Organismal adaptations are the hallmark of natural selection. Studies of adaptations in avian
systems have been central to key conceptual and empirical advances in the field of …

Highlights•Cognitive studies are often disconnected from the challenges animals face in
nature.•This can make it hard to interpret results and evaluate their implications.•We use …

Measures of cognitive performance, derived from psychometric tasks, have yielded
important insights into the factors governing cognitive variation. However, concerns remain …

Cognitive abilities are hypothesized to affect survival and life span in nonhuman animals.
However, most tests of this hypothesis have relied on interspecific comparisons of indirect …

The use of abstract rules in behavioral decisions is considered evidence of executive
functions associated with higher-level cognition. Laboratory studies across taxa have shown …

Anthropogenic activities are causing a steep decline of wildlife populations. Increased
inbreeding in shrinking populations can substantially curb individual fitness and population …

Abstract Throughout the Plio-Pleistocene, climate change has impacted tropical marine
ecosystems substantially, with even more severe impacts predicted in the Anthropocene …

Animals frequently encounter situations in which they can choose to move either left or right.
Consistent preferences to move a specific direction may be associated with lateralization, or …

Aim Species persistence in the face of climate change depends on both ecological and
evolutionary factors. Here, we integrate ecological and whole‐genome sequencing data to …

Highlights•Animal cognition traditionally studies in the lab.•Lab studies cannot address
many ecological and evolutionary questions.•Field studies provide opportunities to study …