Heritability of cognitive performance in wild Western Australian magpies

Individual differences in cognitive performance can have genetic, social and environmental components. Most research on the heritability of cognitive traits comes from humans or captive non-human animals, whilst less attention has been given to wild populations. Western Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen dorsalis, hereafter magpies) show phenotypic variation in cognitive performance, which affects reproductive success. Despite high levels of individual repeatability, we do not know whether cognitive performance is heritable in this species. Here, we quantify broad-sense heritability of associative learning ability in a wild population of Western Australian magpies. Specifically, we explore whether offspring associative learning performance is predicted by maternal associative learning performance, or by the social environment (group size) when tested at three time points during the first year of life. We found no significant relationship between maternal and offspring associative learning performance, with an estimated broad-sense heritability of just -0.004 ± 0.024 (CI: -0.050/0.044). However, complementing previous findings, we find that at 300 days post-fledging, individuals raised in larger groups passed the test in fewer trials compared to individuals from small groups. Our results highlight the pivotal influence of the social environment on cognitive development.

Funding provided by: Ecological Society of AustraliaCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/03f20jx79Award Number:
Funding provided by: Australian GovernmentCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/0314h5y94Award Number:
Funding provided by: Australian Research CouncilCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/05mmh0f86Award Number: DP200100566
Funding provided by: Australian Research CouncilCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/05mmh0f86Award Number: DE220100096
Funding provided by: University of Western AustraliaCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/047272k79Award Number: