EEB Prelim Seminar Series: Long-Distance Migration as a Driver of Cognitive Evolution

About this seminar: Cognitive evolution shapes how animals respond to the demands of their environment. The phenomenon of long-distance migration may drive cognitive evolution: migrant animals must find food in unfamiliar environments, whereas some non-migratory, ie. resident animals benefit from stable habitats with consistent resources. It has been hypothesized that an increased sensory capacity for information collection may trade-off with memory retention, but this hypothesis has limited empirical evidence. I aim to test this hypothesis using the monarch butterfly model. Their phenotypic diversity, with distinct migratory and resident populations worldwide, provide a unique opportunity to examine their cognitive differences. I will start by comparing sensory capacity and learning capabilities between migratory and resident monarch butterfly populations to assess how migration shapes cognitive evolution. I will then investigate the underlying mechanisms driving cognitive differences using multiple different comparative approaches across populations: brain plasticity, sensory organ morphology, and sensory gene-expression. Finally, I will conduct comparative studies of foraging strategies in migratory and resident monarch populations, focusing on explorative and exploitative differences, as well as foraging site fidelity, to infer how cognitive phenotypes shape decision-making in the wild.