Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/12554
Full metadata record
DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorPrescott, Mark John-
dc.date.accessioned2013-05-03T14:45:02Z-
dc.date.available2013-05-03T14:45:02Z-
dc.date.issued1999-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/12554-
dc.description.abstractThe selective costs and benefits affecting the evolution of group living have long interested behavioural ecologists because knowledge of these selective forces can enhance our understanding not only of why organisms live in groups, but also why species exhibit particular patterns of social organisation. Tamarins form stable and permanent mixed-species troops providing an excellent model for examining the costs and benefits hypothesised for group living. However, testing hypotheses in the wild is difficult, not least because participating species are rarely found out of association. In contrast, in captivity it is possible to compare matched single- and mixed-species troops and also to study the same individuals in single and mixed-species troops to see what effect the presence of a congener has on behaviour. In this way, captive work can help us confirm, reject, or refine the hypotheses, and aids in the generation of new ones, for relating back to the wild. The utility of this approach is demonstrated in this thesis which explored some of the foraging benefit hypotheses and, in particular, the underlying notion that individuals in tamarind mixed-species troops can increase their foraging efficiency through social earning. Single and mixed-species troops of Saguinus fuscicollis and S. labiatus were studied at Belfast Zoological Gardens. It was found that social interaction with conspecifics and congeners facilitated learning by individuals of various types of food-related information (food palatability, location, and method of access). However, although social learning operated in mixed-species troops, it did so under the shadow of inter-specific dominance. The results were used, in conjunction with field observations in Bolivia, to make inferences about the adaptive function of social learning in the wild. These findings strengthen the hypotheses which suggest that increased opportunity for social learning, through an increase in troop size and as a result of species divergence in behaviour, is an adaptive advantage of mixed-species troop formation in tamarins.en_GB
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherUniversity of Stirlingen_GB
dc.subject.lcshTamarins Behavioren_GB
dc.subject.lcshSocial behavior in animalsen_GB
dc.subject.lcshLearning in animalsen_GB
dc.titleSocial learning in mixed-species troops of Saguinus fuscicollis and Saguinus labiatus: tests of foraging benefit hypotheses in captivityen_GB
dc.typeThesis or Dissertationen_GB
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen_GB
dc.type.qualificationnameDoctor of Philosophyen_GB
Appears in Collections:eTheses from Faculty of Natural Sciences legacy departments

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Prescott-1999-thesis.pdf28.67 MBAdobe PDFView/Open


This item is protected by original copyright



Items in the Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

The metadata of the records in the Repository are available under the CC0 public domain dedication: No Rights Reserved https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

If you believe that any material held in STORRE infringes copyright, please contact library@stir.ac.uk providing details and we will remove the Work from public display in STORRE and investigate your claim.