Abstract
The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis predicts that behavior and physiology covary with life history. Evidence for such covariation is contradictory, possibly because systematic sources of variation (e.g. sex) have been neglected. Sexes often experience different selection pressures leading to sex-specific allocation between reproduction and self-maintenance, facilitating divergence in life-history. Sex-specific differences in means and possibly variances may therefore play a key role in the POLS framework. We investigate whether sexes differ in means and variances along the fast-slow pace-of-life continuum for life history and physiological and behavioral traits. In addition, we test whether social and environmental characteristics such as breeding strategy, mating system, and study environment explain heterogeneity between the sexes. Using meta-analytic methods, we found that populations with a polygynous mating system or for studies conducted on wild populations, males had a faster pace-of-life for developmental life-history traits (e.g., growth rate), behavior, and physiology. In contrast, adult life-history traits (e.g., lifespan) were shifted towards faster pace-of-life in females, deviating from the other trait categories. Phenotypic variances were similar between the sexes across trait categories and were not affected by mating system or study environment. Breeding strategy did not influence sex differences in variances or means. We discuss our results in the light of sex-specific selection that might drive sex-specific differences in pace-of-life and ultimately POLS.
Highlights
Selection is assumed to favor the integration of life-history and physiology and behavioral traits, mediating the trade-off between current and future reproduction
Traits were measured across 69 unique species, with the majority of estimates coming from birds (n = 133), followed by insects (n = 73), mammals (n = 57), fish (n = 27), and amphibians and reptiles (n = 25)
We provide the first quantitative overview testing for differences in the pace-of-life (POL) between the sexes across traits involved in pace-of-life syndrome (POLS)
Summary
Selection is assumed to favor the integration of life-history and physiology and behavioral traits, mediating the trade-off between current and future reproduction. This so called paceof-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis has been proposed as a unifying framework integrating life-history theory with physiology and behavior This article is a contribution to the Topical Collection Pace-of-life syndromes: a framework for the adaptive integration of behaviour, physiology, and life-history Guest Editors: Melanie Dammhahn, Niels J.
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