Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30571696›Full record

ArticlePLoS computational biology2018

Movement and conformity interact to establish local behavioural traditions in animal populations.

Marius Somveille, Josh A Firth, Lucy M Aplin, Damien R Farine, Ben C Sheldon, Robin N Thompson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS computational biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Phenotypic polymorphism via mate copying.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Conformity in mate choice, the overlooked social component of animal and human culture.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2023
    Review
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Marius SomveilleEdward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-6868-5080
Josh A FirthEdward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Lucy M AplinEdward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Damien R FarineEdward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-2208-7613
Ben C SheldonEdward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-5240-7828
Robin N ThompsonDepartment of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-8545-5212

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/L006081/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The social transmission of information is critical to the emergence of animal culture. Two processes are predicted to play key roles in how socially-transmitted information spreads in animal populations: the movement of individuals across the landscape and conformist social learning. We develop a model that, for the first time, explicitly integrates these processes to investigate their impacts on the spread of behavioural preferences. Our results reveal a strong interplay between movement and conformity in determining whether locally-variable traditions establish across a landscape or whether a single preference dominates the whole population. The model is able to replicate a real-world cultural diffusion experiment in great tits Parus major, but also allows for a range of predictions for the emergence of animal culture under various initial conditions, habitat structure and strength of conformist bias to be made. Integrating social behaviour with ecological variation will be important for understanding the stability and diversity of culture in animals.

Indexed as

Behavior, AnimalModels, BiologicalSocial BehaviorAnimalsComputational BiologyEcosystemEnglandLearningModels, PsychologicalPasseriformesPopulation Dynamics

Identifiers

PMID30571696
PMCPMC6319775

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.