How do our findings from the lab reflect the real world in which animals are exposed to all kinds of pressures and stimuli at the same time? Behavioural and cognitive studies have a long history of being conducted in captivity to provide controlled conditions. Captive conditions, however, are not representative of the challenges and selective pressures animals are exposed to when facing environmental novelty.
Challenging as it is, I am working towards bring cognitive studies to the wild, applying robust approaches that allow a standardisation of empirical methods to real-world conditions. Added bonus: animals are completely free and participate in the tests voluntarily, decreasing human interference and eliminating the confounds of captivity, and overall bringing about a major advancement in the ethical treatment of experimental animals.
I am implementing this approach to address two main questions:
- Is innovation consistent across context in the wild?
- Is behavioural flexibility important to cope with disturbances even at low human densities, i.e. in protected areas?
Wild innovation across contexts
In this ongoing project I aim to (1) compare innovation of rural and urban small mammals in the wild, and (2) assess individual performance across three contexts (dietary, problem-solving in a foraging context, problem-solving in a non-foraging context).
Collaborators: J. Firozpoor, A. Schirmer, K. Schenkel, L. Binet, J. A. Eccard (UniPotsdam), F. Frigieri (UniMoRe), R. Jánošíková (Constantine the Philosopher Uni Nitra).
Behavioural flexibility and human disturbance
Behavioural and cognitive traits are key to the expression of appropriate responses in unfamiliar circumstances, and will determine which individuals can cope with the challenges of a disturbed and altered environment. But while humans are concentrating in cities, their presence and habitat-altering activities extend just about everywhere, leaving almost no place in really pristine conditions. Potential effects of anthropogenic alterations are usually investigated within highly urbanised areas, leaving the effects of human disturbance in natural areas–where less innovation-prone animals are presumed to find refuge-relatively uninvestigated.
In much of my work I focused on trying to understand how cognition and behaviour contribute to successful permanency in the exemplary human-made habitat, cities. So here I wanted to investigate whether human presence, disturbance and activities affect animals that live in what we normally consider the natural, undisturbed conditions. Here I exploit a gradient of human presence and disturbance that includes areas with different levels of protection within National Parks, as well as green areas in small human settlements outside the Parks, to investigate:
- how small mammals interact with novel structures
- individuals’ propensity to express novel behaviour (i.e. innovation)
- inhibitory control as key mediator of the expression of innovative behaviour
Collaborators: C. Carere, G. Scrivano, G. Piovesan, D. Canestrelli, G. Chiatante, F. Cerini (UniTuscia), A. Garofalo (Carabinieri Biodiversity Department), V. Schianini (UniPisa).
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