The role of personality traits in pair bond formation: pairing is influenced by the trait of exploration

Abstract

In species with long-term pair bonds, such as zebra finches, evaluating the quality of potential mates is critically important. Courtship is an opportunity to evaluate information from dynamic behavioural cues. Personality traits, as stable individual differences in behaviour, could predict the quality of a potential mate. How might personality traits influence mate choice? We examined the influence of several personality traits, including exploration, aggression, and social preference, on pair formation in zebra finches. We provided birds with a variety of potential mates and allowed them to select a pair partner. Our semi-naturalistic mate choice paradigm allowed birds to observe social information over an extended period, simulating the challenges of social evaluation that birds encounter in the wild. We found that pairing is influenced by personality, with birds selecting mates similar to them in exploration. The partner’s exploration score relative to their own was more important than the absolute exploration score.

Experimental rapid and small-scale ecological population divergence in the absence of current natural selection

“…However, we cannot completely discard additional sources of assortative mating besides MHC. Zebra finches mate assortatively for traits such as neophobia (Pogány et al, 2018) and exploratory behaviour (Faust & Goldstein, 2021;Schuett et al, 2011), so it could be possible that they were also able to assess their potential partner's local performance and showed preferences based on that (Snowberg & Benkman, 2009). Because local performance is area specific, the inability of a bird (e.g., of type A) to feed in its nonmatching area (B) could be negatively evaluated by a potential partner of the opposite local performance (B; and vice versa).…”

The influence of pair duration on reproductive success in the monogamous ‘Alalā (Hawaiian crow, Corvus hawaiiensis)

“…Other approaches may involve pairing individuals based on criteria such as whether a pair would positively contribute to the genetic health of the population, assuming offspring are produced (e.g., by minimizing inbreeding and retaining founder representation; Montgomery et al, 1997;Ballou et al, 2010;Ivy and Lacy, 2012). Alternatively pairs may be chosen based on assessments of behavioral compatibility (e.g., based on personality type; Smith and Blumstein, 2008;Martin-Wintle et al, 2017;Faust and Goldstein, 2021), or a hybrid approach that considers both genetic and behavioral compatibility. For species that cannot be housed in a communal setting, practitioners must make difficult decisions about when to divorce and re-pair previously selected mates, which becomes necessary, particularly if the pair has been repeatedly unsuccessful at breeding.…”