ArticleOecologia2021
Flocking in birds increases annual adult survival in a global analysis.
Article in Oecologia, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trade-offs across life history stages and social association types shape winter communal roosting in a long-lived raptor.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Non-breeding social behaviour as an investment in reducing future territoriality costs.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- The Landscape of Fear as a Safety Eco-Field: Experimental Evidence.Biosemiotics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Adaptive hypotheses for the evolution of group foraging in animals typically invoke enhanced foraging efficiency and reduced predation risk. Net benefits of group foraging in different species should translate into a survival advantage for group members. Despite numerous interspecific studies in birds and mammals, few have documented a survival advantage for group foraging species. Using a large dataset in birds (> 1100 species worldwide), I investigated whether annual adult apparent survival was higher in species that forage in flocks than in solitary species. Using a phylogenetic framework to account for relatedness among species and controlling for known correlates of adult survival in birds such as body size, clutch size, latitude, and diet, I documented a positive effect of flocking on annual adult apparent survival. The increase in survival was less pronounced in occasionally flocking species suggesting that the benefits of group foraging can depend on the frequency of its use. The results highlight how group foraging can increase fitness in animals.
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Registered trials
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.