Abstract
Sex differences in the genetic architecture of behavioral traits can offer critical insight into the processes of sex‐specific selection and sexual conflict dynamics. Here, we assess genetic variances and cross‐sex genetic correlations of two personality traits, aggression and activity, in a sexually size‐dimorphic spider, Nuctenea umbratica. Using a quantitative genetic approach, we show that both traits are heritable. Males have higher heritability estimates for aggressiveness compared to females, whereas the coefficient of additive genetic variation and evolvability did not differ between the sexes. Furthermore, we found sex differences in the coefficient of residual variance in aggressiveness with females exhibiting higher estimates. In contrast, the quantitative genetic estimates for activity suggest no significant differentiation between males and females. We interpret these results with caution as the estimates of additive genetic variances may be inflated by nonadditive genetic effects. The mean cross‐sex genetic correlations for aggression and activity were 0.5 and 0.6, respectively. Nonetheless, credible intervals of both estimates were broad, implying high uncertainty for these estimates. Future work using larger sample sizes would be needed to draw firmer conclusions on how sexual selection shapes sex differences in the genetic architecture of behavioral traits.
Highlights
Consistent individual differences in behavior have been reported for numerous invertebrate and vertebrate taxa (Bell, Hankison, & Laskowski, 2009; Kralj‐Fišer & Schuett, 2014)
Despite the increasing interest in research on behavioral variation and consistency, little is known about how the genetic underpin‐ nings of personality traits may differ between the sexes
This is sur‐ prising as sex‐specific patterns of genetic variances and heritabilities are key to understanding sex‐specific selection, sexual dimorphism and the evolution and consequences of sexual conflict
Summary
Consistent individual differences in behavior have been reported for numerous invertebrate and vertebrate taxa (Bell, Hankison, & Laskowski, 2009; Kralj‐Fišer & Schuett, 2014). | 10759 homologous trait and are exposed to differing selection pressures, such sex‐specific selection may contribute to the maintenance of within‐population variation at the same time that it may result in sex‐specific fitness reductions Such intralocus sexual conflict may be a potential mechanism explaining the sometimes seemingly mal‐ adaptive behavioral responses of individuals (Long & Rice, 2007). When rmf is close to unity, the sexes are assumed to have a nearly identical genetic architecture for the trait; close to zero values of rmf indicate complete independence in the genetic architecture of the trait between males and females In the former scenario, a degree of intralocus sexual conflict is expected to per‐ sist and (further) evolution of sexual dimorphism should be con‐ strained. Similar genetic architecture across the sexes as both sexes should be under similar selection pressures when exposed to unknown stimuli
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