Circulating testosterone levels do not affect exploration in house sparrows: observational and experimental tests

Mutzel, Ariane; Kempenaers, Bart; Laucht, Silke; Dingemanse, Niels Jeroen; Dale, James

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.01.001

Cited by 27 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…This could partly explain our finding that males habituated more quickly than females, because we conducted our experiments mostly during the summer when testosterone is elevated in male house sparrows but to a much lesser extent in females (Anderson 2006). However, Mutzel et al (2011) found no evidence in house sparrows that two personality axes, exploration and activity, are influenced by testosterone levels. While there may be connections between these axes of personality, it is presently unclear how exploration and activity are related to habituation and neophobia in house sparrows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Individual and Sex Differences in Habituation and Neophobia in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)

Ensminger

Westneat

2012

Ethology

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Heterogeneity in the environment favours foragers that are flexible (phenotypically plastic). However, consistent individual differences in behaviour (personality), such as in risk‐taking, might affect an individual's ability to find food, avoid predators and adjust to new conditions. It is now well known that personalities exist in many taxa, but much less is known about individual variation in plasticity. We measured the tendency to begin foraging across different levels of risk in house sparrows (Passer domesticus), using a behavioural reaction norm framework to simultaneously assess personality and plasticity. We asked whether individuals were consistently different across risk levels, and whether they differed in habituation and neophobia, both of which were treated as cases of plasticity. We found that males habituated more than females by beginning to feed sooner after repeated instances of a human disturbance in the presence of an initially unfamiliar object. Individuals of both sexes also exhibited consistent differences across trials, but did not differ in the rate of habituation beyond the difference between the sexes. When a novel object was placed in the foraging area, both sexes exhibited similar degrees of neophobia by delaying feeding. The magnitude of this change varied among birds, indicating individual differences in neophobia. Our results indicate that both personality and individual variation in plasticity exist but should be treated as independent phenomena. The presence of variation in plasticity implies that the raw material necessary for selection on neophobia exists, and that if heritable, plasticity in risk‐taking across contexts could evolve.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…However, Mutzel et al. () found no evidence in house sparrows that two personality axes, exploration and activity, are influenced by testosterone levels. While there may be connections between these axes of personality, it is presently unclear how exploration and activity are related to habituation and neophobia in house sparrows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual and Sex Differences in Habituation and Neophobia in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)

Ensminger

Westneat

2012

Ethology

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“…Immediately following exploratory measurements, birds were released. Exploratory behaviour was measured similarly to previously published methods [27][28][29][30]. Briefly, after 1 h without access to food, birds were individually placed into a novel environment: a 2.74 Â 2.13 m tent containing 10 novel items (table, cooking spoon, tent poles, broom, mop handle, antennae, stool, nest-box, rope and a bucket) and seams sufficient for perching (see the electronic supplementary material, figure S1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploratory behaviour and stressor hyper-responsiveness facilitate range expansion of an introduced songbird

2012

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Global anthropogenic changes are occurring at an unprecedented rate; one change, human-facilitated introduction of species outside their native range, has had significant ecological and economic impacts. Surprisingly, what traits facilitate range expansions post-introduction is relatively unknown. This information could help predict future expansions of introduced species as well as native species shifting their ranges as climate conditions change. Here, we asked whether specific behavioural and physiological traits were important in the ongoing expansion of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) across Kenya. We predicted that birds at the site of initial introduction (Mombasa, introduced approx. 1950) would behave and regulate corticosterone, a stress hormone, differently than birds at the range edge (Kakamega, approx. 885 km from Mombasa; colonized within the last 5 years). Specifically, we predicted greater exploratory behaviour and stronger corticosterone response to stressors in birds at the range edge, which may facilitate the identification, resolution and memory of stressors. Indeed, we found that distance from Mombasa (a proxy for population age) was a strong predictor of both exploratory behaviour and corticosterone release in response to restraint (but only while birds were breeding). These results suggest that certain behavioural and neuroendocrine traits may influence the ability of species to colonize novel habitats.

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“…Levels of neurotransmitters hormones Dopaminergic activity levels are related to inter-individual differences in exploratory behavior for animals and humans, with high dopamine associated with little exploration and low dopamine associated with higher levels of exploration (Hills, 2006). Inter-individual variation in exploratory behavior in animals has been linked to testosterone levels, but the evidence is mixed (Kellam, Lucas, & Wingfield, 2006;Mutzel et al, 2011). Table 3 Overview of different social factors and examples of their relevance for exploration and exploitation.…”

Section: Factormentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the exploration–exploitation tradeoff: A synthesis of human and animal literatures.

Mehlhorn¹,

Newell²,

Todd³

et al. 2015

Decision

334

318

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Many decisions in the lives of animals and humans require a fine balance between the exploration of different options and the exploitation of their rewards. Do you buy the advertised car, or do you testdrive different models? Do you continue feeding from the current patch of flowers, or do you fly off to another one? Do you marry your current partner, or try your luck with someone else? The balance required in these situations is commonly referred to as the exploration-exploitation tradeoff. It features prominently in a wide range of research traditions, including learning, foraging, and decisionmaking literatures. Here, we integrate findings from these and other often-isolated literatures in order to gain a better understanding of the possible tradeoffs between exploration and exploitation, and we propose new theoretical insights that might guide future research. Specifically, we explore how potential tradeoffs depend on (1) the conceptualization of exploration and exploitation; (2) the influencing environmental, social, and individual factors; (3) the scale at which exploration and exploitation are considered; (4) the relationship and types of transitions between the two behaviors; and (5) the goals of the decision maker. We conclude that exploration and exploitation are best conceptualized as points on a continuum, and that the extent to which an agent's behavior can be interpreted as exploratory or exploitative depends upon the level of abstraction at which it is considered.

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Circulating testosterone levels do not affect exploration in house sparrows: observational and experimental tests

Cited by 27 publications

References 51 publications

Individual and Sex Differences in Habituation and Neophobia in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)

Individual and Sex Differences in Habituation and Neophobia in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)

Exploratory behaviour and stressor hyper-responsiveness facilitate range expansion of an introduced songbird

Unpacking the exploration–exploitation tradeoff: A synthesis of human and animal literatures.

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