Comparative Studies of Avian Cognition

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My research program aims to understand the evolution of complex cognitive abilities. One fundamental cognitive process I investigate is spatial cognition – the ability to locomote effectively through an environment – an important ability for all mobile organisms. My research team and I use a comparative approach to investigate how animals living in different environments, with diverse ecological pressures, solve the problem of remembering from whence they have come, and where they need to go. I have proposed two new lines of research focusing on how birds use spatial information to regain a sense of direction (reorientation). One research line will used controlled rearing conditions to understand how early life environmental experiences shape how spatial cues are encoded. My research will determine if duration differences in the juvenile maturation periods of birds cause some species (chicks) to come “preprogrammed” with spatial modules whereas others (pigeons) are more influenced by their rearing environment. A second related research line will examine how ecological pressures influence the way birds extract spatial information from their environment. My HQP and I will examine four species of North American corvid that store food in times of plenty (autumn) for periods of scarcity (winter), but differ in how dependent they are on these food caches. Dependency on food-caches may influence not only how species weigh spatial information, but also their sensitivity to the reliability of spatial cues.