Cognition, Ecology and Evolution in Wild Passerine Birds

学习和记忆是许多物种成功繁殖、获取资源和躲避捕食者的关键。尽管认知和神经系统之间的联系在上个世纪已经得到了深入的研究，但我们仍然对当代物种在认知能力上存在差异的原因知之甚少。我的研究项目的长期目标是了解认知是如何通过自然选择在野外形成的。我们的短期目标包括研究野生雀鸟的空间记忆、学习和创新能力的进化。空间记忆被认为对储存食物的鸟类至关重要，因为这些物种会制造数千个贮藏物，并通过在几周后记住它们的确切位置来重新安置它们。关于食物囤积的研究依赖于一个未经验证的假设：空间记忆力好的人能更好地度过严冬；我打算用当地的野生黑顶山雀进行测试。我们还将利用这一新监测的种群来研究空间记忆和学习对不同程度人为改变特征栖息地生存的相对贡献。我的团队还将研究灰鸟种群的空间认知进化，由于气候变化和由此导致的秋季气温升高，灰鸟的食物储备减少，灰鸟种群的空间认知最近出现了下降。我们将研究松鸦使用一种新颖的、不易腐烂的食物类型来制作巢穴的能力，并评估这种觅食创新对它们繁殖成功的影响。我们还将继续对英国牛津威瑟姆森林的非囤积大山雀学习能力的进化进行研究，每年有一组国际研究人员对那里的1000只大山雀进行研究。我希望我们的研究能够有助于更好地理解认知是如何在脊椎动物的自然种群中进化的，这与理解我们自己的智力进化有关。

Learning and memory are essential for successful reproduction, resource acquisition and predator avoidance in a wide diversity of species. Although the links between cognition and the nervous system have been studied intensively in the last century, we still know very little on why contemporary species differ in cognitive abilities. The long-term objective of my research program is to understand how cognition is shaped by natural selection in the wild. Our short-term objectives include the study of the evolution of spatial memory, learning, and innovativeness in wild passerine birds. Spatial memory is thought to be critical for food-hoarding birds, because these species make thousands of caches and relocate them by remembering their exact locations several weeks later. Research on food-hoarding relies on the untested assumption that individuals with better spatial memory survive better through harsh winters; I propose to test this using a local population of wild black-capped chickadees. We will also use this newly-monitored population to examine the relative contribution of spatial memory and learning to survival in habitats characterised by different levels of anthropogenic modification. My team will also examine the evolution of spatial cognition in a population of gray jays that has been shown to decline recenty due to climate change and the resulting elevated fall temperature that degrades the jays' food caches. We will examine the jays' ability at using a novel, non-perishable food type to make their caches and will assess the impact of this foraging innovation on their reproductive success. We will also continue ongoing research on the evolution of learning ability in non-hoarding great tits of Oxford's Wytham Woods, United Kingdom, where >1000 individual birds are studied every year by a group of international researchers. I expect our research to contribute to a better understanding of how cognition evolves in natural populations of vertebrates, which is relevant to understanding the evolution of our own intelligence.