A four-questions perspective on public information use in sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae)

Webster, Michael J.; Chouinard-Thuly, Laura; Herczeg, Gábor; Kitano, Jun; Riley, Riva J; Rogers, Sean M.; Shapiro, Michael D.; Shikano, Takahito; Laland, Kevin N.

doi:10.1098/rsos.181735

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…pecks at the feeder). This is consistent with public information use : extracting information inadvertently produced by others to assess resource quality [ 25 , 26 , 31 ]. However, the shape of the response was anti-conformist: when the pecks overwhelmingly favoured one feeder, observers followed suit, but when the information was more mixed, observers favoured the less popular feeder.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Foraging zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) are public information users rather than conformists

2021

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Social learning enables adaptive information acquisition provided that it is not random but selective. To understand species typical decision-making and to trace the evolutionary origins of social learning, the heuristics social learners use need to be identified. Here, we experimentally tested the nature of majority influence in the zebra finch. Subjects simultaneously observed two demonstrator groups differing in relative and absolute numbers (ratios 1 : 2/2 : 4/3 : 3/1 : 5) foraging from two novel food sources (black and white feeders). We find that demonstrator groups influenced observers' feeder choices (social learning), but that zebra finches did not copy the majority of individuals. Instead, observers were influenced by the foraging activity (pecks) of the demonstrators and in an anti-conformist fashion. These results indicate that zebra finches are not conformist, but are public information users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Foraging zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) are public information users rather than conformists

2021

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“…Despite the potential benefits of social learning, public information use appears to be species-specific (Webster et al 2019), and individual biases can have a greater effect on learning than social information even when it is employed (Szabo et al 2017). Even in species known to use social information, social learning may be dependent upon an individual having some experience with novel foraging opportunities, as recently shown in American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) (Pendergraft et al 2020) and stickleback species (Webster and Laland 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual behavioural traits not social context affects learning about novel objects in archerfish

Jones

Spence-Jones

Webster

et al. 2021

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Learning can enable rapid behavioural responses to changing conditions but can depend on the social context and behavioural phenotype of the individual. Learning rates have been linked to consistent individual differences in behavioural traits, especially in situations which require engaging with novelty, but the social environment can also play an important role. The presence of others can modulate the effects of individual behavioural traits and afford access to social information that can reduce the need for ‘risky’ asocial learning. Most studies of social effects on learning are focused on more social species; however, such factors can be important even for less-social animals, including non-grouping or facultatively social species which may still derive benefit from social conditions. Using archerfish, Toxotes chatareus, which exhibit high levels of intra-specific competition and do not show a strong preference for grouping, we explored the effect of social contexts on learning. Individually housed fish were assayed in an ‘open-field’ test and then trained to criterion in a task where fish learnt to shoot a novel cue for a food reward—with a conspecific neighbour visible either during training, outside of training or never (full, partial or no visible presence). Time to learn to shoot the novel cue differed across individuals but not across social context. This suggests that social context does not have a strong effect on learning in this non-obligatory social species; instead, it further highlights the importance that inter-individual variation in behavioural traits can have on learning. Significance statement Some individuals learn faster than others. Many factors can affect an animal’s learning rate—for example, its behavioural phenotype may make it more or less likely to engage with novel objects. The social environment can play a big role too—affecting learning directly and modifying the effects of an individual’s traits. Effects of social context on learning mostly come from highly social species, but recent research has focused on less-social animals. Archerfish display high intra-specific competition, and our study suggests that social context has no strong effect on their learning to shoot novel objects for rewards. Our results may have some relevance for social enrichment and welfare of this increasingly studied species, suggesting there are no negative effects of short- to medium-term isolation of this species—at least with regards to behavioural performance and learning tasks.

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“…Fleeing might also come with a cost of losing (foraging) opportunities. Consequently, it is likely that the uninfected individuals responded to the changes in speed of their (infected) neighbours, which has been shown to be an important source of information within a shoal [10, [61][62][63], to stop their flight response.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasite infection disrupts escape behaviours in fish shoals

et al. 2020

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Many prey species have evolved collective responses to avoid predation. They rapidly transfer information about potential predators to trigger and coordinate escape waves. Predation avoidance behaviour is often manipulated by trophically transmitted parasites, to facilitate their transmission to the next host. We hypothesized that the presence of infected, behaviourally altered individuals might disturb the spread of escape waves. We used the tapeworm Schistocephalus solidus , which increases risk-taking behaviour and decreases social responsiveness of its host, the three-spined stickleback, to test this hypothesis. Three subgroups of sticklebacks were placed next to one another in separate compartments with shelter. The middle subgroup contained either uninfected or infected sticklebacks. We confronted an outer subgroup with an artificial bird strike and studied how the escape response spread through the subgroups. With uninfected sticklebacks in the middle, escape waves spread rapidly through the entire shoal and fish remained in shelter thereafter. With infected sticklebacks in the middle, the escape wave was disrupted and uninfected fish rarely used the shelter. Infected individuals can disrupt the transmission of flight responses, thereby not only increasing their own predation risk but also that of their uninfected shoal members. Our study uncovers a potentially far-reaching fitness consequence of grouping with infected individuals.

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A four-questions perspective on public information use in sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae)

Cited by 12 publications

References 67 publications

Foraging zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) are public information users rather than conformists

Foraging zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) are public information users rather than conformists

Individual behavioural traits not social context affects learning about novel objects in archerfish

Parasite infection disrupts escape behaviours in fish shoals

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