New
research examines development of personality in birds
Date: June 6, 2019
Source: University of Alberta
For
birds, differences in personality are a function of both age and experience,
according to new research by University of Alberta biologists.
The study
examined the red knot, a medium-sized shorebird that breeds in the Canadian
Arctic and winters in North Western Europe. The researchers studied 90 birds
over a two year period, comparing behavioural and physiological traits of two
age cohorts: adult and juvenile birds. Studying two age groups allowed the
researchers to determine which changes were due to age versus time in captivity.
"During
this time, birds had the same type of life experience, including varied
diet," explained Kim Mathot, assistant professor in the Department of
Biological Sciences and Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology. "At
the start of the experiments, individuals showed differences in their
behaviour. We looked at whether these differences disappeared in the course of
the study, which would suggest that there is something about individually
variable experiences that helps maintain differences, because in our
experiments, all these birds had the same experience."
The
causes of variation among individual birds were different for different traits.
For the birds in this study, individual differences in behaviour were
maintained over the course of the study. But physiological traits, such as the
size of each bird's gizzard, became more similar.
"The
world isn't simple, so it makes sense that there isn't a straightforward answer
for how and why individuals differ," added Mathot. "Nature is
wonderfully complex. This is yet another example of that at play."
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