A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia

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.

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Publication Details

Journal
PLoS Biology
Published
2025-10-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003394
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Animal Behavior and Reproduction
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
9.08
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article

A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia

Vladimira Hodova, Emily Danby, Wendt Müller, Jonas Verspeek et al.
3 citations
PLoS Biology
Animal Behavior and Reproduction
9.08
article

A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia

Vladimira Hodova, Emily Danby, Wendt Müller, Jonas Verspeek, Daan W. Laméris, Marina Salas, Isabelle George, Beatriz C. Saldanha, Uta König von Borstel, P. Samuel, Petr Veselý, Katie E. Slocombe, Ondřej Fišer, Francesco Bonadonna, Boris Bilčı́k, Kees van Oers, Alex H. Taylor, Christopher S. Henry, Vanessa Wilson, Paula Ibáñez de Aldecoa, Yoshihiro Kanemitsu, Alicia de la Colina, Cécilia Houdelier, Connor T. Lambert, Alizée Vernouillet, Carl D. Soulsbury, Ariana N. Klappert, Benjamin J. Ashton, Utku Urhan, Elena Račevska, Elias Garcia‐Pelegrin, Camille A. Troisi, Elham M. Ali, James R. Davies, Auguste M. P. von Bayern, Désirée Brucks, Nicola Susan Clayton, Debbie Lister, Neslihan Wittek, Eva Serrano‐Davies, Marisa Hoeschele, Katarína Pichová, Michaela Syrová, Michael W. Butler, Kai R. Caspar, Dominik Fischer, Mark Winfield, Laurent Prétôt, Vedrana Šlipogor, Melanie G. Kimball, Alice M. I. Auersperg, Ben Whittaker, Alberto Velando, Samara Danel, Lauren M. Guillette, Zuzana Skalná, Jorrit W. Verkleij, Rachael Miller, Andreas Nieder, Jade A. Zanutto, Melissa Bateson, Masayo Soma, Ľubor Košťál, Sandra Trigo, Stephan A. Reber, Theresa Rößler, Jorg J. M. Massen, Paul M. Nealen, Clara García-Có, Janja Širovnik, Raúl O. Gómez, Francisco Ruiz‐Raya, Mina Khodadadi, Juan C. Reboreda, Lloyd C. Mohr, Edward Galluccio, S.A. Reynolds, Francesca M. Cornero, Christine R. Lattin, Frederick Verbruggen, Karsten E. Thompson, Marion Charrier, Julia A. Mackenzie, Kliti Grice, Aliona Novac, Anastasia Krasheninnikova, Jimena Lois‐Milevicich, Eric R. Williamson, Ľubica Kubíková, Amanda R. Ridley, Christopher N. Templeton, Megan L. Lambert, Katie J. Harrington, Sebastián M. Santiago, Nínive Paes Cavalcante, Oceane Larousse, Kai‐Philipp Gladow, Zhongqiu Li, Laura M. Biondi, Martina Darwich, Danna F. Masri, O.S. Iyasere, John L. Quinn, Ella B. Cochran, Tiffany Chatelin, L. Koch, Kacheong Yeung, Claudia Mettke‐Hofmann, Janice H. Ching -, Ayushi Patel, Cristina Pilenga, Solenne Belle, Maurice Valbert, Carla Pascual-Guàrdia, Tiziana Srdoc, Stefan Stanescu, Eline Waalders, Benjamin J. Cluver, Florencia Foitzick, Anna Grewer, Devon C. Hallihan, Frauke Heer, Duc Khong, Courtenay G. Lampert, Michael Lindenmeier, Selina Mainz, Kristina Pascual, Nikola Schlöglová, Gia Seatriz
article en
3 citations

Abstract

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.

PLoS BiologyVol. 23(10)
Sprint (United States) (US), Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES), Louisiana State University (US), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Vienna (AT), Austrian Academy of Sciences (AT), University of Antwerp (BE), University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (AT), University of Alberta (CA), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), National University of Singapore (SG), University of Wuppertal (DE), Flinders University (AU), The University of Western Australia (AU), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (NG), Universidade do Porto (PT), Lafayette College (US), University of Canterbury (NZ), Lund University (SE), National University of Mar del Plata (AR), University of Hull (GB), Utrecht University (NL), Université de Montpellier (FR), Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE), Indiana University of Pennsylvania (US), Bielefeld University (DE), Sapporo University (JP), University of Zurich (CH), Hokkaido University (JP), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZ), University of Exeter (GB), University of Cambridge (GB), University College Cork (IE), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Acoustics Research Institute (AT), University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (CZ), Ghent University (BE), University of Bristol (GB), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), Sorbonne Université (FR), Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (FR), Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (DE), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp (BE), Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (DE), Centre of Biosciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NL), Singapore Eye Research Institute (SG), Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (DE), Fundación para la Investigación, Docencia y Prevención del Cáncer (AR), Institute of Marine and Coastal Research (AR), Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (FR), Giessen School of Theology (DE), Pacific University (US), Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Mandai Wildlife Group, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (DE), Hella (Germany) (DE), Pittsburg State University (US), Anglia Ruskin University (GB), University of Lincoln (GB), University of York (GB), Western Washington University (US), Fundación Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (AR), University of Rochester (US), Université de Rennes (FR), University of Neuchâtel (CH), University of Duisburg-Essen (DE), Universidade de Vigo (ES), Liverpool John Moores University (GB), Medical University of Vienna (AT), University of Glasgow (GB), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (BR), University of Tübingen (DE), Frankfurt Zoological Society (DE), Newcastle University (GB), Nanjing University (CN), Ruhr University Bochum (DE), BOKU University (AT), University of Lausanne (CH)
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Animal Behavior and Reproduction
9.08
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