Landscapes of information: how information use affects ecological communities

Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media are the latest innovation to take advantage of our social networks of friends, friends of friends, and people we've met only once. Seeing or hearing of what they do, and what they buy, influences many of the decisions we make, and our social networks even affect how likely we are to contract and spread diseases. While social interactions like this might sound unique to humans and our modern lifestyle, social networks and learning by observing others also occurs in non-human animals, including insects, fish, reptiles and birds. For example, honeybees learn where it's best to forage by paying attention to the waggle dance displays given by other foragers, while canaries learn how to eat novel foods by watching females first. While some animals learn from others by direct teaching, many gain information by eavesdropping on others' interactions.

But social groups do not interact in isolation from the rest of their environment; decisions made by one individual, population, or species can have very important implications for others. For example, some butterflies avoid being eaten by birds by evolving toxins and/or becoming distasteful. They signal this to their predators by coming in bright colours that make them stand out from their environment. But how does this evolve? If a butterfly must be eaten for the predator to learn, how does the new form of butterfly survive to reproduce and spread its colourful adaptation? Perhaps like waiting to watch a friend try a hot curry first, the butterflies survive because predators learn quickly by watching their neighbours - less butterflies need to be tasted or eaten for the predators' aversion to spread. If animals with more social interactions are able to gather more information about their world, social networks may be far more important to the wider ecological community than previously realised.

What will happen in the future? The world is changing quickly, altering population sizes and their habitats. We do not know how environmental change will affect social networks and interactions, nor do we understand the importance of social information for many species who are already rapidly declining. I will In this fellowship I will investigate how social connections in one species vary and affect changes in others, as well as address its ramifications for the evolution and maintenance of biological diversity. First, I will combine established experimental methods for studying predator-prey interactions with those for studying social interactions. In aviary-based experiments with great tits as model predators I will ask (i) what information they gain about prey defences by watching others before (ii) testing how social information influences the speed of a predator's learning and then (iii) investigate how social learning by predators affects the success of prey that cheat by mimicking other prey species' defences. Next I will take advantage of technological advances in remote animal tracking to study the implications of social learning for the conservation of an endangered bird in New Zealand, the hihi. I will first (i) track how an aversion to an experimental warning symbol spreads through the adult population before (ii) asking if social groups of juveniles facilitate learning about food resources. Finally, (iii) I will determine how changing population densities affect social networks, and how social interactions change when hihi are moved to a new environment.

As we learn more about how animals interact and adapt to their environment, we are realising just how similar they are to us. Studying social interactions in other animals will therefore further our appreciation of how intricately entangled our own relationships are with the environment.

Who will benefit from this research?

1. My research will benefit academics working in all fields where the role of information in interactions and adaptive decisions is fundamental. This includes the broader fields of biomedical science, pest control, and the social sciences.

2. Conservation scientists, practitioners, and policy-makers will benefit because of the link between my behavioural ecology oriented questions and effective population size.

3. Because my research uses two charismatic species as model systems and concepts that are easily accessible and relevant to the social lives of the public, it will be very attractive to the media and science educators and inspire young people in to science-related careers.

How will they benefit from this research?

1. The relationship between networks of social interactions and the spread of information is analogous to disease transmission. Controlling the spread of diseases is one of the main challenges we face, affecting not only our health but also our economy (e.g. bovine tb). Furthermore, understanding the processes of selection responsible for the evolution of novel pathogens and alternative pest disguises is our best hope for developing new and more effective means of controlling, for example, antibiotic resistance. By using birds as model predators and artificial prey my research will allow controlled experiments that are focussed on the same underlying principles.

2. Interactions among species underpin biological diversity and my research will shed light on the role of social interactions in particular. Conservation practice has traditionally focussed on single species, removing alien predators and/or initiating new populations through translocation. However, there has been little science underpinning what determines the minimum population size required to establish these new populations. Often populations fail without knowledge why. My research will demonstrate the importance of social interactions and associations for the spread of innovation, thus illustrating the cryptic variation necessary. Furthermore, by accentuating the approach of considering community interactions between predators and prey, my research will emphasise the newer ecosystem-based approaches to conservation. Gaining a greater understanding of the ways species adjust to environmental change is becoming more and more crucial, and it is paramount that basic science like that described here is conducted to ensure healthy ecosystems and the services they provide our wildlife and society.

3. Science is a major driver of innovation in our economy, and the most important challenge it faces is inspiring young people to choose science as a career. Being a young female scientist conducting exciting fieldwork on the other side of the world, I will help dispel the image that scientists are male and spend all of their time in the lab. As my research is concerned with social interactions, it will generate easily accessible and vivid examples of how similar human society is to how the natural world operates. Therefore, these examples will make it easy to engage with the public and inspire with my enthusiasm (see Pathways to Impact).