scholarly journals The Role of Cognition in Social Information Use for Breeding Site Selection: Experimental Evidence in a Wild Passerine Population

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Morinay ◽  
Laure Cauchard ◽  
Pierre Bize ◽  
Blandine Doligez
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
Problem Solving Task ◽  
Slow Learning

In spatio-temporally variable environments, individuals are known to use information for making optimal decisions regarding where and when to breed. Optimal decision making can be complex when relying on multiple information sources with varying levels of reliability and accessibility. To deal with such complexity, different cognitive abilities such as learning and memory might enable individuals to optimally process and use these information sources. Yet, the link between information use and cognitive ability remains unexplored in natural populations. We investigated whether learning performance on a problem-solving task was related to the use of an experimentally manipulated source of social information for nest site selection in wild collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). Collared flycatchers are known to use heterospecific information from their main competitors, the great tits (Parus major). Here, we created a local apparent preference by tits for an artificial nest site feature (a geometric symbol attached to nest boxes occupied by tits) and recorded whether flycatcher pairs chose to settle in nest boxes displaying the same feature as tits (i.e., copied tit apparent preference). Using a problem-solving task requiring opening a door temporarily blocking the nest box entrance, we then measured flycatchers' learning performance during nestling rearing as the number of entrances required to solve the task and enter the nest box twice in a row below a given efficiency threshold. We found that the probability to copy tit preference decreased with decreasing learning performance in females, particularly yearling ones: fast learning females copied tit preference, while slow learning ones rejected it. Male learning performance did not affect copying behavior. Our results showed that learning performance might play an important role in the ability to optimally use information for nest site selection in females: both fast and slow learning females could process this heterospecific information source but used it differently. This could partly explain the link between cognitive abilities and reproductive success reported in previous studies. Whether cognitive abilities may modulate condition-dependent costs of using different information remains to be explored.

scholarly journals Combining social information use and comfort seeking for nest site selection in a cavity-nesting raptor

2021 ◽  
Vol 180 ◽  
pp. 167-178
Author(s):  
Jennifer Morinay ◽  
Federico De Pascalis ◽  
Davide M. Dominoni ◽  
Michelangelo Morganti ◽  
Francesco Pezzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Cavity Nesting ◽  
Social Information Use

scholarly journals Old nest material functions as an informative cue in making nest-site selection decisions in the European Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingju E ◽  
Tuo Wang ◽  
Shangyu Wang ◽  
Ye Gong ◽  
Jiangping Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Nest Material ◽  
Falco Tinnunculus ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
Cavity Nesting ◽  
Selection Decisions ◽  
Nest Materials ◽  
Organic Remains

Abstract Background For secondary cavity-nesting bird species that do not add lining materials to nests, the presence of old nest material or organic remains that have accumulated within nest cavities from previous breeding events may be a cue of nest-site quality. These materials potentially contain information about past breeding success in con- and heterospecifics and may improve the thermal insulation of eggs during incubation. However, few studies have addressed whether the presence of old nest materials serves as a cue for cavity-nesting raptors when choosing specific nest sites. Methods We conducted a 9-year nest box experiment to test whether old nest materials from con- and heterospecifics serve as informative cues to the European Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) when making nest selection decisions, as this species uses nest boxes without adding nesting material. Results The presence of old nest materials and entrance size best discriminated nest boxes occupied by European Kestrels from unoccupied boxes. Nest boxes containing conspecific organic remains, artificial dry leaf and branch material, and material left behind by Great Tits (Parus major) were reused at higher rates, especially those containing conspecific nest material, than nest boxes containing true or simulated nest materials from predators. In 2010, no single nest box was occupied by the same banded individual that occupied the box in the previous year (10 females and 2 males were banded in 2009). Conclusions European Kestrels preferred nest boxes containing old nest material over empty boxes, which is consistent with previous findings that they exploit con- and heterospecific cues when deciding where to settle and breed, as old nest or organic material provides substrate for incubating females. Kestrels may be able to assess the predation risks associated with a specific nest site based on experience or the presence of prey remains. The repeated use of nest boxes across breeding seasons by kestrels cannot be entirely ascribed to philopatry. This study provides evidence that old nest materials are potentially used as informative cues when making nest-site selection decisions in European Kestrels.

scholarly journals Behavioural traits modulate the use of heterospecific social information for nest site selection: experimental evidence from a wild bird population

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1925) ◽  
pp. 20200265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Morinay ◽  
Jukka T. Forsman ◽  
Marion Germain ◽  
Blandine Doligez
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Site Selection ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Ficedula Albicollis ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

The use of social information for making decisions is common but can be constrained by behavioural traits via, for example, the ability to gather information. Such constrained information use has been described in foraging habitat selection; yet it remains unexplored in the breeding habitat selection context, despite potentially strong fitness consequences. We experimentally tested whether three behavioural traits (aggressiveness, boldness and neophobia) affected the use of heterospecific social information for nest site selection in wild collared flycatchers Ficedula albicollis . Flycatchers have previously been found to copy or reject an artificial apparent preference of tits (their main competitors) for a nest site feature: they preferred nest-boxes with the same or a different feature, depending on tit early reproductive investment. Here, we confirmed this result and showed that shy individuals and less aggressive old males (i.e. 2 years old or older) copied tit apparent preference, while more aggressive old males rejected the tit preference. Aggressiveness and boldness may allow males to access more information sources or affect males' interactions with dominant tits when selecting a nest site. Our study highlights the links between variation in behaviours and social information use for breeding habitat selection and calls for further work to explore underlying mechanisms.

scholarly journals Selective interspecific information use in the nest choice of solitary bees

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olli J. Loukola ◽  
Elia Gatto ◽  
Ana C. Híjar-Islas ◽  
Lars Chittka
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Solitary Bees ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Nest Choice ◽  
Ideal System ◽  
In The Wild

Abstract Most of the studies on learning in bees have focused on the foraging context; we know little about the preferences and cognitive processes in nest-site selection, especially in solitary bees. The majority of the bee species are solitary and in contrast to eusocial bees, solitary bees’ cognition and social information use have remained largely unstudied. Solitary cavity-nesting mason bees (Osmia spp.) are an ideal system to study interspecific information use in nest choice in the wild as many species share similar nesting requirements. Here, we show that the blue mason bee (O. caerulescens) and the orange-vented mason bee (O. leaiana) examine hallmarks of parasitization of the nests of red mason bees (O. bicornis) before deciding where to establish their own nests. They were also presented with contextual cues (geometric symbols) that could be linked to parasitization by observational learning. Subjects subsequently had the choice of nesting in a nest site marked by the symbol that matched, or did not match, the one seen at the parasitized or healthy nest. We show that the bees copied and rejected the symbol of the examined nest manipulated to exhibit successful and unsuccessful nesting, respectively. We conclude that solitary bees use interspecific information in their nest-site selection. In contrast with current theories of species coexistence, niche overlap between species may dynamically change depending on the observed success of surrounding individuals.

scholarly journals An experimental test of information use by North American wood ducks (Aix sponsa): external habitat cues, not social visual cues, influence initial nest-site selection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena C. Berg ◽  
John M. Eadie
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Aix Sponsa ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
Wood Ducks ◽  
Wood Duck

AbstractBirds may use a variety of cues to select a nest site, including external information on habitat structure and nest site characteristics, or they may rely instead on social information obtained directly or indirectly from the actions of conspecifics. We used an experimental manipulation to determine the extent to which a California population of the wood duck (Aix sponsa) used social information gleaned from visual cues inside nest boxes that might indicate the quality or occupancy of that site. Over two nesting seasons, we manipulated the contents of newly installed boxes to simulate one of three states: (1) presence of wood duck eggs, indicating current use of a nest site; (2) presence of down and shell membranes, indicating a previously successful nest; and (3) control nests with fresh shavings indicating an unused box. In addition, we measured habitat characteristics of the area surrounding each box to assess the use of external, non-social information about each nest site. We found no evidence that females laid eggs preferentially, or that conspecific brood parasitism was more likely to occur, in any of the treatments. In contrast, nest site use and reproductive traits of wood ducks did vary with vegetation cover, and orientation and distance of the box from water. Our results suggest that personal information, not social information, influence initial nest site selection decisions when females are unfamiliar with a site. Social cues likely become increasingly important once nest sites develop their own history, and a population becomes well established.Significance StatementIn selecting a nest site, birds may use many types of information, including habitat characteristics, their own previous breeding experience, or social cues inadvertently provided by other individuals of the same or different species. We examined information use in a Californian population of wood ducks by experimentally manipulating the visual cues within nest boxes and found that females did not use internal box cues to direct their nesting behaviors, appearing to rely on key habitat characteristics instead. These results contrast with previous studies of this system, suggesting that females may change the cues they use depending on their prior experience with a particular area. In the nest-site selection literature, there appears to be a divergence between research on passerines versus waterfowl, and we advocate unifying these perspectives.

scholarly journals Hotter nests produce smarter young lizards

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua J. Amiel ◽  
Richard Shine
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Site Selection ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Incubation Temperature ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Locomotor Performance ◽  
Incubation Temperatures ◽  
Bassiana Duperreyi

A hatchling reptile's sex, body size and shape, and locomotor performance can be influenced not only by its genes, but also by the temperature that it experiences during incubation. Can incubation temperature also affect a hatchling's cognitive skills? In the scincid lizard Bassiana duperreyi , higher incubation temperatures enhanced the resultant hatchling's learning performance. Hence, factors such as maternal nest-site selection and climate change affect not only the size, shape and athletic abilities of hatchling reptiles, but also their ability to learn novel tasks.

VIEWING HABITAT THROUGH ANOTHER LENS: BIRD NEST-SITE SELECTION AND PRODUCTIVITY ACROSS A BEACH THERMAL LANDSCAPE

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Schaale ◽  
◽  
Joseph Baxley ◽  
Narcisa Pricope ◽  
Raymond M. Danner
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Bird Nest

scholarly journals Nest site selection and breeding ecology of the Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) in Algeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. e01524
Author(s):  
Karim Loucif ◽  
Mohamed Cherif Maazi ◽  
Moussa Houhamdi ◽  
Haroun Chenchouni
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Breeding Ecology

scholarly journals Territory and Nest-Site Selection of Cerulean Warblers in Eastern Ontario

The Auk ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 727-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Jones ◽  
Raleigh J. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Nest Site Selection ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
Dendroica Cerulea ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
Eastern Ontario ◽  
Cerulean Warblers

Abstract We examined habitat selection by breeding Cerulean Warblers (Dendroica cerulea) at three spatial scales in eastern Ontario over three years (1997–1999). Territories were characterized by well-spaced large trees, with high canopies and dense foliage cover at heights between 12–18 m. Nesting habitat additionally was characterized by dense foliage cover above 18 m. The results of our nest-patch (0.04 ha circle around nest) and nest-site (0.01 ha circle) analyses indicate that male Cerulean Warblers may take active roles in nest-site selection when selecting territories. We conclude from our nest-patch and nest-site selection analyses that territories likely contain multiple nest patches and sites and that male Cerulean Warblers may defend areas with multiple nest patches or sites, which may attract females to settle with them. Whether or not Cerulean Warbler females use nest-site availability as a mate- or territory-choice cue remains unknown. We also tested the validity of a commonly made assumption that a random sampling of habitat by researchers is representative of the habitat actually available to birds and found that, in our study area, the assumption was invalid. Taken together, our results point toward the need to maintain sizeable stands of mature, deciduous forest to ensure the persistence of Cerulean Warblers in eastern Ontario. Population characteristics such as lower minimum area requirements and a resilience to habitat disturbance may make that an easier job in eastern Ontario than elsewhere in this species' breeding range.

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