Coping with Uncertainty: Woodpecker Finches (Cactospiza pallida) from an Unpredictable Habitat Are More Flexible than Birds from a Stable Habitat

Abstract

Behavioural flexibility is thought to be a major factor in evolution. It may facilitate the discovery and exploitation of new resources, which in turn may expose populations to novel selective forces and facilitate adaptive radiation. Darwin's finches are a textbook example of adaptive radiation. They are fast learners and show a range of unusual foraging techniques, probably as a result of their flexibility. In this study we aimed to test whether variability of the environment is correlated with flexibility. We compared woodpecker finches from a dry area (hereafter, Arid Zone), where food availability is variable, with individuals from a cloud forest (hereafter, Scalesia zone) where food abundance is stable. As parameters for flexibility, we measured neophilia and neophobia, which are two aspects of reaction to novelty, reversal learning and problem-solving. We found no differences in performance on a problem-solving task but, in line with our prediction, individuals from the Arid Zone were significantly faster reversal learners and more neophilic than their conspecifics from the Scalesia zone. The latter result supports the notion that environmental variability drives flexibility. In contrast to our prediction, Arid Zone birds were even more neophobic than birds from the Scalesia Zone. The latter result could be the consequence of differences in predation pressure between the two vegetation zones.

Cognition in the field: comparison of reversal learning performance in captive and wild passerines

“…61 ). Comparative studies have shown that species facing high variability in food supply 65 , complex social environments 30 or variation in foraging strategies 66 show higher performance in reversal learning than similar species living in more stable and predictable environments. Measuring inter-individual differences in reversal learning in the wild will enable us to better understand how natural selection operates on related cognitive abilities in species faced with rapidly changing environments 1 , 2 .…”

Early experience affects learning performance and neophobia in a cooperatively breeding cichlid

“…For example, highly social species are expected to express more flexible behaviour than less social species (Bond, Kamil, & Balda, ; Easton, ). Also variation in biotic and abiotic ecological factors, including food abundance and predation risk, can favour the evolution of greater behavioural flexibility, where more variable environments are expected to favour greater flexibility than stable environments (Day, Coe, Kendal, & Laland, ; Jones, ; Sol, Griffin, Bartomeus, & Boyce, ; Tebbich, Stankewitz, & Teschke, ; Tebbich & Teschke, ; Tomasello & Call, ). Learning is an important form of behavioural flexibility enabling animals to adapt to local environmental conditions and to cope with short‐term environmental fluctuations (Mery & Burns, ).…”

Intraspecific variation in cue-specific learning in sticklebacks

“…Thus, the current study further contributes to the growing number of studies comparing cognitive performance among populations inhabiting different environments to understand the evolution of cognitive mechanisms (e.g. Audet, Ducatez, & Lefebvre, 2015; Bond, Kamil, & Balda, 2007; Pravosudov & Clayton, 2002; Tebbich & Teschke, 2014). Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that ecology can drive adaptive cognitive processes, such that the local environment leads populations to more quickly associate specific cues with certain behavioural outcomes.…”