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Author Lefebvre, L.; Giraldeau, L.-A.
Title Is social learning an adaptive specialisation? Type Book Chapter
Year 1996 Publication Social learning in animals: The root of culture Abbreviated Journal
Volume (up) Issue Pages 107-128
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Publisher Academic Press. Place of Publication San Diego Editor Heyes, C. M. ;B. G. Galef B. G..Jr.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN 978-0122739651 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4415
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Author Lefebvre, L.; Bouchard, J.
Title Social learning about food in birds Type Book Chapter
Year 2003 Publication The Biology of Traditions Abbreviated Journal
Volume (up) Issue Pages 94-126
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Publisher Cambridge University Press Place of Publication Cambridge Editor Fragaszy, D.M; Perry, S.
Language Englisch Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN 978-0521815970 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5471
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Author Lefebvre, L.; Juretic, N.; Nicolakakis, N.; Timmermans, S.
Title Is the link between forebrain size and feeding innovations caused by confounding variables? A study of Australian and North American birds Type Journal Article
Year 2001 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (up) 4 Issue 2 Pages 91-97
Keywords
Abstract The short notes of ornithology journals feature new and unusual feeding behaviours, which, when systematically collated, could provide a quantitative estimate of behavioural flexibility in different bird groups. Previous studies suggest that taxonomic variation in the frequency of new behaviours (innovations) is correlated with variation in relative forebrain size. Recent work on primates shows, however, that observer bias can affect innovation frequency. We assess this possibility in birds via three estimates in North America and Australia: the number of full-length papers in academic journals, the frequency of photographs in birding magazines and a questionnaire on reporting bias given to ornithologists at a meeting. We also look at sampling effects due to single journal sources by doing a split-half analysis of our North American database (The Wilson Bulletin vs. six other journals) and adding three new Australian journals to the one we had used previously. In multiple regressions that also included species number per taxon, none of the potential biases could account for the correlation between forebrain size and innovation frequency. Species number was the best predictor of full-length paper frequency, which was the best predictor of photograph numbers. Ornithologists are not preferentially interested in innovative, large-brained taxa, suggesting that the correlation between innovations and neural substrate size is not a spurious effect of the biases examined here.
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ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3284
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Author Bouchard, J.; Goodyer, W.; Lefebvre, L.
Title Social learning and innovation are positively correlated in pigeons (Columba livia) Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (up) 10 Issue 2 Pages 259-266
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Columbidae/*physiology; *Learning; *Problem Solving
Abstract When animals show both frequent innovation and fast social learning, new behaviours can spread more rapidly through populations and potentially increase rates of natural selection and speciation, as proposed by A.C. Wilson in his behavioural drive hypothesis. Comparative work on primates suggests that more innovative species also show more social learning. In this study, we look at intra-specific variation in innovation and social learning in captive wild-caught pigeons. Performances on an innovative problem-solving task and a social learning task are positively correlated in 42 individuals. The correlation remains significant when the effects of neophobia on the two abilities are removed. Neither sex nor dominance rank are associated with performance on the two tasks. Free-flying flocks of urban pigeons are able to solve the innovative food-finding problem used on captive birds, demonstrating it is within the range of their natural capacities. Taken together with the comparative literature, the positive correlation between innovation and social learning suggests that the two abilities are not traded-off.
Address Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205, Avenue Docteur Penfield, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1B1, Canada
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:17205290 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2425
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Author Perusse, D.; Lefebvre, L.
Title Grouped sequential exploitation of food patches in a flock feeder, the feral pigeon Type Journal Article
Year 1985 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume (up) 11 Issue 1 Pages 39-52
Keywords
Abstract Feral and laboratory flocks of rock doves ( ) show a pattern of grouped sequential exploitation when simultaneously presented with two dispersed, depleting patches of seed. This behavior contrasts with the ideal free distribution pattern shown when patches are small and concentrated. Grouped sequential exploitation consists of two phases: all pigeons first land together and feed at one patch, then leave one by one for the other patch. Departure times of individuals for the second patch are correlated with feeding rate at patch 1, which is in turn correlated with position in the dominance hierarchy. The decision to switch from patch 1 to patch 2 improves individual feeding rates in all cases, but is done slightly later than it should according to optimal foraging theory.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4227
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Author Ducatez, S.; Audet, J.N.; Lefebvre, L.
Title Independent appearance of an innovative feeding behaviour in Antillean bullfinches Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (up) 16 Issue 3 Pages 525-529
Keywords
Abstract Behavioural innovations have been largely documented in birds and are thought to provide advantages in changing environments. However, the mechanisms by which behavioural innovations spread remain poorly known. Two major mechanisms are supposed to play a fundamental role: innovation diffusion by social learning and independent appearance of the same innovation in different individuals. Direct evidence for the independent emergence of the same innovation in different individuals is, however, lacking. Here, we show that a highly localized behavioural innovation previously observed in 2000 in Barbados, the opening of sugar packets by Loxigilla barbadensis bullfinches, persisted more than a decade later and had spread to a limited area around the initial site. More importantly, we found that the same innovation appeared independently in other, more distant, locations on the same island. On the island of St-Lucia, 145 km from Barbados, we also found that the sister species of the Barbados bullfinch, the Lesser Antillean bullfinch Loxigilla noctis developed the same innovation independently. Finally, we found that a third species, the Bananaquit Coereba flaveola, exploited the bullfinches’ technical innovation to benefit from this new food source. Overall, our observations provide the first direct evidence of the independent emergence of the same behavioural innovation in different individuals of the same species, but also in different species subjected to similar anthropogenic food availability.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Ducatez2013 Serial 5934
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Author Ducatez, S.; Audet, J.-N.; Rodriguez, J.R.; Kayello, L.; Lefebvre, L.
Title Innovativeness and the effects of urbanization on risk-taking behaviors in wild Barbados birds Type Journal Article
Year 2017 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume (up) 20 Issue 1 Pages 33-42
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Abstract The effects of urbanization on avian cognition remain poorly understood. Risk-taking behaviors like boldness, neophobia and flight distance are thought to affect opportunism and innovativeness, and should also vary with urbanization. Here, we investigate variation in risk-taking behaviors in the field in an avian assemblage of nine species that forage together in Barbados and for which innovation rate is known from previous work. We predicted that birds from highly urbanized areas would show more risk-taking behavior than conspecifics from less urbanized parts of the island and that the differences would be strongest in the most innovative of the species. Overall, we found that urban birds are bolder, less neophobic and have shorter flight distances than their less urbanized conspecifics. Additionally, we detected between-species differences in the effect of urbanization on flight distance, more innovative species showing smaller differences in flight distance between areas. Our results suggest that, within successful urban colonizers, species differences in innovativeness may affect the way species change their risk-taking behaviors in response to the urban environment.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Ducatez2017 Serial 6128
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Author Giraldeau, L.-A.; Lefebvre, L.; Morand-Ferron, J.
Title Can a restrictive definition lead to biases and tautologies? Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Behavioral and Brain Sciences Abbreviated Journal Behav. Brain Sci.
Volume (up) 30 Issue 4 Pages 411-412
Keywords
Abstract We argue that the operational definition proposed by Ramsey et al. does not represent a significant improvement for students of innovation, because it is so restrictive that it might actually prevent the testing of hypotheses on the relationships between innovation, ecology, evolution, culture, and intelligence. To avoid tautological thinking, we need to use an operational definition that is taxonomically unbiased and neutral with respect to the hypotheses to be tested.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Cambridge University Press Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition 2007/12/17
ISSN 0140-525x ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6533
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Author Giraldeau, L.-A.; Lefebvre, L.
Title Exchangeable producer and scrounger roles in a captive flock of feral pigeons: a case for the skill pool effect Type Journal Article
Year 1986 Publication Animal Behaviour Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume (up) 34 Issue 3 Pages 797-803
Keywords
Abstract We investigated the foraging producer-scrounger system of a captive flock of feral pigeons (Columba livia) by monitoring the number of food patches each individual produced. In one experiment, three different patch types were tested on the whole flock while, in a second, flock composition was varied for one patch type. In all cases we found non-uniform distributions of the number of patches produced per individual, which suggests the existence of producer and scrounger roles. This result could not be explained by either dominance or variability in individual learning ability. Individuals switched roles in response to changes both in food patch type and flock composition. These results are discussed in light of the skill pool hypothesis, which suggests that, in a group, different foraging specialists will profit by parasitizing each other's food discoveries.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 6012
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Author Lefebvre, L.
Title Ecological correlates of social learning: problems and solutions for the comparative method Type Journal Article
Year 1995 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.
Volume (up) 35 Issue 1-3 Pages 163-171
Keywords Adaptive specialization; Social learning; Comparative method
Abstract Interspecific variation in learning and cognition is often accounted for by adaptive specialization, an ecological framework where variation between species in the environmental problems they face is thought to select for quantitatively and/or qualitatively different abilities. Adaptive specialization theory relies on the comparative method for testing its hypotheses and assumes a naturally selected basis for the predicted differences. This review examines social learning as a specialization to group-living and scramble feeding competition. It points out one important problem with current studies in the area, the lack of quantitative controls for confounding variables that may cause type 1 or 2 error in comparative tests. A linear regression technique is proposed to measure and remove interspecific differences on control tests for which there is no predicted adaptive specialization; as in other areas of comparative biology, the adaptive prediction is then made on the residual deviation from the regression of these confounding variables. Examples are given from research on opportunistic Columbids, the group-living feral pigeon Columbia livia, and the territorial Zenaida dove, Zenaida aurita.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 843
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