Late Lunch Talk: Cuckoos vs Reed warblers: How social learning shapes coevolution

Late Lunch Talk by Rose Thorogood (University of Helsinki)

Examples of social learning now exist across taxa from whales to birds to bees, and may even shape behaviour in model organisms such as Drosophila. This transmission of social information provides an alternative mode of inheritance and could be a widespread and potent force in altering how populations respond to changing conditions, and determine their evolution. Nevertheless, the consequences of social learning and how it influences selection remain to be widely explored. Here I’ll present our work with cuckoos and one of their favourite hosts that suggests we can’t understand their coevolution without considering social learning.

Published Jan. 18, 2019 3:10 PM - Last modified Mar. 8, 2021 2:32 PM