L15 Animal personality: strategy vs tactics

Animal personality

Several correlated behaviours reflecting individual consistency in behaviour across multiple situations.

Behavioural strategy

A consistent behavioural tendency of an individual across time and situations.

Tactic

A flexible behavioural choice depending on the current situation or status.

Producer

An individual that searches for its own food independently.

Scrounger

An individual that exploits food discoveries made by others.

Behavioural syndrome

A set of correlated behaviours that tend to occur together within individuals.

Repeatability

The extent to which behavioural differences between individuals remain consistent over time or contexts.

Within-individual variation (Vw)

Behavioural variation within the same individual across situations or time.

Between-individual variation (Vi)

Behavioural differences between different individuals.

Repeatability formula

R = Vi / (Vi + Vw)

Fast explorer

An individual that quickly explores novel environments and tends to be bold and active.

Slow explorer

An individual that explores cautiously and tends to be shy or careful.

Novel object test

A behavioural test measuring how an animal responds to a new unfamiliar object.

Open field test

A behavioural test measuring exploration behaviour in a novel environment.

Frequency-dependent selection

A form of selection where the fitness of a phenotype depends on how common or rare it is in the population.

Evolutionary Stable State Frequency (ESS frequency)

A stable proportion of different strategies in a population where all strategies have equal average fitness.

ESS frequency (f*)

The point at which two behavioural strategies have equal fitness and coexist stably.

Strategy system

A system in which different individuals consistently use different behavioural strategies.

Genetic polymorphism

The coexistence of multiple genetically based behavioural strategies within a population.

Status-dependent selection

Selection where the best tactic depends on the condition or competitive ability of the individual.

Competitive ability

The ability of an individual to compete effectively with others for resources or opportunities.

Evolutionary Stable Strategy switchpoint

The point at which one tactic becomes more beneficial than another depending on an individual’s status or competitive ability.

Switchpoint

The competitive ability threshold where individuals should switch from one tactic to another.

Population process

A process involving stable coexistence of different behavioural strategies in a population.

Individual choice process

A process where individuals flexibly choose tactics depending on their own status or condition.

Bold personality

A behavioural type associated with risk-taking, fast exploration, and proactive behaviour.

Shy personality

A behavioural type associated with cautiousness, low exploration, and risk avoidance.

Correlated behaviours

Multiple behaviours that consistently occur together within individuals.

Cross-context consistency

The tendency for individuals to behave similarly across multiple situations.

Left-handed batter example

An example of frequency-dependent selection where left-handed batters gain an advantage because they are rare.

Frequency-dependent advantage

A fitness benefit that exists because a phenotype is uncommon in the population.

Evolutionary stability

A situation in which no alternative strategy can invade and outperform the existing strategies.