Personality-dependent dispersal: characterization, ontogeny and consequences for spatially structured populations

Abstract

Dispersal is one of the most fundamental components of ecology, and affects processes as diverse as population growth, metapopulation dynamics, gene flow and adaptation. Although the act of moving from one habitat to another entails major costs to the disperser, empirical and theoretical studies suggest that these costs can be reduced by having morphological, physiological or behavioural specializations for dispersal. A few recent studies on different systems showed that individuals exhibit personality-dependent dispersal, meaning that dispersal tendency is associated with boldness, sociability or aggressiveness. Indeed, in several species, dispersers not only develop behavioural differences at the onset of dispersal, but display these behavioural characteristics through their life cycle. While personality-dependent dispersal has been demonstrated in only a few species, we believe that it is a widespread phenomenon with important ecological consequences. Here, we review the evidence for behavioural differences between dispersers and residents, to what extent they constitute personalities. We also examine how a link between personality traits and dispersal behaviours can be produced and how personality-dependent dispersal affects the dynamics of metapopulations and biological invasions. Finally, we suggest future research directions for population biologists, behavioural ecologists and conservation biologists such as how the direction and the strength of the relationship between personality traits and dispersal vary with ecological contexts.

When the going gets tough: behavioural type-dependent space use in the sleepy lizard changes as the season dries

“…Our study reflects a growing recognition of the importance of both animal movements and consistent intraspecific behavioural variation in understanding evolutionary and ecological processes [1,2,7,11,15]. Yet, surprisingly few studies have combined both approaches to examine the existence and consequences of BT-dependent space use.…”

Non-random gene flow: an underappreciated force in evolution and ecology

“…Source 2: personality variation Many studies document consistent behavioral differences among individuals (sometimes termed behavioral types, personalities, or behavioral syndromes [25]), which can be correlated with dispersal (reviewed in [26] aggression, and boldness dispersed further in the wild [27]. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, individuals showed heritable variation in whether they settled on food patches that had no, few, or many conspecifics, resulting in a correlation between genetically determined sociality and social environment [28].…”

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

“…boldness, aggression, response to novelty) may be especially important in novel environments [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Different selection pressures along a range expansion could select for different levels of these traits between the site of introduction and the edge of the range.…”