Habitat complexity, environmental change and personality: A tropical perspective

Delarue, Emma Michelle Pamela; Kerr, Sarah E.; Rymer, Tasmin L.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2015.09.006

Cited by 26 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 134 publications

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“…Theoretical work suggests that environmental heterogeneity increases variation in phenotypic traits, including behavioural traits such as personality [13][14][15]. Empirical work on personality traits partly supports this prediction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Environmental heterogeneity and population density affect the functional diversity of personality traits in small mammal populations

Mortelliti

Brehm

2020

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Understanding factors affecting the functional diversity of ecological communities is an important goal for ecologists and conservationists. Previous work has largely been conducted at the community level; however, recent studies have highlighted the critical importance of considering intraspecific functional diversity (i.e. the functional diversity of phenotypic traits among conspecifics). Further, a major limitation of existing literature on this topic is the lack of empirical studies examining functional diversity of behavioural phenotypes —including animal personalities. This is a major shortcoming because personality traits can affect the fitness of individuals, and the composition of personalities in a population can have important ecological consequences. Our study aims to contribute to filling this knowledge gap by investigating factors affecting the functional diversity of personality traits in wild animal populations. Specifically, we predicted that the richness, divergence and evenness associated with personality traits would be impacted by key components of forest structure and would vary between contrasting forest types. To achieve our objective we conducted a fully replicated large-scale field experiment over a 4 year period using small mammal populations as a model system. We found that greater heterogeneity in the cover of shrubs, coarse woody debris and canopy cover was associated with a greater richness, lower divergence and lower evenness in personality traits. Greater population density was associated with greater functional richness and lower functional divergence and evenness of personality traits. To maintain a behaviourally diverse population and its associated functions, managers may promote heterogeneity in vegetation and increased population density, which we found to be the most important determinants driving functional diversity of personality traits.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Environmental heterogeneity and population density affect the functional diversity of personality traits in small mammal populations

Mortelliti

Brehm

2020

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…1996; Pamela Delarue et al. 2015; Whitton et al. 2012; but see Jetz and Rubenstein 2011), have relatively larger brains than relatives from temperate regions (De Meester et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning with lacertids: Studying the link between ecology and cognition within a comparative framework

et al. 2022

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Cognition is an essential tool for animals to deal with environmental challenges. Nonetheless, the ecological forces driving the evolution of cognition throughout the animal kingdom remain enigmatic. Large-scale comparative studies on multiple species and cognitive traits have been advanced as the best way to facilitate our understanding of cognitive evolution, but such studies are rare. Here, we tested 13 species of lacertid lizards (Reptilia: Lacertidae) using a battery of cognitive tests measuring inhibitory control, problem-solving, and spatial and reversal learning. Next, we tested the relationship between species' performance and (a) resource availability (temperature and precipitation), habitat complexity (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), and habitat variability (seasonality) in their natural habitat and (b) their life history (size at hatching and maturity, clutch size, and frequency). Although species differed markedly in their cognitive abilities, such variation was mostly unrelated to their ecology and life history. Yet, species living in more variable environments exhibited lower behavioral flexibility, likely due to energetic constrains in such habitats. Our standardized protocols provide opportunities for collaborative research, allowing increased sample sizes and replication, essential for moving forward in the field of comparative cognition. Follow-up studies could include more detailed measures of habitat structure and look at other potential selective drivers such as predation.

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“…Many studies have hypothesized that greater behavioural flexibility associated with enhanced cognition may help animals to cope with environmental challenges such as new ecological conditions 18 or facilitate the colonization of novel environments 19 , 20 . Similarly, an increased encephalization is argued to be favoured within species living in changing environments in order to process the overflow of information 21 , 22 and deal with heterogeneously distributed resources 2 , 23 , 24 . This theory, also referred as the Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis (CBH), has been significantly supported in the recent years with studies on primates 25 , 26 , carnivorans 27 , marsupials 28 , teleosts 29 , amphibians 30 , and birds 31 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of environmental factors on the evolution of brain size in carnivorans

2022

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The reasons why some animals have developed larger brains has long been a subject of debate. Yet, it remains unclear which selective pressures may favour the encephalization and how it may act during evolution at different taxonomic scales. Here we studied the patterns and tempo of brain evolution within the order Carnivora and present large-scale comparative analysis of the effect of ecological, environmental, social, and physiological variables on relative brain size in a sample of 174 extant carnivoran species. We found a complex pattern of brain size change between carnivoran families with differences in both the rate and diversity of encephalization. Our findings suggest that during carnivorans’ evolution, a trade-off have occurred between the cognitive advantages of acquiring a relatively large brain allowing to adapt to specific environments, and the metabolic costs of the brain which may constitute a disadvantage when facing the need to colonize new environments.

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Habitat complexity, environmental change and personality: A tropical perspective

Cited by 26 publications

References 134 publications

Environmental heterogeneity and population density affect the functional diversity of personality traits in small mammal populations

Environmental heterogeneity and population density affect the functional diversity of personality traits in small mammal populations

Learning with lacertids: Studying the link between ecology and cognition within a comparative framework

The impact of environmental factors on the evolution of brain size in carnivorans

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