Sexual selection and animal personality

Schuett, Wiebke; Tregenza, Tom; Dall, Sasha R. X.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-185x.2009.00101.x

Cited by 461 publications

(468 citation statements)

References 180 publications

(258 reference statements)

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“…Males in several other species have higher levels of aggressiveness and risk taking than females, whilst consistent intra-individual variation within sex is nevertheless maintained (Schuett et al 2010).…”

Section: Sex and Population Differences In Personality Scoresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social personality traits in chimpanzees: temporal stability and structure of behaviourally assessed personality traits in three captive populations

Koski

2011

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

100

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Animals of many species show consistency in behaviour across time and contexts that differs from other individuals' behaviour in the same population. Such 'personality' affects fitness and has therefore become an increasingly relevant research topic in biology. However, consistent variation in social behaviour is understudied. In socially living species, behaviour occurs in a social environment and social interactions have a significant influence on individual fitness. This study addressed personality in social behaviour of 75 captive chimpanzees in three zoos by coding observed behaviour. Fifteen behavioural variables were significantly repeatable (range 0.21-0.93) in at least two of the three zoos. The behaviours showed considerable long-term stability across 3 years, which did not differ from the shortterm repeatability. The repeatable behaviours were then analysed with factor analyses. They formed five independent factors, three of which consisted of social traits and were labelled 'sociability', 'positive affect' and 'equitability'. The two non-social behaviour factors were labelled 'anxiety' and 'activity'. The factor scores were analysed for sex and population differences. Males had higher factor scores in all traits except 'sociability'. The factor scores differed also between the zoos, implying considerable external effects in trait expression. The results show that chimpanzees show personality in a broad range of social and non-social behaviours. The study highlights the importance of assessing personality in the social behaviour, especially in cohesive social species, as only then can we understand the consequences of personality in socially living species.

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Section: Sex and Population Differences In Personality Scoresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social personality traits in chimpanzees: temporal stability and structure of behaviourally assessed personality traits in three captive populations

Koski

2011

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

100

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“…Nevertheless, 51 underlying mechanisms that generate and maintain behavioural polymorphism are largely 52 unclear and many aspects of the growing body of theoretical frameworks still remain to be 53 empirically tested (reviewed in e.g. Schuett et al, 2010;Wolf et al, 2010). 54 55 Recently, Schuett et al (2010) pointed out that sexual selection may be important in 56 generating and maintaining personality variation though this possibility has rarely been 57 tested (but see e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Schuett et al, 2010;Wolf et al, 2010). 54 55 Recently, Schuett et al (2010) pointed out that sexual selection may be important in 56 generating and maintaining personality variation though this possibility has rarely been 57 tested (but see e.g. Montiglio et al, 2016;.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Not many studies to date have investigated the effect of personality traits on mate choice 71 (reviewed in Schuett et al, 2010) and some have only assessed the behaviour of the chosen 72 but not the choosing sex (Godin et al, 1996;Ophir et al, 2003). The few studies considering 73 a potential interplay between male and female personality during mate choice have often 74 found assortative mate choice for various behavioural traits, in correlative (Gonzaga et al, 75 2010; Kralj-Fisěr et al, 2013;Mascie-Taylor et al, 1988;Montiglio et al, 2016) or 76 experimental settings and an increased reproductive success of 77 assortative pairs (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generally, positive assortment for genotypic or phenotypic 85 5 traits is by far more prominent in the animal kingdom than evidence for dis-assortment 86 (reviewed in Jiang et al, 2013 (Dall et al, 2004;Royle et al, 2010;Schuett et al, 2010). For example, a female might be 96 able to predict a male's ability to protect prospective offspring from the consistency in 97 boldness expressed prior to mate choice.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Different or alike? Female rainbow kribs choose males of similar consistency and dissimilar level of boldness

Scherer¹,

Kuhnhardt²,

Schuett³

2017

Animal Behaviour

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to different conditions. However, sheer costs of flexibility cannot explain the polymorphism 22 created by personality variation. In a correlative approach, we here tested whether mate 23 choice might act as a major driving force maintaining personality variation in the 24 monogamous, biparental rainbow krib, Pelvicachromis pulcher. We personality-typed all 25 males and females for their boldness (activity under simulated predation risk) and allowed 26 females to choose between two males that differed in their boldness (behavioural level and 27 consistency). Prior to the choice, females were allowed to observe both males, expressing 28 their natural boldness towards a video animated natural predator. Both sexes showed 29 personality differences in boldness over the short-and long-term. Furthermore, when 30 removing side-biased females, we found a dis-assortative mating preference for the 31 behavioural level and an assortative preference for behavioural consistency in boldness. 32Such preference patterns might facilitate effective parental role allocation during offspring 33 care and/or provide genetic benefits. Our results suggest that sexual selection plays an 34 important role in the evolution of personality differences. 35 36 Keywords: anti-predator behaviour, assortative, behavioural compatibility, cichlid, mate 37 choice, Pelvicachromis pulcher, personality, risk-taking, sexual selection, side bias 38 39 3 Individuals have to cope with a wide array of environmental challenges. Therefore, 40 flexibility in the expression of behavioural responses towards different and changing 41 conditions should be favoured by selection ). Yet, individuals often show 42 considerable consistent between-individual differences in behaviour over time and/or 43 contexts (Boissy, 1995). Such personality differences are common throughout the animal 44 kingdom (reviewed in Gosling, 2001; Kralj-Fišer et al., 2014) and have been shown for 45 various behavioural traits, such as activity pattern, aggressiveness, exploratory tendencies, 46 boldness and fearfulness (reviewed in Dall et al., 2004; Gosling, 2001;. 47Personality traits are moderately heritable (Ariyomo, Carter, et al., 2013; Patrick et al., 48 2013;Reif et al., 2003;van Oers et al., 2005) and have fitness consequences (e.g. Ariyomo et 49 al., 2012; Dingemanse et al., 2005;Smith et al., 2008), suggesting they are not merely non-50 adaptive noise that surrounds an adaptive optimum (Wilson, 1998). Nevertheless, 51 underlying mechanisms that generate and maintain behavioural polymorphism are largely 52 unclear and many aspects of the growing body of theoretical frameworks still remain to be 53 empirically tested (reviewed in e.g. Schuett et al., 2010;Wolf et al., 2010). 54 55 Recently, Schuett et al. (2010) pointed out that sexual selection may be important in 56 generating and maintaining personality variation though this possibility has rarely been 57 tested (but see e.g. Montiglio et al., 2016;. According to the proposed 58 framework , personalities are expected to p...

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The Evolution of Animal Personality Variation

Kight

David

Dall

2013

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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In many species of animals individual behaviour differs, yet is consistent over time and in an array of different environments; in other words, these animals display ‘personality’ variation. This may emerge not by chance, but, instead, is shaped by selective processes favouring individuals who display a differentiated behavioural phenotype. Indeed, personalities are known to affect important activities such as resource acquisition, survival and reproduction – which, cumulatively, impact an individual's fitness. We currently lack the insights and technology needed to fully characterise the genetics and physiology of most ecologically relevant behaviour; however, much can be gained by adopting an adaptive approach to consider the evolutionary processes that might have driven the emergence and maintenance of stable behavioural variation. Such an exercise will allow us to develop a priori hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying the behaviour, and to conduct powerful empirical studies examining how individualised behaviour impacts the life histories of a variety of species. Key Concepts: In many animal species, individuals differ predictably in their behaviour; this consistent behavioural variation is often referred to as ‘animal personalities’ (or ‘behavioural types’, ‘coping styles’, ‘temperament’ and ‘behavioural syndromes’). Expression of personalities can have significant impacts on activities such as resource acquisition, survival and reproduction – and, therefore, may influence fitness. A variety of factors may contribute for interindividual variation within populations; these include mutation, stochasticity, strong tradeoffs, spatiotemporal fluctuations, condition dependence and state dependence and negative frequency dependence. Personalities can also be thought of as individual behavioural specialisation; this may arise as a result of life history tradeoffs, state‐dependent feedback, adaptive packaging of suites of traits and adaptive consistency. Certain personalities may not be beneficial under some circumstances; however, when their effects are considered across the range of different circumstances that an animal will experience throughout its lifetime, these personalities will ultimately prove beneficial – otherwise they will not be maintained in the population. The study of animal behaviour is useful for generating testable hypotheses about how genetics and physiology may underpin ecologically relevant behaviour, as well as for predicting the exact mechanisms that might link these traits.

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Sexual selection and animal personality

Cited by 461 publications

References 180 publications

Social personality traits in chimpanzees: temporal stability and structure of behaviourally assessed personality traits in three captive populations

Social personality traits in chimpanzees: temporal stability and structure of behaviourally assessed personality traits in three captive populations

Different or alike? Female rainbow kribs choose males of similar consistency and dissimilar level of boldness

The Evolution of Animal Personality Variation

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