Eurasian tree sparrows are more food neophobic and habituate to novel objects more slowly than house sparrows

Most research on the variables that allow for introduced species to succeed and become invasive has focused on environmental and ecological factors. Fewer studies have assessed the roles of behavioral and cognitive traits. To help fill this knowledge gap, we studied neophobia, aversive behavior towards novelty, in the non-native Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus), and compared results to previous work in a more successful invasive congener, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus). We assessed the neophobia of wild-caught Eurasian tree sparrows by measuring their responses to novel objects and novel foods and their ability to habituate to initially novel objects. We predicted that Eurasian tree sparrows, as less successful invaders, would overall be more neophobic than house sparrows. Although we did not observe differences in neophobia towards novel objects in the two species, Eurasian tree sparrows were significantly less willing than house sparrows to try novel foods. Eurasian tree..., We captured wild Eurasian tree sparrows (Passer montanus) from a private field site in Illinois, United States. Sparrows were transported to Louisiana State University where we conducted neophobia trials. These behavioral assays consisted of three weeklong trials to assess responses to novel objects (week 1) and foods (week 2) as well as the sparrows' abilities to habituate to repeated presentations of the same initially novel object (week 3). We followed methods used in Kimball et al. 2022 (Novel objects alter immediate early gene expression globally for ZENK and regionally for c-fos in neophobic and non-neophobic house sparrows, published in Behavioural Brain Research). Behavioral trials were recorded, and then the recordings were watched by two observers (KJK and EBC). Video watchers noted the time during the hour-long trials at which each sparrow approached and fed from the food dish, where novel objects or foods were placed. Because male and female Eurasian tree sparrows cannot be ..., , # Data from: Eurasian tree sparrows are more food neophobic and habituate to novel objects more slowly than house sparrows [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj72h](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj72h) ## Description of the data and file structure Here, we are providing three files used to gather and analyze the data in this project. There are two Excel files and one R Studio script. Throughout these files, you will see ETSP and HOSP; these represent the four-letter alpha codes for each bird species in this project. ETSP = Eurasian tree sparrow; HOSP = house sparrow. The first Excel file (Eurasian tree sparrow neophobia_ETSP data) contains all the data associated with the Eurasian tree sparrow neophobia trials. There are seven tabs on this Excel spreadsheet. The first tab contains the data used to assess repeatability between the two observers who watched the video recordings. The second, third, and fourth tabs show the data for each Eurasian tree sparrow during the object neoph...当前针对外来物种成功定植并成为入侵物种的影响变量研究，多聚焦于环境与生态因子，而探讨行为与认知性状作用的相关研究相对匮乏。为填补这一认知空白，我们针对非本土的欧亚树麻雀（Passer montanus）开展了新异恐惧症（neophobia，即对新奇事物的厌恶行为）相关研究，并将结果与另一种入侵成功性更高的同属鸟类——家麻雀（Passer domesticus）的已有研究进行对比。我们通过测量野生捕获欧亚树麻雀对新奇物体、新奇食物的行为反应，以及其对初始新奇物体的习惯化能力，来评估其新异恐惧症水平。我们预测，作为入侵成功性较低的物种，欧亚树麻雀整体的新异恐惧症程度会高于家麻雀。尽管我们未观察到两个物种在对新奇物体的新异恐惧症上存在差异，但欧亚树麻雀对新奇食物的尝试意愿显著低于家麻雀。欧亚树麻雀……我们从美国伊利诺伊州一处私人野外样地捕获野生欧亚树麻雀（Passer montanus）。将捕获的麻雀转运至路易斯安那州立大学开展新异恐惧症行为试验。本次行为测定包含为期三周的试验：第1周评估对新奇物体的反应，第2周评估对新奇食物的反应，第3周评估麻雀对重复呈现的初始新奇物体的习惯化能力。本研究遵循Kimball等人2022年发表于《行为脑研究》（Behavioural Brain Research）的方法，该研究指出：新异物体可全局改变新异恐惧症与非新异恐惧症家麻雀的ZENK即刻早期基因表达，并能局部改变c-fos基因的表达。行为试验全程录制，随后由两名观察员（KJK与EBC）观看录像。观察员会记录每只麻雀在1小时试验期间，抵达放置有新奇物体或食物的食槽并取食的时刻。由于欧亚树麻雀的雌雄个体无法通过……，，# 数据来源：欧亚树麻雀比家麻雀更易表现出食物新异恐惧症，且对新奇物体的习惯化速度更慢 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj72h](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj72h) ## 数据与文件结构说明 本项目共提供三份用于数据采集与分析的文件，包含2个Excel表格文件与1份R Studio脚本文件。所有文件中均会出现ETSP与HOSP两个四字母物种代码，分别对应本研究中的两种鸟类：ETSP为欧亚树麻雀，HOSP为家麻雀。 首个Excel文件（欧亚树麻雀新异恐惧症_ETSP数据）包含所有与欧亚树麻雀新异恐惧症试验相关的数据，该表格共包含7个工作表：第1个工作表用于评估两名视频观察员间的评分重复性；第2、3、4个工作表分别展示每只欧亚树麻雀在物体新异……