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Loftus JC, Perez AA, Sih A. Task syndromes: linking personality and task allocation in social animal groups. Behav Ecol 2021; 32:1-17. [PMID: 33708004 PMCID: PMC7937036 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Revised: 08/04/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of eusocial insects have extensively investigated two components of task allocation: how individuals distribute themselves among different tasks in a colony and how the distribution of labor changes to meet fluctuating task demand. While discrete age- and morphologically-based task allocation systems explain much of the social order in these colonies, the basis for task allocation in non-eusocial organisms and within eusocial castes remains unknown. Building from recent advances in the study of among-individual variation in behavior (i.e., animal personalities), we explore a potential mechanism by which individuality in behaviors unrelated to tasks can guide the developmental trajectories that lead to task specialization. We refer to the task-based behavioral syndrome that results from the correlation between the antecedent behavioral tendencies and task participation as a task syndrome. In this review, we present a framework that integrates concepts from a long history of task allocation research in eusocial organisms with recent findings from animal personality research to elucidate how task syndromes and resulting task allocation might manifest in animal groups. By drawing upon an extensive and diverse literature to evaluate the hypothesized framework, this review identifies future areas for study at the intersection of social behavior and animal personality.
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Affiliation(s)
- J C Loftus
- Department of Anthropology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA.,Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - A A Perez
- Department of Entomology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - A Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
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2
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Predictors of colony extinction vary by habitat type in social spiders. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2020; 74. [PMID: 32431472 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2781-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Many animal societies are susceptible to mass mortality events and collapse. Elucidating how environmental pressures determine patterns of collapse is important for understanding how such societies function and evolve. Using the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola, we investigated the environmental drivers of colony extinction along two precipitation gradients across southern Africa, using the Namib and Kalahari deserts versus wetter savanna habitats to the north and east. We deployed experimental colonies (n = 242) along two ~ 800-km transects and returned to assess colony success in the field after 2 months. Specifically, we noted colony extinction events after the 2-month duration and collected environmental data on the correlates of those extinction events (e.g., evidence of ant attacks, no. of prey captured). We found that colony extinction events at desert sites were more frequently associated with attacks by predatory ants as compared with savanna sites, while colony extinctions in wetter savannas sites were more tightly associated with fungal outbreaks. Our findings support the hypothesis that environments vary in the selection pressures that they impose on social organisms, which may explain why different social phenotypes are often favored in each habitat.
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Vernouillet A, Kelly DM. Individual exploratory responses are not repeatable across time or context for four species of food-storing corvid. Sci Rep 2020; 10:394. [PMID: 31941921 PMCID: PMC6962162 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56138-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Exploration is among one of the most studied of animal personality traits (i.e., individual-level behavioural responses repeatable across time and contexts). However, not all species show clear evidence of this personality trait, and this is particularly so for members of the Corvidae family. We assessed the exploratory behaviour of four food-caching corvid species: pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana), California scrub jays (Aphelocoma californica), and black-billed magpies (Pica hudsonia). Contextual repeatability was assessed through examining behavioural measures during the Novel Environment task and the Novel Object task, whereas temporal repeatability was assessed by examining changes in these measures over repeated trials. Our results suggest that, for corvids, an individual's exploratory behaviour was not repeatable across contexts or over time. Hence, we found no evidence that exploration constitutes a personality trait for these species of corvid. We did find differences in exploratory behaviour, at a species level, that may be explained by relative reliance on cached food.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alizée Vernouillet
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
| | - Debbie M Kelly
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. .,Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
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Purcell J, Pruitt JN. Are personalities genetically determined? Inferences from subsocial spiders. BMC Genomics 2019; 20:867. [PMID: 31752670 PMCID: PMC6873478 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-6172-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2019] [Accepted: 10/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Recent research has revealed that polymorphic behavioral strategies shape intra-and interspecific interactions and contribute to fitness in many animal species. A better understanding of the proximate mechanisms underlying these behavioral syndromes will enhance our grasp this phenomenon. Spiders in the genus Anelosimus exhibit inter-individual behavioral variation on several axes: individuals have consistent responses to stimuli (e.g. bold vs. shy individuals) and they are subsocial (exhibiting extended maternal care and sibling cooperation) across most of their range, but they sometimes form permanent social groups in northern temperate regions. Here, we seek genetic variants associated with boldness and with social structure in a socially polymorphic population of the spider Anelosimus studiosus. We also develop preliminary genomic resources, including a genome assembly and linkage map, that support this and future genomic research on this group. Results Remarkably, we identify a small genomic scaffold (~ 1200 bp) that harbors seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with boldness. Moreover, heterozygotes are less common than expected based on Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, suggesting that either assortative mating or selection against heterozygotes may be occurring in this system. We find no loci significantly associated with social organization. Our draft genome assembly allows us to localize SNPs of interest in this study and to carry out genetic comparisons with other published genomes, although it remains highly fragmented. Conclusions By identifying a locus associated with a well-studied animal personality trait, this study opens up avenues for future research to link behavioral studies of animal personality with genotype and fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Purcell
- Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA.
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada
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Segovia JMG, Moura RR, Willemart RH. Starvation decreases behavioral consistency in a Neotropical harvestman. Acta Ethol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10211-019-00327-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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6
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The survival of the shyest: a computational model shows the effect of web structure on the origins of social spiders. Anim Behav 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.05.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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7
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Jäger HY, Han CS, Dingemanse NJ. Social experiences shape behavioral individuality and within-individual stability. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Individual repeatability characterizes many behaviors. Repeatable behavior may result from repeated social interactions among familiar group members, owing to adaptive social niche specialization. In the context of aggression, in species like field crickets, social niche specialization should also occur when individuals repeatedly interact with unfamiliar individuals. This would require the outcome of social interactions to have carry-over effects on fighting ability and aggressiveness in subsequent interactions, leading to long-term among-individual differentiation. To test this hypothesis, we randomly assigned freshly emerged adult males of the southern field cricket Gryllus bimaculatus to either a solitary or social treatment. In social treatment, males interacted with a same-sex partner but experienced a new partner every 3 days. After 3 weeks of treatment, we repeatedly subjected treated males to dyadic interactions to measure aggression. During this time, we also continuously measured the 3-daily rate of carbohydrate and protein consumption. Individual differentiation was considerably higher among males reared in the social versus solitary environment for aggressiveness but not for nutrient intake. Simultaneously, social experience led to lower within-individual stability (i.e., increased within-individual variance) in carbohydrate intake. Past social experiences, thus, shaped both behavioral individuality and stability. While previous research has emphasized behavioral individuality resulting from repeated interactions among familiar individuals, our study implies that behavioral individuality, in the context of aggression, may generally result from social interactions, whether with familiar or unfamiliar individuals. Our findings thus imply that social interactions may have a stronger effect on individual differentiation than previously appreciated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidi Y Jäger
- Behavioural Ecology, Department of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Chang S Han
- Behavioural Ecology, Department of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Niels J Dingemanse
- Behavioural Ecology, Department of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
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Wright CM, Lichtenstein JLL, Doering GN, Pretorius J, Meunier J, Pruitt JN. Collective personalities: present knowledge and new frontiers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2639-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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Social tipping points in animal societies in response to heat stress. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:1298-1305. [PMID: 29942021 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0592-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2018] [Accepted: 05/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Living systems sometimes experience abrupt tipping points in response to stress. Here we investigate the factors contributing to the appearance of such abrupt state transitions in animal societies. We first construct a mathematical account of how the personality compositions of societies could alter their propensity to shift from calm to violent states in response to thermal stress. To evaluate our model, we subjected experimental societies of the spider Anelosimus studiosus to heat stress. We demonstrate that both colony size and personality composition influence the timing of and recoverability from sudden transitions in social state. Groups composed of aggressive personalities transitioned into violent within-group dynamics sooner during heating, and also resisted recovery to baseline non-aggressive behaviour during cooling. We further observed hysteresis in groups composed of aggressive individuals, where group behaviour depended strongly on whether the colony had previously been in a calm or agitated state. These results demonstrate that a society's susceptibility to sudden state shifts and their recoverability from them can be driven by the personalities of their constituents.
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12
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Junghanns A, Holm C, Schou MF, Sørensen AB, Uhl G, Bilde T. Extreme allomaternal care and unequal task participation by unmated females in a cooperatively breeding spider. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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13
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Liedtke J, Schneider JM. Social makes smart: rearing conditions affect learning and social behaviour in jumping spiders. Anim Cogn 2017; 20:1093-1106. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1125-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2017] [Revised: 08/16/2017] [Accepted: 08/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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14
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Kralj-Fišer S, Hebets EA, Kuntner M. Different patterns of behavioral variation across and within species of spiders with differing degrees of urbanization. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2353-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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15
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Social personality: a more social shrew species exhibits stronger differences in personality types. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.02.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Intense group selection selects for ideal group compositions, but selection within groups maintains them. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Bentz AB, Becker DJ, Navara KJ. Evolutionary implications of interspecific variation in a maternal effect: a meta-analysis of yolk testosterone response to competition. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2016; 3:160499. [PMID: 28018636 PMCID: PMC5180134 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2016] [Accepted: 11/02/2016] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Competition between conspecifics during the breeding season can result in behavioural and physiological programming of offspring via maternal effects. For birds, in which maternal effects are best studied, it has been claimed that exposure to increased competition causes greater deposition of testosterone into egg yolks, which creates faster growing, more aggressive offspring; such traits are thought to be beneficial for high-competition environments. Nevertheless, not all species show a positive relationship between competitive interactions and yolk testosterone, and an explanation for this interspecific variation is lacking. We here test if the magnitude and direction of maternal testosterone allocated to eggs in response to competition can be explained by life-history traits while accounting for phylogenetic relationships. We performed a meta-analysis relating effect size of yolk testosterone response to competition with species coloniality, nest type, parental effort and mating type. We found that effect size was moderated by coloniality and nest type; colonial species and those with open nests allocate less testosterone to eggs when in more competitive environments. Applying a life-history perspective helps contextualize studies showing little or negative responses of yolk testosterone to competition and improves our understanding of how variation in this maternal effect may have evolved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra B. Bentz
- Poultry Science Department, University of Georgia, 203 Poultry Science Building, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Daniel J. Becker
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, 140 E. Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Kristen J. Navara
- Poultry Science Department, University of Georgia, 203 Poultry Science Building, Athens, GA 30602, USA
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Farine DR, Montiglio PO, Spiegel O. From Individuals to Groups and Back: The Evolutionary Implications of Group Phenotypic Composition. Trends Ecol Evol 2015; 30:609-621. [PMID: 26411618 PMCID: PMC4594155 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2015.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 147] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2015] [Revised: 07/10/2015] [Accepted: 07/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
There is increasing interest in understanding the processes that maintain phenotypic variation in groups, populations, or communities. Recent studies have investigated how the phenotypic composition of groups or aggregations (e.g., its average phenotype or phenotypic variance) affects ecological and social processes, and how multi-level selection can drive phenotypic covariance among interacting individuals. However, we argue that these questions are rarely studied together. We present a unified framework to address this gap, and discuss how group phenotypic composition (GPC) can impact on processes ranging from individual fitness to population demography. By emphasising the breadth of topics affected, we hope to motivate more integrated empirical studies of the ecological and evolutionary implications of GPC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damien R Farine
- Department of Anthropology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá, República de Panamá; Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | | | - Orr Spiegel
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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19
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Wright CM, Keiser CN, Pruitt JN. Personality and morphology shape task participation, collective foraging and escape behaviour in the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
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20
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Lichtenstein JLL, Pruitt JN. Similar patterns of frequency-dependent selection on animal personalities emerge in three species of social spiders. J Evol Biol 2015; 28:1248-56. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2015] [Accepted: 04/28/2015] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - J. N. Pruitt
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh PA USA
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21
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Long-term behavioural consistency in prey capture but not in web maintenance in a social spider. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-015-1915-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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22
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Diel and life-history characteristics of personality: consistency versus flexibility in relation to ecological change. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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23
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Tedore C, Johnsen S. Visual mutual assessment of size in male Lyssomanes viridis jumping spider contests. Behav Ecol 2014. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/aru222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
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Holbrook CT, Wright CM, Pruitt JN. RETRACTED: Individual differences in personality and behavioural plasticity facilitate division of labour in social spider colonies. Anim Behav 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.09.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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25
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Modlmeier AP, Keiser CN, Shearer TA, Pruitt JN. Species-specific influence of group composition on collective behaviors in ants. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-014-1799-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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26
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Diel patterns of foraging aggression and antipredator behaviour in the trashline orb-weaving spider, Cyclosa turbinata. Anim Behav 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.05.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Pruitt JN, Keiser CN. The personality types of key catalytic individuals shape colonies' collective behaviour and success. Anim Behav 2014; 93:87-95. [PMID: 32287335 PMCID: PMC7119443 DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.04.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2014] [Revised: 03/10/2014] [Accepted: 04/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Behavioural ecologists often note that one or a few group members appear to shape the collective behaviour of social groups differentially. Our understanding of these keystone individuals is largely taken from meticulous field observations and semi-scientific anecdotes. In this study we experimentally test whether the behavioural tendencies of putative keystone individuals shift the collective behaviour of colonies using the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola. Prior studies on Stegodyphus demonstrated that the single best predictor of colonies' collective behaviour is the behaviour of colonies' boldest individual. Here, we probe the causal relationship between the traits of extremely bold individuals and colonies' collective behaviour by experimentally creating colonies of identical size and personality composition in the laboratory and then adding a single individual of varying boldness (the putative keystone individual). Experimentally adding just one extremely bold individual increased the foraging aggressiveness of entire colonies and altered the total mass gained by fellow group members, relative to the addition of a less bold individual. Additionally, our data suggest that bold individuals are capable of such influence because they catalyse variation in the behavioural tendencies of fellow group members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A
| | - Carl N Keiser
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A
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28
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Keiser CN, Modlmeier AP, Singh N, Jones DK, Pruitt JN. Exploring How a Shift in the Physical Environment Shapes Individual and Group Behavior across Two Social Contexts. Ethology 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Carl N. Keiser
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh PA USA
| | | | - Nishant Singh
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh PA USA
| | - Devin K. Jones
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh PA USA
| | - Jonathan N. Pruitt
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh PA USA
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29
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Barta Z, Székely T, Liker A, Harrison F. Social role specialization promotes cooperation between parents. Am Nat 2014; 183:747-61. [PMID: 24823819 DOI: 10.1086/676014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Biparental care of offspring is a widespread social behavior, and various ecological, life-history, and demographic factors have been proposed to explain its evolution and maintenance. Raising offspring generally requires several types of care (e.g., feeding, brooding, and defense), and males and females often specialize in providing different types of care. However, theoretical models of care often assume that care is a single variable and hence that a unit of care by the mother is interchangeable with a unit of care by the father. We hypothesize that the ability of one parent to provide all types of care may be limited by nonadditive costs or by sex-based asymmetries in the costs of particular care types. Using an individual-based simulation, we show that synergistic costs of investing in two tasks or negligible sex-based cost asymmetries select for task specialization and biparental care. Biparental care persists despite intense sexual selection and sex-biased mortality, suggesting that previous models make overly restrictive predictions of the conditions under which cooperation can be maintained. Our model provides a mechanistic underpinning for published models that show that the synergistic benefits of individuals cooperating can stabilize cooperation, both in the context of parental care and in other social scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoltán Barta
- MTA-DE (Hungarian Academy of Sciences-University of Debrecen) "Lendület" Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
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Exploring the effects of individual traits and within-colony variation on task differentiation and collective behavior in a desert social spider. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-014-1696-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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31
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Kraemer SA, Velicer GJ. Social complementation and growth advantages promote socially defective bacterial isolates. Proc Biol Sci 2014; 281:20140036. [PMID: 24573856 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interactions among diverse individuals that encounter one another in nature have often been studied among animals but rarely among microbes. For example, the evolutionary forces that determine natural frequencies of bacteria that express cooperative behaviours at low levels remain poorly understood. Natural isolates of the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus sampled from the same fruiting body often vary in social phenotypes, such as group swarming and multicellular development. Here, we tested whether genotypes highly proficient at swarming or development might promote the persistence of less socially proficient genotypes from the same fruiting body. Fast-swarming strains complemented slower isolates, allowing the latter to keep pace with faster strains in mixed groups. During development, one low-sporulating strain was antagonized by high sporulators, whereas others with severe developmental defects had those defects partially complemented by high-sporulating strains. Despite declining in frequency overall during competition experiments spanning multiple cycles of development, developmentally defective strains exhibited advantages during the growth phases of competitions. These results suggest that microbes with low-sociality phenotypes often benefit from interacting with more socially proficient strains. Such complementation may combine with advantages at other traits to increase equilibrium frequencies of low-sociality genotypes in natural populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanne A Kraemer
- Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics, Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, , 30 Marie Curie Private, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada , K2P 6N5, Institute for Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, , Universitaetsstrasse 16, Zürich 8092, Switzerland, Department of Biology, Indiana University, , Bloomington, IN, USA
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Jeanson R, Weidenmüller A. Interindividual variability in social insects - proximate causes and ultimate consequences. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2013; 89:671-87. [PMID: 24341677 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2013] [Revised: 11/15/2013] [Accepted: 11/19/2013] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Individuals within social groups often show consistent differences in behaviour across time and context. Such interindividual differences and the evolutionary challenge they present have recently generated considerable interest. Social insects provide some of the most familiar and spectacular examples of social groups with large interindividual differences. Investigating these within-group differences has a long research tradition, and behavioural variability among the workers of a colony is increasingly regarded as fundamental for a key feature of social insects: division of labour. The goal of this review is to illustrate what we know about both the proximate mechanisms underlying behavioural variability among the workers of a colony and its ultimate consequences; and to highlight the many open questions in this research field. We begin by reviewing the literature on mechanisms that potentially introduce, maintain, and adjust the behavioural differentiation among workers. We highlight the fact that so far, most studies have focused on behavioural variability based on genetic variability, provided by e.g. multiple mating of the queen, while other mechanisms that may be responsible for the behavioural differentiation among workers have been largely neglected. These include maturational, nutritional and environmental influences. We further discuss how feedback provided by the social environment and learning and experience of adult workers provides potent and little-explored sources of differentiation. In a second part, we address what is known about the potential benefits and costs of increased behavioural variability within the workers of a colony. We argue that all studies documenting a benefit of variability so far have done so by manipulating genetic variability, and that a direct test of the effect of behavioural variability on colony productivity has yet to be provided. We emphasize that the costs associated with interindividual variability have been largely overlooked, and that a better knowledge of the cost/benefit balance of behavioural variability is crucial for our understanding of the evolution of the mechanisms underlying the social organization of insect societies. We conclude by highlighting what we believe to be promising but little-explored avenues for future research on how within-colony variability has evolved and is maintained. We emphasize the need for comparative studies and point out that, so far, most studies on interindividual variability have focused on variability in individual response thresholds, while the significance of variability in other parameters of individual response, such as probability and intensity of the response, has been largely overlooked. We propose that these parameters have important consequences for the colony response. Much more research is needed to understand if and how interindividual variability is modulated in order to benefit division of labour, homeostasis and ultimately colony fitness in social insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphaël Jeanson
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Cedex 9, Toulouse, France; Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Cedex 9, Toulouse, France
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Keiser CN, Pruitt JN. Spider aggressiveness determines the bidirectional consequences of host-inquiline interactions. Behav Ecol 2013. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/art096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Majer M, Agnarsson I, Svenning JC, Bilde T. Social spiders of the genus Anelosimus occur in wetter, more productive environments than non-social species. Naturwissenschaften 2013; 100:1031-40. [PMID: 24177705 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-013-1106-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2013] [Revised: 09/23/2013] [Accepted: 10/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Latitude, rainfall, and productivity have been shown to influence social organisation and level of sociality in arthropods on large geographic scales. Social spiders form permanent group-living societies where they cooperate in brood care, web maintenance, and foraging. Sociality has evolved independently in a number of unrelated spider genera and may reflect convergent evolutionary responses to common environmental drivers. The genus Anelosimus contains a third of approximately 25 described permanently social spider species, eight to nine species that all occur in the Americas. To test for environmental correlates of sociality in Anelosimus across the Americas, we used logistic regression to detect effects of annual rainfall, productivity, and precipitation seasonality on the relative likelihood of occurrence of social and non-social Anelosimus spiders. Our analyses show that social species tend to occur at higher annual rainfall and productivity than non-social species, supporting the hypothesised effects of these environmental variables on the geographical distribution of social species. We did not find support for the hypothesis that permanently social species occur in areas with low precipitation seasonality. High annual precipitation and, to less extent, high productivity favour the occurrence of permanently group-living Anelosimus spiders relative to subsocial and solitary species. These results are partially consistent with previous findings for the Old World spider genus Stegodyphus, where a link between high habitat productivity and sociality was also found. Unlike Anelosimus, however, Stegodyphus typically occur in dry habitats negating a general importance of high precipitation for sociality. Sociality in spiders thus seems to be strongly linked to productivity, probably reflecting the need for relatively high availability of large prey to sustain social colonies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marija Majer
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, 8000, Aarhus-C, Denmark,
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Grinsted L, Pruitt JN, Settepani V, Bilde T. Individual personalities shape task differentiation in a social spider. Proc Biol Sci 2013; 280:20131407. [PMID: 23902907 PMCID: PMC3735259 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.1407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2013] [Accepted: 07/08/2013] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Deciphering the mechanisms involved in shaping social structure is key to a deeper understanding of the evolutionary processes leading to sociality. Individual specialization within groups can increase colony efficiency and consequently productivity. Here, we test the hypothesis that within-group variation in individual personalities (i.e. boldness and aggression) can shape task differentiation. The social spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum (Eresidae) showed task differentiation (significant unequal participation) in simulated prey capture events across 10-day behavioural assays in the field, independent of developmental stage (level of maturation), eliminating age polyethism. Participation in prey capture was positively associated with level of boldness but not with aggression. Body size positively correlated with being the first spider to emerge from the colony as a response to prey capture but not with being the first to attack, and dispersal distance from experimental colonies correlated with attacking but not with emerging. This suggests that different behavioural responses to prey capture result from a complex set of individual characteristics. Boldness and aggression correlated positively, but neither was associated with body size, developmental stage or dispersal distance. Hence, we show that personalities shape task differentiation in a social spider independent of age and maturation. Our results suggest that personality measures obtained in solitary, standardized laboratory settings can be reliable predictors of behaviour in a social context in the field. Given the wealth of organisms that show consistent individual behavioural differences, animal personality could play a role in social organization in a diversity of animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Grinsted
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, Building 1540, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
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RETRACTED: Linking levels of personality: personalities of the ‘average’ and ‘most extreme’ group members predict colony-level personality. Anim Behav 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.05.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Jandt JM, Bengston S, Pinter-Wollman N, Pruitt JN, Raine NE, Dornhaus A, Sih A. Behavioural syndromes and social insects: personality at multiple levels. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2013; 89:48-67. [PMID: 23672739 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 205] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2012] [Revised: 04/09/2013] [Accepted: 04/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Animal personalities or behavioural syndromes are consistent and/or correlated behaviours across two or more situations within a population. Social insect biologists have measured consistent individual variation in behaviour within and across colonies for decades. The goal of this review is to illustrate the ways in which both the study of social insects and of behavioural syndromes has overlapped, and to highlight ways in which both fields can move forward through the synergy of knowledge from each. Here we, (i) review work to date on behavioural syndromes (though not always referred to as such) in social insects, and discuss mechanisms and fitness effects of maintaining individual behavioural variation within and between colonies; (ii) summarise approaches and principles from studies of behavioural syndromes, such as trade-offs, feedback, and statistical methods developed specifically to study behavioural consistencies and correlations, and discuss how they might be applied specifically to the study of social insects; (iii) discuss how the study of social insects can enhance our understanding of behavioural syndromes-research in behavioural syndromes is beginning to explore the role of sociality in maintaining or developing behavioural types, and work on social insects can provide new insights in this area; and (iv) suggest future directions for study, with an emphasis on examining behavioural types at multiple levels of organisation (genes, individuals, colonies, or groups of individuals).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer M Jandt
- Department of Ecology, Evolutionary and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA
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Pruitt JN. A real-time eco-evolutionary dead-end strategy is mediated by the traits of lineage progenitors and interactions with colony invaders. Ecol Lett 2013; 16:879-86. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2012] [Revised: 01/10/2013] [Accepted: 04/10/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan N. Pruitt
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh; Pennsylvania; 15260; USA
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