Evolutionary consequencesof social information use in birds

Abstract

Social interactions, at intra- and inter-specific levels, have been lately the focus of new perspectives in examining the role of information use within communities. Acquiring information can change individual and social phenotypes, with important implications on community structure and its evolution. At the same time, social behaviour, and the patterns of connections among individuals arising from social interactions, can be shaped by individual phenotypes, and ultimately influence the spread of information through communities. Thus, the fingerprint of the evolutionary consequences of information use can be detected in both the mechanisms that determine responses to information at the individual level, and the mechanisms that drive broader patterns of interactions among individuals. Both conveners will provide background on common methods and approaches that have been used to elucidate various relationships (e.g. between individual behaviour and social structure, or between social structure and information acquisition). We will then discuss group-level consequences of individual information use, and their role in the emergence of information landscapes. Together, this synthesis will highlight the potential evolutionary implications of information use via feedbacks across different levels of social organisation.