Understanding the relationship between sociality and cognition. The evolution of cognition is a fundamentally important yet poorly researched area. It has recently become clear that rather than measuring cognitive performance between species, understanding the causes of intraspecific variation in cognitive performance is vital to accurately measure the selective benefits of cognition. Recent groundbreaking research on Australian magpies has revealed individual differences in cognitive performanc ....Understanding the relationship between sociality and cognition. The evolution of cognition is a fundamentally important yet poorly researched area. It has recently become clear that rather than measuring cognitive performance between species, understanding the causes of intraspecific variation in cognitive performance is vital to accurately measure the selective benefits of cognition. Recent groundbreaking research on Australian magpies has revealed individual differences in cognitive performance are influenced by differences in sociality. This proposal will determine the causality of these results by examining the developmental and fitness consequences of individual differences in cognitive performance in relation to social interactions, thus directly addressing the sociality-cognition debate.Read moreRead less
Understanding the impact of heat stress on cognition in a changing world. Our research will determine how anthropogenic climate change effects the ability of animals to process information in their environment. This research is significant because it directly addresses the growing issue of wildlife adaptation to climate change. If heat stress, reported widely in wildlife both in Australia and globally, impairs an animal's ability to respond to stimuli in its surrounding environment, then this ma ....Understanding the impact of heat stress on cognition in a changing world. Our research will determine how anthropogenic climate change effects the ability of animals to process information in their environment. This research is significant because it directly addresses the growing issue of wildlife adaptation to climate change. If heat stress, reported widely in wildlife both in Australia and globally, impairs an animal's ability to respond to stimuli in its surrounding environment, then this may cause lower reproductive success (eg lower predator detection rates) and population declines. We aim to identify critical temperature points beyond which the cognitive responses of animals decline rapidly - a significant finding for effective wildlife management priorities in the face of rapid climate change. Read moreRead less