comprising primarily anthropogenic food, whereas the profiles of rural nesters indicated a high reliance on marine organisms. Despite the gulls' degree of access to urban foraging habitat not predicting solving success, birds with biochemical profiles reflecting anthropogenic food (less DHA and a higher carbon-13 ratio in their red blood cells) had a greater probability of solving the string-pull test. These results suggest that experience foraging on anthropogenic food is the main explanatory factor leading to successful problem-solving, while regular consumption of omega-3s during incubation appears inconsequential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessika Lamarre
- Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology Program, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Canada.
| | - Sukhinder Kaur Cheema
- Department of Biochemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Canada
| | - Gregory J Robertson
- Wildlife Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Mount Pearl, Canada
| | - David R Wilson
- Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Canada
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23
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Nesting jackdaws’ responses to human voices vary with local disturbance levels and the gender of the speaker. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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24
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Cram DL. Oxidative stress and cognition in ecology. J Zool (1987) 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.13020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- D. L. Cram
- Department of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UK
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25
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Stanton LA, Bridge ES, Huizinga J, Benson-Amram S. Environmental, individual and social traits of free-ranging raccoons influence performance in cognitive testing. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:276535. [PMID: 36137301 PMCID: PMC9637273 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive abilities, such as learning and flexibility, are hypothesized to aid behavioral adaptation to urbanization. Although growing evidence suggests that cognition may indeed facilitate persistence in urban environments, we currently lack knowledge of the cognitive abilities of many urban taxa. Recent methodological advances, including radio frequency identification (RFID), have extended automated cognitive testing into the field but have yet to be applied to a diversity of taxa. Here, we used an RFID-enabled operant conditioning device to assess the habituation, learning and cognitive flexibility of a wild population of raccoons (Procyon lotor). We examined how several biological and behavioral traits influenced participation and performance in testing. We then compared the cognitive performance of wild raccoons tested in natural conditions with that of wild-caught raccoons tested in captivity from a previous study. In natural conditions, juvenile raccoons were more likely to habituate to the testing device, but performed worse in serial reversal learning, compared with adults. We also found that docile raccoons were more likely to learn how to operate the device in natural conditions, which suggests a relationship between emotional reactivity and cognitive ability in raccoons. Although raccoons in both captive and natural conditions demonstrated rapid associative learning and flexibility, raccoons in captive conditions generally performed better, likely owing to the heightened vigilance and social interference experienced by raccoons in natural conditions. Our results have important implications for future research on urban carnivores and cognition in field settings, as well as our understanding of behavioral adaptation to urbanization and coexistence with urban wildlife.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A Stanton
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.,Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
| | - Eli S Bridge
- Oklahoma Biological Survey, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | | | - Sarah Benson-Amram
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.,Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
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26
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Verrelli BC, Alberti M, Des Roches S, Harris NC, Hendry AP, Johnson MTJ, Savage AM, Charmantier A, Gotanda KM, Govaert L, Miles LS, Rivkin LR, Winchell KM, Brans KI, Correa C, Diamond SE, Fitzhugh B, Grimm NB, Hughes S, Marzluff JM, Munshi-South J, Rojas C, Santangelo JS, Schell CJ, Schweitzer JA, Szulkin M, Urban MC, Zhou Y, Ziter C. A global horizon scan for urban evolutionary ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:1006-1019. [PMID: 35995606 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.07.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Revised: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
Research on the evolutionary ecology of urban areas reveals how human-induced evolutionary changes affect biodiversity and essential ecosystem services. In a rapidly urbanizing world imposing many selective pressures, a time-sensitive goal is to identify the emergent issues and research priorities that affect the ecology and evolution of species within cities. Here, we report the results of a horizon scan of research questions in urban evolutionary ecology submitted by 100 interdisciplinary scholars. We identified 30 top questions organized into six themes that highlight priorities for future research. These research questions will require methodological advances and interdisciplinary collaborations, with continued revision as the field of urban evolutionary ecology expands with the rapid growth of cities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian C Verrelli
- Center for Biological Data Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA.
| | - Marina Alberti
- Department of Urban Design and Planning, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Simone Des Roches
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Nyeema C Harris
- Applied Wildlife Ecology Lab, Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Andrew P Hendry
- Department of Biology, Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0C4, Canada
| | - Marc T J Johnson
- Department of Biology, Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Amy M Savage
- Department of Biology and Center for Computational & Integrative Biology, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ 08103, USA
| | | | - Kiyoko M Gotanda
- Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada; Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada
| | - Lynn Govaert
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587 Berlin, Germany
| | - Lindsay S Miles
- Center for Biological Data Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA
| | - L Ruth Rivkin
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON L5L 1C6, Canada; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Kristin M Winchell
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Kristien I Brans
- Department of Biology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Cristian Correa
- Instituto de Conservación Biodiversidad y Territorio, Centro de Humedales Río Cruces, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, 5090000, Chile
| | - Sarah E Diamond
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Ben Fitzhugh
- Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Nancy B Grimm
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Sara Hughes
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - John M Marzluff
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Jason Munshi-South
- Louis Calder Center & Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Armonk, NY 10504, USA
| | - Carolina Rojas
- Instituto de Estudios Urbanos y Territoriales, Centro de Desarrollo Sustentable CEDEUS, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, El Comendador 1916, Providencia, 7500000, Santiago, Chile
| | - James S Santangelo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Christopher J Schell
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jennifer A Schweitzer
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37917, USA
| | - Marta Szulkin
- Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Banacha 2c, 02-097, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Mark C Urban
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Center of Biological Risk, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
| | - Yuyu Zhou
- Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Carly Ziter
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC H4B 1R6, Canada
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27
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Townsend AK, Sewall KB, Leonard AS, Hawley DM. Infectious disease and cognition in wild populations. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:899-910. [PMID: 35872026 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 06/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Infectious disease is linked to impaired cognition across a breadth of host taxa and cognitive abilities, potentially contributing to variation in cognitive performance within and among populations. Impaired cognitive performance can stem from direct damage by the parasite, the host immune response, or lost opportunities for learning. Moreover, cognitive impairment could be compounded by factors that simultaneously increase infection risk and impair cognition directly, such as stress and malnutrition. As highlighted in this review, however, answers to fundamental questions remain unresolved, including the frequency, duration, and fitness consequences of infection-linked cognitive impairment in wild animal populations, the cognitive abilities most likely to be affected, and the potential for adaptive evolution of cognition in response to accelerating emergence of infectious disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea K Townsend
- Department of Biology, Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323, USA.
| | - Kendra B Sewall
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Anne S Leonard
- Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - Dana M Hawley
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
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28
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Önsal Ç, Yelimlieş A, Akçay Ç. Aggression and multi-modal signaling in noise in a common urban songbird. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03207-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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29
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Connelly F, Hall ML, Johnsson RD, Elliot-Kerr S, Dow BR, Lesku JA, Mulder RA. Urban noise does not affect cognitive performance in wild Australian magpies. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.03.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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30
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Blackburn G, Broom E, Ashton BJ, Thornton A, Ridley AR. Heat stress inhibits cognitive performance in wild Western Australian magpies, Cracticus tibicen dorsalis. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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Vincze E, Kovács B. Urbanization’s Effects on Problem Solving Abilities: A Meta-Analysis. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.834436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive abilities are often assumed to be advantageous in urban habitats, but relatively few studies tested this assumption. In a meta-analysis, we tested whether urban animals have better problem-solving abilities compared to their less urbanized conspecifics. After screening 210 papers we collected by keyword search and forward search, we found 12 studies that compared the ability to solve food-extraction or obstacle-removal problems between urban and non-urban populations of the same animal species. These studies were published between 2009 and 2021, and were performed mostly on birds, whereas a quarter of them used mammals as study species. We found a statistically non-significant trend that urban animals are more successful and faster problem-solvers compared to their less urbanized conspecifics. However, both solving success and solving latency effect sizes were highly heterogeneous, therefore hard to generalize. Though the sample was too low to test the factors explaining this high heterogeneity, we suggest that it may be explained by variation in task types, study species, definitions of urbanization, whether the study was performed on captive or free-living animals, geographical location, or publication bias in both directions. Altogether, more studies are needed to either confirm or disprove this trend.
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Cognitive flexibility in the wild: Individual differences in reversal learning are explained primarily by proactive interference, not by sampling strategies, in two passerine bird species. Learn Behav 2022; 50:153-166. [PMID: 35015239 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-021-00505-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Behavioural flexibility allows animals to adjust to changes in their environment. Although the cognitive processes that explain flexibility have been relatively well studied in psychology, this is less true for animals in the wild. Here we use data collected automatically during self-administered discrimination-learning trials for two passerine species, and during four phases (habituation, initial learning, first reversal and second reversal) in order to decompose sources of consistent among-individual differences in reversal learning, a commonly used measure for cognitive flexibility. First, we found that, as expected, proactive interference was significantly repeatable and had a negative effect on reversal learning, confirming that individuals with poor ability to inhibit returning to a previously rewarded feeder were also slower to reversal learn. Second, to our knowledge for the first time in a natural population, we examined how sampling of non-rewarding options post-learning affected reversal-learning performance. Sampling quantity was moderately repeatable in blue tits but not great tits; sampling bias, the variance in the proportion of visits to each non-rewarded feeder, was not repeatable for either species. Sampling behaviour did not predict variation in reversal-learning speed to any significant extent. Finally, the repeatability of reversal learning was explained almost entirely by proactive interference for blue tits; in great tits, the effects of proactive interference and sampling bias on the repeatability of reversal learning were indistinguishable. Our results highlight the value of proactive interference as a more direct measurement of cognitive flexibility and shed light on how animals respond to changes in their environment.
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Miller R, Lambert ML, Frohnwieser A, Brecht KF, Bugnyar T, Crampton I, Garcia-Pelegrin E, Gould K, Greggor AL, Izawa EI, Kelly DM, Li Z, Luo Y, Luong LB, Massen JJM, Nieder A, Reber SA, Schiestl M, Seguchi A, Sepehri P, Stevens JR, Taylor AH, Wang L, Wolff LM, Zhang Y, Clayton NS. Socio-ecological correlates of neophobia in corvids. Curr Biol 2022; 32:74-85.e4. [PMID: 34793696 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 09/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral responses to novelty, including fear and subsequent avoidance of novel stimuli, i.e., neophobia, determine how animals interact with their environment. Neophobia aids in navigating risk and impacts on adaptability and survival. There is variation within and between individuals and species; however, lack of large-scale, comparative studies critically limits investigation of the socio-ecological drivers of neophobia. In this study, we tested responses to novel objects and food (alongside familiar food) versus a baseline (familiar food alone) in 10 corvid species (241 subjects) across 10 labs worldwide. There were species differences in the latency to touch familiar food in the novel object and novel food conditions relative to the baseline. Four of seven socio-ecological factors influenced object neophobia: (1) use of urban habitat (versus not), (2) territorial pair versus family group sociality, (3) large versus small maximum flock size, and (4) moderate versus specialized caching (whereas range, hunting live animals, and genus did not), while only maximum flock size influenced food neophobia. We found that, overall, individuals were temporally and contextually repeatable (i.e., consistent) in their novelty responses in all conditions, indicating neophobia is a stable behavioral trait. With this study, we have established a network of corvid researchers, demonstrating potential for further collaboration to explore the evolution of cognition in corvids and other bird species. These novel findings enable us, for the first time in corvids, to identify the socio-ecological correlates of neophobia and grant insight into specific elements that drive higher neophobic responses in this avian family group. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael Miller
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
| | - Megan L Lambert
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Messerli Research Institute, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - Anna Frohnwieser
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Katharina F Brecht
- Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Institute for Neurobiology, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Thomas Bugnyar
- University of Vienna, Department of Behavioral & Cognitive Biology, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria; University of Vienna and University of Veterinary Medicine, Haidlhof Research Station, Bad Vöslau, Austria
| | - Isabelle Crampton
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Elias Garcia-Pelegrin
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Kristy Gould
- Luther College, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, 700 College Drive, Decorah, IA 52101, USA
| | - Alison L Greggor
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Recovery Ecology, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Rd, Escondido, San Diego, CA 92101, USA
| | - Ei-Ichi Izawa
- Keio University, Department of Psychology, 2-15-45, Mita, Minato-ku, 108-8345 Tokyo, Japan
| | - Debbie M Kelly
- University of Manitoba, Department of Psychology, 190 Dysart Road, Winnipeg, R3T 2N2 MB, Canada
| | - Zhongqiu Li
- Nanjing University, Lab of Animal Behavior & Conservation, School of Life Sciences, 163 Xianlin Avenue, 210023 Nanjing, China
| | - Yunchao Luo
- Nanjing University, Lab of Animal Behavior & Conservation, School of Life Sciences, 163 Xianlin Avenue, 210023 Nanjing, China
| | - Linh B Luong
- Luther College, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, 700 College Drive, Decorah, IA 52101, USA
| | - Jorg J M Massen
- Utrecht University, Animal Behaviour & Cognition, Institute of Environmental Biology, Padualaan 8, De Uithof, 3584 Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Andreas Nieder
- Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Institute for Neurobiology, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Stephan A Reber
- Lund University, Department of Cognitive Science, Helgonavagen 3, Lund 221 00, Sweden
| | - Martina Schiestl
- Auckland University, School of Psychology, 23 Symonds Street, 1010 Auckland, New Zealand; Max Planck Society, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Akiko Seguchi
- Keio University, Department of Psychology, 2-15-45, Mita, Minato-ku, 108-8345 Tokyo, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan
| | - Parisa Sepehri
- University of Manitoba, Department of Psychology, 190 Dysart Road, Winnipeg, R3T 2N2 MB, Canada
| | - Jeffrey R Stevens
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Psychology, Centre for Brain, Biology & Behavior, 238 Burnett Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
| | - Alexander H Taylor
- Auckland University, School of Psychology, 23 Symonds Street, 1010 Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Lin Wang
- Nanjing University, Lab of Animal Behavior & Conservation, School of Life Sciences, 163 Xianlin Avenue, 210023 Nanjing, China
| | - London M Wolff
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Psychology, Centre for Brain, Biology & Behavior, 238 Burnett Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
| | - Yigui Zhang
- Nanjing University, Lab of Animal Behavior & Conservation, School of Life Sciences, 163 Xianlin Avenue, 210023 Nanjing, China
| | - Nicola S Clayton
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
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Dutour M, Walsh SL, Speechley EM, Ridley AR. Female Western Australian magpies discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar human voices. Ethology 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mylène Dutour
- School of Biological Sciences University of Western Australia Crawley WA Australia
| | - Sarah L. Walsh
- School of Biological Sciences University of Western Australia Crawley WA Australia
| | | | - Amanda R. Ridley
- School of Biological Sciences University of Western Australia Crawley WA Australia
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Mazza V, Czyperreck I, Eccard JA, Dammhahn M. Cross-Context Responses to Novelty in Rural and Urban Small Mammals. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.661971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The Anthropocene is the era of urbanization. The accelerating expansion of cities occurs at the expense of natural reservoirs of biodiversity and presents animals with challenges for which their evolutionary past might not have prepared them. Cognitive and behavioral adjustments to novelty could promote animals’ persistence under these altered conditions. We investigated the structure of, and covariance between, different aspects of responses to novelty in rural and urban small mammals of two non-commensal rodent species. We ran replicated experiments testing responses to three novelty types (object, food, or space) of 47 individual common voles (Microtus arvalis) and 41 individual striped field mice (Apodemus agrarius). We found partial support for the hypothesis that responses to novelty are structured, clustering (i) speed of responses, (ii) intensity of responses, and (iii) responses to food into separate dimensions. Rural and urban small mammals did not differ in most responses to novelty, suggesting that urban habitats do not reduce neophobia in these species. Further studies investigating whether comparable response patters are found throughout different stages of colonization, and along synurbanization processes of different duration, will help illuminate the dynamics of animals’ cognitive adjustments to urban life.
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Beck KB, Firth JA. Animal behavior: Innovation in the city. Curr Biol 2021; 31:R1122-R1124. [PMID: 34637712 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral innovations may help animals cope with new environments, but how such behaviors start is hard to capture. A new study reports the innovation and transmission of a new foraging culture in an urban parrot.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristina B Beck
- Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK.
| | - Josh A Firth
- Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK
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Langen TA, Cannon CH, Blackburn DC, Morgan EL, Mera PE. Discovering and Applying the Urban Rules of Life to Design Sustainable and Healthy Cities. Integr Comp Biol 2021; 61:1237-1252. [PMID: 33956145 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icab065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The city and its urban biome provides an extreme laboratory for studying fundamental biological questions and developing best practices for sustaining biodiverse and well-functioning ecological communities within anthropogenic built environments. We propose by studying urban organisms, urban biotic communities, the urban biome, and the interactions between the urban biome and peri-urban built and natural environments, we can (1) discover new 'rules of life' for the structure, function, interaction, and evolution of organisms;(2) use these discoveries to understand how novel emerging biotic communities affect and are affected by anthropogenic environmental changes in climate and other environmental factors; and (3) apply what we have learned to engage residents of the urban biome, and design cities that are more biologically diverse, are provided with more and better ecosystem services, and are more equitable and healthier places to live. The built environment of the urban biome is a place that reflects history, economics, technology, governance, culture, and values of the human residents; research on and applications of the rules of life in the urban biome can be used by all residents in making choices about the design of the cities where they live. Because inhabitants are directly invested in the environmental quality of their neighborhoods, research conducted in and about the urban environment provides a great opportunity to engage wide and diverse communities of people. Given the opportunity to engage a broad constituency - from basic researchers to teachers, civil engineers, landscape planners, and concerned citizens - studying the translation of the rules of life onto the urban environment will result in an integrative and cross-cutting set of questions and hypotheses, and will foster a dialogue among citizens about the focus of urban biome research and its application toward making more equitable, healthy, livable, sustainable, and biodiverse cities.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Eric L Morgan
- Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
| | - Paola E Mera
- Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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