ORCID Profile
0000-0001-5367-826X
Current Organisations
Australian National University
,
University of Zurich
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Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 20-01-2023
DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.20.524864
Abstract: In humans, identity is partly encoded in a voice-print that is carried across multiple vocalisations. Other species also signal vocal identity in calls, such as shown in the contact call of parrots. However, it remains unclear to what extent other call types in parrots are in idually distinct, and whether there is an analogous voice-print across calls. Here we test if an in idual signal is present in other call types, how stable this signal is, and if parrots exhibit voice-prints across call types. We recorded 5599 vocalisations from 229 in idually-marked monk parakeets ( Myiopsitta monachus ) over a two year period in Barcelona, Spain. We find evidence for an in idual signal in three out of five call types. We further show that while contact calls are in idually distinct, they are more variable within in iduals than previously assumed, changing over short time scales (seconds to minutes). Finally, we provide evidence for voice-prints across multiple call types, with a discriminant function being able to predict caller identity across call types. This suggests that monk parakeets may be able to use vocal cues to recognise conspecifics, even across vocalisation types and without necessarily needing active vocal signals of identity.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 23-12-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.12.22.473828
Abstract: Culture is an outcome of both the acquisition of knowledge about behaviour through social transmission, and its subsequent production by in iduals. Acquisition and production are often discussed interchangeably or modeled separately, yet to date, no study has accounted for both processes and explored their interaction. We present a generative model that integrates the two to explore how variation in production rules might shape cultural diffusion dynamics. Agents make behavioural choices that change as they learn from their productions. Their repertoires also change over time, and the social transmission of behaviours depends on their frequency. We diffuse a novel behaviour through social networks across a large parameter space to demonstrate how in idual-level behavioural production rules influence population-level diffusion dynamics. We then investigate how linking transmission and production might affect the performance of two commonly used inferential models for social learning Network-based Diffusion Analysis, and Experienced Weighted Attraction models. Clarifying the distinction between acquisition and production yields predictions for how production influences diffusion that are generalisable across species, and has consequences for how inferential methods are applied to empirical data. Our model illuminates the differences between social learning and social influence, demonstrates the overlooked role of reinforcement learning in cultural diffusions, and allows for clearer discussions about social learning strategies.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 13-12-2021
Abstract: Recent studies in several taxa have demonstrated that animal culture can evolve to become more efficient in various contexts ranging from tool use to route learning and migration. Under recent definitions, such increases in efficiency might satisfy the core criteria of cumulative cultural evolution (CCE). However, there is not yet a satisfying consensus on the precise definition of efficiency, CCE or the link between efficiency and more complex, extended forms of CCE considered uniquely human. To bring clarity to this wider discussion of CCE, we develop the concept of efficiency by (i) reviewing recent potential evidence for CCE in animals, and (ii) clarifying a useful definition of efficiency by synthesizing perspectives found within the literature, including animal studies and the wider iterated learning literature. Finally, (iii) we discuss what factors might impinge on the informational bottleneck of social transmission, and argue that this provides pressure for learnable behaviours across species. We conclude that framing CCE in terms of efficiency casts complexity in a new light, as learnable behaviours are a requirement for the evolution of complexity. Understanding how efficiency greases the ratchet of cumulative culture provides a better appreciation of how similar cultural evolution can be between taxonomically erse species—a case for continuity across the animal kingdom. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines’.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 23-03-2022
Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated a correlation between longevity and brain size in a variety of taxa. Little research has been devoted to understanding this link in parrots yet parrots are well-known for both their exceptionally long lives and cognitive complexity. We employed a large-scale comparative analysis that investigated the influence of brain size and life-history variables on longevity in parrots. Specifically, we addressed two hypotheses for evolutionary drivers of longevity: the cognitive buffer hypothesis , which proposes that increased cognitive abilities enable longer lifespans, and the expensive brain hypothesis , which holds that increases in lifespan are caused by prolonged developmental time of, and increased parental investment in, large-brained offspring . We estimated life expectancy from detailed zoo records for 133 818 in iduals across 244 parrot species. Using a principled Bayesian approach that addresses data uncertainty and imputation of missing values, we found a consistent correlation between relative brain size and life expectancy in parrots. This correlation was best explained by a direct effect of relative brain size. Notably, we found no effects of developmental time, clutch size or age at first reproduction. Our results suggest that selection for enhanced cognitive abilities in parrots has in turn promoted longer lifespans.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-08-2020
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 07-02-2023
DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.07.527470
Abstract: To better understand how vocalisations are used during interactions of multiple in iduals, studies are increasingly deploying on-board devices with a microphone on each animal. The resulting recordings are challenging to analyse, since microphone clocks drift non-linearly and record the vocalisations of non-focal in iduals as well as noise. Here we present callsync , an R package designed to align recordings, detect and assign vocalisations to the caller, trace the fundamental frequency, filter out noise and perform basic analysis on the resulting clips. We present a case study where the pipeline is used on a new dataset of six captive cockatiels ( Nymphicus hollandicus ) wearing backpack microphones. Recordings initially had drift of ∼2 minutes, but were aligned up to ∼2 seconds with our package. We detected and assigned 970 calls across two 3.5 hours recording sessions. We then used a function that traces the fundamental frequency and applied spectrographic cross correlation to show that calls coming from the same in idual sound more similar. The callsync package can be used to go from raw recordings to a clean dataset of features. The package is designed to be modular and allows users to replace functions as they wish. We also discuss the challenges that might be faced in each step and how the available literature can provide alternatives for each step.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2021
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2021.03.057
Abstract: Culture, defined as socially transmitted information and behaviors that are shared in groups and persist over time, is increasingly accepted to occur across a wide range of taxa and behavioral domains.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 10-2023
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.230835
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-2023
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.230715
Abstract: The extent to which animal societies exhibit social conformity as opposed to behavioural ersity is commonly attributed to adaptive learning strategies. Less attention is given to the possibility that the relative difficulty of learning a task socially as opposed to in idually can be critical for social learning dynamics. Here we show that by raising initial task difficulty, house sparrows previously shown to exhibit adaptive social ersity become predominantly conformists. The task we used required opening feeding well covers (easier to learn socially) and to choose the covers with the rewarding cues (easy to learn in idually). We replicated a previous study where sparrows exhibited adaptive ersity, but did not pre-train the naive sparrows to open covers, making the task initially more difficult. In sharp contrast to the previous study results, most sparrows continued to conform to the demonstrated cue even after experiencing greater success with the alternative rewarding cue for which competition was less intense. Thus, our study shows that a task's cognitive demands, such as the initial dependency on social demonstration, can change the entire learning dynamics, causing social animals to exhibit sub-optimal social conformity rather than adaptive ersity under otherwise identical conditions.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2022
Abstract: A preference to associate with kin facilitates inclusive fitness benefits, and increased tolerance or cooperation between kin may be an added benefit of group living. Many species exhibit preferred associations with kin however, it is often hard to disentangle active preferences from passive overlap, for ex le caused by limited dispersal or inheritance of social position. Many parrots exhibit social systems consisting of pair‐bonded in iduals foraging in variably sized fission‐fusion flocks within larger communal roosts of hundreds of in iduals. Previous work has shown that, despite these fission–fusion dynamics, in iduals can exhibit long‐term preferred foraging associations outside their pair bonds. Yet the underlying drivers of these social preferences remain largely unknown. In this study, we use a network approach to examine the influence of kinship on social associations and interactions in wild, communally roosting sulphur‐crested cockatoos, Cacatua galerita . We recorded roost co‐membership, social associations and interactions in 561 in idually marked birds across three neighbouring roosts. We then collected genetic s les from 205 cockatoos, and conducted a relationship analysis to construct a kinship network. Finally, we tested correlations between kinship and four social networks: association, affiliative, low‐intensity aggression and high‐intensity aggression. Our result showed that while roosting groups were clearly defined, they showed little genetic differentiation or kin structuring. Between roost movement was high, with juveniles, especially females, repeatedly moving between roosts. Both within roosting communities, and when visiting different roosts, in iduals preferentially associated with kin. Supporting this, in iduals were also more likely to allopreen kin. However, contrary to expectation, in iduals preferred to direct aggression towards kin, with this effect only observed when in iduals shared roost membership. By measuring social networks within and between large roosting groups, we could remove potential effects of passive spatial overlap on kin structuring. Our study reveals that sulphur‐crested cockatoos actively prefer to associate with kin, both within and between roosting groups. By examining this across different interaction types, we further demonstrate that sulphur‐crested cockatoos exhibit behavioural and context‐dependent interaction rules towards kin. Our results help reveal the drivers of social association in this species, while adding to the evidence for social complexity in parrots.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 21-04-2021
Abstract: A key goal of conservation is to protect bio ersity by supporting the long-term persistence of viable, natural populations of wild species. Conservation practice has long been guided by genetic, ecological and demographic indicators of risk. Emerging evidence of animal culture across erse taxa and its role as a driver of evolutionary ersification, population structure and demographic processes may be essential for augmenting these conventional conservation approaches and decision-making. Animal culture was the focus of a ground-breaking resolution under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an international treaty operating under the UN Environment Programme. Here, we synthesize existing evidence to demonstrate how social learning and animal culture interact with processes important to conservation management. Specifically, we explore how social learning might influence population viability and be an important resource in response to anthropogenic change, and provide ex les of how it can result in phenotypically distinct units with different, socially learnt behavioural strategies. While identifying culture and social learning can be challenging, indirect identification and parsimonious inferences may be informative. Finally, we identify relevant methodologies and provide a framework for viewing behavioural data through a cultural lens which might provide new insights for conservation management.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 03-10-2023
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 06-2017
Abstract: We apply three plausible algorithms in agent-based computer simulations to recent experiments on social learning in wild birds. Although some of the phenomena are simulated by all three learning algorithms, several manifestations of social conformity bias are simulated by only the approximate majority (AM) algorithm, which has roots in chemistry, molecular biology and theoretical computer science. The simulations generate testable predictions and provide several explanatory insights into the diffusion of innovation through a population. The AM algorithm's success raises the possibility of its usefulness in studying group dynamics more generally, in several different scientific domains. Our differential-equation model matches simulation results and provides mathematical insights into the dynamics of these algorithms.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-06-2022
Abstract: Advances in biologging technologies have significantly improved our ability to track in idual animals' behaviour in their natural environment. Beyond observations, automation of data collection has revolutionized cognitive experiments in the wild. For ex le, radio‐frequency identification (RFID) antennae embedded in ‘puzzle box’ devices have allowed for large‐scale cognitive experiments where in iduals tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags interact with puzzle boxes to gain a food reward, with devices logging both the identity and solving action of visitors. Here, we extended the scope of wild cognitive experiments by developing a fully automated selective two‐option foraging device to specifically control which actions lead to a food reward and which remain unrewarded. Selective devices were based on a sliding‐door foraging puzzle, and built using commercially available low‐cost electronics. We tested it on two free‐ranging PIT‐tagged subpopulations of great tits Parus major as a proof of concept. We conducted a diffusion experiment where birds learned from trained demonstrators to get a food reward by sliding the door either to the left or right. We then restricted access of knowledgeable birds to their less preferred side and calculated the latency until birds produced solutions as a measure of behavioural flexibility. A total of 22 of 23 knowledgeable birds produced at least one solution on their less preferred side after being restricted, with higher‐frequency solvers being faster at doing so. In addition, 18 of the 23 birds reached their solving rate from prior to the restriction on their less preferred side, with birds with stronger prior side preference taking longer to do so. We therefore introduce and successfully test a new selective two‐option puzzle box, providing detailed instructions and freely available software that allows reproducibility. It extends the functionality of existing systems by allowing fine‐scale manipulations of in iduals' actions and opens a large range of possibilities to study cognitive processes in wild animal populations.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 10-02-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.02.08.430277
Abstract: Culturally transmitted communication signals – such as human language or bird song – can change over time through a process of cultural drift, and may consequently enhance the separation of populations, potentially leading to reproductive isolation 1–4 . Local song dialects have been identified in bird species with relatively simple songs where in iduals show high cultural conformity 5–10 . In contrast, the emergence of cultural dialects has been regarded as unlikely 11–13 for species with more variable song, such as the zebra finch ( Taeniopygia guttata ). Instead, it has been proposed that selection for in idual recognition and distinctiveness may lead to a complete spread across the space of acoustic and syntactical possibilities 11–15 . However, another possibility is that analytical limitations have meant that subtle but possibly salient group differences have not yet been discovered in such species. Here we show that machine learning can distinguish the songs from multiple captive zebra finch populations with remarkable precision, and that these ‘cryptic song dialects’ drive strong assortative mating in this species. We studied mating patterns across three consecutive generations using captive populations that have evolved in isolation for about 100 generations. Cross-fostering eggs within and between these populations and quantifying social interactions of the resulting offspring later in life revealed that mate choice primarily targets cultural traits that are transmitted during a short developmental time window. Detailed social networks showed that females preferentially approached males whose song resembled that of their adolescent peers. Our study shows that birds can be surprisingly sensitive to cultural traits for mating that have hitherto remained cryptic, even in this well-studied species that is used as a model for song-learning 13,14,16–28 .
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 21-05-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.05.20.492808
Abstract: A change to a population’s social network is a change to the substrate of cultural transmission, affecting behavioral ersity and adaptive cultural evolution. While features of network structure such as population size and density have been well studied, less is understood about the influence of social processes such as population turnover— or the repeated replacement of in iduals. Experimental data has led to the hypothesis that naive learners can drive cultural evolution by being better s lers, although this hypothesis has only been expressed verbally. We conduct a formal exploration of this hypothesis using a generative model that concurrently simulates its two key ingredients: social transmission and reinforcement learning. We explore how variation in turnover influences changes in the distributions of cultural behaviors over long and short time-scales. We simulate competition between a high and low reward behavior, while varying turnover magnitude and tempo. We find optimal turnover regimes that lify the production of higher reward behaviors. We also find that these optimal regimes result in a new population composition, where fewer agents which know both behaviors, and more agents know only the high reward behavior. These two effects depend on network size, density, behavioral transmissibility, and characteristics of the learners. Our model provides formal theoretical support for, and predictions about, the hypothesis that naive learners can shape cultural change through their enhanced s ling ability, identified by previous experimental studies. By moving from experimental data to theory, we illuminate an under-discussed generative process arising from an interaction between social dynamics and learning that can lead to changes in cultural behavior.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 16-10-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.10.12.511863
Abstract: Geographic differences in vocalisations provide strong evidence for animal culture, with patterns likely arising from generations of social learning and transmission. The current knowledge on the evolution of vocal variation has predominantly focused on fixed repertoire, territorial song in passerine birds. The study of vocal communication in open-ended learners and in contexts where vocalisations serve other functions is therefore necessary for a more comprehensive understanding of vocal dialect evolution. Parrots are open-ended vocal production learners that use vocalisations for social contact and coordination. Geographic variation in parrot vocalisations typically take the form of either distinct regional variations known as dialects or graded variation based on geographic distance known as clinal variation. In this study, we recorded monk parakeets ( Myiopsitta monachus ) across multiple spatial scales (i.e. parks and cities) in their European invasive range. We then compared calls using a multi-level Bayesian model and sensitivity analysis, with this novel approach allowing us to explicitly compare vocalisations at multiple spatial scales. We found support for founder effects and/or cultural drift at the city level, consistent with passive cultural processes leading to large scale dialect differences. We did not find a strong signal for dialect or clinal differences between parks within cities, suggesting that birds did not actively converge on a group level signal, as expected under the group membership hypothesis. We demonstrate the robustness of our findings and offer an explanation that unifies the results of prior monk parakeet vocalisation studies.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 13-01-2021
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-88894/V3
Abstract: Selection for more efficient socially learned behaviors over alternatives is crucial for cumulative cultural evolution, yet our understanding of such cultural selection in animals is limited. We performed a cultural diffusion experiment using 18 populations of wild-caught great tits Parus major to ask whether more efficient foraging traditions are selected for, and whether this process is affected by turnover. We show that gradual replacement of in iduals greatly increases the probability that a more efficient behavior will invade a population's cultural repertoire, out-competing an established inefficient behavior. Turnover does not increase innovation rates, but instead increases adoption rates, as immigrants are more susceptible to novel, efficient behaviors. An agent based model further supported our results by demonstrating that this effect holds across populations of different types of learners. Altogether, these results provide strong evidence for cultural selection for efficiency in animals, and highlight the importance of population turnover for this process.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 13-01-2021
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-88894/V2
Abstract: Selection for more efficient socially learned behaviors over alternatives is crucial for cumulative cultural evolution, yet our understanding of such cultural selection in animals is limited. We performed a cultural diffusion experiment using 18 populations of wild-caught great tits Parus major to ask whether more efficient foraging traditions are selected for, and whether this process is affected by turnover. We show that gradual replacement of in iduals greatly increases the probability that a more efficient behavior will invade a population's cultural repertoire, out-competing an established inefficient behavior. Turnover does not increase innovation rates, but instead increases adoption rates, as immigrants are more susceptible to novel, efficient behaviors. An agent based model further supported our results by demonstrating that this effect holds across populations of different types of learners. Altogether, these results provide strong evidence for cultural selection for efficiency in animals, and highlight the importance of population turnover for this process.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 23-06-2021
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-88894/V4
Abstract: Culture, defined as socially transmitted information and behaviors that are shared in groups and persist over time, is increasingly accepted to occur across a wide range of taxa and behavioral domains. While persistent, cultural traits are not necessarily static, and their distribution can change in frequency and type in response to selective pressures, analogous to that of genetic alleles. This has lead to the treatment of culture as an evolutionary process, with cultural evolutionary theory arguing that culture exhibits the three fundamental components of Darwinian evolution: variation, competition, and inheritance. Selection for more efficient behaviors over alternatives is a crucial component of cumulative cultural evolution, yet our understanding of how and when such cultural selection occurs in non-human animals is limited. We performed a cultural diffusion experiment using 18 captive populations of wild-caught great tits (Parus major) to ask whether more efficient foraging traditions are selected for, and whether this process is affected by a fundamental demographic process—population turnover. Our results showed that gradual replacement of in iduals with naive immigrants greatly increased the probability that a more efficient behavior invaded a population’s cultural repertoire and out-competed an established inefficient behavior. Fine-scale, automated behavioral tracking revealed that turnover did not increase innovation rates, but instead acted on adoption rates, as immigrants disproportionately s led novel, efficient behaviors relative to available social information. These results provide strong evidence for cultural selection for efficiency in animals, and highlight the mechanism that links population turnover to this process.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 12-10-2020
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-88894/V1
Abstract: Selection for more efficient socially learned behaviors over alternatives is crucial for cumulative cultural evolution, yet our understanding of such cultural selection in animals is limited. We performed a cultural diffusion experiment using 18 populations of wild-caught great tits ( Parus major ) to ask whether more efficient innovations are subsequently selected for, and whether this process is affected by turnover. We show that gradual replacement of in iduals greatly increases the probability that a more efficient behavior will invade a population's cultural repertoire, out-competing an established inefficient behavior. Turnover does not increase innovation rates, but instead increases adoption rates, as immigrants are more susceptible to novel, efficient behaviors. An agent based model further supported our results by demonstrating that this effect holds across populations of different types of learners. Altogether, these results provide strong evidence for cultural selection for efficiency in animals, and highlight the importance of population turnover for this process.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-01-2022
Abstract: Biologging devices are deployed on animals to collect ultra‐fine‐scale movement data that reveal subsecond patterns in locomotion or long‐term patterns in motion and space use. Often these two data types, although complementary, are rarely collected within the same study, given the limiting factors of memory space, power requirements and the need to retrieve stored data from animals. Biologging requires a revolutionary advancement in data networking to overcome these restrictions that constrain big data collection for the continuous recording and remote download of fine‐scale movement and environmental data, from long‐term deployments and multiple in iduals. Here, we adopt a strategy from the Internet of Things and develop the use of Wi‐Fi as a solution for big data biologging. Our ‘WildFi’ tag uses pre‐existing, or easy‐to‐set‐up, infrastructure in smartphones and Wi‐Fi gateways. We demonstrate the power of memory management and an embedded modular software architecture for functionality, including collective data retrieval at multiple gateways. We find that Wi‐Fi, together with smart embedded software, increases the retrieval efficiency of biologging data by orders of magnitude compared to other available systems: with a transmission speed of 230 kByte/s and range of ≤200 m that is 11 times faster than Bluetooth low energy and times faster than LoRaWAN. Case studies on a domestic dog ( Canis lupus familiaris ), aviary‐housed cockatiels ( Nymphicus hollandicus ) and free‐roaming pangolins ( Smutsia temminckii ) demonstrate the functionality of the WildFi tag for remote and robust autonomous Wi‐Fi data transmission under a range of conditions. Modularity in software and hardware allows for project‐specific tailoring beyond reconfiguring s ling parameters of a biologger, which we encourage with open‐source sharing of our architecture design. Enhanced communication between animal‐attached devices, Wi‐Fi infrastructure and smartphones, alongside smart and collaborative data retrieval, eases restrictions for big data collection in animal ecology.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 05-12-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.12.04.411934
Abstract: The ability to build upon previous knowledge—cumulative cultural evolution—is a hallmark of human societies. While cumulative cultural evolution depends on the interaction between social systems, cognition and the environment, there is increasing evidence that cumulative cultural evolution is facilitated by larger and more structured societies. However, such effects may be interlinked with patterns of social wiring, thus the relative importance of social network architecture as an additional factor shaping cumulative cultural evolution remains unclear. By simulating innovation and diffusion of cultural traits in populations with stereotyped social structures, we disentangle the relative contributions of network architecture from those of population size and connectivity. We demonstrate that while more structured networks, such as those found in multilevel societies, can promote the recombination of cultural traits into high-value products, they also hinder spread and make products more likely to go extinct. We find that transmission mechanisms are therefore critical in determining the outcomes of cumulative cultural evolution. Our results highlight the complex interaction between population size, structure and transmission mechanisms, with important implications for future research.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 10-08-2022
Abstract: Culture is an outcome of both the acquisition of knowledge about behaviour through social transmission, and its subsequent production by in iduals. Acquisition and production are often discussed or modelled interchangeably, yet to date no study has explored the consequences of their interaction for cultural diffusions. We present a generative model that integrates the two, and ask how variation in production rules might influence diffusion dynamics. Agents make behavioural choices that change as they learn from their productions. Their repertoires may also change, and the acquisition of behaviour is conditioned on its frequency. We analyse the diffusion of a novel behaviour through social networks, yielding generalizable predictions of how in idual-level behavioural production rules influence population-level diffusion dynamics. We then investigate how linking acquisition and production might affect the performance of two commonly used inferential models for social learning network-based diffusion analysis, and experience-weighted attraction models. We find that the influence that production rules have on diffusion dynamics has consequences for how inferential methods are applied to empirical data. Our model illuminates the differences between social learning and social influence, demonstrates the overlooked role of reinforcement learning in cultural diffusions, and allows for clearer discussions about social learning strategies.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 23-07-2021
Abstract: It is by now well accepted that humans are not the only animal to have complex culture, and we have also found that ecological novelty can lead to cultural innovation. Klump et al. documented the emergence of an evolving set of behaviors in response to human-generated resources, specifically garbage bins, in sulphur-crested cockatoos. This finding both documents the existence and spread of complex foraging culture among parrots, a lineage known for high-level cognitive function, and illuminates how the spread of a cultural innovation can lead to regional distinct variations. Science , abe7808, this issue p. 456
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-03-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-022-28881-W
Abstract: Culturally transmitted communication signals – such as human language or bird song – can change over time through cultural drift, and the resulting dialects may consequently enhance the separation of populations. However, the emergence of song dialects has been considered unlikely when songs are highly in idual-specific, as in the zebra finch ( Taeniopygia guttata ). Here we show that machine learning can nevertheless distinguish the songs from multiple captive zebra finch populations with remarkable precision, and that ‘cryptic song dialects’ predict strong assortative mating in this species. We examine mating patterns across three consecutive generations using captive populations that have evolved in isolation for about 100 generations. We cross-fostered eggs within and between these populations and used an automated barcode tracking system to quantify social interactions. We find that females preferentially pair with males whose song resembles that of the females’ adolescent peers. Our study shows evidence that in zebra finches, a model species for song learning, in iduals are sensitive to differences in song that have hitherto remained unnoticed by researchers.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-12-2020
Abstract: The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long‐term studies of in idually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild. Furthermore, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad‐scale global issues (e.g. climate change). To solve data integration issues and enable a new scale of ecological and evolutionary research based on long‐term studies of birds, we have created the SPI‐Birds Network and Database ( www.spibirds.org )—a large‐scale initiative that connects data from, and researchers working on, studies of wild populations of in idually recognizable (usually ringed) birds. Within year and a half since the establishment, SPI‐Birds has recruited over 120 members, and currently hosts data on almost 1.5 million in idual birds collected in 80 populations over 2,000 cumulative years, and counting. SPI‐Birds acts as a data hub and a catalogue of studied populations. It prevents data loss, secures easy data finding, use and integration and thus facilitates collaboration and synthesis. We provide community‐derived data and meta‐data standards and improve data integrity guided by the principles of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), and aligned with the existing metadata languages (e.g. ecological meta‐data language). The encouraging community involvement stems from SPI‐Bird's decentralized approach: research groups retain full control over data use and their way of data management, while SPI‐Birds creates tailored pipelines to convert each unique data format into a standard format. We outline the lessons learned, so that other communities (e.g. those working on other taxa) can adapt our successful model. Creating community‐specific hubs (such as ours, COMADRE for animal demography, etc.) will aid much‐needed large‐scale ecological data integration.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 02-05-2019
DOI: 10.1101/619957
Abstract: Comparing networks is challenging. Social networks can be shaped by many factors. Failing to adequately consider non-social processes, including s ling artefacts, can lead to spurious conclusions about differences in social networks among groups. Here we demonstrate that incorrect application of statistical testing methods when comparing networks can generate very high rates of false positives. We then show that null models, specifically pre-network permutation tests, can control for non-social differences in networks and substantially reduce rates of false positives.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 28-10-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.28.466243
Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated a correlation between longevity and brain size in a variety of taxa. Little research has been devoted to understanding this link in parrots yet parrots are well-known for both their exceptionally long lives and cognitive complexity. We employed a large-scale comparative analysis that investigated the influence of brain size and life history variables on longevity in parrots. Specifically, we addressed two hypotheses for evolutionary drivers of longevity: the Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis , which proposes that increased cognitive abilities enable longer life spans, and the Expensive Brain Hypothesis , which holds that increases in life span are caused by prolonged developmental time of, and increased parental investment in, large brained offspring. We estimated life expectancy from detailed zoo records for 133,818 in iduals across 244 parrot species. Using a principled Bayesian approach that addresses data uncertainty and imputation of missing values, we found a consistent correlation between relative brain size and life expectancy in parrots. This correlation was best explained by a direct effect of relative brain size. Notably, we found no effects of developmental time, clutch size, or age at first reproduction. Our results suggest that selection for enhanced cognitive abilities in parrots have in turn promoted longer lifespans.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 17-05-2017
Abstract: Understanding the consequences of losing in iduals from wild populations is a current and pressing issue, yet how such loss influences the social behaviour of the remaining animals is largely unexplored. Through combining the automated tracking of winter flocks of over 500 wild great tits ( Parus major ) with removal experiments, we assessed how in iduals' social network positions responded to the loss of their social associates. We found that the extent of flockmate loss that in iduals experienced correlated positively with subsequent increases in the number of their social associations, the average strength of their bonds and their overall connectedness within the social network (defined as summed edge weights). Increased social connectivity was not driven by general disturbance or changes in foraging behaviour, but by modifications to fine-scale social network connections in response to losing their associates. Therefore, the reduction in social connectedness expected by in idual loss may be mitigated by increases in social associations between remaining in iduals. Given that these findings demonstrate rapid adjustment of social network associations in response to the loss of previous social ties, future research should examine the generality of the compensatory adjustment of social relations in ways that maintain the structure of social organization.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 27-09-2023
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-2023
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.230340
Abstract: In iduals show consistent between-in idual behavioural variation when they interact with conspecifics or heterospecifics. Such patterns might underlie emergent group-specific behavioural patterns and between-group behavioural differences. However, little is known about (i) how social and non-social drivers (external drivers) shape group-level social structures and (ii) whether animal groups show consistent between-group differences in social structure after accounting for external drivers. We used automated tracking to quantify daily social interactions and association networks in 12 colonies of zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ). We quantified the effects of five external drivers (group size, group composition, ecological factors, physical environments and methodological differences) on daily interaction and association networks and tested whether colonies expressed consistent differences in day-to-day network structure after controlling for these drivers. Overall, we found that external drivers contribute significantly to network structure. However, even after accounting for the contribution of external drivers, there remained significant support for consistent between-group differences in both interaction (repeatability R : up to 0.493) and association (repeatability R : up to 0.736) network structures. Our study demonstrates how group-level differences in social behaviour can be partitioned into different drivers of variation, with consistent contributions from both social and non-social factors.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1007/S00265-023-03289-8
Abstract: As an important determinant of reproductive success, avian nest building is under strong selection and requires behavioral plasticity to optimize conditions in which offspring develop. Learning is a one form of plasticity that allows adaptation to the local environment. Birds may refine nest-building behavior with personal experience or use social information to guide their choices. While there is mounting evidence for an effect of experience-based learning on nest building and social information use when selecting nesting material in the laboratory, experimental evidence for social information use in wild birds is lacking. Here, we provided sources of two differently colored wool as nest lining material in a wild mixed-species community of tits ( Paridae sp.) to investigate experimentally (i) whether females use social information to locate lining materials and (ii) whether preferences for specific materials (here color) are socially influenced. We investigated pathways of social transmission through a foraging association and a spatial breeding network using the time of arrival at the wool in a network-based diffusion analysis. Our results gave evidence that birds learned about the location of lining resources from foraging associates. Furthermore, we found significant non-random clustering of wool colors in nest boxes across the study area, suggestive of a social influence on selecting lining materials. Taken together, we provide quantitative evidence for a role of social information use in both finding and selecting lining material in wild tits and demonstrate that social information use constitutes an important factor towards behavioral plasticity in nest building in wild birds. As vessels of reproduction, avian nests are under strong selection to provide optimized conditions for developing offspring. Learning is one mechanism that allows in iduals to adapt to local environmental conditions. Previous work has shown that nest-building birds use both social information and personal experience to refine their nests. Yet, evidence for social information use for nest construction in the wild has been purely anecdotal and experimental evidence lacking. Here, we demonstrate for the first time experimentally that in wild tits ( Paridae sp.), females rely on social information from their foraging associates to locate and choose material to line their nests. This research highlights the importance of social information use as a potential mechanism of behavioral plasticity in wild nest-building birds.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 13-12-2021
Abstract: Recent well-documented cases of cultural evolution towards increasing efficiency in non-human animals have led some authors to propose that other animals are also capable of cumulative cultural evolution, where traits become more refined and/or complex over time. Yet few comparative ex les exist of traits increasing in complexity, and experimental tests remain scarce. In a previous study, we introduced a foraging innovation into replicate subpopulations of great tits, the ‘sliding-door puzzle’. Here, we track diffusion of a second ‘dial puzzle’, before introducing a two-step puzzle that combines both actions. We mapped social networks across two generations to ask if in iduals could: (1) recombine socially-learned traits and (2) socially transmit a two-step trait. Our results show birds could recombine skills into more complex foraging behaviours, and naïve birds across both generations could learn the two-step trait. However, closer interrogation revealed that acquisition was not achieved entirely through social learning—rather, birds socially learned components before reconstructing full solutions asocially. As a consequence, singular cultural traditions failed to emerge, although subpopulations of birds shared preferences for a subset of behavioural variants. Our results show that while tits can socially learn complex foraging behaviours, these may need to be scaffolded by rewarding each component. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines’.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Lucy Aplin.