Does it always pay to defend one's nest? A case study in African penguin

Traisnel, Gwendoline; Pichegru, Lorien

doi:10.1111/eth.12704

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(101 reference statements)

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“…Our study elaborates on Roulston et al .’s 23 insight that different behaviour indices return different aspects of the behaviour displayed – it is therefore paramount to choose the particular behaviour index or indices as needed for the particular research question and study organism. This applies not only to ant behaviour indices but likely also to behaviour indices across many other taxa 5–8 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Standardised behaviour assays are often used across various vertebrate and invertebrate taxa 1–4 , and especially aggression assays are widely used 5–8 . In social insects, for example ants, such behaviour assays are conducted to characterise aggressive and non-aggressive behaviour in analysing, among others, associations and symbioses 9–11 , behavioural syndromes 12–14 , competitive abilities 15,16 , colony boundaries 17–19 , and supercolonies 20–22 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparing ant behaviour indices for fine-scale analyses

Krapf

Hochenegger

Arthofer

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Animal behaviour often is characterised by standardised assays. In social insects such as ants, behaviour assays are for example used to characterise aggressive and peaceful behaviour. Such assays differ in the number of individuals, the duration and place of assays, and the scoring scales. Also the behaviour indices used to summarise the results differ. Here, we compared five behaviour indices (Aggression Index, Mean Maximum Aggression Index; and the newly introduced Mean Maximum Peace Index, Mean Behaviour Index aggressive, and Mean Behaviour Index peaceful) using a scoring scale that comprises peaceful and aggressive behaviour. The indices were applied on eight simulations and three observed data sets. The five indices were correlated but frequently differed in their means. Multiple indices were needed to capture the complete behaviour range. Furthermore, subtle differences in workers’ behaviour, that is, differences that go beyond the presence/absence of aggression, were only identified when considering multiple indices. We infer that the indices applied are differently suited for different analyses. Fine-scale analyses of behavioural variation profit from using more than one index. The particular choice of index or indices likely influences the interpretation of behaviour and should be carefully done in the light of study species and research question.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing ant behaviour indices for fine-scale analyses

Krapf

Hochenegger

Arthofer

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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“…During years of food shortage, shy African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) produce chicks that grow faster than chicks of bold parents [66]. Traisnel and Pichegru [66] suggest that this is because while bold penguins may be more successful at defending against predation or intraspecific aggression, they invest less time in foraging for young. In a changing environment where food shortages are predicted to become more intense or more common, shy individuals should be favored.…”

Section: Context Dependencementioning

confidence: 99%

You’re Just My Type: Mate Choice and Behavioral Types

Munson

Jones

Schraft

et al. 2020

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

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Consistent individual differences in behavior [i.e., behavioral types (BTs)], are common across the animal kingdom. Consistency can make behavior an adaptive trait for mate choice decisions. Here, we present a conceptual framework to explain how and why females might evaluate a male's BT before mating. Because BTs are consistent across time or context, a male's BT can be a reliable indicator of his potential to provide direct benefits. Heritable BTs can enable informed mate choice via indirect benefits. Many key issues regarding patterns of mate choice, including sensory biases, context dependence, and assortative mating apply to BT-dependent mate choice. Understanding the relationship between BTs and mate choice may offer insights into patterns of variation and consistency common in behavioral traits. BTs and Mate ChoiceMate choice is often a key factor influencing the evolution of traits [1,2]. While sexual selection via mate choice likely has a special role as a major explanation for highly elaborated ornaments, it is not only important for explaining exaggerated, sex-specific traits. A new insight is that the choosy sex (typically females) may also select a mate based on their own and their potential mate's behavioral type (BT) (see Glossary); for example, boldness, aggressiveness, exploratory tendency, or sociability [3]. An individual is said to have a BT if its behavior is consistent across time or contexts (e.g., an individual that is more aggressive than another in a foraging context, also tends to be more aggressive in the future and/or more aggressive in a mating context) [4]. If males have consistent BTs, then male behavior observed by a female at one time and context (e.g., during courtship) provides information about his likely behavior in the past and future (e.g., during parental care). Importantly, the time scale of this correlation is not part of the definition for either human or animal personalities [4,5]. More persistent BTs (e.g., over a lifetime) presumably have greater potential to be impactful, particularly for species with long-term mating associations, but even short-term consistency (e.g., from courtship to nesting or parental behavior a few weeks later) can be important [6][7][8].With regard to mechanisms of adaptive mate choice, correlations between a potential mate's past, present, and future behaviors may determine the quality and quantity of expected direct benefits that he can provide (e.g., nuptial gifts, territory, or parental care) [3]. Within a breeding season, BTs allow a female to predict a male's future behavior towards her and her offspring, which may be particularly important for species that have paternal care, including territory defense and provisioning [9,10]. While consistency to the next breeding season is not necessarily important for all species, species that engage in long-term pair bonds may rely more heavily on BTs to determine long-term compatibility [11]. Furthermore, given that BTs are heritable (about half of BT variation is attributable to additive geneti...

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“…Birds were captured prior to a departure, weighed and equipped with a logger taped to their lower back feathers (Tesa ® tape, 4651). Devices were removed after several days (mean ± SD: 4.38 ± 1.21 d), and additional morphometric measurements (bill depth and length, flipper, weight) were taken to assess gender (see Pichegru et al 2013, Campbell et al 2016, and details of protocol in Traisnel & Pichegru 2018). Overall, we tracked 59 breeding adults for a total of 168 tracks (2−6 trips ind.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the videos, we extracted the total number of attacks (reaching towards or pecking the pole) and the total number of threats (head rotation from side to side alternately and irregularly from a forward-facing position; see Traisnel & Pichegru 2018 for details) during the experiment. These behaviours were previously determined as a proxy for boldness (Traisnel & Pichegru 2018), a personality trait, as they are repeatable within and between breeding seasons (Traisnel & Pichegru 2018).…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Success comes with consistency in hard times: foraging repeatability relates to sex and breeding output in African penguins

Traisnel¹,

Pichegru²

2019

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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The concept of individual behavioural consistency has received a great deal of attention in the past 2 decades. However, the fitness benefits of being consistent in varying environmental conditions remain poorly explored. Such information is strongly relevant to our understanding of ecological processes, but also for predicting how some individuals and populations cope with environmental changes. We investigated short-term consistency in foraging behaviours of African penguins Spheniscus demersus at population and individual levels on Bird Island (Algoa Bay, South Africa) between 2015 and 2017, and related individual levels of consistency to reproductive outputs. Short-term overall consistency in foraging behaviour across individuals of the same population (population level) was generally moderate, although it was high for bearing (i.e. direction) towards the furthest point of the foraging trip. At the individual level, foraging consistency differed between years and was higher when environmental conditions were less profitable. Females were more flexible in their foraging behaviours than males. Overall, these results suggest that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors are responsible for inter-individual differences in foraging consistency in African penguins. Chicks of parents that were consistent in their foraging trip duration had higher growth rates than those of more flexible individuals when conditions were poor. It is not clear whether penguins adapt their level of short-term consistency at sea to the changing conditions or maintain their strategy across years. However, our results have revealed a reproductive advantage of individual foraging consistency during a year when resources were poor. For the first time, we have identified a potential mechanism to explain why some African penguins may cope better than others during poor environmental conditions.

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Does it always pay to defend one's nest? A case study in African penguin

Cited by 19 publications

References 62 publications

Comparing ant behaviour indices for fine-scale analyses

Comparing ant behaviour indices for fine-scale analyses

You’re Just My Type: Mate Choice and Behavioral Types

Success comes with consistency in hard times: foraging repeatability relates to sex and breeding output in African penguins

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