DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gmsbcc320
title: Local dominance predicts foraging decisions in a changing environment

description: Unpredictable environmental conditions due to climate change affect the
 availability and quality of food resources, a limiting factor for
 survival. Behavioral plasticity is one of the most important mechanisms
 that help individuals face rapid environmental changes. However, we still
 lack experimental information on how foraging decisions are modulated by
 other behavioral traits when facing changes in food resources. In this
 study, we aimed to explore how individual foraging decisions regarding
 food quality are related to exploratory behavior, cognitive flexibility,
 and local dominance in wild great tits (Parus major). We offered different
 food types varying in quality at supplementary feeders and subsequently
 changed the availability and location of these food types. We then
 assessed whether the proportion of high food-quality individuals consumed
 was influenced by their exploratory tendency, reversal learning
 performance, and local dominance. We found that local dominance (i.e.,
 distance from territory to the feeder), but not exploratory tendency or
 reversal learning performance, affected the fraction of high-quality food
 in an individual's diet. Locally dominant individuals were
 constrained in their response to changes in the quality of available
 resources, leading them to stay at their preferred feeder even when this
 was providing low-quality food alone. In conclusion, we show the
 importance of the social context when studying the behavioral mechanisms
 of adaptation to changing environments in wild animals.
description: # Local dominance predicts foraging decisions in a changing environment
 --- ### Authors: Miriam Ibáñez-Herranz^1^, Krista van den Heuvel^1,2^,
 Nina Villing^1,3^, Corné de Groot^1,4^, Kees van Oers^1,2^, Eva
 Serrano-Davies^1,5*^ ^1^Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands
 Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) ^2^Behavioural Ecology Group, Wageningen
 University & Research ^3^Animal Ecology group, Wageningen
 Environmental Research ^4^Behavioural Ecology, Department of Biology,
 Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) ^5^Centre de Ciència i
 Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC) * Correspondence: E.
 Serrano-Davies, Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of
 Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). E-mail address:
 [E.Serrano@nioo.knaw.nl](mailto:E.Serrano@nioo.knaw.nl) --- ###
 Description: The availability and quality of food resources, a limiting
 factor for survival, are becoming increasingly unpredictable. Therefore,
 animals must cope effectively with changes, and the responses to those can
 vary. We show that food quality choice was not related to behavioral
 traits, whereas we found support for distance to territory, age, and sex
 to be related to how individuals exploit resources depending on changes in
 the location of high versus low-quality food. --- ### Location and dates
 of data collection: Westerheide estate near Arnhem, the Netherlands
 (5°50’28.1” E, 52°00’59.0” N) Winter season 2019-2020 (November to March)
 ### Files: **SO_MO_EB.csv:** birds with a known exploratory score and
 their visits to the high-quality food feeders in both experimental phases
 **SO_MO_COGN.csv:** birds with a known reversal learning value and their
 visits to the high-quality food feeders in both experimental phases
 **SO_MO_DIST.csv:** birds with a known distance from the territory to the
 feeders and their visits to the high-quality food feeders in both
 experimental phases ##### Variables description: Phase_is the experimental
 phase (SO = single offer; MO = multiple offer) TagID_individual bird
 transponder code RNR_individual metal ring number Sexe_sex (M ≡ male; F ≡
 female) Age_age (Juvenile, Adult) Site_Feeding site (B, I, H, G, F, C, or
 O) Quality\_ food quality in the feeder Visits_visits to high-quality food
 feeders Total visits_total number of visits from an individual to feeders
 COR_LOC_Personality score based on novel environment test (number of
 movements in the first two minutes, corrected for the day of testing; see
 Dingemanse et al. 2002) Hab_visits_Number of visits during habituation
 period Criterion_Initial_Number of visits to reach criterion during
 initial learning Log_Criterion_Initial_Log of the number of visits to
 reach the criterion during initial learning Log_Criterion_Rev_Log of the
 number of visits to reach the criterion during the first reversal NestNR\_
 nestbox code number Lat_1_latitude of nestbox location Lon_1_longitude of
 nestbox location lat_2_latitude of feeding station location
 lon_2_longitude of feeding station location Distance_NB_Distance from
 nestbox to feeding location in metres Distance_km_Distance from nestbox to
 feeding location in kilometres