PhDâ€theses - Ethologische Gesellschaft

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CONTEXT‐DEPENDENT LEARNING PERFORMANCE IN RELATION TO AVIAN PERSONALITIES Mieke Titulaer m.titulaer@nioo.knaw.nl Research Update Master thesis, supervised by Prof. Dr. Marc Naguib and Dr. Kees van Oers, Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO‐KNAW), Heteren, the Netherlands Adaptation to environmental changes is facilitated by good learning abilities. Individuals differ in their learning abilities, but little is known on how such variation is linked to consistent behavioural differences among individuals (personality traits). Great tits (Parus major) differ consistently in their exploratory behaviour in a novel environment, and this correlates with a range of behavioural traits. It thus can be used as proxy for personality. Here we subjected birds to a dimensional shift learning paradigm to study the link between learning and personality. The learning paradigm included several stages differing in complexity. First, the birds were trained to find food under one of two colours or at one of two locations, after which the previously unrewarded colour or location became rewarded (reversal). Then, two new colours and locations were given (intra‐dimensional shift) and finally, the rewarded dimension was changed from colour to location or vice versa (extra‐ dimensional shift). Previous studies have shown that fast exploring individuals are less flexible than slow explorers. Therefore we expected slow explorers to perform better in the reversal and extra‐dimensional shift, which are established measures of flexibility. The results show that reversal learning was the most difficult stage and apparently it was the only stage in which personality differences in performance were found, but in opposite direction for males and females. Fast exploring males showed more flexible learning abilities than slow males, whereas in females slow explorers outperforming fast explorers. The sex‐ specific relationship between exploratory behaviour and performance on the reversal task shows that personality may have important consequences for the capacity of an animal to adapt to the environment, depending on sex and context, with possible fitness implications in the wild. These context‐dependent and sex‐specific personality effects are in line with field studies and show the importance of experimental work for uncovering mechanisms of evolutionary processes in the wild. 23
RELEVANCE OF ACOUSTIC PARAMETERS IN THE SPECTACLED PARROTLETS´ (FORPUS CONSPICILLATUS) CONTACT CALL Miriam Waldmann miriamwaldmann@hotmail.com Research Update Diploma thesis, supervised by Dr. R. Wanker and Prof. Dr. J. Schneider, Department of Biology, Zoological Institute & Museum, University of Hamburg A fundamental attribute of the human language is its complex structure, which enables us to communicate in sentences. It is still not known how the ability for syntax evolved. One hypothesis is that complex social structures facilitated this ability (Social Brain Hypothesis). The Machiavellian Intelligence or Social Brain Hypothesis assumes that brain evolution was determined by complex social systems. Investigating cases of convergent evolution of communication is a particularly promising approach in this context. Spectacled parrotlets evolved a sophisticated communication and with their contact calls they transmit information about who is calling, which bird is called and which group the caller belongs to. In this study, I examined whether the information embedded within the contact call of the spectacled parrotlets (Forpus conspicillatus) is structured. Firstly, I compared results of previous theses about contact calls. I found that different combinations of the call parameters contain different information. The relevant call parameters are minimum and maximum frequency, bandwidth, start and end frequency, peak frequency (maximum accentuated frequency), call duration and modulation (this means changes of direction in the fundamental frequency from rising to falling and vice versa). Secondly, I used playback experiments and compared responses to natural and artificially modified calls to verify the units responsible for coding receiver identity. The modified calls elicited responses and these responses differed from controls in the number of replies. The manipulation was successful in that calls were recognised but the information about the receiver was no longer present. More such studies are required to elucidate how further information is coded within the structure of the contact call. 24
Page 2 and 3: Content Newsletter No. 64 Content G
Page 4 and 5: News from the Council A note from t
Page 6 and 7: Abstract of Dr. Hirschenhauser’s
Page 8 and 9: PhD‐theses EVOLUTION OF PLASTIC L
Page 10 and 11: HEART RATE IN GREYLAG GEESE (ANSER
Page 12 and 13: SEXUAL CANNIBALISM: WHAT DO MALES H
Page 14 and 15: MATERNAL CARE STRATEGIES IN PHYLLON
Page 16 and 17: Research Update VOCAL REPERTOIRE OF
Page 18 and 19: Research Update THE IMPACT OF SOCIA
Page 20 and 21: Research Update ‘floating’ in H
Page 22 and 23: TESTING FOR SOCIAL DIFFUSION OF TWO
Page 26 and 27: Research Update DIFFERENCES IN ACTI
Page 28 and 29: Activities and Meetings Future meet
Page 30 and 31: Activities and Meetings load intere
Page 32 and 33: Activities and Meetings Joint Meeti
Page 34 and 35: Grant and promotion opportunities f
Page 36 and 37: Officers of the Ethologische Gesell
Page 38 and 39: Internet Links Internet Links Ethol

PhDâ€theses - Ethologische Gesellschaft

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?

PhDâ€theses - Ethologische Gesellschaft