Evolution of Mammalian Migrations for Refuge, Breeding, and Food

Many organisms migrate between distinct habitats, exploiting variable resources while profoundly affecting ecosystem services, disease spread, and human welfare. However, the very characteristics that make migration captivating and significant also make it difficult to study, and we lack a comprehensive understanding of which species migrate and why. Here we show that, among mammals, migration is concentrated within Cetacea and Artiodactyla but also diffusely spread throughout the class (found in 12 of 27 orders). We synthesize the many ecological drivers of round-trip migration into three types of movement—between breeding and foraging sites, between breeding and refuge sites, and continuous tracking of forage/prey—each associated with different traits (body mass, diet, locomotion, and conservation status). Our results provide only partial support for the hypothesis that migration occurs without phylogenetic constraint. Furthermore, our findings suggest that categorizing migration into these three types may aid predictions of migrants’ responses to environmental changes

Evolution of mammalian migrations for refuge, breeding, and food

Many organisms migrate between distinct habitats, exploiting variable resources while profoundly affecting ecosystem services, disease spread, and human welfare. However, the very characteristics that make migration captivating and significant also make it difficult to study, and we lack a comprehensive understanding of which species migrate and why. Here we show that, among mammals, migration is concentrated within Cetacea and Artiodactyla but also diffusely spread throughout the class (found in 12 of 27 orders). We synthesize the many ecological drivers of round-trip migration into three types of movementbetween breeding and foraging sites, between breeding and refuge sites, and continuous tracking of forage/preyeach associated with different traits (body mass, diet, locomotion, and conservation status). Our results provide only partial support for the hypothesis that migration occurs without phylogenetic constraint. Furthermore, our findings suggest that categorizing migration into these three types may aid predictions of migrants' responses to environmental changes.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-0646086 to AKS and funding for GEG through the Princeton Environmental Institute Grand Challenges Summer Internship Program

ManyDogs Project: A Big Team Science Approach to Investigating Canine Behavior and Cognition

Dogs have a special place in human history as the first domesticated species and play important roles in many cultures around the world. However, their role in scientific studies has been relatively recent. With a few notable exceptions (e.g., Darwin, Pavlov, Scott, and Fuller), domestic dogs were not commonly the subject of rigorous scientific investigation of behavior until the late 1990s. Although the number of canine science studies has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, most research groups are limited in the inferences they can draw because of the relatively small sample sizes used, along with the exceptional diversity observed in dogs (e.g., breed, geographic location, experience). To this end, we introduce the ManyDogs Project, an international consortium of researchers interested in taking a big team science approach to understanding canine behavioral science. We begin by discussing why studying dogs provides valuable insights into behavior and cognition, evolutionary processes, human health, and applications for animal welfare. We then highlight other big team science projects that have previously been conducted in canine science and emphasize the benefits of our approach. Finally, we introduce the ManyDogs Project and our mission: (a) replicating important findings, (b) investigating moderators that need a large sample size such as breed differences, (c) reaching methodological consensus, (d) investigating cross-cultural differences, and (e) setting a standard for replication studies in general. In doing so, we hope to address previous limitations in individual lab studies and previous big team science frameworks to deepen our understanding of canine behavior and cognition

Data from: Evolution of mammalian migrations for refuge, breeding, and food

Many organisms migrate between distinct habitats, exploiting variable resources while profoundly affecting ecosystem services, disease spread, and human welfare. However, the very characteristics that make migration captivating and significant also make it difficult to study, and we lack a comprehensive understanding of which species migrate and why. Here we show that, among mammals, migration is concentrated within Cetacea and Artiodactyla but also diffusely spread throughout the class (found in 12 of 27 orders). We synthesize the many ecological drivers of round-trip migration into three types of movement—between breeding and foraging sites, between breeding and refuge sites, and continuous tracking of forage/prey—each associated with different traits (body mass, diet, locomotion, and conservation status). Our results provide only partial support for the hypothesis that migration occurs without phylogenetic constraint. Furthermore, our findings suggest that categorizing migration into these three types may aid predictions of migrants’ responses to environmental changes

Estimating the heritability of cognitive traits across dog breeds reveals highly heritable inhibitory control and communication factors

Trait heritability is necessary for evolution by both natural and artificial selection, yet we know little about the heritability of cognitive traits. Domestic dogs are a valuable study system for questions regarding the evolution of phenotypic diversity due to their extraordinary intraspecific variation. While previous studies have investigated morphological and behavioral variation across dog breeds, few studies have systematically assessed breed differences in cognition. We integrated data from Dognition.com-a citizen science project on dog cognition-with breed-averaged genetic data from published sources to estimate the among-breed heritability of cognitive traits using mixed models. The resulting dataset included 11 cognitive measures for 1508 adult dogs across 36 breeds. A factor analysis yielded four factors interpreted as reflecting inhibitory control, communication, memory, and physical reasoning. Narrow-sense among-breed heritability estimates-reflecting the proportion of cognitive variance attributable to additive genetic variation-revealed that scores on the inhibitory control and communication factors were highly heritable (inhibitory control: h2 = 0.70; communication: h2 = 0.39), while memory and physical reasoning were less heritable (memory: h2 = 0.17; physical reasoning: h2 = 0.21). Although the heritability of inhibitory control is partially explained by body weight, controlling for breed-average weight still yields a high heritability estimate (h2 = 0.50), while other factors are minimally affected. Our results indicate that cognitive phenotypes in dogs covary with breed relatedness and suggest that cognitive traits have strong potential to undergo selection. The highest heritabilities were observed for inhibitory control and communication, both of which are hypothesized to have been altered by domestication.12 month embargo; published online: 10 June 2020This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Specificity of plasma oxytocin immunoassays: A comparison of commercial assays and sample preparation techniques using oxytocin knockout and wildtype mice

Oxytocin has garnered much interest due to its role in affective states, social behaviors, and diverse physiological functions. However, approaches for measuring endogenous oxytocin concentrations have generated considerable controversy and debate. Common procedures for measuring oxytocin often produce uncorrelated results, and the detected concentrations frequently vary across two orders of magnitude. These findings have led some researchers to argue that immunoassays of plasma oxytocin may be unreliable and nonspecific, particularly when samples are not first processed using an extraction procedure. Here, we assess the specificity of oxytocin immunoassays using plasma samples from wildtype (WT) and oxytocin knockout (KO) mice. Plasma samples from both genotypes were measured using immunoassay and were measured with or without a solid-phase extraction. Using a commercially available kit from Arbor Assays, we demonstrate that both techniques generate a clear contrast between genotypes, with wildtype samples containing high concentrations of oxytocin (unextracted mean = 468 pg/ml; extracted mean = 381 pg/ml), while knockout samples measured below the lower limit of detection. Analytical validations demonstrated good parallelism and spike recovery for both methods. Furthermore, the same wildtype samples measured with both procedures were highly correlated (r = 0.95), although unextracted samples measured at significantly higher concentrations (p = 2.0 ×10−7, Cohen's d = 2.65). To test the generalizability of these results across immunoassay kits, we performed additional assays with kits from Cayman Chemical and Enzo Life Sciences. The Cayman Chemical kit produced results similar to Arbor Assays with a clean signal differentiating WT and KO plasma, both with and without an extraction step. The Enzo kit also differentiated the genotypes, with correlation between extracted and unextracted samples, but was considerably more susceptible to interference without the extraction, as evidenced by false positive signal in KO plasma samples. The extent to which these results generalize to other species remains unknown and challenging to assess.12 month embargo; available online 26 July 2021This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Dogs re-engage human partners when joint social play is interrupted: a behavioural signature of shared intentionality?

Hypotheses regarding the evolution of uniquely human social cognition often emphasize not only mental state representation, but also mental state sharing. Mental state sharing is evident in instances of joint intentionality – mutual understanding between individuals of each other's simultaneous and interdependent commitment to a shared activity or goal. Comparative studies supporting the human uniqueness of joint intentionality show that, as compared to human children, chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, who engage with humans as cooperative partners do not altruistically help others achieve their goals across the same range of contexts, do not attempt to re-engage cooperative partners in problem-solving or social games at the same rate and do not show spontaneous role reversal. Although recent work supports the possibility that bonobos, Pan paniscus, may re-engage conspecific partners after interrupted social grooming, the extent to which other animals show similar behaviour across more diverse contexts remains largely unexplored. Domestic dogs', Canis familiaris, propensity to interact with humans in cooperative contexts makes them a potentially promising comparative model of prosocial mental state sharing. Here, we investigated a behavioural signature of joint intentionality during social play between humans and dogs (N = 82). Our results present the first experimental evidence of re-engagement behaviour in dogs, as dogs preferentially attempted to reinitiate an interrupted social game with their previous partner relative to a passive bystander. These findings suggest that dogs exhibit a key marker of joint intentionality and open the door for future research on the cognitive mechanisms supporting this behaviour.School of Anthropology, University of Arizona24 month embargo; available online: 16 December 2021This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]