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Size-dependent directed social learning in nine-spined sticklebacks

Size-dependent directed social learning in nine-spined sticklebacks
Size-dependent directed social learning in nine-spined sticklebacks
To forage efficiently in a patchy environment animals must make informed decisions concerning in which patches to forage, for which the behaviour of other animals often provides informative cues. However, other individuals may differ in the quality or relevance of information that they provide, and accordingly animals are expected to be selective with respect to whom they copy. Such selectivity may include the biasing of copying towards older, larger or more experienced conspecifics. We investigated whether the ability of nine-spined sticklebacks, Pungitius pungitius, to exploit public information, that is, to judge the relative profitability of food patches solely on the basis of the relative feeding activity of others, is influenced by their own body size and that of the individuals from whom they copy. Individual observer fish, classed as either small or large, were trained that two discrete foraging patches differed in their relative quality, one being rich and the other poor (‘personal information’). They then watched two shoals of either small or large demonstrator conspecifics feeding at the two patches (‘public information’), but with relative profitability of the patches reversed compared to training, before being given the opportunity to make a patch choice. The effectiveness of this public demonstration was clearly contingent on the size of the demonstrators, with subjects of both size classes copying the patch choice of large demonstrators significantly more than they copied the patch choice of small demonstrators. This study reinforces the view that animal social learning is directed along particular pathways, with individuals predisposed by selection to copy particular categories of individual differentially
foraging, nine-spined stickleback, patch assessment, public information, pungitius pungitius, social learning
0003-3472
371-375
Duffy, Grant A.
e040b78b-5516-46b3-899a-4a275d91f134
Pike, Thomas W.
6d122dc0-1e53-4a3b-abc6-15d20578026a
Laland, Kevin N
c93fd00d-3b37-4138-b558-4bb2e8228a6d
Duffy, Grant A.
e040b78b-5516-46b3-899a-4a275d91f134
Pike, Thomas W.
6d122dc0-1e53-4a3b-abc6-15d20578026a
Laland, Kevin N
c93fd00d-3b37-4138-b558-4bb2e8228a6d

Duffy, Grant A., Pike, Thomas W. and Laland, Kevin N (2009) Size-dependent directed social learning in nine-spined sticklebacks. Animal Behaviour, 78 (2), 371-375. (doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.05.015).

Record type: Article

Abstract

To forage efficiently in a patchy environment animals must make informed decisions concerning in which patches to forage, for which the behaviour of other animals often provides informative cues. However, other individuals may differ in the quality or relevance of information that they provide, and accordingly animals are expected to be selective with respect to whom they copy. Such selectivity may include the biasing of copying towards older, larger or more experienced conspecifics. We investigated whether the ability of nine-spined sticklebacks, Pungitius pungitius, to exploit public information, that is, to judge the relative profitability of food patches solely on the basis of the relative feeding activity of others, is influenced by their own body size and that of the individuals from whom they copy. Individual observer fish, classed as either small or large, were trained that two discrete foraging patches differed in their relative quality, one being rich and the other poor (‘personal information’). They then watched two shoals of either small or large demonstrator conspecifics feeding at the two patches (‘public information’), but with relative profitability of the patches reversed compared to training, before being given the opportunity to make a patch choice. The effectiveness of this public demonstration was clearly contingent on the size of the demonstrators, with subjects of both size classes copying the patch choice of large demonstrators significantly more than they copied the patch choice of small demonstrators. This study reinforces the view that animal social learning is directed along particular pathways, with individuals predisposed by selection to copy particular categories of individual differentially

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Published date: August 2009
Keywords: foraging, nine-spined stickleback, patch assessment, public information, pungitius pungitius, social learning
Organisations: Ocean Biochemistry & Ecosystems

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 207763
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/207763
ISSN: 0003-3472
PURE UUID: c7269386-cd29-4c3e-93da-586f0d3672f3

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Date deposited: 11 Jan 2012 16:57
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 04:40

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Contributors

Author: Grant A. Duffy
Author: Thomas W. Pike
Author: Kevin N Laland

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