Suppression of personality variation in boldness during foraging in three-spined sticklebacks

Animal-friendly behavioral testing in field studies: examples from ground squirrels

Field studies of behavior provide insight into the expression of behavior in its natural ecological context and can serve as an important complement to behavioral studies conducted in the lab under controlled conditions. In addition to naturalistic observations, behavioral testing can be an important component of field studies of behavior. This mini review evaluates a sample of behavioral testing methods in field studies to identify ways in which behavioral testing can be animal-friendly and generate ethologically relevant data. Specific examples, primarily from studies of ground squirrels, are presented to illustrate ways in which principles of animal-friendly behavioral testing can be applied to and guide testing methods. Tests conducted with animals in their natural habitat and that elicit naturally occurring behavioral responses can minimize stress and disturbance for animals, as well as disruption of the larger ecosystem, and can have high ethological validity. When animals are trapped or handled as part of a study, behavioral testing can be incorporated into handling procedures to reduce overall disturbance. When behavior is evaluated in a testing arena, the arena can be designed to resemble natural conditions to increase the ethological relevance of the test. Efforts to minimize time spent in testing arenas can also reduce disturbance to animals. Adapting a behavioral test to a species or habitat conditions can facilitate reduced disruption to subjects and increased ethological relevance of the test.

Leveraging big data to uncover the eco-evolutionary factors shaping behavioural development

Mapping the eco-evolutionary factors shaping the development of animals' behavioural phenotypes remains a great challenge. Recent advances in 'big behavioural data' research-the high-resolution tracking of individuals and the harnessing of that data with powerful analytical tools-have vastly improved our ability to measure and model developing behavioural phenotypes. Applied to the study of behavioural ontogeny, the unfolding of whole behavioural repertoires can be mapped in unprecedented detail with relative ease. This overcomes long-standing experimental bottlenecks and heralds a surge of studies that more finely define and explore behavioural-experiential trajectories across development. In this review, we first provide a brief guide to state-of-the-art approaches that allow the collection and analysis of high-resolution behavioural data across development. We then outline how such approaches can be used to address key issues regarding the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping behavioural development: developmental feedbacks between behaviour and underlying states, early life effects and behavioural transitions, and information integration across development.

Social context mediates the expression of a personality trait in a gregarious lizard

The social environment is a key factor that influences behavioural traits across a wide array of species. Yet, when investigating individual differences in behaviour, studies tend to measure animals in isolation from other conspecifics-even in social species. Surprisingly, whether behavioural traits measured in isolation are predictive of individual-level behaviour when in social groups is still poorly understood. Here, we repeatedly measured risk-taking behaviour (i.e. boldness; 741 total trials) in both the presence and absence of conspecifics in a social lizard, the delicate skink (Lampropholis delicata). Further, we manipulated food availability during group trials to test whether the effect of the social environment on risk-taking behaviour was mediated by competition over resources. Using 105 lizards collected from three independent populations, we found that individual risk-taking behaviour was repeatable when measured in either social isolation or within groups both with and without food resources available. However, lizards that were bolder during individual trials were not also bolder when in groups, regardless of resource availability. This was largely driven by individual differences in social behavioural plasticity, whereby individual skinks responded differently to the presence of conspecifics. Together, this resulted in a rank order change of individual behavioural types across the social conditions. Our results highlight the importance of the social environment in mediating animal personality traits across varying levels of resource availability. Further, these findings suggest that behavioural traits when measured in isolation, may not reflect individual variation in behaviour when measured in more ecologically realistic social groups.

Developmental feedbacks and the emergence of individuality

Behavioural individuality is a hallmark of animal life, with major consequences for fitness, ecology, and evolution. One of the most widely invoked explanations for this variation is that feedback loops between an animal's behaviour and its state (e.g. physiology, informational state, social rank, etc.) trigger and shape the development of individuality. Despite their often-cited importance, however, little is known about the ultimate causes of such feedbacks. Expanding on a previously employed model of adaptive behavioural development under uncertainty, we find that (i) behaviour-state feedbacks emerge as a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments and (ii) that the sign of these feedbacks, and thus the consequences for the development of behavioural individuality, can be directly predicted by the shape of the fitness function, with increasing fitness benefits giving rise to positive feedbacks and trait divergence and decreasing fitness benefits leading to negative feedbacks and trait convergence. Our findings provide a testable explanatory framework for the emergence of developmental feedbacks driving individuality and suggest that such feedbacks and their associated patterns of behavioural diversity are a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments.

Developmental feedbacks and the emergence of individuality

Behavioural individuality is a hallmark of animal life, with major consequences for fitness, ecology, and evolution. One of the most widely invoked explanations for this variation is that feedback loops between an animal's behaviour and its state (e.g. physiology, informational state, social rank, etc.) trigger and shape the development of individuality. Despite their often-cited importance, however, little is known about the ultimate causes of such feedbacks. Expanding on a previously employed model of adaptive behavioural development under uncertainty, we find that (i) behaviour-state feedbacks emerge as a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments and (ii) that the sign of these feedbacks, and thus the consequences for the development of behavioural individuality, can be directly predicted by the shape of the fitness function, with increasing fitness benefits giving rise to positive feedbacks and trait divergence and decreasing fitness benefits leading to negative feedbacks and trait convergence. Our findings provide a testable explanatory framework for the emergence of developmental feedbacks driving individuality and suggest that such feedbacks and their associated patterns of behavioural diversity are a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments.

Developmental feedbacks and the emergence of individuality

Behavioural individuality is a hallmark of animal life, with major consequences for fitness, ecology, and evolution. One of the most widely invoked explanations for this variation is that feedback loops between an animal's behaviour and its state (e.g. physiology, informational state, social rank, etc.) trigger and shape the development of individuality. Despite their often-cited importance, however, little is known about the ultimate causes of such feedbacks. Expanding on a previously employed model of adaptive behavioural development under uncertainty, we find that (i) behaviour-state feedbacks emerge as a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments and (ii) that the sign of these feedbacks, and thus the consequences for the development of behavioural individuality, can be directly predicted by the shape of the fitness function, with increasing fitness benefits giving rise to positive feedbacks and trait divergence and decreasing fitness benefits leading to negative feedbacks and trait convergence. Our findings provide a testable explanatory framework for the emergence of developmental feedbacks driving individuality and suggest that such feedbacks and their associated patterns of behavioural diversity are a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments.

Detecting behavioural lateralisation in Poecilia reticulata is strongly dependent on experimental design

Abstract

Despite the potential benefits gained from behavioural lateralisation, defined as the asymmetrical expression of cognitive functioning, this trait demonstrates widespread variation within and between populations. Numerous methodologies have been applied to investigate lateralisation, although whether different methodologies give consistent results has been relatively understudied. In this study, we assess (1) the repeatability of individual Poecilia reticulata’s lateralisation indexes between a classic detour assay (I-maze), quasi-circular mirror maze and novel detour assay (a radially symmetric Y-maze); (2) whether the methodological standard of analysing only the first ten turns in a detour assay accurately quantifies lateralisation; and (3) whether lateralisation indexes produced can be adequately explained by random chance by comparing the observed data to a novel unbiased ‘coin-toss’ randomisation model. We found (1) the two detour assays to produce generally consistent results in terms of relative lateralisation (directionality) but differed in terms of absolute laterality (intensity). The mirror assay, however, demonstrated no similarity to either assay. (2) The first ten turns were generally reflective of all turns undertaken during the 15-min trial but reducing the number of turns did exaggerate lateralisation indexes. (3) The observed laterality indexes from the assays were found to be similar to corresponding datasets produced by the randomisation model, with significant deviations likely explained by individuals’ propensity to perform consecutive turns in the same direction. These results demonstrate the need to increase the number of observed turning choices to reduce the likelihood of producing spurious or exaggerated lateralisation indexes from random chance or external influences.

Significance statement

Published studies investigating lateralisation, or ‘handedness’, in fish species have used a diverse array of methodologies. Given the variability in methodologies being employed and the widespread variation in the extent fish are lateralised and in which direction (left or right), it is important to assess whether different methods produce consistent laterality indexes. From assessing individual Poecilia reticulata in three laterality assays, the direction of lateralisation was found to correlate between the two detour assays measuring turn choice, although the absolute strength of this laterality was not consistent. There were no correlations between these assays and in an individual’s eye-use when viewing their reflection in a mirror maze assay. However, further investigation using a novel unbiased ‘coin-toss’ randomisation model to simulate replica datasets for each assay brings into question whether patterns of laterality found in the observed population differ significantly from random chance.

Sociability as a personality trait in animals: methods, causes and consequences

Within animal populations there is variation among individuals in their tendency to be social, where more sociable individuals associate more with other individuals. Consistent inter-individual variation in 'sociability' is considered one of the major axes of personality variation in animals along with aggressiveness, activity, exploration and boldness. Not only is variation in sociability important in terms of animal personalities, but it holds particular significance for, and can be informed by, two other topics of major interest: social networks and collective behaviour. Further, knowledge of what generates inter-individual variation in social behaviour also holds applied implications, such as understanding disorders of social behaviour in humans. In turn, research using non-human animals in the genetics, neuroscience and physiology of these disorders can inform our understanding of sociability. For the first time, this review brings together insights across these areas of research, across animal taxa from primates to invertebrates, and across studies from both the laboratory and field. We show there are mixed results in whether and how sociability correlates with other major behavioural traits. Whether and in what direction these correlations are observed may differ with individual traits such as sex and body condition, as well as ecological conditions. A large body of evidence provides the proximate mechanisms for why individuals vary in their social tendency. Evidence exists for the importance of genes and their expression, chemical messengers, social interactions and the environment in determining an individual's social tendency, although the specifics vary with species and other variables such as age, and interactions amongst these proximate factors. Less well understood is how evolution can maintain consistent variation in social tendencies within populations. Shifts in the benefits and costs of social tendencies over time, as well as the social niche hypothesis, are currently the best supported theories for how variation in sociability can evolve and be maintained in populations. Increased exposure to infectious diseases is the best documented cost of a greater social tendency, and benefits include greater access to socially transmitted information. We also highlight that direct evidence for more sociable individuals being safer from predators is lacking. Variation in sociability is likely to have broad ecological consequences, but beyond its importance in the spread of infectious diseases, direct evidence is limited to a few examples related to dispersal and invasive species biology. Overall, our knowledge of inter-individual variation in sociability is highly skewed towards the proximate mechanisms. Our review also demonstrates, however, that considering research from social networks and collective behaviour greatly enriches our understanding of sociability, highlighting the need for greater integration of these approaches into future animal personality research to address the imbalance in our understanding of sociability as a personality trait.

The Potential for Physiological Performance Curves to Shape Environmental Effects on Social Behavior

As individual animals are exposed to varying environmental conditions, phenotypic plasticity will occur in a vast array of physiological traits. For example, shifts in factors such as temperature and oxygen availability can affect the energy demand, cardiovascular system, and neuromuscular function of animals that in turn impact individual behavior. Here, we argue that nonlinear changes in the physiological traits and performance of animals across environmental gradients—known as physiological performance curves—may have wide-ranging effects on the behavior of individual social group members and the functioning of animal social groups as a whole. Previous work has demonstrated how variation between individuals can have profound implications for socially living animals, as well as how environmental conditions affect social behavior. However, the importance of variation between individuals in how they respond to changing environmental conditions has so far been largely overlooked in the context of animal social behavior. First, we consider the broad effects that individual variation in performance curves may have on the behavior of socially living animals, including: (1) changes in the rank order of performance capacity among group mates across environments; (2) environment-dependent changes in the amount of among- and within-individual variation, and (3) differences among group members in terms of the environmental optima, the critical environmental limits, and the peak capacity and breadth of performance. We then consider the ecological implications of these effects for a range of socially mediated phenomena, including within-group conflict, within- and among group assortment, collective movement, social foraging, predator-prey interactions and disease and parasite transfer. We end by outlining the type of empirical work required to test the implications for physiological performance curves in social behavior.