The Role of Cognition in Social Information Use for Breeding Site Selection : Experimental Evidence in a Wild Passerine Population

This work was funded by the ANR (Evol-Cog project, ANR-19-CE02-0007), the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (PICS) and the Region Rhône-Alpes (CIBLE programme) to BD; the NSERC (postdoctoral fellowship), the ABS (student research award), the BOU and the BES (research grants), and the SCO (Fred Cook award) to LC; the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, the Department of Ecology and Genetics from Uppsala University and Stiftelsen för Zoologisk Forskning, the Région Auvergne Rhone-Alpes (Explora'Doc mobility grants) and by the University of Lyon (ATER fellowship and IDEX mobility grant) to JM; the Pearcy Sladen Memorial Trust and Carnegie Trust (travel grants), and the BOU and BES (research grants) to PB. The data supporting the findings of this study are openly available in FigShare at http://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13229081.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Carry-over effects of seasonal migration on reproductive success through breeding site retention in a partially migratory bird.

Acknowledgments We thank everyone who contributed to data collection, most particularly Raymond Duncan, Moray Souter, Adrian Breeman and Doug Grant. Work was supported the University of Aberdeen, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Royal Society, Norwegian Research Council (project 223257), and a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded to JM (895904)Peer reviewe

Carry‐over effects of seasonal migration on reproductive success through breeding site retention in a partially migratory bird

•1. Understanding the maintenance and dynamics of phenotypic polymorphisms requires unpicking key ecological mechanisms shaping the fitness costs and benefits of expressing alternative phenotypes, generating selection. Seasonal migration versus year-round residence expressed in partially migratory populations represents one common polymorphism that can experience strong selection through differential reproductive success. Yet, key hypothesised pathways that could generate such selection remain to be empirically tested. •2. One hypothesis is that migratory tactics affect subsequent reproductive success through carry-over effects on breeding site retention and resulting breeding dispersal. By remaining in breeding areas all year round, residents could retain their preferred breeding site between years, and consequently have higher reproductive success. Conversely, migrants that escape harsh non-breeding season conditions could return in better condition, with high resource holding potential, and outcompete residents to retain their site. Such effects could further depend on migration timing and vary between years. Yet, such pathways have not been quantified, precluding empirical parameterisation of partial migration theory. •3. We used 4 years of breeding and non-breeding season data from partially migratory European shags (Gulosus aristotelis) to test whether the three most frequent migratory tactics in this population (full resident, early migrant departing soon after breeding, and late migrant departing in late autumn) differed in their breeding site retention; whether site retention predicted reproductive success; and hence whether effects of migratory tactic on reproductive success were explicable through site retention. •4. Overall, residents were much more likely to retain their breeding site between years than both early and late migrants, and site retention was associated with increased reproductive success. Yet, these effects varied somewhat among years: late migrants were always least likely to retain their site but had variable relative reproductive success. Path analyses revealed that effects of migratory tactic on reproductive success were only partly attributable to breeding site retention. •5. These results indicate that multiple mechanisms underlie reproductive selection on migratory tactics, potentially contributing to maintaining behavioural polymorphisms. Yet, the clear associations between migratory tactics and local breeding dispersal reveal that these movements can be strongly interlinked across seasons, shaping overall spatioseasonal dynamics in partially migratory systems

Size-assortative mating in a long-lived monogamous seabird

Mate choice is a key process in animals to optimize the ftness benefts of reproduction, and it is generally guided by phenotypic features of potential partners that mirror reproductive abilities. Assortative mating occurs when there is within-pair selection for specifc functional traits that can confer ftness benefts. Assortative mating can be positive if mates are more similar, and negative if they are more dissimilar than expected by chance. Mate choice is particularly important in long-lived species with biparental care, such as procellariforms that form long term monogamous bonds. We assessed the mating strategy of a sexually dimorphic Mediterranean procellariform, the Scopoli’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), by testing for assortative mating according to bill (in accordance with previous studies on a sister species) and tarsus size (proxy of body size). We found that shearwaters adopted a positive size-assortative mating by tarsus length, while mating for bill size was random. Moreover, tarsus length was positively correlated with the duration of incubation shifts, when individuals are fasting on eggs. The observed assortative mating could be the results of choice by similarity between individuals, likely because partners with similar relative size have similar tolerance to fasting. Alternatively, the observed pattern could be the product of mutual mate choice, with a selection for large size that could confer competitive abilities in nest selection, defense, foraging aggregations and fasting ability. While our data suggest strong assortative mating in the Scopoli’s Shearwater (R=0.4), we cannot fully disentangle the multiple processes at play acting on mate choice.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Host dispersal shapes the population structure of a tick-borne bacterial pathogen

Birds are hosts for several zoonotic pathogens. Because of their high mobility, especially of longdistance migrants, birds can disperse these pathogens, affecting their distribution and phylogeography. We focused on Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, which includes the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis, as an example for tick-borne pathogens, to address the role of birds as propagation hosts of zoonotic agents at a large geographical scale. We collected ticks from passerine birds in 11 European countries. B. burgdorferi s.l. prevalence in Ixodes spp. was 37% and increased with latitude. The fieldfare Turdus pilaris and the blackbird T. merula carried ticks with the highest Borrelia prevalence (92 and 58%, respectively), whereas robin Erithacus rubecula ticks were the least infected (3.8%). Borrelia garinii was the most prevalent genospecies (61%), followed by B. valaisiana (24%), B. afzelii (9%), B. turdi (5%) and B. lusitaniae (0.5%). A novel Borrelia genospecies "Candidatus Borrelia aligera" was also detected. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis of B. garinii isolates together with the global collection of B. garinii genotypes obtained from the Borrelia MLST public database revealed that: (a) there was little overlap among genotypes from different continents, (b) there was no geographical structuring within Europe, and (c) there was no evident association pattern detectable among B. garinii genotypes from ticks feeding on birds, questing ticks or human isolates. These findings strengthen the hypothesis that the population structure and evolutionary biology of tick-borne pathogens are shaped by their host associations and the movement patterns of these hosts.Peer reviewe

Sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection : Role of genetics and personality in collared flycatchers

All their life, individuals have to make decisions that may strongly affect their fitness. To optimize their decisions, they can use personally acquired information but also information obtained from observing other individuals (“social information”). The propensity to gather and use social information and the information meaning might depend on both individual and environmental factors. Studying what drives within- and between-individual differences in social information use should help us understand the evolutionary potential of this supposedly adaptive behaviour. The aim of my PhD was to empirically investigate sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection. I worked on a natural population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis, Gotland Island, Sweden), a passerine species shown to cue on the presence, density, reproductive investment and nest site preference of dominant titmice for settlement decisions. Using both long term and experimental data, I showed that the use of heterospecific social information, measured as the probability to copy tit nest preference, is not heritable but depends on male age and aggressiveness and on tit apparent breeding investment at the time of flycatcher settlement. Using a playback experiment, I also showed that female flycatchers can fine-tune nest site choice according to (i) song features supposedly reflecting great tit (Parus major) quality and (ii) their own aggressiveness level. This thesis highlights the importance of personality in the use of heterospecific social information for breeding site selection in this population, and broadens the traditionally known sources of heterospecific information to fine song characteristics reflecting heterospecifics’ quality. To fully understand the evolutionary mechanisms and consequences of heterospecific social information use, genetically based plasticity and fitness consequences remain to be explored.The public defence will be video-linked to seminar room 1003, Evolutionary Biology Center (EBC), Norbyvägen 18D, Uppsala.</p

Sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection : Role of genetics and personality in collared flycatchers

All their life, individuals have to make decisions that may strongly affect their fitness. To optimize their decisions, they can use personally acquired information but also information obtained from observing other individuals (“social information”). The propensity to gather and use social information and the information meaning might depend on both individual and environmental factors. Studying what drives within- and between-individual differences in social information use should help us understand the evolutionary potential of this supposedly adaptive behaviour. The aim of my PhD was to empirically investigate sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection. I worked on a natural population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis, Gotland Island, Sweden), a passerine species shown to cue on the presence, density, reproductive investment and nest site preference of dominant titmice for settlement decisions. Using both long term and experimental data, I showed that the use of heterospecific social information, measured as the probability to copy tit nest preference, is not heritable but depends on male age and aggressiveness and on tit apparent breeding investment at the time of flycatcher settlement. Using a playback experiment, I also showed that female flycatchers can fine-tune nest site choice according to (i) song features supposedly reflecting great tit (Parus major) quality and (ii) their own aggressiveness level. This thesis highlights the importance of personality in the use of heterospecific social information for breeding site selection in this population, and broadens the traditionally known sources of heterospecific information to fine song characteristics reflecting heterospecifics’ quality. To fully understand the evolutionary mechanisms and consequences of heterospecific social information use, genetically based plasticity and fitness consequences remain to be explored.The public defence will be video-linked to seminar room 1003, Evolutionary Biology Center (EBC), Norbyvägen 18D, Uppsala.</p

Sources de variabilité dans l'utilisation d'informations sociales pour le choix d'habitat de reproduction : rôle de la génétique et de la personnalité chez le gobe-mouche à collier (Ficedula albicollis)

All their life, individuals have to make decisions that may strongly affect their fitness. To optimize their decisions, they can use personally acquired information but also information obtained from observing other individuals (“social information”). The propensity to gather and use social information and the information meaning might depend on both individual and environmental factors. Studying what drives within- and between-individual differences in social information use should help us understand the evolutionary potential of this supposedly adaptive behaviour. The aim of my PhD was to empirically investigate sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection. I worked on a natural population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis, Gotland Island, Sweden), a passerine species shown to cue on the presence, density, reproductive investment and nest site preference of dominant titmice for settlement decisions. Using both long term and experimental data, I showed that the use of heterospecific social information, measured as the probability to copy tit nest preference, is not heritable but depends on male age and aggressiveness and on tit apparent breeding investment at the time of flycatcher settlement. Using a playback experiment, I also showed that female flycatchers can fine-tune nest site choice according to (i) song features supposedly reflecting great tit (Parus major) quality and (ii) their own aggressiveness level. This thesis highlights the importance of personality in the use of heterospecific social information for breeding site selection in this population, and broadens the traditionally known sources of heterospecific information to fine song characteristics reflecting heterospecifics’ quality. To fully understand the evolutionary mechanisms and consequences of heterospecific social information use, genetically based plasticity and fitness consequences remains to be exploredAu cours de leur vie, les individus doivent constamment prendre des décisions qui peuvent fortement affecter leur valeur sélective. Pour optimiser leur prise de décisions, ces individus peuvent utiliser des informations soit issues de leurs propres interactions avec l’environnement (informations personnelles), soit issues de l’observation d’autres individus (informations sociales). La propension à utiliser des informations sociales et leur signification dépend certainement de paramètres individuels et environnementaux. Pour comprendre le potentiel évolutif de ce comportement à priori adaptatif, il est nécessaire de comprendre les causes de ces variations inter- et intra-individuelles. Le but de cette thèse était donc de déterminer les sources de variations individuelles dans l’utilisation d’information sociales hétérospécifiques pour le choix d’habitat de reproduction, chez le gobe-mouche à collier (Ficedula albicollis). A partir de données à long terme et d’expérimentations en nature dans la population de Gotland (Suède), j’ai montré que l’utilisation d’informations sociales n’est pas héritable dans cette population, mais dépend de l’âge et de l’agressivité des mâles, ainsi que de la taille de ponte des compétiteurs au moment où les gobe-mouches font leur choix. A partir d’une expérience de repasse, j’ai également montré que les femelles peuvent ajuster, en fonction de leur propre niveau d’agressivité, leur choix de site de nidification en fonction de caractéristiques de chants supposément liés à la qualité des mésanges charbonnières (Parus major). Cette thèse souligne l’importance de la personnalité dans l’utilisation d’informations sociales hétérospecifiques pour la sélection d’habitat de reproduction dans cette population, et montre que des caractéristiques fines de signaux à l’intention de congénères peuvent aussi être utilisées par d’autres espèces. Cela nous aide ainsi à mieux comprendre les mécanismes évolutifs de ce comportemen