Pairs of zebra finches with similar ‘personalities’ make better parents

By W. Schuett, Sasha R. X. Dall, N. Royle. 2011

181 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Although behavioural plasticity should be an advantage in a varying world, there is increasing evidence for widespread stable individual differences in the behaviour of animals: that is, ‘personality’. Here we provide evidence suggesting that sexual selection is an important factor in the evolution of personality in species with biparental care. We carried out a cross-fostering breeding experiment on zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, and found that parental personality traits and the combination of personalities within breeding pairs had positive effects on correlates of (foster) offspring fitness (body mass and condition). Furthermore, these nongenetic parental effects were pervasive and carried over into the next generation. Our results suggest that similarity in behavioural traits of biparental species can have important, long-lasting effects on reproductive success, probably because of reduced sexual conflict over the provision of parental investment.

Subfields: Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5bf44df4ac97083b4d088bd393492db722e96b47

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In Ecology

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Citations in the corpus

Studying personality variation in invertebrates: why bother? (2014, background): “…or predation risk on personality development in invertebrates has rarely been studied (but see Schuett et al., 2011; Tremmel & Müller, 2013): Schuett et al. (2011) raised (clonal) pea aphids on high- and low-quality food, respectively; but such environmental manipulation had no influence on…”
Chimps of a feather sit together: chimpanzee friendships are based on homophily in personality (2014, background): “For example, zebra finches actively 343 choose males that have a similar personality to their own (Schuett et al., 2011a), and 344 condition than those with a different personality, and the effect was not dependent on 346 genetic factors (Schuett et al., 2011b).”
An empiricist guide to animal personality variation in ecology and evolution (2014, background): “Indeed, Carter et al. (2013) detail the problems that arise from the widespread use of such standardized “personality assays” without careful consideration of how well they assay what you think they assay in your study species, and the ecological relevance of any given assay for different animal…”