The effect of social connections on the discovery of multiple hidden food patches in a bird species

Abstract

Social foraging is thought to provide the possibility of information transmission between individuals, but this advantage has been proved only in a handful of species and contexts. We investigated how social connections in captive flocks of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) affected the discovery of (i.e. feeding for the first time from) two hidden food patches in the presence of informed flock-mates. At the first-discovered and most-exploited food patch social connections between birds affected the order of discovery and presumably contributed to a greater exploitation of this patch. However, social connections did not affect discovery at the second food patch despite its close spatial proximity. Males discovered the food sources sooner than females, while feeding activity was negatively related to patch discovery. Age had no effect on the order of discovery. Birds that first discovered and fed at the food patches were characterized by higher level of social indifference, i.e. followed others less frequently than other birds in an independent context. Our findings provide experimental evidence for the importance of variable social connections during social foraging in house sparrow flocks, and suggest that social attraction can contribute differently to the exploitation of different patches when multiple food sources are present.

Infected or informed? Social structure and the simultaneous transmission of information and infectious disease

“…For example, information such as the discovery of a resource location (Blonder and Dornhaus , Aplin et al , Webster et al ) may only be accurate for a short time if a resource is ephemeral or is rapidly depleted. A central network position or high level of connectivity to the individual who initially discovers such resources will be highly beneficial to potential recipients, as demonstrated in several studies of the influence of network position on food patch discovery in flocks of songbirds (Aplin et al , 2015, Jones et al , Tóth et al ). Therefore, when information‐gathering is beneficial, group members may be attracted to individuals who regularly provide information, changing their position in the social network.…”

House sparrows’ (Passer domesticus) behaviour in a novel environment is modulated by social context and familiarity in a sex-specific manner

“…Exploring with a conspecific could allow to spend less time alert without sacrificing cautiousness, as alert time can be split between companions. Moreover, some species strongly rely on social cues to detect clumped food sources in an unpredictable habitat [ 17 , 18 ]; when different and often novel food sources are available, such as during a colonisation event, a group can allow greater flexibility (coping faster with new situations) and better performances than individuals alone (see for example [ 19 ]). Apart from the conspecific presence in itself, attention has recently been given to the influence that the characteristics of the conspecifics have on the behaviour of a focal individual [ 3 , 10 ].…”

Copy parents or follow friends? Juvenile foraging behaviour changes with social environment

“…Variation in familiarity can influence social information use, although sometimes animals may prefer to learn from familiar partners (Swaney et al ., 2001; Guillette, Scott and Healy, 2016), while others use unfamiliar sources which have different personal experiences (Ramakers et al ., 2016). Further, individuals that interact with many peers (have a high “degree”) encounter many sources of information, and may acquire behaviour faster or gain a more complete picture of the environment (Aplin et al ., 2012; Tóth et al ., 2017).…”