Information use in colonial living

Evans, Julian C.; Votier, Stephen C.; Dall, Sasha R. X.

doi:10.1111/brv.12188

Cited by 94 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 189 publications

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“…Fifth, the effect of environmental variation on relative brain size remains significant even when considering life history traits (particularly developmental periods2335) that may constrain brain size evolution (Supplementary Table 5). Sixth, although according to the social intelligence hypothesis the demands of social living might have selected for enlarged brains136, including factors that represent social behaviour (ie, social mating system1, coloniality42 and social foraging36) does not alter the patterns we report in the present study (Supplementary Table 6). Finally, the axes defining environmental variation are not only significantly associated with brain size even when simultaneously accounting for all the suggested confounds (Supplementary Table 7), but both also consistently appear in all the best models resulting from a model selection procedure (see Supplementary Table 8 for the best models and Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 56%

Environmental variation and the evolution of large brains in birds

et al. 2016

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Environmental variability has long been postulated as a major selective force in the evolution of large brains. However, assembling evidence for this hypothesis has proved difficult. Here, by combining brain size information for over 1,200 bird species with remote-sensing analyses to estimate temporal variation in ecosystem productivity, we show that larger brains (relative to body size) are more likely to occur in species exposed to larger environmental variation throughout their geographic range. Our reconstructions of evolutionary trajectories are consistent with the hypothesis that larger brains (relative to body size) evolved when the species invaded more seasonal regions. However, the alternative—that the species already possessed larger brains when they invaded more seasonal regions—cannot be completely ruled out. Regardless of the exact mechanism, our findings provide strong empirical support for the association between large brains and environmental variability.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 56%

Environmental variation and the evolution of large brains in birds

et al. 2016

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“…Living in a group can benefit an organism in numerous and diverse ways 1–4 . Sociality may improve an organism’s caloric intake 5–8 , reduce the costs of maintaining homeostasis 9–11 , decrease predation risk 12–15 , facilitate the discovery or defense of higher quality habitats or breeding sites 16–18 , increase the probability of finding a mate or opportunities for extra-pair copulations 4, 19, 20 , or increase the survival probability of offspring 18, 21, 22 . However, there are also many potential costs of group living, including increased competition over resources, disease risk 4 , and probability of infanticide 23, 24 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in group size during resource shifts reveal drivers of sociality across the tree of life

Hund

Santos

et al. 2020

Preprint

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14From biofilms to whale pods, organisms have repeatedly converged on sociality as a strategy to improve individual fitness. Yet, it remains challenging to identify the most important drivers-and by extension, the evolutionary mechanisms-of sociality for particular species. Here, we present a conceptual framework, literature review, and model demonstrating that the direction and magnitude of the response of group size to sudden resource shifts provides a strong indication of the underlying drivers of sociality. We catalog six functionally distinct mechanisms related to the acquisition of resources, and we model these mechanisms' effects on the survival of individuals foraging in groups. We find that whether, and to what degree, optimal group size increases, decreases, or remains constant when resource abundance declines depends strongly on the dominant mechanism. Existing empirical data support our model predictions, and we demonstrate how our framework can be used to predict the dominant social benefit for particular species. Together, our framework and results show that a single easily measurable characteristic, namely, group size under different resource abundances, can illuminate the potential drivers of sociality across the tree of life. 15

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“…Information obtained within colonies or groups of conspecifics enables better decisions in various contexts such as predator avoidance, reduction of parasitism, habitat choice and foraging (Evans, Votier & Dall 2016). The mechanisms of acquiring social information may vary widely in complexity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such public information is created non-deliberately and in group-living animals it may be difficult to hide certain information, e.g., on foraging success. This might particularly apply for breeding colonies, where parents must return to their young and may inadvertently inform others on foraging success via, e.g., time of arrival or fatness (Evans, Votier & Dall 2016). If information is provided deliberately, ‘evolved signals’ are used to actively exchange information (Dall et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proximity sensors reveal social information transfer in maternity colonies of Common noctule bats

Ripperger

Guenther

Wieser

et al. 2018

Preprint

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SummaryBats are a highly gregarious taxon suggesting that social information should be readily available for making decision. Social information transfer in maternity colonies might be a particularly efficient mechanism for naïve pups to acquire information on resources from informed adults. However, such behaviour is difficult to study in the wild, in particular in elusive and small-bodied animals such as bats.The goal of this study was to investigate the role of social information in acquiring access to two types of resources, which are crucial in the life of a juvenile bat: suitable roosting sites and fruitful feeding grounds. We hypothesized that fledging offspring will make use of social information by following informed members of the social groups to unknown roosts or foraging sites.In the present study we applied for the first time the newly developed miniaturized proximity sensor system ‘BATS’, a fully automated system for documenting associations among individual bats both while roosting and while on the wing. We quantified associations among juveniles and other group member while switching roosts and during foraging.We found clear evidence for information transfer while switching roosts, mainly among juveniles and their genetically identified mothers. Anecdotal observations suggest intentional guidance behaviour by mothers, indicated by repeated commuting flights among the pup and the target roost. Infrequent, short meetings with colony members other than the mother indicate local enhancement at foraging sites, but no intentional information transfer.Our study illustrates how advances in technology enable researchers to solve long-standing puzzles. Miniaturized proximity sensors facilitate the automated collection of continuous data sets and represent an ideal tool to gain novel insights into the sociobiology of elusive and small-bodied species.

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Information use in colonial living

Cited by 94 publications

References 189 publications

Environmental variation and the evolution of large brains in birds

Environmental variation and the evolution of large brains in birds

Changes in group size during resource shifts reveal drivers of sociality across the tree of life

Proximity sensors reveal social information transfer in maternity colonies of Common noctule bats

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