10.5061/DRYAD.N02V6WWVP
Thys, Bert
0000-0001-7258-1631
University of Antwerp
Eens, Marcel
University of Antwerp
Pinxten, Rianne
University of Antwerp
Iserbyt, Arne
University of Antwerp
Pathways linking female personality with reproductive success are trait
and year-specific
Dryad
dataset
2020
2020-09-25T00:00:00Z
2020-09-25T00:00:00Z
en
55032 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
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.