Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.
Behav Processes. 2021 Mar;184:104336. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104336. Epub 2021 Jan 26.
Observational studies in the wild suggest that birds select material to build their nests based on functional aspects of material that promote reproductive success. How birds select material for nest building from the variety of materials available in their environment is unclear. In the current laboratory experiment we manipulated breeding success (i.e. raising fledglings) of zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) pairs to test if this affects the subsequent selection of nest material between a familiar versus a novel material, that differ in structural properties. All birds experienced one breeding attempt using coconut fiber as nest material during which their breeding success was manipulated: half of the breeding pairs fledged their nestlings while the remaining pairs had their eggs removed to simulate nest failure. In a second nest-building attempt, all pairs were given access to both familiar nesting material (coconut fiber) and a novel nesting material (white cotton string). Pairs that were successful in their first breeding attempt built their second nest with significantly more familiar material compared to novel material. Pairs that were unsuccessful, however, incorporated similar amounts of familiar and novel material in their second attempt. Our results show that experiencing either a successful or an unsuccessful breeding attempt influences how birds select between familiar and novel material with different structural properties (e.g. flexibility, thickness) to build a second nest. Moreover, our experiment shows that learning from experience plays an important role for decision making in future structure-building endeavors.
野外观察研究表明，鸟类会根据材料促进繁殖成功的功能方面来选择用于筑巢的材料。鸟类如何从其环境中可用的各种材料中选择用于筑巢的材料尚不清楚。在当前的实验室实验中，我们操纵了斑胸草雀（Taeniopygia guttata）对的繁殖成功率（即养育雏鸟），以测试这是否会影响它们随后对结构特性不同的熟悉材料与新颖材料之间的筑巢材料选择。所有鸟类都经历了一次使用椰子纤维作为巢材的繁殖尝试，在此期间，我们操纵了它们的繁殖成功率：一半的繁殖对成功孵化了雏鸟，而其余的对则将其卵取出以模拟巢失败。在第二次筑巢尝试中，所有的对都可以使用熟悉的筑巢材料（椰子纤维）和新颖的筑巢材料（白色棉线）。在第一次繁殖尝试中成功的对在第二次筑巢时使用的熟悉材料明显多于新颖材料。然而，不成功的对在第二次尝试中纳入了相似数量的熟悉和新颖材料。我们的研究结果表明，经历成功或不成功的繁殖尝试会影响鸟类如何在具有不同结构特性（例如柔韧性、厚度）的熟悉材料和新颖材料之间进行选择，以建造第二个巢。此外，我们的实验表明，从经验中学习在未来的结构构建努力中的决策制定中起着重要作用。
