26
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Differences in boldness are repeatable and heritable in a long-lived marine predator

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Animal personalities, composed of axes of consistent individual behaviors, are widely reported and can have important fitness consequences. However, despite theoretical predictions that life-history trade-offs may cause and maintain personality differences, our understanding of the evolutionary ecology of personality remains poor, especially in long-lived species where trade-offs and senescence have been shown to be stronger. Furthermore, although much theoretical and empirical work assumes selection shapes variation in personalities, studies exploring the genetic underpinnings of personality traits are rare. Here we study one standard axis of personality, the shy–bold continuum, in a long-lived marine species, the wandering albatross from Possession Island, Crozet, by measuring the behavioral response to a human approach. Using generalized linear mixed models in a Bayesian framework, we show that boldness is highly repeatable and heritable. We also find strong differences in boldness between breeding colonies, which vary in size and density, suggesting birds are shyer in more dense colonies. These results demonstrate that in this seabird population, boldness is both heritable and repeatable and highlights the potential for ecological and evolutionary processes to shape personality traits in species with varying life-history strategies.

          Related collections

          Most cited references72

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Behavioural reaction norms: animal personality meets individual plasticity

          Recent studies in the field of behavioural ecology have revealed intriguing variation in behaviour within single populations. Increasing evidence suggests that individual animals differ in their average level of behaviour displayed across a range of contexts (animal 'personality'), and in their responsiveness to environmental variation (plasticity), and that these phenomena can be considered complementary aspects of the individual phenotype. How should this complex variation be studied? Here, we outline how central ideas in behavioural ecology and quantitative genetics can be combined within a single framework based on the concept of 'behavioural reaction norms'. This integrative approach facilitates analysis of phenomena usually studied separately in terms of personality and plasticity, thereby enhancing understanding of their adaptive nature. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Are animal personality traits linked to life-history productivity?

            Animal personality traits such as boldness, activity and aggressiveness have been described for many animal species. However, why some individuals are consistently bolder or more active than others, for example, is currently obscure. Given that life-history tradeoffs are common and known to promote inter-individual differences in behavior, we suggest that consistent individual differences in animal personality traits can be favored when those traits contribute to consistent individual differences in productivity (growth and/or fecundity). A survey of empirical studies indicates that boldness, activity and/or aggressiveness are positively related to food intake rates, productivity and other life-history traits in a wide range of taxa. Our conceptual framework sets the stage for a closer look at relationships between personality traits and life-history traits in animals.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              The behavioural ecology of personality: consistent individual differences from an adaptive perspective

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Ecol Evol
                Ecol Evol
                ece3
                Ecology and Evolution
                Blackwell Publishing Ltd
                2045-7758
                2045-7758
                November 2013
                03 October 2013
                : 3
                : 13
                : 4291-4299
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS-UPR1934 79360, Villiers-en-Bois, France
                [2 ]Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, Campus CNRS Cedex 5, 34293, Montpellier, France
                Author notes
                Samantha C. Patrick, Present address: Biosciences QU116, Francis Close Hall Campus University of Glocestershire, Cheltenham, GL50 4AZ, UK., Tel: + 44 1242 714 668;, E-mail: spatrick@ 123456glos.ac.uk

                Funding Information The Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor (IPEV, programme 109) and the Terres Australes and Antarctique Françaises (TAAF) provided logistical and financial support, and S. C. P. was funded by a Marie Curie Intra-European fellowship (ALBASPECIALISATION). A. C. was funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant ANR-12-ADAP-0006-02-PEPS).

                Article
                10.1002/ece3.748
                3856731
                e9849e50-db89-4556-a5f7-9110fad94d22
                © 2013 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

                Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.

                History
                : 31 May 2013
                : 26 July 2013
                : 02 August 2013
                Categories
                Original Research

                Evolutionary Biology
                wandering albatross,animal model,quantitative genetics,individual behavioral differences,bayesian environment,personality

                Comments

                Comment on this article