A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia
Title (eng)
A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia
Author
Kai R. Caspar
Jimena Lois-Milevicich
Carl Soulsbury
Stephan A. Reber
Claudia Mettke-Hofmann
Benjamin J. Ashton
Melissa Bateson
Solenne Belle
Boris Bilčík
Laura M. Biondi
Francesco Bonadonna
Desiree Brucks
Michael W. Butler
Samuel P. Caro
Marion Charrier
Tiffany Chatelin
Johnathan Ching
Nicola S. Clayton
Benjamin J. Cluver
Ella B. Cochran
Francesca Cornero
Emily Danby
Samara Danel
Martina Darwich
James R. Davies
Alicia de la Colina
Dominik Fischer
Ondřej Fišer
Florencia Foitzick
Edward C. Galluccio
Clara Garcia-Co
Elias Garcia-Pelegrin
Isabelle George
Kai-Philipp Gladow
Raúl O. Gómez
Anna Grewer
Katie Grice
Lauren M. Guillette
Devon C. Hallihan
Frauke Heer
Chloe Henry
Vladimira Hodova
Marisa Hoeschele
Cécilia Houdelier
Paula Ibáñez de Aldecoa
Oluwaseun Serah Iyasere
Yuka Kanemitsu
Mina Khodadadi
Duc Khong
Melanie G. Kimball
Ariana N. Klappert
Lucy N. Koch
Uta U. König von Borstel
Lubor Košt’ál
Anastasia Krasheninnikova
Lubica Kubikova
Connor T. Lambert
Daan W. Laméris
Courtenay G. Lampert
Oceane Larousse
Christine R. Lattin
Zhongqiu Li
Michael Lindenmeier
Delia A. Lister
Julia A. Mackenzie
Selina Mainz
Danna Masri
Jorg J. M. Massen
Laurenz Mohr
Wendt Müller
Paul M. Nealen
Andreas Nieder
Aurèle Novac
Nínive Paes Cavalcante
Kristina Pascual
Carla Pascual-Guàrdia
Ayushi Patel
Katarína Pichová
Cristina Pilenga
Laurent Prétôt
John L. Quinn
Elena Račevska
Juan C. Reboreda
Sam Reynolds
Amanda R. Ridley
Francisco Ruiz-Raya
Marina Salas
Beatriz C. Saldanha
Sebastián M. Santiago
Nikola Schlöglová
Gia Seatriz
Eva Serrano-Davies
Zuzana Skalná
Katie E. Slocombe
Masayo Soma
Tiziana Srdoc
Stefan Stanescu
Michaela Syrová
Alex H. Taylor
Christopher N. Templeton
Karlie Thompson
Sandra Trigo
Camille A. Troisi
Utku Urhan
Maurice Valbert
Kees van Oers
Alberto Velando
Frederick Verbruggen
Jorrit W. Verkleij
Alizée Vernouillet
Jonas Verspeek
Petr Veselý
Auguste M. P. von Bayern
Eline Waalders
Benjamin A. Whittaker
Ella R. Williamson
Vanessa A. D. Wilson
Michelle A. Winfield
Neslihan Wittek
Karen K. L. Yeung
Jade A. Zanutto
Abstract (eng)
Neophobia, or aversion to novelty, is important for adaptability and survival as it influences the ways in which animals navigate risk and interact with their environments. Across individuals, species and other taxonomic levels, neophobia is known to vary considerably, but our understanding of the wider ecological drivers of neophobia is hampered by a lack of comparative multispecies studies using standardized methods. Here, we utilized the ManyBirds Project, a Big Team Science large-scale collaborative open science framework, to pool efforts and resources of 129 collaborators at 77 institutions from 24 countries worldwide across six continents. We examined both difference scores (between novel object test and control conditions) and raw data of latency to touch familiar food in the presence (test) and absence (control) of a novel object among 1,439 subjects from 136 bird species across 25 taxonomic orders incorporating lab, field, and zoo sites. We first demonstrated that consistent differences in neophobia existed among individuals, among species, and among other taxonomic levels in our dataset, rejecting the null hypothesis that neophobia is highly plastic at all taxonomic levels with no evidence for evolutionary divergence. We then tested for effects of ecological factors on neophobia, including diet, sociality, habitat, and range, while accounting for phylogeny. We found that (i) species with more specialist diets were more neophobic than those with more generalist diets, providing support for the Neophobia Threshold Hypothesis; (ii) migratory species were also more neophobic than nonmigratory species, which supports the Dangerous Niche Hypothesis. Our study shows that the evolution of avian neophobia has been shaped by ecological drivers and demonstrates the potential of Big Team Science to advance our understanding of animal behavior.
Keywords (eng)
BirdsAnimal MigrationHabitatsDomestic AnimalsFoodDietEcological NichesTaxonomy
Type (eng)
Language
[eng]
Persistent identifier
Is in series
Title (eng)
PLOS Biology
Volume
23
Issue
10
ISSN
1545-7885
Issued
2025
Number of pages
30
Publication
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Version type (eng)
Date issued
2025
Access rights (eng)
License
Rights statement (eng)
© 2025 Miller et al.
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https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:4719 - Other links and identifiers
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- RightsLicenseRights statement© 2025 Miller et al.
- DetailsResource typeText (PDF)Formatapplication/pdfCreated23.12.2025 09:04:30 UTC
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