Why and how the early-life environment affects development of coping behaviours

Abstract

Understanding the ways in which individuals cope with threats, respond to challenges, make use of opportunities and mediate the harmful effects of their surroundings is important for predicting their ability to function in a rapidly changing world. Perhaps one of the most essential drivers of coping behaviour of adults is the environment experienced during their early-life development. Although the study of coping, defined as behaviours displayed in response to environmental challenges, has a long and rich research history in biology, recent literature has repeatedly pointed out that the processes through which coping behaviours develop in individuals are still largely unknown. In this review, we make a move towards integrating ultimate and proximate lines of coping behaviour research. After broadly defining coping behaviours (1), we review why, from an evolutionary perspective, the development of coping has become tightly linked to the early-life environment (2), which relevant developmental processes are most important in creating coping behaviours adjusted to the early-life environment (3), which influences have been shown to impact those developmental processes (4) and what the adaptive significance of intergenerational transmission of coping behaviours is, in the context of behavioural adaptations to a fast changing world (5). Important concepts such as effects of parents, habitat, nutrition, social group and stress are discussed using examples from empirical studies on mammals, fish, birds and other animals. In the discussion, we address important problems that arise when studying the development of coping behaviours and suggest solutions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00265-018-2452-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Structural complexity in the hatchery rearing environment affects activity, resting metabolic rate and post‐release behaviour in brown trout Salmo trutta

“…The environment experienced in early life stages may have lasting effects on performance later in life (Langenhof & Komdeur, ). These effects are especially important to consider when animals are reared in artificial environments to be reintroduced to the wild for conservation or exploitative purposes.…”

Maternal diet affects juvenile Carpetan rock lizard performance and personality

“…In amniotes, environmental differences experienced by the mother (i.e., nongenetic maternal effects; see Roff, 1998) may result in considerable and permanent differences in the offspring's physiology, morphology, and behavior (Ensminger, Langkilde, Owen, MacLeod, & Sheriff, 2018;Gosling, 2008;Munch et al, 2018;Räsänen & Kruuk, 2007). Although several studies suggest that maternal effects could drive the emergence of behavioral consistency (Ghio, Leblanc, Audet, & Aubin-Horth, 2016;Langenhof & Komdeur, 2018;McCormick, 2006;Reddon, 2012;Rokka, Pihlaja, Siitari, & Soulsbury, 2014), data on this topic are rather contradictory (Arnaud et al, 2017;Hinde et al, 2015;Petelle, Dang, & Blumstein, 2017;Ruuskanen, 2018). Provision to the egg can be seen as a specific dimension of maternal effects (Deeming & Ferguson, 1991;Stewart & Ecay, 2010), as in oviparous vertebrates, such as many reptiles, trace nutrients (vitamins and minerals) must be deposited into the yolk during oogenesis (Deeming & Ferguson, 1991).…”

Size‐dependent stress response in juvenile Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) under prolonged predator conditioning

“…One potential way to improve the survival of hatchery-reared fish in the wild is through ecological conditioning during rearing (Karvonen et al, 2016;Langenhof & Komdeur, 2018;Petersson, Valencia, & Järvi, 2014). Indeed, a number of training and enrichment methods have been presented to improve the survival and antipredator behavioural life skills of naïve hatchery fish prior to release (Brown & Day, 2002;Brown & Laland, 2001;Karvonen et al, 2016;Kelley & Magurran, 2003).…”