Are behavioural syndromes sex specific? Personality in a widespread lizard species

Michelangeli, Marcus; Chapple, David G.; Wong, Bob B. M.

doi:10.1007/s00265-016-2197-9

Cited by 60 publications

(61 citation statements)

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“…Whilst our previous studies have found that activity, exploratory behaviour, sociability and boldness are repeatable behaviours in the delicate skink (Michelangeli, Wong, et al., ; Michelangeli, Chapple, et al., ; Moule, Michelangeli, Thompson, & Chapple, ), the behavioural assays used in this study were slightly modified from those reported in earlier studies. Thus, to account for the possibility that repeatability estimates in this study may differ from our earlier work, we calculated the repeatability of behavioural traits using the variance components obtained from univariate linear‐mixed effects models (lmer function; “ lme” package: Bates, Maechler, Bolker, & Walker, ) containing Individual ID as a random factor (Dingemanse & Dochtermann, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To measure individual activity, skinks were allowed to roam freely in a test arena marked with 20 equal grid squares. The level of activity of skinks was scored based on the number of transitions between grid squares the skink made over 20 min (sensu Michelangeli, Wong, et al., ; Michelangeli, Chapple, et al., ; Goulet, Thompson, & Chapple, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rodríguez‐Prieto, Martín, & Fernández‐Juricic, ), thus we also used this metric as our measure of boldness. Skinks that explored the barrier more often and were able to pass the barrier to explore compartment 2 were considered to have a higher exploration tendency (sensu Goulet, Thompson, Michelangeli, et al., ; Michelangeli, Chapple, et al., ; Michelangeli, Wong, et al., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have shown that the delicate skink exhibits consistent variation in metabolism (Merritt, Matthews, & White, ), sprint speed and thermal preferences (Goulet, Thompson, & Chapple, ; Goulet, Thompson, Michelangeli, et al., ) and microhabitat use (Chapple, Reardon, & Peace, ; Howard, Williamson, & Mather, ; Peace, ). A behavioural syndrome between activity, exploratory behaviour and sociability has been found within the species (Michelangeli, Wong, & Chapple, ) and it occurs in both sexes (Michelangeli, Chapple, & Wong, ). Interestingly, we have also found a consistent activity–exploratory syndrome and a boldness syndrome across four geographically distinct populations of the species (M. Michelangeli, D. G. Chapple, B.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrating thermal physiology within a syndrome: Locomotion, personality and habitat selection in an ectotherm

et al. 2018

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Physiology and temperature can both have a profound influence on behaviour and metabolism. Despite this, thermal physiology has rarely been considered within the animal personality framework, but could be an inherent mechanism maintaining consistent individual differences in behaviour, particularly in species that need to thermoregulate (i.e. ectotherms). Here, we present evidence for a thermal‐behavioural syndrome and detail how it is linked to variation in habitat selection in an Australian lizard, the delicate skink, Lampropholis delicata. We predicted that individuals would occur along a cold–hot continuum—analogues to the slow–fast continuum proposed by the pace‐of‐life hypothesis—whereby an individual's placement along a thermal physiological axis will correspond with their placement along a personality axis. We first tested the thermal‐behavioural syndrome by measuring the thermal preferences and optimal performance temperature of individual skinks and linking it to their activity, exploratory, social and boldness behaviours. In line with our predictions, we found that individuals with a “hot” thermal type performed optimally at higher temperatures, had faster sprint speeds and were more active, explorative and bold relative to “cold” thermal types. We then monitored each individual's habitat selection within an artificial environment containing three microhabitats differing in their thermal characteristics. We found that an individual's thermal type mediated their use of habitat, in which “hot” individuals utilized a hotter microhabitat more regularly than both “cold” and “intermediate” thermal types, suggesting that the thermal‐behavioural syndrome could drive ecological niche partitioning in this species. We envisage that the thermal‐behavioural syndrome concept is likely to extend to other study systems, particularly to ectothermic organisms that rely heavily on behavioural thermoregulation to maintain optimal body temperature. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.13034/suppinfo is available for this article.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrating thermal physiology within a syndrome: Locomotion, personality and habitat selection in an ectotherm

et al. 2018

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“…Genetically polymorphism is maintained because of "supergenes", linked clusters of coevolved genes that give rise to divergent fitness-related traits that are variable within species (Schwander et al 2014;Tuttle et al 2016). Hence, while personality researchers would have been satisfied with identifying behavioral differences (e.g., Malange et al 2016;Michelangeli et al 2016;Yuen et al 2016), the fields of life-history evolution and behavioral genetics allows us to understand why individuals differ in their behavior. This is just one of many examples of studies that have identified the genetic mechanisms underlying animal behavior.…”

Section: Behavioral Genetics and Behavioral Neuroendocrinology: Undermentioning

confidence: 99%

Does the field of animal personality provide any new insights for behavioral ecology?

2017

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The field of animal personalities claims to fill a gap in our understanding of animal behavior, because it explicitly studies the adaptive significance of behavioral differences. This is a controversial claim given that the field of behavioral ecology firmly places the study of animal behavior in an evolutionary context. In fact, it is the evolutionary context that differentiates behavioral ecology from ethology and animal behavior, 2 fields that were already concerned with the study of behavior in nonhuman animals. So, if behavioral ecology already takes an evolutionary approach to variation in behavior, we ask what is personality research about exactly? This question is particularly pertinent now the focus of personality research shifts and the field moves away from being mainly descriptive to include quantitative frameworks. As a result, the field has come to borrow heavily from already established fields. In our view, this has resulted in "animal personality" studies becoming nothing more than a rebranding of existing fields of research-fields that are far more solidly grounded and hypothesis driven than the often vague and superficial focus on animal personalities.

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Activity‐aggression behavioural syndromes exist in males but not in females of the field cricket Teleogryllus emma

Han,

Lee,

Moon

2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Previous studies on sex differences in behaviour have largely focused on differences in average behaviours between sexes. However, males and females can diverge not only in average behaviours but also in the direction of behavioural correlations at the individual level (i.e. behavioural syndromes). Behavioural syndromes, with their potential to constrain the independent evolution of behaviours, may play a role in shaping sex‐specific responses to selection and contributing to the development of sex differences in behaviour. Despite the pivotal role of behavioural syndromes in the evolution of sexual dimorphism in behaviour, robust empirical evidence of sex differences in behavioural syndromes based on repeated measurements of behaviours is scarce. In this study, we conducted repeated measurements of activity and aggression in male and female field crickets Teleogryllus emma, providing evidence of sex differences in the existence of behavioural syndromes. Males exhibited a significantly positive behavioural syndrome between activity and aggression, whereas females, in contrast, did not show any aggressive behaviour, resulting in the absence of such a syndrome. The sex differences in the existence of the activity‐aggression behavioural syndromes in this species could be attributed to differences in selection. Selection favouring more active and aggressive males may have shaped a positive activity‐aggression behavioural syndrome in males, whereas the absence of selection favouring female aggression may have resulted in the absence of aggression and the related behavioural syndrome in females. However, given the plasticity of behaviour with changes in age or the environment, further research is needed to explore how sex differences in the existence of activity‐aggression behavioural syndromes change across contexts. Furthermore, understanding the genetic underpinning of sex differences in a behavioural syndrome would be pivotal to assess the role of behavioural syndromes in the evolution of sexual dimorphism in behaviours.

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Are behavioural syndromes sex specific? Personality in a widespread lizard species

Cited by 60 publications

References 57 publications

Integrating thermal physiology within a syndrome: Locomotion, personality and habitat selection in an ectotherm

Integrating thermal physiology within a syndrome: Locomotion, personality and habitat selection in an ectotherm

Does the field of animal personality provide any new insights for behavioral ecology?

Activity‐aggression behavioural syndromes exist in males but not in females of the field cricket Teleogryllus emma

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