动物个性研究进展

Abstract

“个性”是指不同时空条件下动物种群个体间行为的稳定差异。大量的理论和实验性研究表明，个性差异在动物界普遍存在，其是种群多度和分布、物种共存及群落构建的重要驱动因子。介绍了动物个性的概念、分类及衡量指标，将前人测量个性类型的方法加以总结；随后介绍了动物个性的生态学意义，尤其是个性对动物生活史策略、种群分布与多度、群落结构和动态、生态系统功能和过程以及疾病与信息传播等的影响。在此基础上，进一步分析了在人类活动增加等全球变化背景下，动物个性如何调控动物个体行为、种群和群落动态对这些环境变化的响应。阐述了动物个性的形成与维持机制，并对未来的研究方向进行了展望。;Interspecific trait variation has long been considered as a conceptual foundation for our understanding of species interactions and community structure. In particular, ecologists realize the important role that animal behavior plays in shaping ecological processes. Although most studies commonly supposed that the functional diversity occurs at the level of the species and ignored individual variation. Recently, an emerging field of interest in animal behavior, the studies of animal personalities focus on how individual differences in behavior, as well as behavioral correlations affect the fitness of individuals in various ecological contexts. Animal personality describes the common phenomenon that individual behavioral differences are consistent over time and across situations, which covers numerous traits, such as willingness to take risks, the reaction of an animal to novel environment, activity, aggressiveness, and sociality. The majority of theoretical and empirical studies suggest that personality differences are a widespread phenomenon throughout the animal kingdom, and it limits behavioral plasticity and explains non-optimal behavior, which has far-reaching implications for understanding the mechanism of species interactions and coexistence. In this article, we review the concepts, trait categories, and measurement methods of animal personality. We then aim to provide a comprehensive inventory of the potential consequences of personality differences for ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes, we discuss the ecological implications of personality, including life-history strategies, population distribution and abundance, species interactions, community structure and dynamics, ecosystem processes and disease and information transmission. In addition, a critical ecological and evolutionary issue is the need to better understand individual responses to human-induced rapid environmental change that often puts organisms in evolutionarily novel conditions. Behavior is predicted to be a major factor driving responses of individuals to global change because it largely determines how animals interact with the environment. This intraspecific trait variation differs strikingly in their ability to cope with responses to human activity and urbanization induced rapidly environmental change. Thus, incorporating animal personalities can provide great insight into our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of global change and help either aid declining species or better manage invasive or pest species. Moreover, we discuss the proximate and ultimate mechanisms underlying individual variation in personality traits, including the effects of ecological, genetic, physiological, and neuroendocrine factors on the maintenance of variation in personality traits in natural animal populations. The animal personality can form a key bridge in an interdisciplinary approach that integrates proximate mechanisms (genetics, development, and neuroendocrine bases) with ecology and evolution. Finally, the future research direction is prospected.