ORCID Profile
0000-0002-8059-4480
Current Organisation
University of St Andrews
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1095-8649.2009.02401.X
Abstract: To determine whether enhancing the survival of new recruits is a sensible target for the restorative management of depleted coral-reef fish populations, settlement-stage ambon damsel fish Pomacentrus amboinensis were captured, tagged and then either released immediately onto small artificial reefs or held in aquaria for 1 week prior to release. Holding conditions were varied to determine whether they affected survival of fish: half the fish were held in bare tanks (non-enriched) and the other half in tanks containing coral and sand (enriched). Holding fish for this short period had a significantly positive effect on survivorship relative to the settlement-stage treatment group that were released immediately. The enrichment of holding conditions made no appreciable difference on the survival of fish once released onto the reef. It did, however, have a positive effect on the survival of fish while in captivity, thus supporting the case for the provision of simple environmental enrichment in fish husbandry. Collecting and holding settlement-stage fish for at least a week before release appear to increase the short-term survival of released fish whether it is an effective method for longer-term enhancement of locally depleted coral-reef fish populations will require further study.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.TREE.2015.01.012
Abstract: It is now well established that in iduals can differ consistently in their average levels of behaviour across different contexts. There have recently been calls to apply the same adaptive framework to interin idual differences in cognition. These calls have culminated in the suggestion that variation in personality and cognition should correlate. We suggest that both these appealing notions are conceptually and logistically problematic. We identify the first crucial step for establishing any cognition-personality relationship. This is to determine the degree to which cognitive abilities yield consistent task performance. We then suggest how to establish whether such consistency exists. Finally, we discuss why formulating predictions about how cognition might be related to personality is much more difficult than is currently realised.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-10-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S10071-016-1045-7
Abstract: Establishment in urbanized environments is associated with changes in physiology, behaviour, and problem-solving. We compared the speed of learning in urban and rural female common mynas, Acridotheres tristis, using a standard visual discrimination task followed by a reversal learning phase. We also examined how quickly each bird progressed through different stages of learning, including s ling and acquisition within both initial and reversal learning, and persistence following reversal. Based on their reliance on very different food resources, we expected urban mynas to learn and reversal learn more quickly but to s le new contingencies for proportionately longer before learning them. When quantified from first presentation to criterion achievement, urban mynas took more 20-trial blocks to learn the initial discrimination, as well as the reversed contingency, than rural mynas. More detailed analyses at the level of stage revealed that this was because urban mynas explored the novel cue-outcome contingencies for longer, and despite transitioning faster through subsequent acquisition, remained overall slower than rural females. Our findings draw attention to fine adjustments in learning strategies in response to urbanization and caution against interpreting the speed to learn a task as a reflection of cognitive ability.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 31-10-2006
Abstract: In mammals, stress hormones have profound influences on spatial learning and memory. Here, we investigated whether glucocorticoids influence cognitive abilities in birds by testing a line of zebra finches selectively bred to respond to an acute stressor with high plasma corticosterone (CORT) levels. Cognitive performance was assessed by spatial and visual one-trial associative memory tasks. Task performance in the high CORT birds was compared with that of the random-bred birds from a control breeding line. The birds selected for high CORT in response to an acute stressor performed less well than the controls in the spatial task, but there were no significant differences between the lines in performance during the visual task. The birds from the two lines did not differ in their plasma CORT levels immediately after the performance of the memory tasks nevertheless, there were significant differences in peak plasma CORT between the lines. The high CORT birds also had significantly lower mineralocorticoid receptor mRNA expression in the hippoc us than the control birds. There was no measurable difference between the lines in glucocorticoid receptor mRNA density in either the hippoc us or the paraventricular nucleus. Together, these findings provide evidence to suggest that stress hormones have important regulatory roles in avian spatial cognition.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 17-05-2021
Abstract: Innovation—the combination of invention and social learning—can empower species to invade new niches via cultural adaptation. Social learning has typically been regarded as the fundamental driver for the emergence of traditions and thus culture. Consequently, invention has been relatively understudied outside the human lineage—despite being the source of new traditions. This neglect leaves basic questions unanswered: what factors promote the creation of new ideas and practices? What affects their spread or loss? We critically review the existing literature, focusing on four levels of investigation: traits (what sorts of behaviours are easiest to invent?), in iduals (what factors make some in iduals more likely to be inventors?), ecological contexts (what aspects of the environment make invention or transmission more likely?), and populations (what features of relationships and societies promote the rise and spread of new inventions?). We aim to inspire new research by highlighting theoretical and empirical gaps in the study of innovation, focusing primarily on inventions in non-humans. Understanding the role of invention and innovation in the history of life requires a well-developed theoretical framework (which embraces cognitive processes) and a taxonomically broad, cross-species dataset that explicitly investigates inventions and their transmission. We outline such an agenda here. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Foundations of cultural evolution’.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-12-2016
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.12576
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Susan Healy.