Clement, RJG, Vicente-Page, J, Mann, RP orcid.org/0000-0003-0701-1274 et al. (5 more authors) (2017) Collective decision making in guppies: a cross-population comparison study in the wild. Behavioral Ecology, 28 (3). pp. 919-924. ISSN 1045-2249
Abstract
Collective cognition has received much attention in recent years but most of the empirical work has focused on comparing individuals and groups within single populations, thereby not addressing evolutionary origins of collective cognition. Here, we investigated collective cognition in multiple populations that are subject to different levels of predation. Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) were given a simultaneous choice between an edible and a nonedible stimulus. We found evidence for an improvement in decision accuracy when in groups but only in low-predation guppies. This performance increase was due to a combination of increased private sampling behavior when in groups (compared to being alone) and social information use. In contrast, high-predation fish did not sample more when in groups, nor used social information; hence did not improve decision-accuracy when in groups. The improvement of groups in foraging accuracy in low but not in high-predation sites, suggests that these populations differ in their trade-off between attention dedicated to food and predators. In high-predation sites, investing time in predator detection is more crucial than in low-predation sites, thereby possibly conflicting with food detection. Our results highlight the importance of considering the effects of ecological gradients on collective cognition.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Behavioral Ecology following peer review. The version of record Clement, RJG, Vicente-Page, J, Mann, RP et al. (2017) Collective decision making in guppies: a cross-population comparison study in the wild. Behavioral Ecology, 28 (3). pp. 919-924. ISSN 1045-2249 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arx056. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | collective cognition, guppy, Poecilia reticulata, social information use. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mathematics (Leeds) > Statistics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 25 Apr 2017 12:27 |
Last Modified: | 09 Apr 2018 13:55 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/beheco/arx056 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:115557 |