The Ecology of Animal Cognition

ECOLLIGENCE seeks to change the way we think about the evolution of animal memory.

For almost fifty years, the field of cognitive ecology has striven to identify ecological selection pressures that explain why animal species show "good" or "bad" memory.

But within that same timeframe, it has become clear in the field of neuroscience that memory is not a single entity, but a balance between shorter- and longer-term processes that are instigated in parallel and semi-independent in their underlying physiology.

I propose that bringing neuroscience to ecology will reveal that these processes serve different roles in the ecological world, such that natural selection moulds optimized balances between phases rather than proceeding towards an endgame of excellent recall. In this project I will explore those selection pressures.

I will use fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) memory mutants to identify the contributions of short- and long-term memory to fitness-relevant decisions. I will allow memory phases to evolve in complex or simple environments.

I will explore the mistakes made by radar-tracked bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) in vast artificial foraging ranges, and I will quantify the value of long-term storage in the noisy, haphazard real world where fitness proxies can be measured.

Across each scenario, I predict that the diversity of available options- termed environmental complexity- will be key in determining whether shorter- or longer-term recall should be favoured.

By drawing from the findings of neuroscience to answer the questions of cognitive ecology, ECOLLIGENCE goes beyond the state of the art, towards an understanding of how natural selection sculpts the key building blocks that underlie animal cognitive diversity.