DOI: 10.5061/dryad.79cnp5j2j
title: Persistence explains differences in innovation in Darwin’s finches with a different foraging ecology

description: The capacity to create new behaviors is influenced by environmental
 factors such as foraging ecology, which can lead to phylogenetic variation
 in innovativeness. Alternatively, these differences may arise due to the
 selection of the underlying mechanisms, collaterally affecting
 innovativeness. To understand the evolutionary pathways that might enhance
 innovativeness, we examined the role of diet breadth and degree of
 extractive foraging, as well as a range of intervening cognitive and
 behavioral mechanisms (neophilia, neophobia, flexibility, motivation and
 persistence). Darwin’s finches are very suitable for this purpose: the
 clade is composed of closely related species that vary in their feeding
 habits and capacity to develop food innovations. Using a multi-access box,
 we conducted an interspecies comparison on innovative problem-solving
 between two diet specialists, extractive foragers (woodpecker and cactus
 finch), and two diet generalist, non-extractive foragers (small and medium
 ground finch). We predicted that, if extractive foraging was
 associated with high innovativeness, variation would be best explained by
 species differences in persistence and motivation, whereas if diet
 generalism was the main driver then variation would be due to differences
 in flexibility and responses to novelty. We found a faster capacity to
 innovate and a higher persistence for extractive foragers, suggesting that
 persistence might be adaptive to extractive foraging and only secondarily
 to innovation. Our findings also show that diet generalism and some
 variables linking it to innovation were unrelated to innovativeness, and
 call for the development of joint experimental approaches that capture the
 diversity of factors giving rise to novel behaviors.
description: This README file was generated on 2023-10-16 by Paula Ibáñez de Aldecoa.
 GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Title of Dataset: Persistence explains differences
 in innovation in Darwin’s finches with a different foraging ecology. These
 are the data used to fit models 1, 2, and 3, and to generate figures 2, 3,
 and 4, as specified in the article's experimental procedures. 2.
 Author Information: A. Principal Investigator Contact Information Name:
 Paula Ibáñez de Aldecoa Institution: University of Vienna Address:
 Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, Biologiezentrum
 University of Vienna. Djerasiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria. Email:
 paula.i.aldecoa@univie.ac.at <br> B. Associate or Co-investigator
 Contact Information Name: Sabine Tebbich Institution: University of Vienna
 Address: Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, Biologiezentrum
 University of Vienna. Djerasiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria. Email:
 sabine.tebbich@univie.ac.at ``` C. Associate or Co-investigator Contact
 Information ``` Name: Andrea S. Griffin Institution: University of
 Newcastle Address: School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University
 of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308, Australia. Email:
 andrea.griffin@newcastle.edu.au 3. Date of data collection (single date,
 range, approximate date): September-December 2019 4. Geographic location
 of data collection: Charles Darwin Research Station, Santa Cruz
 (Galápagos, Ecuador) 5. Information about funding sources that supported
 the collection of the data: Austrian Science Fund (W1262-B29)
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 SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data:
 None 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data: Ibáñez de
 Aldecoa, P., Tebbich, S., Griffin, A. (2023). Persistence explains
 differences in innovation in Darwin’s finches with a different foraging
 ecology. Behavioral Ecology. 3. Links to other publicly accessible
 locations of the data: https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1633207 4.
 Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: None 5. Was data derived from
 another source? No A. If yes, list source(s): NA 6. Recommended citation
 for this dataset: Ibáñez de Aldecoa, P., Tebbich, S., Griffin, A. (2023).
 Data from: Persistence explains differences in innovation in Darwin’s
 finches with a different foraging ecology. Dryad Digital Repository:
 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.79cnp5j2j.
 #########################################################################
 DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. File Name: Darwin's finch foraging
 ecol.csv 2. Relationship between files, if important: None 3. Additional
 related data collected that was not included in the current data package:
 None 4. Are there multiple versions of the dataset? No A. If yes, name of
 file(s) that was updated: NA i. Why was the file updated? NA ii. When was
 the file updated? NA
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 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION 1. Number of variables: 8 2. Number of
 cases/rows: 39 &gt; &gt; &gt; NOTE: The dataset contains one
 value per individual for each of the following variables: innovativeness,
 flexibility, persistence, motivation, neophobia, neophilia. 3. Variable
 List: * id: individual identification alphanumeric code. &gt; &gt;
 &gt; Type of variable: categorical. ``` * species: bird species. ```
 &gt; &gt; &gt; Type of variable: categorical. &gt;
 &gt; &gt; Potential range: 4 (Cactus finch, Medium ground finch,
 Small ground finch, Woodpecker finch). ``` * innovativeness: number of
 trials needed until first mechanism is solved. ``` &gt; &gt;
 &gt; Type of variable: numerical (discrete). &gt; &gt;
 &gt; Potential range: 1 to 140. ``` * flexibility: number of
 mechanisms discovered. ``` &gt; &gt; &gt; Type of variable:
 numerical (discrete). &gt; &gt; &gt; Potential range: 0 to 4.
 ``` * persistence: number of contacts with all mechanisms with respect to
 participantion trials. ``` &gt; &gt; &gt; Type of variable:
 numerical (continuous). &gt; &gt; &gt; Potential range: 0 to
 infinity. ``` * motivation: number of rehabituation trials with respect to
 participantion trials. ``` &gt; &gt; &gt; Type of variable:
 numerical (continuous). &gt; &gt; &gt; Potential range: 0 to
 28. ``` * neophobia: latency (in seconds) to feed next to a novel object
 in the presence of food. ``` &gt; &gt; &gt; Type of variable:
 numerical (discrete). &gt; &gt; &gt; Potential range: -1800 to
 1801. &gt; &gt; &gt; NOTE: A score calculated as ceiling value
 (1801) minus control feeding latency was assigned if bird did not feed.
 ``` * neophilia: latency (in seconds) to touch a novel object. ```
 &gt; &gt; &gt; Type of variable: numerical (discrete).
 &gt; &gt; &gt; Potential range: 1 to 1801. &gt; &gt;
 &gt; NOTE: A ceiling value (1801 s = 1 s longer than the test
 duration) was assigned if bird did not touch the object. 4. Missing data
 codes: NA (data not applicable): two birds (identified as B10S6 and B12S6)
 did not get a score for the variable 'innovativeness' as they
 did not discover any mechanism of the Multi-Access Box. 5. Specialized
 formats or other abbreviations used: None
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