How environmental variation shapes the relationship between cognition and signaling across North American Paridae

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Despite having an arguably small set of general concerns - to survive and reproduce - animals use an incredible array of signals to communicate with each other. Within the field of animal behavior, understanding such variation is a fundamental question. Unsurprisingly, a disproportionate amount of research has investigated signals used in mate choice, as they are often exaggerated and conspicuous (e.g., peacocks' tail). This has left gaps in our knowledge relating to signal variation outside those directly involved in mate choice. Many animals only spend a short period of their lives devoted to reproduction, while outside of breeding they are concerned with surviving, and as such communicate about the presence of food and predators. Environmental pressures outside the breeding season shape individuals' behavior during the breeding season, and vice versa. To gain a more complete understanding of what drives variation in signaling, a broad approach should be taken that incorporates the ecology and life history of the signaling species. My research employs an integrative approach to understand the interplay of ecology, cognition, and signaling. I am interested in how variation in signaling is associated with differences in spatial cognition, required for survival in non-migratory, food-storing birds. Cognition is an individual's ability to acquire, process, retain, and use information, and has been linked to efficient resource acquisition and fitness. This is particularly true in North American (NA) chickadees, as they are non-migratory birds that rely on food-stores to survive the winter. Chickadees stash hundreds-thousands of food items throughout their territories in the summer and fall when food is abundant, to use later in the winter when food is scarce. These birds rely on specialized spatial cognition to recover their caches, and individuals that perform better on a spatial cognitive task are more likely to survive the winter and into the breeding season. My long-term research program aims to understand how environmental variation shapes the association between cognition and complex communication. The NA chickadee species complex provides a prime opportunity to investigate these questions as they are both highly communicative, using multiple types of vocalizations to exchange information year-round and they exhibit advanced spatial cognitive abilities for recovering food-stores. The first 5 years of my research program will focus on identifying the drivers of geographic variation across the three primary acoustic signals used by black-capped, Carolina, and mountain chickadees. These three species inhabit diverse habitats and overlap in small parts of their distributions, creating narrow hybrid zones. Using this broad comparative approach will allow me to address multiple hypotheses purported to explain geographic variation in acoustic signals and provide the foundation for understanding the relationship between signaling and cognition.