Causes and consequences of individual variation in cognition in natural populations

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Cognition, a suite of neural processes including learning, memory and decision-making, determines how individuals interact with their environment, and therefore affects a range of ecological and evolutionary processes. Traditionally, cognition has been studied by psychologists and neurobiologists interested in proximal questions; therefore we still know very little on the evolution of cognition. The long-term objective of my research program is to understand how cognition is shaped by the selective environment. I approach this aim by testing evolutionary hypotheses on the causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities, so as to uncover the links between the environment, behaviour, cognition, and fitness. In the next five years, my students and I will quantify intraspecific variation in cognition in three different research systems which provide unique and complementary opportunities. In Obj.1, we will examine the impact of urbanization on the relative preference for social vs personal information in a wild population of black-capped chickadees, Poecile atricapillus. These small passerine birds form cohesive groups during the non-breeding season, which we study using radio-frequency identification technology allowing automated recording of individuals at feeders. These visitation patterns are used to assess social networks, group cohesiveness and social information flow. We will test the prediction that birds living in more urbanized habitats are less reliant on social information, and are therefore less likely to form and maintain cultural traditions in the wild, compared with birds living in less perturbed habitats. In Obj.2, we will use a habitat comparison and common garden experiment to test for local adaptation of spatial cognition in locally-caught fall field crickets, Gryllus pennsylvanicus. We will also test the prediction that spatial cognitive performance aligns with other cognitive traits, and with anti-predator behaviour and life-history traits as part of a pace-of-life syndrome. Obj.3 will build on an ongoing breeding monitoring program in a wild population of great tits, Parus major. We will test the prediction that spatio-temporal associative learning is a key cognitive ability determining parental provisioning of offspring, and thus reproductive success. By examining a functional behaviour expected to mediate the influence of cognition on reproduction, this research will inform a missing link in cognition-fitness studies. This work will provide important advances towards my long-term research goal, i.e. to understand the evolution of cognition in wild populations, and will contribute new knowledge on the effect of anthropogenic perturbations and natural ecological gradients on behaviour and cognition. Our findings will thus have borad and profound impact on research in ecology and evolution, animal cognition, and on the general public.