Article
Behavioral Sciences
Andrew W. Evans, Dana M. Williams, Daniel T. Blumstein
Summary: When social animals forage together, they may choose to be either producers or scroungers based on the frequency of strategies within the group or their own traits. In a study on yellow-bellied marmots, it was found that consistent strategies as producers or scroungers were associated with sex, but not with age, boldness, or dominance rank. The lack of trait-regulated foraging roles in marmots may be due to their abundant and undefendable food source or their lack of obligate social structure.
Article
Biology
Dominic L. Cram, David J. Lloyd-Jones, Jessica E. M. van der Wal, Jess Lund, Iahaia O. Buanachique, Musaji Muamedi, Carvalho I. Nanguar, Antonio Ngovene, Shirley Raveh, Winnie Boner, Claire N. Spottiswoode
Summary: In the mutualism between humans and greater honeyguides, the birds can flexibly switch between guiding humans to bees' nests and scavenging beeswax. The birds' traits, such as tarsi length and weight, predict their tactic decisions. This producer-scrounger system increases the productivity and resilience of the human-honeyguide mutualism.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Michael S. Reichert, Julie Morand-Ferron, Ipek G. Kulahci, Josh A. Firth, Gabrielle L. Davidson, Sam J. Crofts, John L. Quinn
Summary: The study explores the role of cognition in different foraging tactics in wild mixed-species flocks of great tits and blue tits. It found that individuals improved their scavenging success but birds with a greater proportion of scavenging took longer to learn their rewarding feeder. The results indicate the potential for genetic differences in allocation to alternative foraging tactics and highlight the importance of cognition in utilizing different resource acquisition tactics.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bharat Parthasarathy, Michelle Mueller, Trine Bilde, Jutta M. Schneider
Summary: Task specialization is important for social success, but in social spiders, individual traits do not determine specific task participation. Instead, hunger state is the key factor influencing prey capture.
Article
Biology
Kristina B. Beck, Ben C. Sheldon, Josh A. Firth
Summary: The emergence and spread of novel behaviors through social learning can result in rapid changes at the population level, as social connections shape information flow. However, little is known about how information flow is influenced by individuals' learning mechanisms. By comparing four different learning mechanisms on wild great tit networks, we found that individuals with increased social connectivity and reduced social clustering acquired new behaviors faster. However, when the adoption of behaviors depended on the ratio of social connections to informed versus uninformed individuals, social connectivity had no impact on the order of acquisition. Additionally, specific learning mechanisms were found to limit behavioral spread within networks.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kimberley J. Mathot, Josue D. Arteaga-Torres, Jan J. Wijmenga
Summary: Individual variation in risk-taking behavior in black-capped chickadees is not associated with differences in annual survival, suggesting that multiple mechanisms may simultaneously shape risk-taking behavior with minimal impact on overall survival.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Xinyu Zhang, Xue Wang, Wei Wang, Renxin Xu, Chunlin Li, Feng Zhang
Summary: This study found that boldness and exploration in Japanese quail have a significant impact on food-scratching behavior and food intake. Proactive individuals with bold and explorative traits scratched for food more frequently and for longer periods, leading to increased food intake during foraging. The correlation between personality traits and food intake varied over time and was influenced by the quail's sex.
Article
Biology
Isaac Planas-Sitja, Jean-Louis Deneubourg, Adam L. Cronin
Summary: Planas-Sitja, Deneubourg and Cronin use a theoretical approach to examine the importance of personality and feedback in the emergence of collective movement decisions in animal groups. Using a simulation of Capuchin monkey data they show that variation in personality dramatically influences collective decisions as well as replaces feedback depending on the directionality of relationships among individuals.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
S. Wild, M. Chimento, K. McMahon, D. R. Farine, B. C. Sheldon, L. M. Aplin
Summary: This study tracks the cultural diffusion of foraging behaviors in great tits and finds that the birds can socially learn and recombine skills, but acquisition is not entirely through social learning. Instead, birds reconstruct the complete solution step by step. Although singular cultural traditions do not emerge, subpopulations of birds share preferences for behavioral variants.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biology
Yannis P. Papastamatiou, Johann Mourier, Thomas TinHan, Sarah Luongo, Seiko Hosoki, Omar Santana-Morales, Mauricio Hoyos-Padilla
Summary: This study measures the social associations and behavior of white sharks using biologging sensors. The results suggest that white sharks form both random and stronger associations with other individuals. The sharks also exhibit individual variability in depth usage and activity, potentially indicating a desire to share information about prey.
Article
Zoology
Chunlin Li, Xinyu Zhang, Lin Cheng, Baowei Zhang, Feng Zhang
Summary: This study investigates whether personality traits of Japanese quail individuals affect their foraging behavior. The results show that personality traits (boldness and exploration) have a significant impact on feeding time and food intake. Additionally, the effects of personality traits on foraging behavior gradually weaken with increasing inter-patch distances.
FRONTIERS IN ZOOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bruna Santos-Silva, Natalia Hanazaki, Fabio G. Daura-Jorge, Mauricio Cantor
Summary: This study examines how individual traits influence the decision of artisanal net-casting fishers to cooperate or fish alone, and finds that cooperative fishers catch more fish and experience higher social prestige and embeddedness. Material gains from foraging, as well as non-material benefits from socializing with like-minded individuals, can influence the dynamics of human social foraging.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Luis Alfaro, Rosalva Cabrera
Summary: In a collective foraging situation, it was found that smaller groups of Wistar rats tend to have a higher proportion of producers and deplete food faster than larger groups. The balance between producing and scrounging responses is influenced by different prior activities, and the frequency of associated activities correlates with the time spent consuming food. A feedback mechanism may mediate the choice of prior activities and procurement responses.
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Louis-Philippe Toupin, Tom Ratz, Pierre-Olivier Montiglio
Summary: This study found that spiders do not adjust their webs to balance prey capture and predator protection, but rather tend to change web structure based on variations in food abundance. Individual differences in behavior may be due to stable developmental or genetic differences.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Selin Ersoy, Christine E. Beardsworth, Anne Dekinga, Marcel T. J. van der Meer, Theunis Piersma, Ton G. G. Groothuis, Allert Bijleveld
Summary: Individual differences in behavior, particularly exploration speed, are associated with foraging tactics and diet in red knots. Faster explorers tend to engage in visual foraging, while slower explorers mainly consume hard-shelled prey. These findings suggest that personality traits play a role in shaping foraging strategies and dietary preferences in birds.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
J. Morand-Ferron, E. Hermer, T. B. Jones, M. J. Thompson
Article
Psychology, Biological
Vincent Careau, Pierre Philippe Beauchamp, Sabine Bouchard, Julie Morand-Ferron
PHYSIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
(2019)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Maria D. Doria, Julie Morand-Ferron, Susan M. Bertram
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Sanjay Prasher, Megan J. Thompson, Julian C. Evans, Michael El-Nachef, Frances Bonier, Julie Morand-Ferron
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Teri B. Jones, Julian C. Evans, Julie Morand-Ferron
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2019)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Megan J. Thompson, Julie Morand-Ferron
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Catherine Jarjour, Julian C. Evans, Melanie Routh, Julie Morand-Ferron
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Isabel Rojas-Ferrer, Megan Joy Thompson, Julie Morand-Ferron
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Andre Cyr, Julie Morand-Ferron, Frederic Theriault
Summary: Spatial information can be valuable but new environments can evoke fear responses and risk-averse exploration strategies. Individual differences in risk-taking and thigmotaxis may benefit survival. This study aims at simulating two exploration strategies in a virtual robot controlled by a spiking neural network to further investigate neurorobotic personality modulated by learning and complex exploration contexts.
Article
Biology
Isabel Rojas-Ferrer, Julie Morand-Ferron
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Dovid Y. Kozlovsky, Catherine A. Jarjour, Julie Morand-Ferron
Summary: Urbanization has significant impacts on the environment, leading to differences in community, population, and individual characteristics between urban and non-urban animals. In a study on black-capped chickadees, it was found that urban environments have higher proportions of first year individuals, but age-related differences did not explain variation in morphology.
Review
Biology
Marc-Antoine Poirier, Dovid Y. Kozlovsky, Julie Morand-Ferron, Vincent Careau
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ethan Hermer, Ben Murphy, Alexis S. Chaine, Julie Morand-Ferron
Summary: This study investigated spatial memory accuracy and proactive interference performance in great tits from high and low elevations, finding no significant difference between the two. The study also revealed for the first time an individual trade-off between spatial memory and proactive interference, indicating the presence of memory variation at the individual level.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Sophia St Lawrence, Isabel Rojas-Ferrer, Julie Morand-Ferron
Summary: The study found that social context increased neophobia during the first encounters with novel objects, but neophobia decreased faster over repeated presentations, supporting habituation. This suggests that the impact of social context differs between neophobia and habituation, possibly involving different cognitive mechanisms. Future research should explore the effects of ecological and social conditions on decision-making in social animals during initial versus subsequent encounters with novel objects, as these processes can affect the fitness costs and benefits of responses to novelty.
Article
Ecology
Michael S. Reichert, Julie Morand-Ferron, Ipek G. Kulahci, Josh A. Firth, Gabrielle L. Davidson, Sam J. Crofts, John L. Quinn
Summary: The study explores the role of cognition in different foraging tactics in wild mixed-species flocks of great tits and blue tits. It found that individuals improved their scavenging success but birds with a greater proportion of scavenging took longer to learn their rewarding feeder. The results indicate the potential for genetic differences in allocation to alternative foraging tactics and highlight the importance of cognition in utilizing different resource acquisition tactics.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2021)