Peromyscus burrowing: A model system for behavioral evolution

Hu, Caroline; Hoekstra, Hopi E.

doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2016.08.001

Cited by 55 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…By genetic differences, we refer to heritable differences of the genome (for behavior see Ref. (Hu & Hoekstra, ) for social behaviors (Bendesky et al., ) (Dochtermann, Schwab, & Sih, ), which includes not only differences in genes and alleles, but also differences in genomic regions that regulate gene expression. However, while genetic differences between populations of the same species could explain the occurrence of IVSO, evidence for this process is rare to absent.…”

Section: The Four Mechanisms That Can Lead To Ivsomentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

et al. 2018

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Many species show intraspecific variation in their social organization (IVSO), which means the composition of their social groups can change between solitary living, pair living, or living in groups. Understanding IVSO is important because it demonstrates species resilience to environmental change and can help us to study ultimate and proximate reasons for group living by comparing solitary and group‐living individuals in a single species. It has long been realized that the environment plays a key role in explaining the occurrence of IVSO. IVSO is expected to have evolved in variable environments and can thus be a key adaptation to environmental change. It has previously been suggested that four different mechanisms relying on the environment exist that can lead to IVSO: environmental disrupters, genetic differentiation, developmental plasticity, and social flexibility. All four mechanisms depend on the environment such that focusing only on environmental factors alone cannot explain IVSO. Importantly, only three represent evolved mechanisms, while environmental disrupters leading to the death of important group members induce nonadaptive IVSO. Environmental disrupters can be expected to cause IVSO even in species where IVSO is also an adaptive response. Here, we focus on the questions of why IVSO occurs and why it evolved. To understand IVSO at the species level, it is important to conduct continuous long‐term studies to differentiate between nonadaptive and adaptive IVSO. We predict that IVSO evolves in environments that vary in important ecological variables, such as rainfall, food availability, and population density. IVSO might also depend on life history factors, especially longevity. IVSO is predicted to be more common in species with a short life span and that breed only for one breeding season, being selected to respond optimally to the prevailing environmental situation. Finally, we emphasize the importance of accounting for IVSO when studying social evolution, especially in comparative studies, as not every species can be assigned to one single form of social organization. For such comparative studies, it is important to use data based on the primary literature.

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Section: The Four Mechanisms That Can Lead To Ivsomentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

et al. 2018

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“…Whether or not a worker honeybee becomes reproductively active is determined by a single gene, called anarchy and the social structure of several species of ants is determined by a "social chromosome" (Purcell et al 2014). Similarly, the kind of burrow dug by deer mice is under the influence of a set of well-characterized genes (Hu and Hoekstra 2017). Identifying the genetic basis of behavior is obviously much more labor intensive, not to mention expensive, than simply describing differences in "personality," but actually provides us insights into the underlying mechanisms.…”

Section: Behavioral Genetics and Behavioral Neuroendocrinology: Undermentioning

confidence: 99%

Does the field of animal personality provide any new insights for behavioral ecology?

Beekman

Jordan

2017

Behavioral Ecology

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The field of animal personalities claims to fill a gap in our understanding of animal behavior, because it explicitly studies the adaptive significance of behavioral differences. This is a controversial claim given that the field of behavioral ecology firmly places the study of animal behavior in an evolutionary context. In fact, it is the evolutionary context that differentiates behavioral ecology from ethology and animal behavior, 2 fields that were already concerned with the study of behavior in nonhuman animals. So, if behavioral ecology already takes an evolutionary approach to variation in behavior, we ask what is personality research about exactly? This question is particularly pertinent now the focus of personality research shifts and the field moves away from being mainly descriptive to include quantitative frameworks. As a result, the field has come to borrow heavily from already established fields. In our view, this has resulted in "animal personality" studies becoming nothing more than a rebranding of existing fields of research-fields that are far more solidly grounded and hypothesis driven than the often vague and superficial focus on animal personalities.

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“…When considering the complexity of the brain with all its individual neurons, it seems a nearly impossible problem to understand what types of changes to an existing nervous system might become useful for an animal. A powerful approach has been to turn this question around and to first identify specific cases where a behavior or preference has changed between species, and then to use comparative genetic or developmental approaches to understand what it is that controls these differences (e.g., 59, 139). Such examples have provided insight into how behaviors can be modified by changes at one or a few loci.…”

Section: Future Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation and Evolution of Neural Cell Types and Circuits: Insights from the Drosophila Visual System

et al. 2017

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The Drosophila visual system has become a premier model for probing how neural diversity is generated during development. Recent work has provided deeper insight into the elaborate mechanisms that control the range of types and numbers of neurons produced, which neurons survive, and how they interact. These processes drive visual function and influence behavioral preferences. Other studies are beginning to provide insight into how neuronal diversity evolved in insects by adding new cell types and modifying neural circuits. Some of the most powerful comparisons have been those made to the Drosophila visual system, where a deeper understanding of molecular mechanisms allows for the generation of hypotheses about the evolution of neural anatomy and function. The evolution of new neural types contributes additional complexity to the brain and poses intriguing questions about how new neurons interact with existing circuitry. We explore how such individual changes between species might play a role over evolutionary timescales. Lessons learned from they visual system apply to other neural systems, including they central brain, where decisions are made and memories are stored.

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Peromyscus burrowing: A model system for behavioral evolution

Cited by 55 publications

References 80 publications

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

Does the field of animal personality provide any new insights for behavioral ecology?

Generation and Evolution of Neural Cell Types and Circuits: Insights from the Drosophila Visual System

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