High-density SNP microarrays ("SNP chips") are a rapid, accurate and efficient method for genotyping several hundred thousand polymorphisms in large numbers of individuals. While SNP chips are routinely used in human genetics and in animal and plant breeding, they are less widely used in evolutionary and ecological research. In this article, we describe the development and application of a high-density Affymetrix Axiom chip with around 500,000 SNPs, designed to perform genomics studies of great tit (Parus major) populations. We demonstrate that the per-SNP genotype error rate is well below 1% and that the chip can also be used to identify structural or copy number variation. The chip is used to explore the genetic architecture of exploration behaviour (EB), a personality trait that has been widely studied in great tits and other species. No SNPs reached genomewide significance, including at DRD4, a candidate gene. However, EB is heritable and appears to have a polygenic architecture. Researchers developing similar SNP chips may note: (i) SNPs previously typed on alternative platforms are more likely to be converted to working assays; (ii) detecting SNPs by more than one pipeline, and in independent data sets, ensures a high proportion of working assays; (iii) allele frequency ascertainment bias is minimized by performing SNP discovery in individuals from multiple populations; and (iv) samples with the lowest call rates tend to also have the greatest genotyping error rates.

Animals use behavioural cues from others to make decisions in a variety of contexts. There is growing evidence, from a range of taxa, that information about the locations of food patches can spread through a population via social connections. However, it is not known whether information about the quality of potential food sources transmits similarly. We studied foraging behaviour in a population of wild songbirds with known social associations, and tested whether flock members use social information about the profitability of patches to inform their foraging decisions. We provided artificial patches (ephemeral bird feeders) that appeared identical but were either profitable (contained food) or unprofitable (contained no food). If information about patch profitability spreads via social associations, we predicted that empty feeders would only be sampled by individuals that are less connected to each other than expected by chance. In contrast, we found that individuals recorded at empty feeders were more closely associated with each other than predicted by a null model simulating random arrival of individuals, mirroring pattern of increased connectedness among individuals recorded at full feeders. We then simulated arrival under network-based diffusion of information, and demonstrate that the observed pattern at both full and empty feeders matches predictions derived from this post-hoc model. Our results suggest that foraging songbirds only use social cues about the location of potential food sources, but not their profitability. These findings agree with the hypothesis that individuals balance the relative economic costs of using different information, where the costs of personally sampling a patch upon arrival is low relative to the cost of searching for patches. This study extends previous work on information spread through animal social networks, by suggesting important links between how individuals use information at different stages of the acquisition process and the emerging population-level patterns of patch use.

Phenological responses to climate change frequently vary among trophic levels, which can result in increasing mismatch between the peak energy requirements of consumers and the availability of resources. Migratory birds use multiple habitats with seasonal food resources along traditional migration flyways. Spatially heterogeneous climate changes could cause this phenology of food availability along the migration flyway to become mismatched. This so-called spatial-temporal phenological asynchrony could pose a challenge by reducing food intake along the migration path and consequently influencing survival and reproduction. We develop a novel graph-based approach to quantify this problem and deploy it to evaluate the risks of, and the drivers behind, the spatial-temporal phenological asynchrony for 16 migratory herbivorous waterfowl species in Asia. We show that climate change-induced spatial-temporal phenological asynchrony could cause in average 48% loss of migration network connectivity for all study species. Species that winter at a lower latitude or that have a wider migration corridor are subjected to higher risk to the integrity of their migration network. These findings highlight the susceptibility of migratory species to climate change, and our proposed methodological framework could be applied to migratory species in general and contribute to formulate targeted actions for biodiversity conservation in the face of climate-related risks.

10Animals use behavioural cues from others to make decisions in a variety of contexts. There is 11 growing evidence, from a range of taxa, that information about the locations of food patches can 12 spread through a population via social connections. However, it is not known whether information 13 about the quality of potential food sources transmits similarly. We studied foraging behaviour in a 14 population of wild songbirds with known social associations, and tested whether flock members use 15 social information about the profitability of patches to inform their foraging decisions. We provided 16 artificial patches (ephemeral bird feeders) that appeared identical but were either profitable (contained 17 food) or unprofitable (contained no food). If information about patch profitability spreads via social 18 associations, we predicted that empty feeders would only be sampled by individuals that are less 19 connected to each other than expected by chance. In contrast, we found that individuals recorded at 20 empty feeders were more closely associated with each other than predicted by a null model simulating 21 random arrival of individuals, mirroring pattern of increased connectedness among individuals 22 recorded at full feeders. We then simulated arrival under network-based diffusion of information, and 23 demonstrate that the observed pattern at both full and empty feeders matches predictions derived from 24 this post-hoc model. Our results suggest that foraging songbirds only use social cues about the 25 location of potential food sources, but not their profitability. These findings agree with the hypothesis 26 that individuals balance the relative economic costs of using different information, where the costs of 27 personally sampling a patch upon arrival is low relative to the cost of searching for patches. This 28 study extends previous work on information spread through avian social networks, by suggesting 29 important links between how animals use information at different stages of the acquisition process 30 and the emerging population-level patterns of patch use. 32Key words: collective animal behaviour, economic decision-making, group foraging, local 33 enhancement, Paridae, social information, social network 103 whether a patch contains food or not. We provided artificial patches (bird feeders) that appeared 104 identical but were either empty or stocked with seed, and calculated the connectedness of individuals 105 arriving at each feeder using the edge strength from independently-recorded social association 106 network data. We then compared the order in which birds discovered these feeders with a null model 107 simulating random arrival of birds, to test two distinct hypotheses.