2026-10-06T09:48:48Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34069764 2026-10-05T12:55:35Z category_24214 item_type_3 month_year_10_2026

Data for Behavioural plasticity is associated with global population density and geographic range size in birds cong yu (20446769) Behavioural ecology behavioural innovation behavioural plasticity population density ecological prosperity distribution range size <p dir="ltr">What determines the vast differences in species' abundance and distribution is a central question in ecology. Behavioural plasticity, the capacity to adjust behaviour to local conditions, is hypothesised to help species thrive, yet its role in shaping large-scale patterns of ecological prosperity remains unclear. Using a phylogenetic comparative analysis of over 7,000 bird species, we tested whether behavioural innovation, measured from literature reports of novel feeding behaviours, predicts two axes of prosperity, global population density and geographic range size. After accounting for phylogeny and a suite of life-history and ecological traits, most innovation metrics were positively associated with both density and range size, whether innovation was scored as presence/absence or as a research-effort-corrected rate. Phylogenetic path analyses leaned towards innovation promoting prosperity rather than the reverse, strongly for the binary metric but only weakly for the innovation rate. Overall, our results identify behavioural plasticity as a predictor of avian macroecological patterns, operating alongside classic life-history and ecological constraints. Recognising cognitive capacity as part of a species' ecological strategy offers insight into which species may be best equipped to persist on a rapidly changing planet.</p> 2026-10-05T12:55:35Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.34069764.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_for_Behavioural_plasticity_is_associated_with_global_population_density_and_geographic_range_size_in_birds/34069764 CC BY 4.0