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Gan L, Tian S, Wang D, Liu W. Boldness suppresses hoarding behavior in food hoarding season and reduces over-wintering survival in a social rodent. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11252. [PMID: 38601856 PMCID: PMC11004661 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The "pace-of-life" syndrome (POLS) framework can encompass multiple personality axes that drive important functional behaviors (e.g., foraging behavior) and that co-vary with multiple life history traits. Food hoarding is an adaptive behavior important for an animal's ability to adapt to seasonal fluctuations in food availability. However, the empirical evidence for the relationships between animal personality and hoarding behavior remains unclear, including its fitness consequences in the POLS framework. In this study, the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), a social rodent, was used as a model system to investigate how boldness or shyness is associated with food hoarding strategies during the food hoarding season and their impact on over-winter survival and reproduction at both individual and group levels. The results of this study showed that, compared with shy gerbils, bold gerbils had a lower effort foraging strategy during the food hoarding season and exhibited lower over-winter survival rates. However, bold-shy personality differences had no effect on over-winter reproduction. These findings suggest that the personality is a crucial factor influencing the foraging strategy during the food hoarding season in Mongolian gerbils. Personality may be related to energy states or the reaction to environmental changes (e.g., predation risk and food availability) in bold or shy social animals. These results reflect animal life history trade-offs between current versus future reproduction and reproduction versus self-maintenance, thereby helping Mongolian gerbils in adapting to seasonal fluctuations in their habitat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Gan
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of ZoologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life SciencesNanjing Normal UniversityNanjingChina
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Shuang‐Jie Tian
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of ZoologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic InteractionsUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - De‐Hua Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of ZoologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- School of Life SciencesShandong UniversityQingdaoChina
| | - Wei Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of ZoologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
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Vágási CI, Fülöp A, Osváth G, Pap PL, Pénzes J, Benkő Z, Lendvai ÁZ, Barta Z. Social groups with diverse personalities mitigate physiological stress in a songbird. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20203092. [PMID: 33499787 PMCID: PMC7893263 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.3092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Social groups often consist of diverse phenotypes, including personality types, and this diversity is known to affect the functioning of the group as a whole. Social selection theory proposes that group composition (i.e. social environment) also influences the performance of individual group members. However, the effect of group behavioural composition on group members remains largely unexplored, and it is still contentious whether individuals benefit more in a social environment with homogeneous or diverse behavioural composition. We experimentally formed groups of house sparrows Passer domesticus with high and low diversity of personality (exploratory behaviour), and found that their physiological state (body condition, physiological stress and oxidative damage) improved with increasing group-level diversity of personality. These findings demonstrate that group personality composition affects the condition of group members and individuals benefit from social heterosis (i.e. associating with a diverse set of behavioural types). This aspect of the social life can play a key role in affiliation rules of social animals and might explain the evolutionary coexistence of different personalities in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Csongor I. Vágási
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Attila Fülöp
- MTA-DE Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
- Juhász-Nagy Pál Doctoral School, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Gergely Osváth
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Museum of Zoology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Péter L. Pap
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Janka Pénzes
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Zoltán Benkő
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Romanian Ornithological Society/BirdLife Romania, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Ádám Z. Lendvai
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Zoltán Barta
- MTA-DE Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
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