Personality in captivity: More exploratory males reproduce better in an aviary population

McCowan, Luke S.C.; Rollins, Lee A.; Griffith, Simon C.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2014.08.020

Cited by 28 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In our study, female zebra finches did not prefer less neophobic males in general but males that were similar to themselves. In line with this, Schuett et al (2009) reported improved breeding performance in personality matched zebra finch pairs while McCowan et al (2014) observed higher breeding success in pairs with more explorative males. The latter, however, tested exploration and breeding success in large aviary housed groups, while exploration in our study and Schuett et al (2011) was tested in cages and single individuals and/or pairs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Personality assortative female mating preferences in a songbird

Pogány

Vincze

Szurovecz

et al. 2018

Behav.

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Consistent individual behavioural differences ('animal personalities') are documented across a variety of animal taxa. Sexual selection, especially assortative mating has been suggested as a possible mechanism contributing to the maintenance of different personality types within populations but little is known about non-random pair-formation with respect to personality traits in unconstrained choice tests. We here tested whether female mating preferences were non-random with respect to male and female neophobia in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), an important avian model of mate choice and animal personality research. Male and female neophobia was assessed by attaching novel objects to birds' feeders. Females' mating preferences were tested with randomly assigned, unfamiliar males in a four-way choice apparatus. Females associated most with males with neophobia scores similar to their own. These results provide evidence that mating preferences and personality traits can covary, supporting evolutionary scenarios of assortative mating contributing to the maintenance of personality traits.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Personality assortative female mating preferences in a songbird

Pogány

Vincze

Szurovecz

et al. 2018

Behav.

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“…Our current study is a relatively unique example of direct replication of a captive study in the wild (see also studies on personality in zebra finches in the wild and captivity [83,84], and a recent study of sexual coloration in wild guppies [85]). The value of our replicate experiment is enhanced by having used a naturally occurring stressor, here variation in the brood size that juveniles have experienced.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Early-life social environment predicts social network position in wild zebra finches

et al. 2019

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Early-life experience can fundamentally shape individual life-history trajectories. Previous research has suggested that exposure to stress during development causes differences in social behaviour later in life. In captivity, juvenile zebra finches exposed to elevated corticosterone levels were less socially choosy and more central in their social networks when compared to untreated siblings. These differences extended to other aspects of social life, with 'stress-exposed' juveniles switching social learning strategies and juvenile males less faithfully learning their father's song. However, while this body of research suggests that the impacts of early-life stress could be profound, it remains unknown whether such effects are strong enough to be expressed under natural conditions. Here, we collected data on social associations of zebra finches in the Australian desert after experimentally manipulating brood sizes. Juveniles from enlarged broods experienced heightened sibling competition, and we predicted that they would express similar patterns of social associations to stress-treated birds in the captive study by having more, but less differentiated, relationships. We show striking support for the suggested consequences of developmental stress on social network positions, with our data from the wild replicating the same results in 9 out of 10 predictions previously tested in captivity. Chicks raised in enlarged broods foraged with greater numbers of conspecifics but were less 'choosy' and more central in the social network. Our results confirm that the natural range of variation in early-life experience can be sufficient to predict individuals' social trajectories and support theory highlighting the potential importance of developmental conditions on behaviour.

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“…; McCowan et al. ). However, more generally it is ignored in papers, and in practice could lead to the removal of those individuals that do not reproduce well either deliberately or inadvertently from populations and experiments alike.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…), and some personality types have greater reproductive success in captivity (McCowan et al. ). The extent to which these biases generally affect experimental outcomes remains to be determined, but could be an illuminating area of future research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Variation in Reproductive Success Across Captive Populations: Methodological Differences, Potential Biases and Opportunities

et al. 2016

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International audienceOur understanding of fundamental organismal biology has been disproportionately influenced by studies of a relatively small number of ‘model’ species extensively studied in captivity. Laboratory populations of model species are commonly subject to a number of forms of past and current selection that may affect experimental outcomes. Here, we examine these processes and their outcomes in one of the most widely used vertebrate species in the laboratory – the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). This important model species is used for research across a broad range of fields, partly due to the ease with which it can be bred in captivity. However despite this perceived amenability, we demonstrate extensive variation in the success with which different laboratories and studies bred their subjects, and overall only 64% of all females that were given the opportunity, bred successfully in the laboratory. We identify and review several environmental, husbandry, life-history and behavioural factors that potentially contribute to this variation. The variation in reproductive success across individuals could lead to biases in experimental outcomes and drive some of the heterogeneity in research outcomes across studies. The zebra finch remains an excellent captive animal system and our aim is to sharpen the insight that future studies of this species can provide, both to our understanding of this species and also with respect to the reproduction of captive animals more widely. We hope to improve systematic reporting methods and that further investigation of the issues we raise will lead both to advances in our fundamental understanding of avian reproduction as well as to improvements in future welfare and experimental efficiency

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Personality in captivity: More exploratory males reproduce better in an aviary population

Cited by 28 publications

References 47 publications

Personality assortative female mating preferences in a songbird

Personality assortative female mating preferences in a songbird

Early-life social environment predicts social network position in wild zebra finches

Variation in Reproductive Success Across Captive Populations: Methodological Differences, Potential Biases and Opportunities

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