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Exploration is dependent on reproductive state, not social state, in a cooperatively breeding bird.

ABSTRACT: Personality is an intriguing phenomenon in populations because it constrains behavioral flexibility. One theory suggests that personality could be generated and maintained if dependent on asset protection. It is predicted that trade-offs with fitness expectations and survival probability encourage consistent behavioral differences among individuals (personality). Although not mutually exclusive, the social niche specialization hypothesis suggests that a group of individuals that repeatedly interact will develop personality to avoid costly social conflict. The point at which behavioral consistency originates in the social niche hypothesis is still unclear, with predictions for development after a change in social status. In the facultative cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis), residing on Cousin Island, breeding vacancies are limited and this forces individuals into different social roles. We used this system to test whether reproductive and social state predicted among-individual differences in exploration. We had 2 predictions. First, that an individual's start in life can predict personality, whereby young individuals with a good start to life (associated with early age reproduction and earlier onset survival senescence) are fast explorers, suggesting reproductive state-dependence. Second, that an individual's social status can predict personality, whereby dominant individuals will be fast explorers, suggesting that the behavior is social state-dependent. Neither of the behaviors was associated with social state and social state did not affect behavioral consistency. However, novel object exploration was associated with a proxy of reproductive state. Our results provide further support for state being a mechanism for generating individual differences in behavior.

SUBMITTER: Edwards HA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5181527 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Exploration is dependent on reproductive state, not social state, in a cooperatively breeding bird.

Edwards Hannah A HA Dugdale Hannah L HL Richardson David S DS Komdeur Jan J Burke Terry T

Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology 20160804 6

Personality is an intriguing phenomenon in populations because it constrains behavioral flexibility. One theory suggests that personality could be generated and maintained if dependent on asset protection. It is predicted that trade-offs with fitness expectations and survival probability encourage consistent behavioral differences among individuals (personality). Although not mutually exclusive, the social niche specialization hypothesis suggests that a group of individuals that repeatedly inter ...[more]

PMID: 28028379

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Project description:Parental age can have considerable effects on offspring phenotypes and health. However, intergenerational effects may also have longer term effects on offspring fitness. Few studies have investigated parental age effects on offspring fitness in natural populations while also testing for sex- and environment-specific effects. Further, longitudinal parental age effects may be masked by population-level processes such as the selective disappearance of poor-quality individuals. Here, we used multigenerational data collected on individually marked Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis) to investigate the impact of maternal and paternal age on offspring life span and lifetime reproductive success. We found negative effects of maternal age on female offspring life span and lifetime reproductive success, which were driven by within-mother effects. There was no difference in annual reproductive output of females born to older versus younger mothers, suggesting that the differences in offspring lifetime reproductive success were driven by effects on offspring life span. In contrast, there was no association between paternal age and female offspring life span or either maternal or paternal age and male offspring life span. Lifetime reproductive success, but not annual reproductive success, of male offspring increased with maternal age, but this was driven by between-mother effects. No paternal age effects were found on female offspring lifetime reproductive success but there was a positive between-father effect on male offspring lifetime reproductive success. We did not find strong evidence for environment-dependent parental age effects. Our study provides evidence for parental age effects on the lifetime fitness of offspring and shows that such effects can be sex dependent. These results add to the growing literature indicating the importance of intergenerational effects on long-term offspring performance and highlight that these effects can be an important driver of variation in longevity and fitness in the wild.

Dataset Information

Exploration is dependent on reproductive state, not social state, in a cooperatively breeding bird.

Publications

Exploration is dependent on reproductive state, not social state, in a cooperatively breeding bird.

Similar Datasets

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