Tit wit: environmental and genetic drivers of cognitive variation along an urbanization gradient

Cognitive abilities can promote acclimation and adaptation to life in cities. However, the genetic versus environmental drivers of cognition have rarely been studied in the wild and there exists a major gap concerning the role of cognition in adaptation to novel urban contexts. To address this, we evaluate cognitive variation in wild great tits ( Parus major ; N = 393) along an urban gradient, and decipher the genetic basis of this variation using a combination of a common garden experiment, quantitative genetic analyses, and genome-wide association studies. Specifically, we measure inhibitory control abilities which affect how animals respond to novel resources and challenges. We find that wild urban and forest tits do not clearly differ in inhibitory control performance (number of errors or the latency to escape) during a motor detour task; a result that was consistent in birds from urban and forest origins reared in a common garden ( N = 73).

Cognitive performance was repeatable ( R = 0.35 – 0.38) and showed low to moderate heritability in the wild ( h ² = 0.16 - 0.28 using social and genomic pedigrees). We identified five SNPs that were significantly associated with the number of errors during the task, explaining 21% of the cognitive variation. These SNPs are linked to genes related to serotonergic and dopaminergic systems that are known to play important roles in cognition. Altogether, our study finds limited evidence that inhibitory control abilities have evolved under novel urban contexts, yet reveals a genetic basis of this cognitive trait in great tits.