Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060395
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Funding
- Academy of Finland [122665, 125720]
- Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation
- Academy of Finland (AKA) [122665, 125720, 125720, 122665] Funding Source: Academy of Finland (AKA)
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Using the behavior of others in guiding one's own behavior is a common strategy in animals. The prevailing theory predicts that young age and the inexperience of an individual are expected to increase the probability of adopting the behaviors of others. Also, the most common behavior in the population should be copied. Here, we tested the above predictions by examining social information use in the selection of nest-site features with a field experiment using a wild cavity nesting bird, the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis). We used an experimental design in which geometric symbols depict nest-site features. By manipulating the apparent symbol choices of early settled individuals and monitoring the choices of later arriving birds, we can study social information use without bias from learned or innate Preferences. Flycatchers were found to use social information in the selection of nest site features, with about 60% of the population preferring the manipulated conspecific choices. However, age and experience as explanatory factors suggested by the social information use theory did not explain the choices. The present result, in concert with earlier similar experiments, implies that flycatchers may in some situations rely more on iriterspecific information in the selection of nest-site characteristics.
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