Data from: Observed fitness may affect niche overlap in competing species via selective social information use

Social information transmission is important because it enables horizontal
spread of behaviors, not only between conspecifics, but also between
individuals of different species. Because interspecific social information
use is expected to take place among species with similar resource needs,
it may have major consequences for the emergence of local adaptations,
resource sharing and community organization. Social information use is
expected to be selective, but the conditions promoting it in an
interspecific context are not well known. Here, we experimentally test
whether pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) use the clutch size of great
tits (Parus major) in determining the quality of the observed individual
and use it as a basis in decision-making. We show that pied flycatchers
(Ficedula hypoleuca) copied or rejected a novel nest-site feature
preference of great tits (Parus major), experimentally manipulated to
exhibit high or low fitness (clutch size), respectively. Our results
demonstrate that the social transmission of behaviors across species can
be highly selective in response to observed fitness, plausibly making the
phenomenon adaptive. In contrast with the current theory of species
coexistence, overlap between realized niches of species could dynamically
increase or decrease depending on the observed success of surrounding
individuals.