This summer, I was paired with the Vantuna Research Group through the Research Early Access Program. I was encouraged to develop my own project that aligned with my research interests. With my interests in animal intelligence and anthrozoology in mind, I decided to conduct a meta-analysis testing the benefits and grouping and social intelligence in extractive foraging fish. Although the lab had no experience in social intelligence or fish cognition, they trusted me and allowed me to continue with my research plans. Their trust in my ability to learn and adapt was immensely helpful in learning to struggle productively with problems and gave me confidence in my own drive. Fish are hypothesized to have specialized cognitive processes that allow them to be successful, such as joint attention, complex social structures and bonds, and shared intentions. I hypothesized that fish can share information and engage in complex forms of cooperation, then group size should positively affect foraging behaviors. To evaluate this hypothesis, I conducted a meta-analysis on the relationship between group size and two specific behaviors related to feeding, consumption rate and foraging latency. Over the summer, I identified 138 articles by conducting a widespread search using distinct search terms and was able to extract effect sizes from 20 analyses from 14 papers. I then converted all effect sizes to Fishers Z and ran a meta-analytical model using the Metacor package in the R software environment. I found and reported a strong correlation between group size and both consumption rate and foraging latency. My results support the hypothesis that fish have evolved complex socially intelligent behavior, especially in the context of extractive foraging. By understanding the cognitive abilities of fish, scientists are able to make more accurate hypotheses on the evolution of the cognition of vertebrates because they act as common ancestors to many other intelligent vertebrates. Additionally, it is important to understand fish cognition because of their use in research. I plan on continue this research within the Canine Cognition lab to evaluate whether this theory of social intelligence in extractive foraging applies to animals that co-evolved, like canines and humans.
Relationship Between Consumption Rate and Group Size:
