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Naïve individuals promote collective exploration in homing pigeons

View ORCID ProfileGabriele Valentini, View ORCID ProfileTheodore P. Pavlic, View ORCID ProfileSara Imari Walker, View ORCID ProfileStephen C. Pratt, View ORCID ProfileDora Biro, Takao Sasaki
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.08.438960
Gabriele Valentini
1Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
2Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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  • For correspondence: gabriele.valentini.85@gmail.com
Theodore P. Pavlic
2Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
3Arizona State University, Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
4Arizona State University, School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
5Arizona State University, School of Sustainability, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
6Arizona State University, ASU–SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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Sara Imari Walker
1Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
3Arizona State University, Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
6Arizona State University, ASU–SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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Stephen C. Pratt
2Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
6Arizona State University, ASU–SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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Dora Biro
7University of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK
8University of Rochester, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
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Takao Sasaki
9University of Georgia, Odum School of Ecology, Athens, GA 30602, USA
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Abstract

Group-living animals that rely on stable foraging or migratory routes can develop behavioural traditions to pass route information down to inexperienced individuals. Striking a balance between exploitation of social information and exploration for better alternatives is essential to prevent the spread of maladaptive traditions. We investigated this balance during cumulative route development in the homing pigeon Columba livia. We quantified causal interactions within pairs of birds in a transmission-chain experiment and determined how birds with different levels of experience contributed to the exploration– exploitation trade-off. Newly introduced naïve individuals were initially more likely to initiate exploration than experienced birds, but the pair soon settled into a pattern of alternating leadership with both birds contributing equally. Experimental pairs showed an oscillating pattern of exploration over generations that might facilitate the discovery of more efficient routes. Our results introduce a new perspective on the roles of leadership and information pooling in the context of collective learning.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14043362

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted April 09, 2021.
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Naïve individuals promote collective exploration in homing pigeons
Gabriele Valentini, Theodore P. Pavlic, Sara Imari Walker, Stephen C. Pratt, Dora Biro, Takao Sasaki
bioRxiv 2021.04.08.438960; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.08.438960
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Naïve individuals promote collective exploration in homing pigeons
Gabriele Valentini, Theodore P. Pavlic, Sara Imari Walker, Stephen C. Pratt, Dora Biro, Takao Sasaki
bioRxiv 2021.04.08.438960; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.08.438960

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