The contribution of developmental experience vs. condition to life history, trait variation and individual differences

Abstract

SUMMARY Developmental experience, for example food abundance during juvenile stages, is known to affect life history and behaviour. However, the life history and behavioural consequences of developmental experience have rarely been studied in concert. As a result it is still unclear whether developmental experience affects behaviour through changes in life history, or independently of it.The effect of developmental experience on life history and behaviour may also be masked or affected by individual condition during adulthood. Thus, it is critical to tease apart the effects of developmental experience and current individual condition on life history and behaviour.In this study we manipulated food abundance during development in the western black widow spider, Latrodectus hesperus, by rearing spiders on either a restricted or ad lib diet. We separated developmental from condition dependent effects by assaying adult foraging behaviour (tendency to attack prey and to stay on out of the refuge following an attack) and web structure multiple times under different levels of satiation following different developmental treatments.Spiders reared under food restriction matured slower and at a smaller size than spiders reared in ad lib conditions. Spiders reared on a restricted diet were more aggressive towards prey and built webs structured for prey capture while spiders reared on an ad lib diet were less aggressive and build safer webs. Developmental treatment affected which traits were plastic as adults: restricted spiders built safer webs when their adult condition increased, while ad-lib spiders reduced their aggression when their adult condition increased. The amount of individual variation in behaviour and web structure varied with developmental treatment. Spiders reared on a restricted diet exhibited consistent variation in all aspects of foraging behaviour and web structure, while spiders reared on an ad lib diet exhibited consistent individual variation in aggression and web weight only.Developmental experience affected the average life history, behaviour, and web structure of spiders, but also shaped the amount of phenotypic variation observed among individuals. Surprisingly, developmental experience also determined the particular way in which individuals plastically adjusted their behaviour and web structure to changes in adult condition.

Experience during development triggers between‐individual variation in behavioural plasticity

“…At any rate, empirical studies supported the idea that ontogenetic experience is a necessary trigger for the development of animal personality and behavioural syndromes (Bell & Sih, ; Bengston et al., ; Sweeney et al., ; Urszán, Garamszegi, et al., ; Urszán, Török, et al., ). The same is expected for the emergence of between‐individual variation in behavioural plasticity (Dingemanse & Wolf, ; DiRienzo & Montiglio, ; Mery & Burns, ), and our study strongly supported this expectation in both activity and risk‐taking. We found the expected predation‐induced plastic response on group level (Skelly & Werner, ; Teplitsky & Laurila, ): irrespective of ontogenetic experience, mean activity and risk‐taking decreased under perceived predation risk.…”

“…It has been emphasized that ontogenetic experience is an important factor shaping personality in later life (Butler, Toomey, McGraw, & Rowe, ; Dingemanse et al., ; Rödel & Monclús, ). However, results reveal no general pattern in how the environment—individual state—behavioural consistency link works, because behavioural consistency can both increase or decrease following environmental changes affecting individual state (David, Auclair, Giraldeau, & Cézilly, ; DiRienzo & Montiglio, ; DiRienzo, Niemelä, Hedrick, & Kortet, ; DiRienzo, Niemelä, Skog, Vainikka, & Kortet, ; Dosmann, Brooks, & Mateo, ; Kekäläinen, Lai, Vainikka, Sirkka, & Kortet, ). At any rate, empirical studies supported the idea that ontogenetic experience is a necessary trigger for the development of animal personality and behavioural syndromes (Bell & Sih, ; Bengston et al., ; Sweeney et al., ; Urszán, Garamszegi, et al., ; Urszán, Török, et al., ).…”

“…Several studies pointed out that animal personality and behavioural syndromes often will not develop without relevant environmental stimuli (Bengston, Pruitt, & Riechert, ; DiRienzo & Montiglio, ; Sweeney et al., ; Urszán, Török, Hettyey, Garamszegi, & Herczeg, ; Urszán, Garamszegi, et al., ). However, while reports of between‐individual variation in behavioural plasticity have started to accumulate (Briffa, Bridger, & Biro, ; Dingemanse, Barber, Wright, & Brommer, ; Dingemanse, Bouwman, et al., ; Porlier et al., ; Quinn, Cole, Bates, Pyne, & Cresswell, ; Westneat, Hatch, Wetzel, & Ensminger, ) and even the consistency of such variation has been supported (Araya‐Ajoj & Dingemanse, ; Mitchell & Biro, ), there is little empirical evidence regarding the contribution of environmental factors to the between‐individual differences in behavioural plasticity seen in nature (but see DiRienzo & Montiglio, ). In four great tit ( Parus major ) populations, individuals differed in their exploration personality and plasticity, and furthermore, the level of plasticity differed between populations too (Dingemanse, Barber, et al., ).…”

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

“…Many behavioral traits have been shown to be plastic in response to experiences during development (Sinn et al 2008; Butler et al 2012; DiRienzo et al 2012; Niemelä et al 2012a; DiRienzo et al 2015; Liedtke et al 2015; DiRienzo and Montiglio 2016). Developmental plasticity is largely assumed to be an adaptive, and mostly irreversible, response where an organism experiences an environmental cue during a sensitive period and adjusts its traits accordingly for the future (West-Eberhard 2003; Groothuis and Trillmich 2011).…”

“…repeatability (Dingemanse and Dochtermann 2013). Several studies have considered how factors such as body condition affect the expression of among-individual differences (David et al 2012; DiRienzo and Montiglio 2016), yet few have considered how immune activation and recent pathogen exposure in adults influences among-individual differences in behavior. Given the far-reaching evolutionary and ecological importance of individual variation (Sih et al 2012; Wolf and Weissing 2012), and that most organisms are exposed to pathogens throughout their life, it is critical to understand how factors such as pathogens can modify the expression of behavioral repeatability.…”