In this week’s blog post, we delve into the intelligent mechanisms behind how and why the smart bird catches the worm! Author Junghyuk Keum gives us a glimpse into the Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis – a theory they used to explore seabird ecology in their recently published paper: “Does brain size matter? Linking cognitive and ecological traits to climate change vulnerability in seabirds.” Junghyuk expands on the work that they did, including sharing behind the scenes knowledge and tips about working with Natural History institutes. Junghyuk also highlights the challenges faced with novel research like this whilst offering important advice about never giving up on yourself and your dreams, even when it feels like you might be the only person that believes in them!
🦆 About the Paper
In our paper, we added additional evidence supporting the ‘Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis (CBH)’ using seabirds. According to the CBH, species with relatively large brains display more flexible and diverse behaviours, supporting better survival under variable and changing environments. This hypothesis has been suggested as an explanation to why species react differently when met with the same situation. For example, previous studies have shown that in passerines, sedentary species that bear the harsh winter season have relatively larger brains compared to their migrating friends that flee when circumstances are not ideal.
Seabirds are facing mounting threats from climate change, but could bigger brains be their secret weapon for survival? Our study explores how ecological traits, such as brain size, thermal range, migration pattern, dispersal ability and foraging behaviour, influence a species’ resilience to climate change and extinction. We analyzed 206 seabird species using statistical models to uncover links between ecological traits, vulnerability to climate change and extinction risk. As a result, in line with the CBH, we found that seabirds with bigger relative brain sizes tend to occupy broader thermal ranges, which may in turn make species less vulnerable to extinction. We also found that being a long-distance migrant also helps to reduce extinction risk. Additionally, seabirds with greater dispersal ability and generalist feeding strategies showed greater resilience to climate change and extinction risk. In short; intelligence, mobility, and adaptability offer seabirds a better chance of mitigating extinction. These insights highlight key traits that could help conservationists predict which species are most at risk and which ones might just be smart enough to survive!
🧠 About the Research
We had much fun conducting our research at the Natural History Museum (NHM) at Tring. We were able to add newly measured brain sizes for 48 seabird species to our dataset (in total there were 206 species!). We used the endocast method which involves filling up the cranial cavities of skulls with glass beads to calculate estimated brain sizes. Although my hands were nervously shaking most of the time, it was a great pleasure to work in a room full of such valuable specimens. We even had the privilege of seeing the wider collection at NHM Tring, including some specimens collected by famous naturalists like Alfred R. Wallace or Charles Darwin!
Working with specimens was not always fun and games, it also reminded me of the difficulty and the fundamental limitations of ecological research. For our research, obviously the ideal method would have been to measure fresh brains of wild animals, which is (for many reasons) practically impossible. What this meant was that no matter how robust the results are, our measurements are merely a proxy for actual brain sizes in seabirds today. Additionally, despite birds presumably being one of the most well represented animal groups, the brain sizes for many species are yet to be measured! A priority for future research would be to obtain brain and body size estimates for seabird species that are vulnerable to climate change and simultaneously lack published data currently. These limitations identified a key data gap in our research.
👋 About the author
I (Junghyuk Keum) am currently a PhD student at University College London, looking into the relationship between climate change variables and reptile population decline. It was a long journey before I finally got a chance to fully indulge myself in the research that I’ve longed to do for such a long time. This study was a part of that journey as it was one of my MRes projects.
I was born and raised in Korea, a country where your life is considered a failure if you don’t end up being a plastic surgeon. Even among fellow biologists, my dream of being a herpetologist has long been an object of mockery. One of my PIs as a freshman, told me “No one can teach you; No one will pay you; You’ll just end up starving your wife and children.” Ironically, it was the pandemic that pushed me to leave home and pursue the dream that I almost abandoned. The world stopped and I decided I’d rather face my end doing what I wanted. The time I spent carrying out this project together with Cat, Ferren and Florian, who were my supervisors, was one of the first proofs that my decision was right! Through following my passions, I recently received funds for my PhD studies from a Korean foundation. Because of my journey, a piece of advice for my younger self would be, “Don’t hesitate. You can’t stop it anyways.”
Like the blog post? Read the research article here.
