Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Animal cognition

Memory pays off

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 7, pages 316–317 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Laboratory-quantified spatial memory and subsequent free-ranging movements show how learning about space and establishing familiar areas increase fitness in pheasants.

When scientists track an animal species, they usually observe that individuals or groups of individuals restrict their movements to a constrained area, or ‘home range’1. Despite impressive advances in observing and modelling animal home ranges, it has proven difficult to establish a link between natural selection processes and the patterns of home range emergence. As animals move in familiar spaces, they should learn and maintain spatial knowledge that in turn should exert some benefits in terms of fitness. Writing in Nature Ecology & Evolution, Heathcote and colleagues2 find direct evidence that better spatial memory and larger familiar areas increase survival by decreasing the risk of predation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Linking spatial memory, home range establishment and fitness.

References

  1. Burt, W. H. J. Mamm. 24, 346–352 (1943).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Heathcote, R. J. P. et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01950-5 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Moorcroft, P. R., Lewis, M. A. & Crabtree, R. L. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 273, 1651–1659 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Moorcroft, P. R. & Barnett, A. Ecology 89, 1112–1119 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Hattori, A. & Takuro, S. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 93, 2265–2272 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Van Moorter, B. et al. Oikos 118, 641–652 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Merkle, J. A., Potts, J. R. & Fortin, D. Oikos 126, https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.03356 (2017).

  8. Bracis, C., Gurarie, E., Van Moorter, B. & Goodwin, R. A. PLoS ONE 10, e0136057 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Ranc, N., Cagnacci, F. & Moorcroft, P. R. Ecol. Lett. 25, 716–728 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Schlägel, U. E. & Lewis, M. A. Methods Ecol. Evol. 5, 1236–1246 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ranc, N., Moorcroft, P. R., Ossi, F. & Cagnacci, F. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2014856118 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Ranc, N. et al. Sci. Rep. 10, 11946 (2020).

  13. Merkle, J. A., Fortin, D. & Morales, J. M. Ecol. Lett. 17, 924–931 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Gaynor, K. M., Brown, J. S., Middleton, A. D., Power, M. E. & Brashares, J. S. Trends Ecol. Evol. 34, 355–368 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Rigoudy, N. L. A. et al. Behav. Ecol. 33, 789–797 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Forrester, T. D., Casady, D. S. & Wittmer, H. U. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 69, 603–612 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jesmer, B. R. et al. Science 361, 1023–1025 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Ecology Unit, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Trento, Italy

    Francesca Cagnacci

  2. National Biodiversity Future Center S.c.a.r.l., Palermo, Italy

    Francesca Cagnacci

Authors
  1. Francesca Cagnacci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesca Cagnacci.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cagnacci, F. Memory pays off. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 316–317 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01968-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01968-9

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing