Environmental effects on the covariation among pace‐of‐life traits

Abstract

Pace-of-life syndromes (POLSs) are suites of life-history, physiological and behavioral traits that arise due to trade-offs between allocation to current and future reproduction. Traits generally show covariation that can arise from genetic and environmental influences on phenotypes and constrain the independent evolution of traits, resulting in fitness consequences and impacts on population dynamics. The notion that correlations among traits may vary among populations along environmental gradients suggests an important role for the environment in shaping and maintaining POLS. However, no synthesis has been attempted of the myriad ways in which environmental factors should influence POLS. Here, we formulate a series of hypotheses targeting the critical interfaces of the environment and life history-behaviour associations across different organisms. We discuss the hypotheses in light of findings from a systematic review of studies that measured changes in the association between behavior and life-history traits as a function of environmental conditions. The review revealed that POLS is often shaped by environmental variation, where harshness of the environment in early life has the most consistent effects on POLS. However, only partial or no effects of environmental variation were found in a number of studies, which may result from the highly variable study systems, traits, and environments studied. We highlight promising directions arising from the available studies and identify knowledge gaps that, if unaddressed, will impede progress in the field.

Sex-specific covariance between metabolic rate, behaviour and morphology in the ground beetle Carabus hortensis

“…Pronotum width (as a proxy for body size) and body mass were also included as fixed terms. Temperatures impact also ectotherm behaviour (reviewed in: Abram et al, 2017 ) and may influence links between metabolism and behaviour ( Hämäläinen et al, 2020 ). Exploratory behaviour interacting with the temperature at which exploratory behaviour was observed (hereafter: behavioural temperature) was, therefore, included as a fixed term.…”

Fluctuations in Density-Dependent Selection Drive the Evolution of a Pace-of-Life Syndrome Within and Between Populations

“…Despite the apparent absence of a general relationship between behavioral traits and mortality risk (Moiron et al 2020), adaptive strategies to reduce mortality risk (Mathot et al 2012) may be an important element of specific systems. For instance, such adaptive strategies may arise if disturbances become less predictable and may facilitate the persistence of plastic slow types at more severe disturbance regimes (Hämäläinen et al 2021). This would not only change the relationship between the POL and other traits, but also the general association between POL and densitydependent selection.…”

Artificial selection for predatory behaviour results in dietary niche differentiation in an omnivorous mammal

“…Diet could be further shaped by other traits coevolving with the selected behavioural traits. Consistent behavioural traits frequently correlate with physiological or life-history traits that facilitate adaptation to specific environments [53][54][55]. For example, individuals with active personalities are expected to have a high metabolism and a high energy requirement, which in turn should be met by higher energy consumption, and possibly a broader dietary niche [5].…”