Evolutionary consequencesof social information use in birds

Social interactions, at intra- and inter-specific levels, have been lately the focus of new perspectives in examining the role of information use within communities. Acquiring information can change individual and social phenotypes, with important implications on community structure and its evolution. At the same time, social behaviour, and the patterns of connections among individuals arising from social interactions, can be shaped by individual phenotypes, and ultimately influence the spread of information through communities. Thus, the fingerprint of the evolutionary consequences of information use can be detected in both the mechanisms that determine responses to information at the indi…