Concepts, research progresses and prospects of animal personality

Developmental processes can have major impacts on the correlations in behaviour across contexts (contextual generality) and across time (temporal consistency) that are the hallmarks of animal personality. Personality can and does change: at any given age or life stage it is contingent upon a wide range of experiential factors that occurred earlier in life, from prior to conception through adulthood. We show how developmental reaction norms that describe the effects of prior experience on a given behaviour can be used to determine whether the effects of a given experience at a given age will affect contextual generality at a later age, and to illustrate how variation within individuals in developmental plasticity leads to variation in contextual generality across individuals as a function of experience. We also show why niche-picking and niche-construction, behavioural processes which allow individuals to affect their own developmental environment, can affect the contextual generality and the temporal consistency of personality. We conclude by discussing how an appreciation of developmental processes can alert behavioural ecologists studying animal personality to critical, untested assumptions that underlie their own research programmes, and outline situations in which a developmental perspective can improve studies of the functional significance and evolution of animal personality.

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Ambiguous terminology in animal personality research: a self-report questionnaire and a systematic review

10.32942/osf.io/9srpy ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar ◽

Maria Moiron ◽

Petri Toivo Niemelä

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Self Report ◽

Behavioural Ecology ◽

Biological Organization ◽

Personality Research ◽

Conceptual Definition ◽

Multiple Levels ◽

Definition Of ◽

Key Questions

Whether animal personality studies provide insights of broader evolutionary and ecological relevance to behavioural ecology is frequently questioned. One source of controversy is the vast, but often vague conceptual terminology used. From a statistical perspective, animal personality is defined as repeatable among-individual variance in behaviour; however, numerous conceptual definitions of animal personality exist. Here, we performed a 1) self-report questionnaire and 2) systematic literature review to quantify how researchers interpret conceptual and statistical definitions commonly used in animal personality research. We also investigated whether results from the questionnaire agree with those of the literature review. Among the 430 self-reported researchers that participated in our questionnaire, we observed discrepancies in key questions such as the conceptual definition of animal personality or the interpretation of repeatability. Our literature review generally confirmed the global patterns revealed by the questionnaire. Overall, we identified common disagreements in animal personality research and discussed potential solutions. We advocate for the usage of statistically-oriented terminology because conceptual definitions can seemingly be interpreted at multiple levels of biological organization. We expect that adopting such statistically-oriented terminology will, at least partly, avoid the confusion generated by the label “animal personality”, and ultimately help to clarify and move the field forward.

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Size-related boldness is not altered by stomach flushing in a terrestrial salamander

Amphibia-Reptilia ◽

10.1163/15685381-bja10054 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Sebastiano Salvidio ◽

Andrea Costa ◽

Fabrizio Oneto

Keyword(s):

Body Condition ◽

Mixed Model ◽

Linear Mixed Model ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Model Analysis ◽

Mixed Model Analysis ◽

Linear Mixed Model Analysis ◽

Before And After ◽

Trophic Strategy ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Animal personality is a relatively neglected field in amphibian research. In this study we assessed the influence of stomach flushing, a non-lethal technique used in amphibian dietary studies, on the boldness behaviour of the cave salamander Speleomantes strinatii. The time of emergence from a shelter located in an unfamiliar environment (a proxy for individual boldness) was measured in 26 cave salamanders before and after stomach flushing, while 14 non-flushed salamanders were tested as controls. Boldness was a repeatable behaviour for salamanders and larger individuals emerged from their shelter more rapidly than smaller ones. Linear mixed model analysis showed that flushing, sex and body condition had no effect on this behaviour. These findings are promising in the framework of the study of salamander personality. In particular, our results will be useful when exploring the relationship between individual trophic strategy and boldness, aggression or exploration behaviours in terrestrial salamanders.

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Author response for "Neurobiological substrates of animal personality and cognition in a nonhuman primate ( Microcebus murinus )"

10.1002/brb3.1752/v2/response1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca Grace Fritz ◽

Elke Zimmermann ◽

Martin Meier ◽

Nadine Mestre‐Francés ◽

Ute Radespiel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nonhuman Primate ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Author Response ◽

Microcebus Murinus ◽

Neurobiological Substrates

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Repeatability and Heritability of Behavioural Types in a Social Cichlid

International Journal of Evolutionary Biology ◽

10.4061/2011/321729 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2011 ◽

pp. 1-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Noémie Chervet ◽

Markus Zöttl ◽

Roger Schürch ◽

Michael Taborsky ◽

Dik Heg

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Quantitative Genetics ◽

Variance Components ◽

Significant Variation ◽

Cichlid Fish ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Cichlid Species ◽

Behavioural Type ◽

Variance Components Estimation ◽

Behavioural Types

Aim. The quantitative genetics underlying correlated behavioural traits (‘‘animal personality’’) have hitherto been studied mainly in domesticated animals. Here we report the repeatability () and heritability () of behavioural types in the highly social cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher. Methods. We tested 1779 individuals repeatedly and calculated the of behavioural types by variance components estimation (GLMM REML), using 1327 offspring from 162 broods from 74 pairs. Results. Repeatability of behavioural types was significant and considerable (0.546), but declined from 0.83 between tests conducted on the same day, to 0.19 on tests conducted up to 1201 days apart. All estimates were significant but low (e.g., pair identity SE). Additionally, we found significant variation between broods nested within the parent(s), but these were not related to several environmental factors tested. Conclusions. We conclude that despite a considerable , in this cichlid species is low, and variability in behavioural type appears to be strongly affected by other (non)genetic effects.

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Evidence for a behavioural syndrome and negative social assortment by exploratory personality in the communally nesting rodent, Octodon degus

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/1568539x-00003433 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 154 (5) ◽

pp. 541-562 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Rachel Y. Chock ◽

Tina W. Wey ◽

Luis A. Ebensperger ◽

Loren D. Hayes

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Wild Population ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Behavioural Syndrome ◽

Behavioural Ecology ◽

Association Strength ◽

Dyadic Interactions ◽

Communally Nesting ◽

Social Associations ◽

Social Assortment

Recent research in behavioural ecology has revealed the structure of animal personality and connections to ecologically and evolutionarily important traits. Personality is hypothesized to influence social interactions through individual behavioural differences or personality-based dyadic interactions. We describe the structure of personality traits and ask if two traits, boldness and exploration, play a role in the strength or pattern of social associations in a wild population of degus, a rodent that often lives communally with unrelated conspecifics. Boldness was repeatable in both adults and juveniles, but exploration was only repeatable in adults. We found evidence for a behavioural syndrome between exploration and boldness in adult degus. We documented negative assortment by exploratory personality type; more exploratory animals shared burrows with less exploratory animals. However, tendency towards boldness and exploration were not predictive of association strength. Our results highlight a potential connection between personality and social structure in a communally nesting species.

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Into the wild: developing field tests to examine the link between elasmobranch personality and laterality

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/1568539x-00003373 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 153 (13-14) ◽

pp. 1777-1793 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Evan E. Byrnes ◽

Catarina Vila Pouca ◽

Sherrie L. Chambers ◽

Culum Brown

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Field Tests ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Field Studies ◽

Individual Level ◽

In The Wild ◽

Port Jackson ◽

The Relationship

The field of animal personality has received considerable attention in past decades, yet few studies have examined personality in the wild. This study investigated docility, a measure of boldness, in two Port Jackson shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) populations using field tests, and if laterality differences explained docility levels. We developed a struggle test as an assay for docility, which is particularly amenable to field studies. The struggle test was effective, and repeatable inter-individual docility differences were observed. Sex, but not population, influenced docility scores, with male sharks being less docile than females. This difference is likely due to the contrasting role each sex plays during mating. We also found individualized lateralization. However, no individual-level relationship between lateralization and docility was detected. Despite reported links between laterality and some personality traits, the relationship between laterality and boldness remains inconclusive in sharks. Further studies will prove essential to clarify the mechanisms behind personality traits in vertebrates.

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The number of neurons in specific amygdala regions is associated with boldness in mink: a study in animal personality

Brain Structure and Function ◽

10.1007/s00429-018-1606-4 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ann-Sophie Wiese ◽

Esther Kjær Needham ◽

Christina Lehmkuhl Noer ◽

Thorsten Johannes Skovbjerg Balsby ◽

Torben Dabelsteen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Animal Personality

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Understanding the evolution of personality requires the study of mechanisms behind the development and life history of personality traits

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2017.0740 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 20170740 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Fritz Trillmich ◽

Thorben Müller ◽

Caroline Müller

Keyword(s):

Regulatory Networks ◽

Personality Development ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Genetic Regulatory Networks ◽

Emergent Properties ◽

Proximate Mechanisms ◽

History Of ◽

Behavioural Phenotypes ◽

Epigenetic Processes

Research on animal personality explains the coexistence of distinct behavioural phenotypes within a species and demonstrates limits to individual plasticity. However, the mechanisms guiding the lifelong development of personality should receive more attention, because many elements of personality are emergent properties of interactions between the environment and an individual's genetic background. In these interactions, mechanisms (e.g. genetic regulatory networks, epigenetic processes and neuroendocrine regulation) influencing personality may be modified. An approach integrating proximate mechanisms with a view of lifelong personality development will crucially improve understanding stability, plasticity and inter-individual variability of personalities and clarify the effects of selection on the phenomenon.

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