Behavioral Syndromes: A Behavioral Ecologist’s View on the Evolutionary and Ecological Implications of Animal Personalities

The field of animal behavior has experienced a surge of studies focusing on functional differences among individuals in their behavioral tendencies (‘animal personalities’) and the relationships between different axes of behavioral variation (‘behavioral syndromes’). Many important developments in this field have arisen through research using insects and other terrestrial arthropods, in part, because they present the opportunity to test hypotheses not accessible in other taxa. This chapter reviews how studies on insects and spiders have advanced the study of animal personalities by describing the mechanisms underlying the emergence of individual variation and their ecological consequences. Furthermore, studies accounting for animal personalities can expand our understanding of phenomena in insect science like metamorphosis, eusociality, and applied insect behavior. In addition, this chapter serves to highlight some of the most exciting issues at the forefront of our field and to inspire entomologists and behaviorists alike to seek the answers to these questions.

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Model and Data Concur and Explain the Coexistence of Two Very Distinct Animal Behavioral Types

Biology ◽

10.3390/biology9090241 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 241

Author(s):

Jordi Moya-Laraño ◽

Rubén Rabaneda-Bueno ◽

Emily Morrison ◽

Philip Crowley

Keyword(s):

Natural Populations ◽

Strong Support ◽

Female Aggression ◽

Behavioral Syndromes ◽

Behavioral Variability ◽

Behavioral Types ◽

In The Wild ◽

Using Data ◽

Genetically Determined ◽

Animal Personalities

Behaviors may enhance fitness in some situations while being detrimental in others. Linked behaviors (behavioral syndromes) may be central to understanding the maintenance of behavioral variability in natural populations. The spillover hypothesis of premating sexual cannibalism by females explains genetically determined female aggression towards both prey and males: growth to a larger size translates into higher fecundity, but at the risk of insufficient sperm acquisition. Here, we use an individual-based model to determine the ecological scenarios under which this spillover strategy is more likely to evolve over a strategy in which females attack approaching males only once the female has previously secured sperm. We found that a classic spillover strategy could never prevail. However, a more realistic early-spillover strategy, in which females become adults earlier in addition to reaching a larger size, could be maintained in some ecological scenarios and even invade a population of females following the other strategy. We also found under some ecological scenarios that both behavioral types coexist through frequency-dependent selection. Additionally, using data from the spider Lycosa hispanica, we provide strong support for the prediction that the two strategies may coexist in the wild. Our results clarify how animal personalities evolve and are maintained in nature.

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Social personalities influence natal dispersal in a lizard

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2006.3734 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 274 (1608) ◽

pp. 383-390 ◽

Cited By ~ 198

Author(s):

J Cote ◽

J Clobert

Keyword(s):

Settlement Patterns ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Low Density ◽

Social Tolerance ◽

Common Lizard ◽

The Social ◽

Ecological Implications ◽

The Common ◽

One Year ◽

Animal Personalities

Animal personalities are common across taxa and have important evolutionary and ecological implications. Such consistent individual differences correlate with important life-history traits such as dispersal. Indeed, some environmental conditions are supposed to determine dispersers with a specific personality. For example, an increased density should promote the departure of individuals with less social tolerance. Therefore, we hypothesized that dispersers from high-density populations should primarily be asocial individuals, whereas dispersers from low-density populations should be social individuals. In the common lizard ( Lacerta vivipara ), we measured attraction towards the odour of conspecifics on juveniles at birth as a metric of social tolerance. We then released these juveniles into populations of different densities and measured dispersal and settlement behaviours with regard to social tolerance. One year later, we again measured the social tolerance of surviving individuals. The social tolerance is constant across time and strongly reflects the individual's dispersal and settlement patterns with respect to population density. These results strongly suggest that social personalities exist and influence dispersal decisions. Further studies will help to elucidate the proximate and ultimate determinants of social personalities.

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Species comparison of among- and within-individual variation and correlations

10.32942/osf.io/ze8ty ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jeremy Dalos ◽

Raphaël Royauté ◽

Ann Hedrick ◽

Ned A. Dochtermann

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Responses ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Single Species ◽

Comparative Approach ◽

Behavioral Syndromes ◽

Evolutionary Relationships ◽

Species Comparison ◽

Behavioral Variation ◽

Animal Personalities

Individuals frequently differ consistently from one another in their average behaviors (i.e. “animal personality”) and in correlated suites of consistent behavioral responses (i.e. “behavioral syndromes”). However, understanding the evolutionary basis of this (co)variation has lagged behind demonstrations of its presence. This lag partially stems from comparative methods rarely being used in the field. Consequently, much of the research on animal personality has relied on “adaptive stories” focused on single species and populations. Here we used a comparative approach to examine the role of phylogeny in shaping patterns of average behaviors, behavioral variation, and behavioral correlations. In comparing the behaviors and behavioral variation for five species of Gryllid crickets we found that phylogeny shaped average behaviors and behavioral (co)variation. Variation in average exploratory behavior and response to cues of predator presence attributable to phylogeny was greater or comparable to the magnitude of “personality variation”. Likewise, magnitudes of variation were concordant with evolutionary relationships and behavioral correlations were consistent across species. These results suggest that phylogenetic constraints play an important role in the expression of animal personalities and behavioral syndromes and emphasize the importance of examining evolutionary explanations within a comparative framework.

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