Publication
Title
Pathways linking female personality with reproductive success are trait- and year-specific
Author
Abstract
Personality (i.e., among-individual variation in average behavior) often covaries with fitness, but how such personality–fitness relationships come about is poorly understood. Here, we explore potential mechanisms by which two female personality traits (female–female aggression and female nest defense as manifested by hissing behavior) were linked with annual reproductive success in a population of great tits (Parus major), a socially monogamous species with biparental care. We hypothesized that personality-related differences in reproductive success result from variation in reproductive decision (lay date, brood size) and/or parental provisioning rates. Relative support for these mechanisms was evaluated using path analysis on data collected in two successive years. We reveal that larger broods were provisioned at a higher rate by both parents and that female, but not male, provisioning rate was involved in the trade-off between offspring number (brood size) and fledgling mass. Among-individual variation in female aggression, via its association with female provisioning rate, was negatively linked to fledgling mass (i.e., indirect effect), yet only in one of the study years. Male provisioning rate did not influence these relationships. In contrast, among-individual variation in hissing behavior was directly and negatively linked with fledgling mass in both years, via an underlying mechanism that remains to be identified (i.e., direct effect). Together, our findings emphasize that personality–fitness relationships may come about via different mechanisms across personality traits and/or years, thereby illustrating additional complexity in how selection might act on and maintain among-individual variation in behavioral phenotypes in the wild.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Behavioral ecology / International Society for Behavioral Ecology. - New York, NY
Related dataset(s)
Publication
New York, NY : 2021
ISSN
1045-2249
DOI
10.1093/BEHECO/ARAA110
Volume/pages
32 :1 (2021) , p. 114-123
Article Reference
araa110
ISI
000637013400017
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
The female perspective of personality variation in a wild songbird: integrating female competition within life history
Optimal parental investment – a battle between the sexes.
Effects of light pollution on behavioural, life-history and physiological traits in a songbird: an integrative approach.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 09.02.2021
Last edited 02.10.2024
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