Nymphal density, behavioral development, and life history in a field cricket

Niemelä, Petri T.; Vainikka, Anssi; Lahdenperä, Sonja; Kortet, Raine

doi:10.1007/s00265-011-1312-1

Cited by 43 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(86 reference statements)

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“…Conversely, Niemelä et al. () reported no impact of experimentally manipulated (larval) rearing density on adult boldness in the field cricket Gryllus integer , a result that mirrors our lack of population level plastic response of boldness to the density treatment applied.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 48%

Phenotypic and genetic integration of personality and growth under competition in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni

et al. 2017

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Competition for resources including food, physical space, and potential mates is a fundamental ecological process shaping variation in individual phenotype and fitness. The evolution of competitive ability, in particular social dominance, depends on genetic (co)variation among traits causal (e.g., behavior) or consequent (e.g., growth) to competitive outcomes. If dominance is heritable, it will generate both direct and indirect genetic effects (IGE) on resource‐dependent traits. The latter are expected to impose evolutionary constraint because winners necessarily gain resources at the expense of losers. We varied competition in a population of sheepshead swordtails, Xiphophorus birchmanni, to investigate effects on behavior, size, growth, and survival. We then applied quantitative genetic analyses to determine (i) whether competition leads to phenotypic and/or genetic integration of behavior with life history and (ii) the potential for IGE to constrain life history evolution. Size, growth, and survival were reduced at high competition. Male dominance was repeatable and dominant individuals show higher growth and survival. Additive genetic contributions to phenotypic covariance were significant, with the G matrix largely recapitulating phenotypic relationships. Social dominance has a low but significant heritability and is strongly genetically correlated with size and growth. Assuming causal dependence of growth on dominance, hidden IGE will therefore reduce evolutionary potential.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 48%

Phenotypic and genetic integration of personality and growth under competition in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni

et al. 2017

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“…Crickets were maintained at the Experimental Unit of the University of Oulu. As rearing density can affect the development of cricket behaviors (Niemelä et al 2012c), at the start of the experiment, we sorted 238 nymphs (~ 1 week old) from the laboratory population into individual plastic containers (length 128 × width 98 × height 73 mm) and assigned each container with a unique identification number. Crickets were held at a 12:12h light:dark cycle at 27°C +/-1°C, and provided ad libitum food (reindeer pellets, Rehuraisio OY, poron herkku) and water.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult bacterial exposure increases behavioral variation and drives higher repeatability in field crickets

DiRienzo

Niemelä

Hedrick

et al. 2016

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Among-individual differences in behavior are now a widely studied research-focus within the field of behavioral ecology. Furthermore, elements of an animal’s internal state, such as energy or fat reserves, and infection status can have large impacts on behaviors. Despite this, we still know little regarding how state may affect behavioral variation. Recent exposure to pathogens may have a particularly large impact on behavioral expression given that it likely activates costly immune pathways, potentially forcing organism to make behavioral tradeoffs. In this study we investigate how recent exposure to a common bacterial pathogen, Serratia marcescens, affects both the mean behavioral expression and the among-individual differences (i.e. variation) in boldness behavior in the field cricket, Gryllus integer. We find that recent pathogen exposure does not affect mean behavioral expression of the treatment groups, but instead affects behavioral variation and repeatability. Specifically, bacterial exposure drove large among-individual variation, resulting in high levels of repeatability in some aspects of boldness (willingness to emerge into a novel environment), but not others (latency to become active in novel environment), compared to non-infected crickets. Interestingly, sham injection resulted in a universal lack of among-individual differences. Our results highlight the sensitivity of among-individual variance and repeatability estimates to ecological and environmental factors that individuals face throughout their lives.

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“…For example, crickets have been used previously in animal personality and behavioral syndrome studies (Kortet and Hedrick ; Niemelä et al. ,b,c). Also fruit flies have been used in cognition studies (Mery and Kawecki , Kawecki ).…”

Section: Testing the Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

How does variation in the environment and individual cognition explain the existence of consistent behavioral differences?

Niemelä

Vainikka

Forsman

et al. 2012

Ecology and Evolution

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According to recent studies on animal personalities, the level of behavioral plasticity, which can be viewed as the slope of the behavioral reaction norm, varies among individuals, populations, and species. Still, it is conceptually unclear how the interaction between environmental variation and variation in animal cognition affect the evolution of behavioral plasticity and expression of animal personalities. Here, we (1) use literature to review how environmental variation and individual variation in cognition explain population and individual level expression of behavioral plasticity and (2) draw together empirically yet nontested, conceptual framework to clarify how these factors affect the evolution and expression of individually consistent behavior in nature. The framework is based on simple principles: first, information acquisition requires cognition that is inherently costly to build and maintain. Second, individual differences in animal cognition affect the differences in behavioral flexibility, i.e. the variance around the mean of the behavioral reaction norm, which defines plasticity. Third, along the lines of the evolution of cognition, we predict that environments with moderate variation favor behavioral flexibility. This occurs since in those environments costs of cognition are covered by being able to recognize and use information effectively. Similarly, nonflexible, stereotypic behaviors may be favored in environments that are either invariable or highly variable, since in those environments cognition does not give any benefits to cover the costs or cognition is not able to keep up with environmental change, respectively. If behavioral plasticity develops in response to increasing environmental variability, plasticity should dominate in environments that are moderately variable, and expression of animal personalities and behavioral syndromes may differ between environments. We give suggestions how to test our hypothesis and propose improvements to current behavioral testing protocols in the field of animal personality.

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Nymphal density, behavioral development, and life history in a field cricket

Cited by 43 publications

References 68 publications

Phenotypic and genetic integration of personality and growth under competition in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni

Phenotypic and genetic integration of personality and growth under competition in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni

Adult bacterial exposure increases behavioral variation and drives higher repeatability in field crickets

How does variation in the environment and individual cognition explain the existence of consistent behavioral differences?

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