Individual quality: tautology or biological reality?

Bergeron, Patrick; Baeta, Renaud; Pelletier, Fanie; Réale, Denis; Garant, Dany

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01770.x

Cited by 77 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(52 reference statements)

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“…Our guillemot studies and the studies of Cam et al (1998) thus suggest persistent between-individual phenotypic differences that influence a range of fitness components such as breeding propensity, breeding success and adult survival (see also Le Bohec et al, 2007;Robert et al, 2012). Understanding how such "quality" effects arise in the first place, are maintained throughout the lives of individuals and whether they are transmitted from parents to offspring constitutes a major challenge for evolutionary ecology in general (Wilson and Nussey, 2010;Bergeron et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skipped breeding in common guillemots in a changing climate: restraint or constraint?

2015

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Climate change may have demographic consequences for marine top predators if it leads to altered rates of skipped breeding. Here we examine variation in skipping propensity at both the population and individual levels in common guillemots Uria aalge in relation to climate and oceanographic variables and explore the extent to which skipping may be adaptive or an unavoidable consequence of ecological or social constraints. We assumed a detection probability for birds present in the colony of 1.00 and skipping events were defined to include both resightings of non-breeders and failures to resight individuals known to be alive (not present at the colony but resighted in future years). Skipping frequency was higher in years where sea surface temperatures (SST) were higher in winter (both in the current and previous year), when guillemots from our study colony disperse widely across the southern North Sea. Individuals differed consistently in their average skipping propensity and their responses to SST. Males and females were equally likely to skip on average and the frequency of skipping increased in the oldest age classes. Birds that skipped in year t had lower breeding success in year t + 1 if they laid an egg, compared to birds that did not skip in year t. Lifetime reproductive output was negatively related to individual skipping frequency. These results imply that skipping is driven by individual-specific constraints, although we cannot rule out the possibility that birds benefit from skipping when environmental (or internal) signals indicate that breeding in poor years could be detrimental to their residual reproductive value. While future climate change might lead to guillemots skipping more often due to carry-over effects from wintering to breeding periods, the net demographic impacts may be subtle as the absolute frequency of skipping may remain low and individuals will not be equally affected.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skipped breeding in common guillemots in a changing climate: restraint or constraint?

2015

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“…However, the first eigen vector of G would capture the (direct) genetic variance in resource acquisition and be closely aligned with b. Consequently, this analysis would not explain the lack of phenotypic response to selection as acting. Several recent studies have actually reported evidence for within-population variation in individual 'quality' (Hamel et multivariate phenotypic variance closely aligned with b (see Bergeron et al, 2010 andNussey, 2010 for critiques of the lack of formal definition). Quality is therefore the multivariate analogue of finding positive covariance between traits in a putative trade-off, and while it could similarly be explained by environmental variance in resource acquisition (Wilson and Nussey, 2010), in some cases it has been shown to be heritable (Coltman et al, 2005).…”

Section: Implications For Patterns Of Covariance Among Life History Tmentioning

confidence: 98%

Competition as a source of constraint on life history evolution in natural populations

Wilson

2013

Heredity

128

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Competition among individuals is central to our understanding of ecology and population dynamics. However, it could also have major implications for the evolution of resource-dependent life history traits (for example, growth, fecundity) that are important determinants of fitness in natural populations. This is because when competition occurs, the phenotype of each individual will be causally influenced by the phenotypes, and so the genotypes, of competitors. Theory tells us that indirect genetic effects arising from competitive interactions will give rise to the phenomenon of 'evolutionary environmental deterioration', and act as a source of evolutionary constraint on resource-dependent traits under natural selection. However, just how important this constraint is remains an unanswered question. This article seeks to stimulate empirical research in this area, first highlighting some patterns emerging from life history studies that are consistent with a competition-based model of evolutionary constraint, before describing several quantitative modelling strategies that could be usefully applied. A recurrent theme is that rigorous quantification of a competition's impact on life history evolution will require an understanding of the causal pathways and behavioural processes by which genetic (co)variance structures arise. Knowledge of the G-matrix among life history traits is not, in and of itself, sufficient to identify the constraints caused by competition.

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“…This individual heterogeneity can be fixed (Cam and Monnat 2000) or can vary throughout the life of individuals (Bergeron et al 2011). Fixed heterogeneity refers to permanent individual differences in vital rates that arise from an individual's phenotype that are determined at birth such as genetic makeup and developmental consequences of cohort or maternal effects Nussey 2010, Bergeron et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme climate events and individual heterogeneity shape life‐history traits and population dynamics

Jenouvrier

Péron

Weimerskirch

2015

Ecological Monographs

126

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Abstract. Extreme climatic conditions and their ecological impacts are currently emerging as critical features of climate change. We studied extreme sea ice condition (ESIC) and found it impacts both life-history traits and population dynamics of an Antarctic seabird well beyond ordinary variability.The Southern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialoides) is an ice-dependent seabird, and individuals forage near the ice edge. During an extreme unfavorable year (when sea ice area is reduced and distance between ice edge and colony is high), observed foraging trips were greater in distance and duration. As a result, adults brought less food to their chicks, which fledged in the poorest body condition. During such unfavorable years, breeding success was extremely low and population growth rate (k) was greatly reduced. The opposite pattern occurred during extreme favorable years.Previous breeding status had a strong influence on life-history traits and population dynamics, and their responses to extreme conditions. Successful breeders had a higher chance of breeding and raising their chick successfully during the following breeding season as compared to other breeding stages, regardless of environmental conditions. Consequently, they coped better with unfavorable ESIC. The effect of change in successful breeder vital rates on k was greater than for other stages' vital rates, except for pre-breeder recruitment probabilities, which most affected k.For environments characterized by ordinary sea ice conditions, interindividual differences were more likely to persist over the life of individuals and randomness in individual pathways was low, suggesting individual heterogeneity in vital rates arising from innate or acquired phenotypic traits. Additionally, unfavorable ESIC tended to exacerbate individual differences in intrinsic quality, expressed through differences in reproductive status.We discuss the strong effects of ESIC on Southern Fulmar life-history traits in an evolutionary context. ESICs strongly affect fitness components and act as potentially important agents of natural selection of life histories related to intrinsic quality and intermittent breeding. In addition, recruitment is a highly plastic trait that, if heritable, could have a critical role in evolution of life histories. Finally, we find that changes in the frequency of extreme events may strongly impact persistence of Southern Fulmar populations.

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Individual quality: tautology or biological reality?

Cited by 77 publications

References 50 publications

Skipped breeding in common guillemots in a changing climate: restraint or constraint?

Skipped breeding in common guillemots in a changing climate: restraint or constraint?

Competition as a source of constraint on life history evolution in natural populations

Extreme climate events and individual heterogeneity shape life‐history traits and population dynamics

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