A team of three co-editors led by Dr Andrea
Griffin from the UoN School of Psychology has just completed the first special edition
of the journal Animal Cognition on
the topical issue of animal cognition in a human-dominated world. The special
issue features 11 new studies showcasing new research
findings and ideas within the field of animal cognition & Human induced
fast environmental change (HIREC), introduced by an editorial piece by
Griffin and her co-editors highlighting the current state of the field.
Although all the papers are now available online, the issue will receive an
‘official’ launch in January 2017 by the publisher Springer.
The special issue arose as a consequence a
symposium entitled Human impact: Behavioural and cognitive responses to human-induced
environmental change co-organised by a team
of six national and international researchers including Griffin at the 2015
International Ethology Conference (IEC), one
of the biggest scientific gatherings of behavioural biologists worldwide.
The special issue pays tribute to current
changes in the field of animal cognition. Traditionally focused on studying
general mechanisms in a handful of model lab species, the field is currently
mutating to one examining how a diverse range of animal species use their
mental capacities in real-life contexts. As questions
about how animals perceive, process, store and use information they extract
from their environment begin to capture the fascination of biologists, so too
is the growing desire to study cognition in the context of fast environmental
change. Most telling of this growing trend is the observation that the symposium
organised by Griffin and her colleagues on behavioural and cognitive responses
to human-induced environmental change was one of the two largest 2-15-IEC symposiums
alongside another dedicated to Avian
Cognition.
As human populations expand and spread, they
change surrounding landscapes both near and far. Whereas some animals go extinct,
unable to adjust to new challenges, others thrive in these new ecosystems, taking
advantage of myriad novel, yet unoccupied ecological, opportunities. Whether
animals adapt or disappear is strongly influenced by their mental machinery,
argues Griffin et al. in their editorial piece, urging biologists versed in
animal cognition to play a prominent role in future
wildlife management research.
The special issue describes how species from butterflies,
amphibians, fish, to birds, used their cognitive abilities to adjust to
environmental change, including research undertaken in the School of Psychology
on the learning abilities of the introduced common myna. The issue figures
research on how cognition and brain development can be affected by pollution
and temperature rise, but also how researchers can harness animals’ cognitive
abilities to help them adjust.
Griffin and her co-editors predict a rich future of
interaction between fundamental research in cognition and applied HIREC-related
research. The 11 featured articles will provide a catalyst for
further advancement in the field of cognition and HIREC in the years to come.
