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Black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) have been used as amodel to examine cognitive functions including perception, episodic-like memory, and spatiallearning and orientation. Recently, these species have been used in two studies to examine therelationship between learning and novel environment exploration and novel environment explorationand dominance. In the current study we explored whether these two species show consistency inbehavior over time. In same species/same sex groups, male and female black-capped and mountainchickadees were released into a room and then captured by an experimenter with the procedurerepeated one week later. Males, but not females in both species show consistency in capture orderover both sessions. We discuss implications of this finding in the context of possible sampling biases.

Black-capped ( Poecile atricapillus ) and mountain chickadees ( Poecile gambeli ) have been used as amodel to examine cognitive functions including perception, episodic-like memory, and spatiallearning and orientation. Recently, these species have been used in two studies to examine therelationship between learning and novel environment exploration and novel environment explorationand dominance. In the current study we explored whether these two species show consistency inbehavior over time. In same species/same sex groups, male and female black-capped and mountainchickadees were released into a room and then captured by an experimenter with the procedurerepeated one week later. Males, but not females in both species show consistency in capture orderover both sessions. We discuss implications of this finding in the context of possible sampling biases.

Recent developments in ecological statistics have reached behavioral ecology, and an increasing number of studies now apply analytical tools that incorporate alternatives to the conventional null hypothesis testing based on significance levels. However, these approaches continue to receive mixed support in our field. Because our statistical choices can influence research design and the interpretation of data, there is a compelling case for reaching consensus on statistical philosophy and practice. Here, we provide a brief overview of the recently proposed approaches and open an online forum for future discussion (https://bestat.ecoinformatics.org/). From the perspective of practicing behavioral ecologists relying on either correlative or experimental data, we review the most relevant features of information theoretic approaches, Bayesian inference, and effect size statistics. We also discuss concerns about data quality, missing data, and repeatability. We emphasize the necessity of moving away from a heavy reliance on statistical significance while focusing attention on biological relevance and effect sizes, with the recognition that uncertainty is an inherent feature of biological data. Furthermore, we point to the importance of integrating previous knowledge in the current analysis, for which novel approaches offer a variety of tools. We note, however, that the drawbacks and benefits of these approaches have yet to be carefully examined in association with behavioral data. Therefore, we encourage a philosophical change in the interpretation of statistical outcomes, whereas we still retain a pluralistic perspective for making objective statistical choices given the uncertainties around different approaches in behavioral ecology. We provide recommendations on how these concepts could be made apparent in the presentation of statistical outputs in scientific papers.

iv s., s. 1-26: sammanfattning, s. 27-94: 6 uppsatser