Sequential phenotypic constraints on social information use in wild baboons

Carter, Alecia J.; Torrents-Ticó, Miquel; Cowlishaw, Guy

doi:10.7554/elife.13125

Cited by 43 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…In well connected populations (high degree, short path length) information can spread faster and farther 7;18;19 , a prediction that is borne out in humans 10;20 and non-human species [21][22][23][24] . Such networks might be optimal where group activity requires coordination, for example, in regards to social norms 25 and rituals 26 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Selection Shapes Network Structure

Smolla

Akçay

2018

Preprint

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Cultural evolution relies on the social transmission of cultural traits across a population, along the ties of an underlying social network that emerges from non-random interactions among individuals. Research indicates that the structure of those interaction networks a ects information spread, and thus a population's ability for cumulative culture. However, how network structure itself is driven by population-culture co-evolution remains largely unclear. We use a simple but realistic model of complex dynamic social networks to investigate how populations negotiate the trade-o between acquiring new skills and getting better at existing skills, and how this trade-o , in turn, shapes the social structure of the population. Our results reveal unexpected eco-evolutionary feedback from culture onto social network structure and vice versa. We show that selecting for generalists (favouring a broad repertoire of skills) results in sparsely connected networks with highly diverse skill sets, whereas selecting for specialists (favouring skill proficiency) results in densely connected networks and a population that specializes on the same few skills on which everyone is an expert. Surprisingly, cultural selection for specialisation can act as an "ecological trap" where it can take a long time for a specialist population to adapt to a generalist world. Our model advances our understanding of the complex feedbacks in cultural evolution and demonstrates how individual-level behaviour can lead to the emergence of population-level structure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Selection Shapes Network Structure

Smolla

Akçay

2018

Preprint

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“…The use of social information is a process with several stages, which are likely to be sequential and distinct: acquisition (observing another), application (performing the observed behaviour, not necessarily successfully) and exploitation (successfully performing the observed behaviour in a way that gives the individual an advantage; Carter, Tico & Cowlishaw, 2016; Guillette, Scott & Healy, 2016). For instance, in chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ), the average individual acquired social information on <25% of occasions and exploited social information on <5% of occasions, and information use was dependent on phenotypic constraints such as network position and dominance status (Carter, Tico & Cowlishaw, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, in chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ), the average individual acquired social information on <25% of occasions and exploited social information on <5% of occasions, and information use was dependent on phenotypic constraints such as network position and dominance status (Carter, Tico & Cowlishaw, 2016). The results of Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that Eurasian jays did not appear to apply or exploit the social information available even though they had the opportunity to acquire it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eurasian jays do not copy the choices of conspecifics, but they do show evidence of stimulus enhancement

Miller

Logan

Lister

et al. 2016

PeerJ

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Corvids (birds in the crow family) are hypothesised to have a general cognitive tool-kit because they show a wide range of transferrable skills across social, physical and temporal tasks, despite differences in socioecology. However, it is unknown whether relatively asocial corvids differ from social corvids in their use of social information in the context of copying the choices of others, because only one such test has been conducted in a relatively asocial corvid. We investigated whether relatively asocial Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) use social information (i.e., information made available by others). Previous studies have indicated that jays attend to social context in their caching and mate provisioning behaviour; however, it is unknown whether jays copy the choices of others. We tested the jays in two different tasks varying in difficulty, where social corvid species have demonstrated social information use in both tasks. Firstly, an object-dropping task was conducted requiring objects to be dropped down a tube to release a food reward from a collapsible platform, which corvids can learn through explicit training. Only one rook and one New Caledonian crow have learned the task using social information from a demonstrator. Secondly, we tested the birds on a simple colour discrimination task, which should be easy to solve, because it has been shown that corvids can make colour discriminations. Using the same colour discrimination task in a previous study, all common ravens and carrion crows copied the demonstrator. After observing a conspecific demonstrator, none of the jays solved the object-dropping task, though all jays were subsequently able to learn to solve the task in a non-social situation through explicit training, and jays chose the demonstrated colour at chance levels. Our results suggest that social and relatively asocial corvids differ in social information use, indicating that relatively asocial species may have secondarily lost this ability due to lack of selection pressure from an asocial environment.

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“…The diversity of habitats in which baboons live was highlighted by Alecia Carter's study of baboons in the edges of the Namib Desert at the Tsaobis Nature Park in Namibia, where she has documented information acquisition through dynamic social networks 18 . Variation in baboon social systems was eloquently presented by Julia Fischer, who discussed the nested multilevel society of Guinea baboons from the “neglected West.” 19 Fischer's work at Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal reveals that the Guinea baboon social system is in some fundamental features similar to that of hamadryas baboons.…”

Section: The Paleo‐primate Project Gorongosamentioning

confidence: 99%

Primate adaptations and evolution in the Southern African Rift Valley

Bobe

Martínez

Carvalho

2020

Evolutionary Anthropology

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Primate adaptations and evolution in the Southern African Rift Valley 1 | INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUNDGorongosa National Park in central Mozambique offers an unparalleled setting for the study of primate adaptations to complex and highly dynamic environments. Located at the southern end of the East African Rift System, Gorongosa hosts a mosaic of forests, woodlands, grasslands, swamps, rivers, and a major lake, Lake Urema, which fluctuates extensively with the seasonal cycles (Figures 1 and 2). 1 Renowned biologist E. O. Wilson has described Gorongosa as "ecologically the most diverse park in the world." 2 The park is home to five species of nonhuman primates, among them 219 troops of baboons, 3 whose phenotypic diversity suggests an extended history of admixture between chacmas (Papio ursinus) and yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus) (Figure 3). 4 With its dynamic mix of environments in the African Rift Valley, and highly adaptable primates, Gorongosa brings to mind the vegetation mosaics in which Pliocene and Pleistocene hominins evolved. 5 Gorongosa thus provided an ideal setting to bring together a broad interdisciplinary group of scientists to discuss "New perspectives on primate adaptations to complex environments and implications for early human evolution." The occasion was a workshop funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and hosted by Gorongosa National Park on July 23-25, 2019. The Wenner-Gren Foundation has sponsored about 165 symposia and workshops over the past 67 years, but this was only the third time such an event was held in Africa. The workshop included 36 researchers and students (from 20 institutions in 11 countries) with expertise in primatology, zoology, natural history, ecology, botany, genetics, genomics, paleontology, paleoanthropology, archeology, and geology (Figure 4). The event was open to the public, so researchers, students, and staff working in the park, among them many young Mozambicans, attended the workshop and participated in the discussions. Holding such an event in Mozambique was a milestone for a country with great potential in primatology, paleontology, and paleoanthropology, and allowed Mozambican scholars and students to establish new collaborations for future research and training.

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Sequential phenotypic constraints on social information use in wild baboons

Cited by 43 publications

References 73 publications

Cultural Selection Shapes Network Structure

Cultural Selection Shapes Network Structure

Eurasian jays do not copy the choices of conspecifics, but they do show evidence of stimulus enhancement

Primate adaptations and evolution in the Southern African Rift Valley

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