Persistence explains differences in innovation in Darwin’s finches with a different foraging ecology

The capacity to create new behaviors is influenced by environmental factors such as foraging ecology, which can lead to phylogenetic variation in innovativeness. Alternatively, these differences may arise due to the selection of the underlying mechanisms, collaterally affecting innovativeness. To understand the evolutionary pathways that might enhance innovativeness, we examined the role of diet breadth and degree of extractive foraging, as well as a range of intervening cognitive and behavioral mechanisms (neophilia, neophobia, flexibility, motivation and persistence). Darwin’s finches are very suitable for this purpose: the clade is composed of closely related species that vary in their feeding habits and capacity to develop food innovations. Using a multi-access box, we conducted an interspecies comparison on innovative problem-solving between two diet specialists, extractive foragers (woodpecker and cactus finch), and two diet generalist, non-extractive foragers (small and medium gr..., , , This README file was generated on 2023-10-16 by Paula Ibáñez de Aldecoa.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Title of Dataset: Persistence explains differences in innovation in Darwin’s finches with a different foraging ecology.

These are the data used to fit models 1, 2, and 3, and to generate figures 2, 3, and 4, as specified in the article's experimental procedures.

2. Author Information:
A. Principal Investigator Contact Information
Name: Paula Ibáñez de Aldecoa
Institution: University of Vienna
Address: Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, Biologiezentrum University of Vienna. Djerasiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria.
Email: [e-mail]

B. Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information
Name: Sabine Tebbich
Institution: University of Vienna
Address: Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, Biologiezentrum University of Vienna. Djerasiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria.
Email: [e-mail]

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