Modelling adaptive phenotypic plasticity of behaviour and the evolution of behavioural syndromes
Final Report Abstract
In the two last decades, numerous studies on animal personality showed that individuals often consistently differ in their behaviour. The evolutionary explanation for the existence of this variation and especially how it is maintained, however, is less clear. In our project we used experiments on wax moths and theoretical models to give possible answers to this question. In the second funding phase we could show with several theoretical models that small initial differences in for example competitiveness or attractiveness can lead to comparatively large differences in animal behaviour. Especially if the traits under consideration are costly and if the benefit of having specific traits depends on the competitors’ traits - something that should almost generally be given for sexually selected traits and traits used for competition - it is likely that selection cycles maintain large amounts of genetic variation within populations. We could show that in line with the asset protection principle, more attractive males should usually be less bold than less attractive males. However, under specific conditions, and we could outline some of the possibilities, attractive males can also be expected to be bolder. We also used more specific theoretical models to show a, that the benefit of behavioural plasticity can differ dependent on the previous experience individuals had and b, that individuals having received parental information about their environment may nevertheless benefit from showing phenotypic plasticity during adolescence under various conditions. Together with the additional conceptional and methodological developments resulting from our project, concerning match-mismatch experiments and variance comparisons in a comparative framework, the above mentioned models will certainly contribute to examine, understand and explain the regularly observed interindividual differences in behavioural syndromes.
Publications
- 2014. Diversifying evolution of competitiveness. Nature Communications 5:5233
Baldauf SA, Engqvist L, Weissing FJ
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6233) - 2014. Sexual signaling under predation: Attractive moths take the greater risks. Behavioral Ecology 25:409-414
Cordes N, Engqvist L, Schmoll T, Reinhold K
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/art128) - 2015. Evolution of risk-taking during conspicuous mating displays. Evolution 69:395–406
Engqvist L, Cordes N, Reinhold K
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12591) - 2015. Larval food composition affects courtship song and sperm expenditure in a lekking moth. Ecological Entomology 40:34-41
Cordes N, Albrecht F, Engqvist L, Baier M, Müller C, Reinhold K
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12156) - 2016. A paradox of genetic variance in epigamic traits: beyond “good genes” view of sexual selection. Evol Biol 43:267-275
Radwan J, Engqvist L, Reinhold K
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-015-9359-y) - 2016. Adaptive trans‐generational phenotypic plasticity and the lack of an experimental control in reciprocal match/mismatch‐experiments. Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Engqvist L, Reinhold K
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12618)
