Reproductive state affects reliance on public information in sticklebacks

Abstract

The degree to which animals use public and private sources of information has important implications for research in both evolutionary ecology and cultural evolution. While researchers are increasingly interested in the factors that lead individuals to vary in the manner in which they use different sources of information, to date little is known about how an animal's reproductive state might affect its reliance on social learning. Here, we provide experimental evidence that in foraging ninespine sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius), gravid females increase their reliance on public information generated by feeding demonstrators in choosing the richer of two prey patches than non-reproductive fish, while, in contrast, reproductive males stop using public information. Subsequent experiments revealed reproductive males to be more efficient asocial foragers, less risk-averse and generally less social than both reproductive females and non-reproductives. These findings are suggestive of adaptive switches in reliance on social and asocial sources of information with reproductive condition, and we discuss the differing costs of reproduction and the proximate mechanisms that may underlie these differences in information use. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of adaptive foraging strategies in animals and for understanding the way information diffuses through populations.

The Evolution of Individual and Cultural Variation in Social Learning

“…At a proximate level, 17 it is not known how putative cultural variation in social learning is maintained over time. The 18 unusual genetic homogeneity of our species, along with evidence that recent migrants adopt local 19 patterns of social learning [65], counts against a genetic basis for this variation, but the precise 20 cultural transmission pathways are unknown. It might be via educational systems (see above), 21 parental transmission, or peer influence.…”

“…One study has shown that adult physiological condition can influence social learning, with pregnant 163 female ninespine sticklebacks exhibiting more social learning than non-pregnant females, and non-164 reproductive males showing more social learning than reproductive males [57]. Like the 165 developmental cues just discussed, these might be adaptively fixed responses to specific cues.…”

“…Pregnant females, who are more vulnerable to predation, should avoid risk and so avoid potentially 167 dangerous individual learning, while reproductive males should show more risky individual 168 learning if it leads to greater access to females [57]. The degree to which this reflects the specific 169 cue of reproductive state, rather than operating via exploratory behaviour (see above) or some 170 general estimation of risk, remains to be determined.…”

“…Irrespective of the wider argument, the studies listed in Table S1 suggest social learning [18][19][20] that generates strong and long-lasting cultural traditions [23,69]. However, 210 stable cultural traditions are also present in other species [11,12], raising the possibility of the social 211 learning of social learning in non-human species also.…”

From fish to fashion: experimental and theoretical insights into the evolution of culture

“…However, another clear conclusion from Rendell et al's [71] analysis is that the strategic use of copying is far more effective than random copying, and that there are fitness benefits associated with copying efficiently. Such strategic copying is now widely reported in fishes [11,12,57,73].…”