Abstract
Investigating the evolution of consistent between-individual behavioral differences necessitates to explain the emergence of within-individual consistency. Relying on a recent mathematical model, we here test the prediction that the emergence of differences in within-individual consistency is related to the sequential access to resources in a frequency-dependent foraging game. To this end we used flocks of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) engaged in a producer-scrounger foraging game. Tactic investment (i.e. the proportion of hops with the head down) significantly predicted successful tactic use (i.e. the proportion of seeds produced). In support of predictions, we found that individuals that arrived first at a foraging area were more consistent in both their investment into and their use of the producer tactic. Also, birds in higher body condition were less consistent in their producer tactic use. These results provide the first evidence that variation in behavioral consistency can emerge through the sequential access to resources in a frequency-dependent game. They also highlight a potential physiological cost of behavioral flexibility. Our findings suggest an explanation for the link between personality traits and social information use.
Highlights
Behavioral ecology assumes that organisms have either evolved adaptive fixed traits over the course of generations or the required flexibility which enables them to adopt adaptive behavior according to local environmental conditions (Fawcett et al, 2013)
Birds in higher body condition were less consistent in their producer tactic use. These results provide the first evidence that variation in behavioral consistency can emerge through the sequential access to resources in a frequency-dependent game
Our findings suggest an explanation for the link between personality traits and social information use
Summary
Behavioral ecology assumes that organisms have either evolved adaptive fixed traits over the course of generations or the required flexibility which enables them to adopt adaptive behavior according to local environmental conditions (the so-called “behavioral gambit”) (Fawcett et al, 2013). Whereas behavior is traditionally thought of as being highly flexible, recent evidence has highlighted individual differences in behavioral consistency (e.g., “intra-individual variability,” David et al, 2012a; Stamps et al, 2012; Briffa et al, 2013; Laskowski and Bell, 2013). These recent findings, associated with the development of theory-based predictions about the evolution of within-population behavioral differences (Wolf et al, 2008; Dingemanse and Wolf, 2010), suggest that within-individual consistency may be shaped by natural selection. Determining how and why variation in individual consistency can emerge and be maintained within populations is crucial to providing a complete account of the evolution of consistent among-individual behavioral differences
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