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Haave-Audet E, Besson AA, Nakagawa S, Mathot KJ. Differences in resource acquisition, not allocation, mediate the relationship between behaviour and fitness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 97:708-731. [PMID: 34859575 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2021] [Revised: 11/17/2021] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Within populations, individuals often show repeatable variation in behaviour, called 'animal personality'. In the last few decades, numerous empirical studies have attempted to elucidate the mechanisms maintaining this variation, such as life-history trade-offs. Theory predicts that among-individual variation in behavioural traits could be maintained if traits that are positively associated with reproduction are simultaneously associated with decreased survival, such that different levels of behavioural expression lead to the same net fitness outcome. However, variation in resource acquisition may also be important in mediating the relationship between individual behaviour and fitness components (survival and reproduction). For example, if certain phenotypes (e.g. dominance or aggressiveness) are associated with higher resource acquisition, those individuals may have both higher reproduction and higher survival, relative to others in the population. When individuals differ in their ability to acquire resources, trade-offs are only expected to be observed at the within-individual level (i.e. for a given amount of resource, if an individual increases its allocation to reproduction, it comes at the cost of allocation to survival, and vice versa), while among individuals traits that are associated with increased survival may also be associated with increased reproduction. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis, asking: (i) do among-individual differences in behaviour reflect among-individual differences in resource acquisition and/or allocation, and (ii) is the relationship between behaviour and fitness affected by the type of behaviour and the testing environment? Our meta-analysis consisted of 759 estimates from 193 studies. Our meta-analysis revealed a positive correlation between pairs of estimates using both survival and reproduction as fitness proxies. That is, for a given study, behaviours that were associated with increased reproduction were also associated with increased survival, suggesting that variation in behaviour at the among-individual level largely reflects differences among individuals in resource acquisition. Furthermore, we found the same positive correlation between pairs of estimates using both survival and reproduction as fitness proxies at the phenotypic level. This is significant because we also demonstrated that these phenotypic correlations primarily reflect within-individual correlations. Thus, even when accounting for among-individual differences in resource acquisition, we did not find evidence of trade-offs at the within-individual level. Overall, the relationship between behaviour and fitness proxies was not statistically different from zero at the among-individual, phenotypic, and within-individual levels; this relationship was not affected by behavioural category nor by the testing condition. Our meta-analysis highlights that variation in resource acquisition may be more important in driving the relationship between behaviour and fitness than previously thought, including at the within-individual level. We suggest that this may come about via heterogeneity in resource availability or age-related effects, with higher resource availability and/or age leading to state-dependent shifts in behaviour that simultaneously increase both survival and reproduction. We emphasize that future studies examining the mechanisms maintaining behavioural variation in populations should test the link between behavioural expression and resource acquisition - both within and among individuals. Such work will allow the field of animal personality to develop specific predictions regarding the mediating effect of resource acquisition on the fitness consequences of individual behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elène Haave-Audet
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 405, Biological Sciences Bldg, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada
| | - Anne A Besson
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 405, Biological Sciences Bldg, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada.,Department of Zoology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Kimberley J Mathot
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 405, Biological Sciences Bldg, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada.,Canada Research Chair, Integrative Ecology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada
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2
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Class B, Brommer J. Contrasting multilevel relationships between behavior and body mass in blue tit nestlings. Behav Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Repeatable behaviors (i.e., animal personality) are pervasive in the animal kingdom and various mechanisms have been proposed to explain their existence. Genetic and nongenetic mechanisms, which can be equally important, predict correlations between behavior and body mass on different levels (e.g., genetic and environmental) of variation. We investigated multilevel relationships between body mass measured on weeks 1, 2, and 3 and three behavioral responses to handling, measured on week 3, which form a behavioral syndrome in wild blue tit nestlings. Using 7 years of data and quantitative genetic models, we find that all behaviors and body mass on week 3 are heritable (h2 = 0.18–0.23) and genetically correlated, whereas earlier body masses are not heritable. We also find evidence for environmental correlations between body masses and behaviors. Interestingly, these environmental correlations have different signs for early and late body masses. Altogether, these findings indicate genetic integration between body mass and behavior and illustrate the impacts of early environmental factors and environmentally mediated growth trajectory on behaviors expressed later in life. This study, therefore, suggests that the relationship between personality and body mass in developing individuals is due to various underlying mechanisms, which can have opposing effects. Future research on the link between behavior and body mass would benefit from considering these multiple mechanisms simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Class
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, University Hill, Turku, Finland
| | - Jon Brommer
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, University Hill, Turku, Finland
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3
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You're Just My Type: Mate Choice and Behavioral Types. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:823-833. [PMID: 32451175 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2019] [Revised: 04/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Consistent individual differences in behavior [i.e., behavioral types (BTs)], are common across the animal kingdom. Consistency can make behavior an adaptive trait for mate choice decisions. Here, we present a conceptual framework to explain how and why females might evaluate a male's BT before mating. Because BTs are consistent across time or context, a male's BT can be a reliable indicator of his potential to provide direct benefits. Heritable BTs can enable informed mate choice via indirect benefits. Many key issues regarding patterns of mate choice, including sensory biases, context dependence, and assortative mating apply to BT-dependent mate choice. Understanding the relationship between BTs and mate choice may offer insights into patterns of variation and consistency common in behavioral traits.
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Male territorial aggression and fitness in collared flycatchers: a long-term study. Naturwissenschaften 2019; 106:11. [DOI: 10.1007/s00114-019-1606-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2018] [Revised: 12/14/2018] [Accepted: 02/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
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Dubuc-Messier G, Caro SP, Perrier C, van Oers K, Réale D, Charmantier A. Gene flow does not prevent personality and morphological differentiation between two blue tit populations. J Evol Biol 2018; 31:1127-1137. [PMID: 29791058 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2017] [Revised: 05/02/2018] [Accepted: 05/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the causes and consequences of population phenotypic divergence is a central goal in ecology and evolution. Phenotypic divergence among populations can result from genetic divergence, phenotypic plasticity or a combination of the two. However, few studies have deciphered these mechanisms for populations geographically close and connected by gene flow, especially in the case of personality traits. In this study, we used a common garden experiment to explore the genetic basis of the phenotypic divergence observed between two blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) populations inhabiting contrasting habitats separated by 25 km, for two personality traits (exploration speed and handling aggression), one physiological trait (heart rate during restraint) and two morphological traits (tarsus length and body mass). Blue tit nestlings were removed from their population and raised in a common garden for up to 5 years. We then compared adult phenotypes between the two populations, as well as trait-specific Qst and Fst . Our results revealed differences between populations similar to those found in the wild, suggesting a genetic divergence for all traits. Qst -Fst comparisons revealed that the trait divergences likely result from dissimilar selection patterns rather than from genetic drift. Our study is one of the first to report a Qst -Fst comparison for personality traits and adds to the growing body of evidence that population genetic divergence is possible at a small scale for a variety of traits including behavioural traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielle Dubuc-Messier
- Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5175, Montpellier, France.,Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Samuel P Caro
- Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5175, Montpellier, France.,Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Charles Perrier
- Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5175, Montpellier, France
| | - Kees van Oers
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Denis Réale
- Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Anne Charmantier
- Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5175, Montpellier, France.,Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
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Trnka A, Samaš P, Grim T. Stability of a behavioural syndrome vs. plasticity in individual behaviours over the breeding cycle: Ultimate and proximate explanations. Behav Processes 2018; 153:100-106. [PMID: 29870797 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2018.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2018] [Revised: 05/29/2018] [Accepted: 06/01/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Animals often show correlated suites of consistent behavioural traits, i.e., personality or behavioural syndromes. Does this conflict with potential phenotypic plasticity which should be adaptive for animals facing various contexts and situations? This fundamental question has been tested predominantly in studies which were done in non-breeding contexts and under laboratory conditions. Therefore, in the present study we examined the temporal stability of behavioural correlations in a breeding context and under natural conditions. We found that in the great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) females, the intensity of their nest defence formed a behavioural syndrome with two other traits: their aggression during handling (self-defence) and stress responses during handling (breath rate). This syndrome was stable across the nesting cycle: each of the three behavioural traits was highly statistically repeatable between egg and nestling stages and the traits were strongly correlated with each other during both the egg stage and the nestling stage. Despite this consistency (i.e., rank order between stages) the individual behaviours changed their absolute values significantly during the same period. This shows that stable behavioural syndromes might be based on behaviours that are themselves unstable. Thus, syndromes do not inevitably constrain phenotypic plasticity. We suggest that the observed behavioural syndrome is the product of interactions between behavioural and life history trade-offs and that crucial proximate mechanisms for the plasticity and correlations between individual behaviours are hormonally-regulated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfréd Trnka
- Department of Biology, University of Trnava, Priemyselná 4, 918 43, Trnava, Slovakia.
| | - Peter Samaš
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, 60365 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Tomáš Grim
- Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Palacký University, 17. listopadu 50, 77146 Olomouc, Czech Republic
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Trnka A, Samaš P, Grim T. Consistent individual and sex-specific differences in behaviour of common cuckoo chicks: is there a potential impact on host-parasite coevolutionary dynamics? BEHAVIOUR 2018. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-00003522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Research on brood parasitism has focused primarily on specific host anti-parasite behaviours and parasite counter-adaptations, and little is known about other aspects of their behaviours such as consistent behavioural differences between individuals. Therefore, we examined consistency in behaviour of nestlings of common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) raised by great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus). Cuckoo chicks showed high repeatability of both aggressive behaviour and breath rate, and both traits were strongly correlated with each other. This represents the first evidence for consistent differences in behaviour among avian brood parasites. Males were consistently more aggressive and less stressed than females. Nestlings of both sexes that hatched later in the season exhibited higher levels of aggression and lower stress responses than nestlings hatched earlier. This suggests that rearing conditions (e.g., food availability and quality) may modulate stress and aggressive phenotypes of brood parasites. We discuss potential effects of the observed patterns on host-parasite dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfréd Trnka
- aDepartment of Biology, University of Trnava, Priemyselná 4, 918 43, Trnava, Slovakia
| | - Peter Samaš
- bInstitute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, 60365 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Tomáš Grim
- cDepartment of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Palacký University, 17. listopadu 50, 77146 Olomouc, Czech Republic
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Senar JC, Garamszegi LZ, Tilgar V, Biard C, Moreno-Rueda G, Salmón P, Rivas JM, Sprau P, Dingemanse NJ, Charmantier A, Demeyrier V, Navalpotro H, Isaksson C. Urban Great Tits (Parus major) Show Higher Distress Calling and Pecking Rates than Rural Birds across Europe. Front Ecol Evol 2017. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2017.00163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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9
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Class B, Dingemanse NJ, Araya‐Ajoy YG, Brommer JE. A statistical methodology for estimating assortative mating for phenotypic traits that are labile or measured with error. Methods Ecol Evol 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.12837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Class
- Department of BiologyUniversity of TurkuUniversity Hill Turku Finland
| | - Niels J. Dingemanse
- Behavioural EcologyDepartment of BiologyLudwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) Planegg‐Martinsried Germany
| | - Yimen G. Araya‐Ajoy
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)Department of BiologyNorwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Trondheim Norway
| | - Jon E. Brommer
- Department of BiologyUniversity of TurkuUniversity Hill Turku Finland
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10
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Charmantier A, Demeyrier V, Lambrechts M, Perret S, Grégoire A. Urbanization Is Associated with Divergence in Pace-of-Life in Great Tits. Front Ecol Evol 2017. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2017.00053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
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11
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St-Hilaire É, Réale D, Garant D. Determinants, selection and heritability of docility in wild eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2320-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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12
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Edwards HA, Burke T, Dugdale HL. Repeatable and heritable behavioural variation in a wild cooperative breeder. Behav Ecol 2017; 28:668-676. [PMID: 29622921 PMCID: PMC5873258 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arx013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2016] [Revised: 01/10/2017] [Accepted: 01/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Quantifying consistent differences in behaviour among individuals is vital to understanding the ecological and evolutionary significance of animal personality. To quantify personality, the phenotypic variation of a behavioural trait is partitioned to assess how it varies among individuals, which is also known as repeatability. If pedigree data are available, the phenotypic variation can then be further partitioned to estimate the additive genetic variance and heritability. Assessing the repeatability and heritability of personality traits therefore allows for a better understanding of what natural selection can act upon, enabling evolution. In a natural population of facultative cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis) on Cousin Island, a lack of breeding vacancies forces individuals into different life-history strategies, and these differences in reproductive state could generate behavioural differences among individuals in the population. We used this population to estimate the repeatability of 4 behavioural traits (novel environment exploration, novel object exploration, obstinacy/struggle rate, and escape response), and narrow-sense heritability (of behavior, h2B; behavior minus observer variance; and personality), and evolvability, of the repeatable behavioural traits. We also tested for an among-individual correlation between the repeatable traits. We found that, compared to estimates in other study species, the exploratory behaviours were moderately repeatable (0.23–0.37), there was a positive among-individual correlation (0.51) between novel environment and novel object exploration, and that novel environment exploration was moderately heritable (0.17; h2B was low as it includes observer variance). This study further clarifies the additive genetic variance available for selection to act upon in this cooperatively breeding bird.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah A Edwards
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - Terry Burke
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - Hannah L Dugdale
- Nature Seychelles, PO Box 1310, Roche Caiman, Mahé, Republic of Seychelles.,Behavioural Ecology and Physiological Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands.,School of Biology, The Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
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13
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Brommer JE, Class B. Phenotypic correlations capture between-individual correlations underlying behavioral syndromes. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2278-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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14
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Dubuc-Messier G, Réale D, Perret P, Charmantier A. Environmental heterogeneity and population differences in blue tits personality traits. Behav Ecol 2016; 28:448-459. [PMID: 29622919 PMCID: PMC5873839 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2016] [Revised: 07/28/2016] [Accepted: 08/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental heterogeneity can result in spatial variation in selection pressures that can produce local adaptations. The pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis predicts that habitat-specific selective pressures will favor the coevolution of personality, physiological, and life-history phenotypes. Few studies so far have compared these traits simultaneously across different ecological conditions. In this study, we compared 3 personality traits (handling aggression, exploration speed in a novel environment, and nest defense behavior) and 1 physiological trait (heart rate during manual restraint) across 3 Corsican blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) populations. These populations are located in contrasting habitats (evergreen vs. deciduous) and are situated in 2 different valleys 25 km apart. Birds from these populations are known to differ in life-history characteristics, with birds from the evergreen habitat displaying a slow pace-of-life, and birds from the deciduous habitat a comparatively faster pace-of-life. We expected personality to differ across populations, in line with the differences in pace-of-life documented for life-history traits. As expected, we found behavioral differences among populations. Despite considerable temporal variation, birds exhibited lower handling aggression in the evergreen populations. Exploration speed and male heart rate also differed across populations, although our results for exploration speed were more consistent with a phenotypic difference between the 2 valleys than between habitats. There were no clear differences in nest defense intensity among populations. Our study emphasizes the role of environmental heterogeneity in shaping population divergence in personality traits at a small spatial scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielle Dubuc-Messier
- Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, CP-8888 Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada and.,Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5175, 1919 Route de Mende, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Denis Réale
- Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, CP-8888 Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada and
| | - Philippe Perret
- Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5175, 1919 Route de Mende, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Anne Charmantier
- Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, CP-8888 Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada and.,Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5175, 1919 Route de Mende, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
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Class B, Brommer JE. A strong genetic correlation underlying a behavioural syndrome disappears during development because of genotype-age interactions. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:20142777. [PMID: 26041348 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In animal populations, as in humans, behavioural differences between individuals that are consistent over time and across contexts are considered to reflect personality, and suites of correlated behaviours expressed by individuals are known as behavioural syndromes. Lifelong stability of behavioural syndromes is often assumed, either implicitly or explicitly. Here, we use a quantitative genetic approach to study the developmental stability of a behavioural syndrome in a wild population of blue tits. We find that a behavioural syndrome formed by a strong genetic correlation of two personality traits in nestlings disappears in adults, and we demonstrate that genotype-age interaction is the likely mechanism underlying this change during development. A behavioural syndrome may hence change during organismal development, even when personality traits seem to be strongly physiologically or functionally linked in one age group. We outline how such developmental plasticity has important ramifications for understanding the mechanistic basis as well as the evolutionary consequences of behavioural syndromes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Class
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, University Hill, Turku 20014, Finland
| | - Jon E Brommer
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, University Hill, Turku 20014, Finland
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17
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Charmantier A, Doutrelant C, Dubuc-Messier G, Fargevieille A, Szulkin M. Mediterranean blue tits as a case study of local adaptation. Evol Appl 2015; 9:135-52. [PMID: 27087844 PMCID: PMC4780380 DOI: 10.1111/eva.12282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2015] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
While the study of the origins of biological diversity across species has provided numerous examples of adaptive divergence, the realization that it can occur at microgeographic scales despite gene flow is recent, and scarcely illustrated. We review here evidence suggesting that the striking phenotypic differentiation in ecologically relevant traits exhibited by blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus in their southern range‐edge putatively reflects adaptation to the heterogeneity of the Mediterranean habitats. We first summarize the phenotypic divergence for a series of life history, morphological, behavioural, acoustic and colour ornament traits in blue tit populations of evergreen and deciduous forests. For each divergent trait, we review the evidence obtained from common garden experiments regarding a possible genetic origin of the observed phenotypic differentiation as well as evidence for heterogeneous selection. Second, we argue that most phenotypically differentiated traits display heritable variation, a fundamental requirement for evolution to occur. Third, we discuss nonrandom dispersal, selective barriers and assortative mating as processes that could reinforce local adaptation. Finally, we show how population genomics supports isolation – by – environment across landscapes. Overall, the combination of approaches converges to the conclusion that the strong phenotypic differentiation observed in Mediterranean blue tits is a fascinating case of local adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Charmantier
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Campus CNRS Montpellier France
| | - Claire Doutrelant
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Campus CNRS Montpellier France
| | - Gabrielle Dubuc-Messier
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Campus CNRS Montpellier France; Département des sciences biologiques Université du Québec à Montréal Succursalle centre-ville QC Canada
| | | | - Marta Szulkin
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Campus CNRS Montpellier France
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18
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Oers KV, Kohn GM, Hinde CA, Naguib M. Parental food provisioning is related to nestling stress response in wild great tit nestlings: implications for the development of personality. Front Zool 2015; 12:S10. [PMID: 26913051 PMCID: PMC4755007 DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-12-s1-s10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Variation in early nutrition is known to play an important role in shaping the behavioural development of individuals. Parental prey selection may have long-lasting behavioural influences. In birds foraging on arthropods, for instance, the specific prey types, e.g. spiders and caterpillars, matter as they have different levels of taurine which may have an effect on personality development. Here we investigated how naturally occurring variation in the amounts of spiders and caterpillars, provisioned to nestlings at day 4 and 8 after hatching, is related to the response to handling stress in a wild passerine, the great tit (Parus major). Broods were cross-fostered in a split-brood design allowing us to separate maternal and genetic effects from early rearing effects. Adult provisioning behaviour was monitored on day four and day eight after hatching using video recordings. Individual nestlings were subjected to a handling stress test at an age of 14 days, which is a validated proxy for exploratory behaviour as an adult. Results Variation in handling stress was mainly determined by the rearing environment. We show that, contrary to our predictions, not the amount of spider biomass, but the amount of caterpillar biomass delivered per nestling significantly affected individual performance in the stress test. Chicks provisioned with lower amounts of caterpillars exhibited a stronger stress response, reflecting faster exploratory behaviour later on in life, than individuals who received larger amounts of caterpillars. Conclusions These results suggest that natural variation in parental behaviour in wild birds modulates the developmental trajectories of their offspring's personality via food provisioning. Since parental provisioning behaviour might also reflect the local environmental conditions, provisioning behaviour may influence how nestlings respond to these local environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kees van Oers
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Gregory M Kohn
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands; current address: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA
| | - Camilla A Hinde
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marc Naguib
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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19
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Trnka A, Grim T. Testing for correlations between behaviours in a cuckoo host: why do host defences not covary? Anim Behav 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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