Ecological Aspects of Neophobia and neophilia in birds

Greenberg, Russell; Mettke-Hofmann, Claudia

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1211-0_3

Cited by 277 publications

(462 citation statements)

References 151 publications

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“…They also accept a broader range of foodstuffs, including more food of animal origin (Madge & Burn 1994). We might, thus, predict that scrub-jays would show superiority in cognitive tests related to ecological generality, such as exploratory behavior (Haemig 1989), environmental sampling (Shettleworth et al 1988), or neophobia (Greenberg 1984(Greenberg , 1990). Clayton's ) studies of episodic memory in scrub-jays also suggest that their generalist ecology may require them to encode more information about particular food-related events than a specialist species such as a pinyon jay or nutcracker.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social complexity and transitive inference in corvids

2003

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social complexity and transitive inference in corvids

2003

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“…predators, challenging microclimates). However, when familiar resources are available, exploration might have a reduced benefit and be lost through genetic drift [17]; further, in these areas, exploration might increase the likelihood of exposure to toxins and predators, waste time that could be devoted to other activities [18], and increase the likelihood of being out-competed by individuals procuring known resources. Indeed, exploration tends to be stronger in invasive species and invading populations [7,19,20] compared with native species and populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploratory behaviour and stressor hyper-responsiveness facilitate range expansion of an introduced songbird

2012

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Global anthropogenic changes are occurring at an unprecedented rate; one change, human-facilitated introduction of species outside their native range, has had significant ecological and economic impacts. Surprisingly, what traits facilitate range expansions post-introduction is relatively unknown. This information could help predict future expansions of introduced species as well as native species shifting their ranges as climate conditions change. Here, we asked whether specific behavioural and physiological traits were important in the ongoing expansion of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) across Kenya. We predicted that birds at the site of initial introduction (Mombasa, introduced approx. 1950) would behave and regulate corticosterone, a stress hormone, differently than birds at the range edge (Kakamega, approx. 885 km from Mombasa; colonized within the last 5 years). Specifically, we predicted greater exploratory behaviour and stronger corticosterone response to stressors in birds at the range edge, which may facilitate the identification, resolution and memory of stressors. Indeed, we found that distance from Mombasa (a proxy for population age) was a strong predictor of both exploratory behaviour and corticosterone release in response to restraint (but only while birds were breeding). These results suggest that certain behavioural and neuroendocrine traits may influence the ability of species to colonize novel habitats.

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“…The ability to solve such problems, e.g., by innovating novel behaviors or using existing behavior in a novel way, may thus be an important determinant of adaptability, especially in generalist species (7)(8)(9) or populations colonizing new habitats (10,11). When facing novel tasks, group members might be at an advantage compared with solitary individuals: they may cooperate to solve the problem (12,13), or in uncooperative situations they may use the solutions invented by members of their group.…”

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confidence: 99%

Larger groups are more successful in innovative problem solving in house sparrows

Liker

Bókony²

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

169

139

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Group living offers well-known benefits to animals, such as better predator avoidance and increased foraging success. An important additional, but so far neglected, advantage is that groups may cope more effectively with unfamiliar situations through faster innovations of new solutions by some group members. We tested this hypothesis experimentally by presenting a new foraging task of opening a familiar feeder in an unfamiliar way to house sparrows in small and large groups (2 versus 6 birds). Group size had strong effects on problem solving: sparrows performed 4 times more and 11 times faster openings in large than in small groups, and all members of large groups profited by getting food sooner (7 times on average). Independently from group size, urban groups were more successful than rural groups. The disproportionately higher success in large groups was not a mere consequence of higher number of attempts, but was also related to a higher effectiveness of problem solving (3 times higher proportion of successful birds). The analyses of the birds' behavior suggest that the latter was not explained by either reduced investment in antipredator vigilance or reduced neophobia in large groups. Instead, larger groups may contain more diverse individuals with different skills and experiences, which may increase the chance of solving the task by some group members. Increased success in problem solving may promote group living in animals and may help them to adapt quickly to new situations in rapidly-changing environments.effectiveness ͉ foraging ͉ group size ͉ innovation ͉ urbanization

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Ecological Aspects of Neophobia and neophilia in birds

Cited by 277 publications

References 151 publications

Social complexity and transitive inference in corvids

Social complexity and transitive inference in corvids

Exploratory behaviour and stressor hyper-responsiveness facilitate range expansion of an introduced songbird

Larger groups are more successful in innovative problem solving in house sparrows

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