1
|
Riyahi S, Liebermann-Lilie ND, Jacobs A, Korsten P, Mayer U, Schmoll T. Transcriptomic changes in the posterior pallium of male zebra finches associated with social niche conformance. BMC Genomics 2024; 25:694. [PMID: 39009985 PMCID: PMC11251365 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10573-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 06/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Animals plastically adjust their physiological and behavioural phenotypes to conform to their social environment-social niche conformance. The degree of sexual competition is a critical part of the social environment to which animals adjust their phenotypes, but the underlying genetic mechanisms are poorly understood. We conducted a study to investigate how differences in sperm competition risk affect the gene expression profiles of the testes and two brain areas (posterior pallium and optic tectum) in breeding male zebra finches (Taeniopygia castanotis). In this pre-registered study, we investigated a large sample of 59 individual transcriptomes. We compared two experimental groups: males held in single breeding pairs (low sexual competition) versus those held in two pairs (elevated sexual competition) per breeding cage. Using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), we observed significant effects of the social treatment in all three tissues. However, only the treatment effects found in the pallium were confirmed by an additional randomisation test for statistical robustness. Likewise, the differential gene expression analysis revealed treatment effects only in the posterior pallium (ten genes) and optic tectum (six genes). No treatment effects were found in the testis at the single gene level. Thus, our experiments do not provide strong evidence for transcriptomic adjustment specific to manipulated sperm competition risk. However, we did observe transcriptomic adjustments to the manipulated social environment in the posterior pallium. These effects were polygenic rather than based on few individual genes with strong effects. Our findings are discussed in relation to an accompanying paper using the same animals, which reports behavioural results consistent with the results presented here.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sepand Riyahi
- Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany.
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, Vienna, 1030, Austria.
| | - Navina D Liebermann-Lilie
- Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany
| | - Arne Jacobs
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Peter Korsten
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany
- Department of Life Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK
| | - Uwe Mayer
- Center for Mind/Brain Science, University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, Rovereto, TN, 38068, Italy.
| | - Tim Schmoll
- Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany.
- Joint Institute for Individualisation in a Changing Environment (JICE), University of Münster and Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Lilie ND, Riyahi S, Kalinowski A, Salazar SM, Kaiser S, Schmoll T, Korsten P. Male social niche conformance? Effects of manipulated opportunity for extra-pair mating on behavior and hormones of male zebra finches. Horm Behav 2022; 146:105243. [PMID: 35998552 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Revised: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Success in sperm competition is an important determinant of male fitness in mating systems with female multiple mating. Thus, sperm competition risk represents a key dimension of the male social environment to which individual males are expected to adaptively adjust their reproductive phenotype. Such adaptive phenotypic adjustment we here refer to as male social niche conformance. In this pre-registered study, we investigated how male zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, adjust their behavior to sperm competition risk. We experimentally manipulated the opportunity for extra-pair mating to create two levels of sperm competition risk: 1) Single-pair, no sperm competition risk; 2) Double-pair, sperm competition risk. We compared male courtship, mate guarding, copulation rates, and aggression between the treatment groups. To identify hormonal correlates of male behavioral adjustment, we measured plasma testosterone and corticosterone levels before and after the social treatment started. Contrary to our pre-registered predictions, males from the Double-pair treatment group decreased courtship rates compared to those from the Single-pair group, and Double-pair males responded less aggressively towards intruders than Single-pair males. Testosterone levels decreased over the breeding cycle, but social treatment had no effect on either testosterone or corticosterone levels. Our results indicate that male zebra finches do not intensify courtship or competitive reproductive behaviors, or upregulate key hormones when another breeding pair is present. Although we found no evidence for the predicted adaptive behavioral responses to sperm competition risk, we show that male zebra finches plastically adjust their behavior to their social environment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Navina D Lilie
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
| | - Sepand Riyahi
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Arne Kalinowski
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Stephen M Salazar
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; Behavioural & Physiological Ecology, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Sylvia Kaiser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Badestraße 13, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Tim Schmoll
- Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Peter Korsten
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Cook PA, Baker OM, Costello RA, Formica VA, Brodie ED. Group composition of individual personalities alters social network structure in experimental populations of forked fungus beetles. Biol Lett 2022; 18:20210509. [PMID: 35291883 PMCID: PMC8923822 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Social network structure is a critical group character that mediates the flow of information, pathogens and resources among individuals in a population, yet little is known about what shapes social structures. In this study, we experimentally tested whether social network structure depends on the personalities of individual group members. Replicate groups of forked fungus beetles (Bolitotherus cornutus) were engineered to include only members previously assessed as either more social or less social. We found that individuals expressed consistent personalities across social contexts, exhibiting repeatable numbers of interactions and numbers of partners. Groups composed of more social individuals formed networks with higher interaction rates, higher tie density, higher global clustering and shorter average shortest paths than those composed of less social individuals. We highlight group composition of personalities as a source of variance in group traits and a potential mechanism by which networks could evolve.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Phoebe A. Cook
- Department of Biology and Mountain Lake Biological Station, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
| | - Olivia M. Baker
- Department of Biology and Mountain Lake Biological Station, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
| | - Robin A. Costello
- Department of Biology and Mountain Lake Biological Station, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
| | | | - Edmund D. Brodie
- Department of Biology and Mountain Lake Biological Station, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Holtmann B, Lara CE, Santos ESA, Gillum JE, Gemmell NJ, Nakagawa S. The association between personalities, alternative breeding strategies and reproductive success in dunnocks. J Evol Biol 2021; 35:539-551. [PMID: 34314544 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Although consistent between-individual differences in behaviour (i.e. animal personality) are ubiquitous in natural populations, relatively few studies have examined how personalities influence the formation of social relationships. Yet, behavioural characteristics of both sexes might be key when it comes to pair-bond formation, and cooperation with partners to successfully rear offspring. We here use a wild population of dunnocks (Prunella modularis) to first investigate whether individuals mate nonrandomly (i.e. assortative mating) with regard to four behavioural traits-flight-initiation distance (FID), provisioning, activity and vigilance-that differ in repeatability and have previously been associated with mating patterns and fitness in other species. Second, we test whether an individual's FID is associated with variability in the dunnocks' mating system (i.e. monogamous pairs vs. polygamous groups). Finally, we determine whether FID and provisioning of males and females associate with their reproductive success. We found no statistical support for assortative mating in FID between males and females. Interestingly, in polygamous groups, co-breeding males differed in their FIDs with dominant alpha males having significantly shorter FIDs compared with subordinate beta-males. Moreover, there was evidence for assortative mating in provisioning for alpha males and females in polygamous groups. We also found that male provisioning influenced reproductive success of both sexes, whereas female provisioning rates only positively correlated with her own but not their partner(s) reproductive output. Our results suggest that personality differences may have important implications for social relationships, the emergence of different mating patterns and ultimately reproductive success within populations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Benedikt Holtmann
- Behavioural Ecology, Department of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.,Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Carlos E Lara
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Eduardo S A Santos
- BECO Lab, Department of Zoology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Joanne E Gillum
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Neil J Gemmell
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.,Evolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Perez A, Montiglio PO, Wey TW, Sih A. Male social plasticity influences transient dynamics in the emergence of alternative mating systems in water striders. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractAnimal mating systems are often studied with the goal of understanding why species, populations, or groups vary from one another in the system they display. Although these differences are often treated as basically stable, it is also known that mating systems may shift over time (e.g., from one breeding season to the next). There has been some study of how ecological factors correlate with these changes; however, few, if any, studies have investigated how the phenotypic composition of a group governs the timing and probability of these mating system transitions. Groups of stream water striders (Aquarius remigis) can experience rapid changes in mating system dynamics, with small groups often transitioning into a system in which a single, large male monopolizes mating opportunities. We asked if variation in individual- and group-level traits associated with morphology and behavior (e.g., size of the largest individual, average activity behavioral type in the group) could partially explain the variability in how rapidly groups make this transition, if they make it at all. We show that groups with males that exhibit higher social plasticity tended to take longer to transition to a mating system dominated by a single male. Our results, therefore, suggest that groups in identical ecological conditions can diverge in their mating systems based on how much individuals in the group change their behavior in response to the behavior of other members of the group.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Perez
- Department of Entomology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Pierre-Olivio Montiglio
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Tina W Wey
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
DiRienzo N, Johnson JC, Dornhaus A. Juvenile social experience generates differences in behavioral variation but not averages. Behav Ecol 2019; 30:455-464. [PMID: 30971860 PMCID: PMC6450201 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2018] [Revised: 09/21/2018] [Accepted: 12/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Developmental plasticity is known to influence the mean behavioral phenotype of a population. Yet, studies on how developmental plasticity shapes patterns of variation within populations are comparatively rare and often focus on a subset of developmental cues (e.g., nutrition). One potentially important but understudied developmental experience is social experience, as it is explicitly hypothesized to increase variation among individuals as a way to promote "social niches." To test this, we exposed juvenile black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus) to the silk of conspecifics by transplanting them onto conspecific webs for 48 h once a week until adulthood. We also utilized an untouched control group as well as a disturbed group. This latter group was removed from their web at the same time points as the social treatment, but was immediately placed back on their own web. After repeatedly measuring adult behavior and web structure, we found that social rearing drove higher or significant levels of repeatability relative to the other treatments. Repeatability in the social treatment also decreased in some traits, paralleling the decreases observed in the disturbed treatments. Thus, repeated juvenile disturbance may decrease among-individual differences in adult spiders. Yet, social rearing appeared to override the effect of disturbance in some traits, suggesting a prioritization effect. The resulting individual differences were maintained over at least one-third of the adult lifespan and thus appear to represent stable, canalized developmental effects and not temporal state differences. These results provide proximate insight into how a broader range of developmental experiences shape trait variation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas DiRienzo
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - J Chadwick Johnson
- School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University, Glendale, AZ, USA
| | - Anna Dornhaus
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| |
Collapse
|