The female perspective of personality in a wild songbird: repeatable aggressiveness relates to exploration behaviour

ABSTRACT: Males often express traits that improve competitive ability, such as aggressiveness. Females also express such traits but our understanding about why is limited. Intraspecific aggression between females might be used to gain access to reproductive resources but simultaneously incurs costs in terms of energy and time available for reproductive activities, resulting in a trade-off. Although consistent individual differences in female behaviour (i.e. personality) like aggressiveness are likely to influence these reproductive trade-offs, little is known about the consistency of aggressiveness in females. To quantify aggression we presented a female decoy to free-living female great tits (Parus major) during the egg-laying period, and assessed whether they were consistent in their response towards this decoy. Moreover, we assessed whether female aggression related to consistent individual differences in exploration behaviour in a novel environment. We found that females consistently differed in aggressiveness, although first-year females were on average more aggressive than older females. Moreover, conform life history theory predictions, ‘fast’ exploring females were more aggressive towards the decoy than ‘slow’ exploring females. Given that personality traits are often heritable, and correlations between behaviours can constrain short term adaptive evolution, our findings highlight the importance of studying female aggression within a multivariate behavioural framework

Diversity and function of prevalent symbiotic marine bacteria in the genus Endozoicomonas

Endozoicomonas bacteria are emerging as extremely diverse and flexible symbionts of numerous marine hosts inhabiting oceans worldwide. Their hosts range from simple invertebrate species, such as sponges and corals, to complex vertebrates, such as fish. Although widely distributed, the functional role of Endozoicomonas within their host microenvironment is not well understood. In this review, we provide a summary of the currently recognized hosts of Endozoicomonas and their global distribution. Next, the potential functional roles of Endozoicomonas, particularly in light of recent microscopic, genomic, and genetic analyses, are discussed. These analyses suggest that Endozoicomonas typically reside in aggregates within host tissues, have a free-living stage due to their large genome sizes, show signs of host and local adaptation, participate in host-associated protein and carbohydrate transport and cycling, and harbour a high degree of genomic plasticity due to the large proportion of transposable elements residing in their genomes. This review will finish with a discussion on the methodological tools currently employed to study Endozoicomonas and host interactions and review future avenues for studying complex host-microbial symbioses

Evolution of sex-specific pace-of-life syndromes: genetic architecture and physiological mechanisms

Sex differences in life history, physiology, and behavior are nearly ubiquitous across taxa, owing to sex-specific selection that arises from different reproductive strategies of the sexes. The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis predicts that most variation in such traits among individuals, populations, and species falls along a slow-fast pace-of-life continuum. As a result of their different reproductive roles and environment, the sexes also commonly differ in pace-of-life, with important consequences for the evolution of POLS. Here, we outline mechanisms for how males and females can evolve differences in POLS traits and in how such traits can covary differently despite constraints resulting from a shared genome. We review the current knowledge of the genetic basis of POLS traits and suggest candidate genes and pathways for future studies. Pleiotropic effects may govern many of the genetic correlations, but little is still known about the mechanisms involved in trade-offs between current and future reproduction and their integration with behavioral variation. We highlight the importance of metabolic and hormonal pathways in mediating sex differences in POLS traits; however, there is still a shortage of studies that test for sex specificity in molecular effects and their evolutionary causes. Considering whether and how sexual dimorphism evolves in POLS traits provides a more holistic framework to understand how behavioral variation is integrated with life histories and physiology, and we call for studies that focus on examining the sex-specific genetic architecture of this integration

Determinants of acceptance of patients with heart failure and their informal caregivers regarding an interactive decision-making system: a qualitative study

Objective Heart failure is a growing challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. Technological solutions have the potential to improve the health of patients and help to reduce costs. Acceptability is a prerequisite for the use and a successful implementation of new disruptive technologies. This qualitative study aimed to explore determinants that influence the acceptance of patients and their informal caregivers regarding a patient-oriented digital decision-making solution—a doctor-at-home system.Design We applied a semistructured design using an interview guide that was based on a theoretical framework influenced by established acceptance theories. The interviews were analysed using a content analysis.Setting A multicentred study in four European countries.Participants We interviewed 49 patients and 33 of their informal caregivers. Most of the patients were male (76%) and aged between 60 and 69 years (43%). Informal caregivers were mostly female (85%). The majority of patients (55%) suffered from heart failure with mild symptoms.Results Four main categories emerged from the data: needs and expectations, preferences regarding the care process, perceived risk and trust. Participants expressed clear wishes and expectations regarding a doctor-at-home, especially the need for reassurance and support in the management of heart failure. They were receptive to changes to the current healthcare processes. However, trust was identified as an important basis for acceptance and use. Finally, perceived risk for decision-making errors is a crucial topic in need of attention.Conclusion Patients and informal caregivers see clear benefits of digitalisation in healthcare. They perceive that an interactive decision-making system for patients could empower and enable effective self-care. Our results provide important insights for development processes of patient-centred decision-making systems by identifying facilitators and barriers for acceptance. Further research is needed, especially regarding the influence and mitigation of patients and informal caregivers’ perceived risks

A meta-analysis of correlated behaviours with implications for behavioural syndromes: Mean effect size, publication bias, phylogenetic effects and the role of mediator variables

In evolutionary and behavioural ecology, increasing attention is being paid to the fact that functionally distinct behaviours are often not independent from each other. Such phenomenon is labelled as behavioural syndrome and is usually demonstrated by phenotypic correlations between behaviours like activity, exploration, aggression and risk-taking across individuals in a population. However, published studies disagree on the strength, and even on the existence of such relationships. To make general inferences from this mixed evidence, we quantitatively reviewed the literature using modern meta-analytic approaches. Based on a large dataset, we investigated the overall relationship between behaviours that are expected to form a syndrome and tested which factors can mediate heterogeneities in study outcomes. The average strength of the phenotypic correlation between behaviours was weak; we found no effect of the phylogeny of species but did observe significant publication bias. However, even accounting for this bias, the mean effect size was positive and statistically different from zero (r = 0. 198). Effect sizes showed considerable heterogeneity within species, implying a role for population-specific adaptation to environmental factors and/or between-study differences in research design. There was a significant positive association between absolute effect size and repeatability of behaviours, suggesting that within-individual variation of behavioural traits can set up an upper limit for the strength of the detected phenotypic correlations. Moreover, spatial overlap between the contexts in which different behaviours were assayed increased the magnitude of the association. The small effect size for the focal relationship implies that a huge sample size would be required to demonstrate a correlation between behaviours with sufficient statistical power, which is fulfilled only in very few studies. This suggests that behavioural syndromes often remain undetected and unpublished. Collectively, our meta-analysis revealed a number of points that might be worth to consider in the future study of behavioural syndromes. © 2012 The Author(s).Peer Reviewe

Male personality and female spawning consistency in a goby with exclusive male care

Consistent inter-individual behavioral differences in animals, or animal personalities, are increasingly recognized as an important component of sexual selection. Despite growing evidence for personality-mediated effects on reproductive success in species with biparental care, the link between personality and intrasexual competition or mate choice in species with uniparental care remains largely unexplored. Here, the non-caring sex in particular should seek partners with personality traits that promise high quality care. Therefore, we investigated effects of male personality in the common goby, a well-established model species for sexual selection under exclusive male care. Using competitive trials, we investigated how personality affects male ability to monopolize either of two central reproductive resources, nesting sites (male-male competition) and ready-to-spawn females (female choice). Personalities were scored in a feeding context and thus independent of reproduction. We found that slow-feeding individuals better succeeded in monopolizing nests, but that female spawning decisions were independent of the foraging personality of two male competitors. Instead, females showed a remarkably consistent between-female spawning preference for slightly heavier males and males with more elaborate nests. Our findings indicate that fitness benefits of the male personality type only materialize via male-male competition in environments where nesting sites are a limiting resource, whereas female choice favors large males with elaborate nests independent of male personality. Animal personality can strongly affect reproductive success in species with parental care. We studied this link in the common goby, a fish where males build nests and solely take care of the brood until hatching. Hence, females should choose a male whose personality traits promise high quality care. We scored male personalities and conducted nest-competition and mate-choice trials. We found that male personality had an effect on nest monopolization, but not on female mating preferences. Instead, females agreed remarkably well in their mating decisions and consistently favored large males with elaborate nests. Our results show that male personality is important for nest allocation, which is crucial in environments where nesting sites are rare