scholarly journals Demystifying animal ‘personality’ (or not): why individual variation matters to experimental biologists

2016 ◽  
Vol 219 (24) ◽  
pp. 3832-3843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique G. Roche ◽  
Vincent Careau ◽  
Sandra A. Binning
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variation ◽  
Animal Personality

scholarly journals Evolutionary causes and consequences of consistent individual variation in cooperative behaviour

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1553) ◽  
pp. 2751-2764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Bergmüller ◽  
Roger Schürch ◽  
Ian M. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Animal Personality ◽  
Evolutionary Stability ◽  
Behavioural Syndrome ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Cooperative Behaviour ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Fitness Consequences

Behaviour is typically regarded as among the most flexible of animal phenotypic traits. In particular, expression of cooperative behaviour is often assumed to be conditional upon the behaviours of others. This flexibility is a key component of many hypothesized mechanisms favouring the evolution of cooperative behaviour. However, evidence shows that cooperative behaviours are often less flexible than expected and that, in many species, individuals show consistent differences in the amount and type of cooperative and non-cooperative behaviours displayed. This phenomenon is known as ‘animal personality’ or a ‘behavioural syndrome’. Animal personality is evolutionarily relevant, as it typically shows heritable variation and can entail fitness consequences, and hence, is subject to evolutionary change. Here, we review the empirical evidence for individual variation in cooperative behaviour across taxa, we examine the evolutionary processes that have been invoked to explain the existence of individual variation in cooperative behaviour and we discuss the consequences of consistent individual differences on the evolutionary stability of cooperation. We highlight that consistent individual variation in cooperativeness can both stabilize or disrupt cooperation in populations. We conclude that recognizing the existence of consistent individual differences in cooperativeness is essential for an understanding of the evolution and prevalence of cooperation.

scholarly journals Individual boldness is linked to protective shell shape in aquatic snails

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 20150029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Ahlgren ◽  
Ben B. Chapman ◽  
P. Anders Nilsson ◽  
Christer Brönmark
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Animal Personality ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Shell Shape ◽  
Evolutionary Time ◽  
Radix Balthica ◽  
Predation Costs ◽  
Risk Cost ◽  
Compensation Hypothesis

The existence of consistent individual differences in behaviour (‘animal personality’) has been well documented in recent years. However, how such individual variation in behaviour is maintained over evolutionary time is an ongoing conundrum. A well-studied axis of animal personality is individual variation along a bold–shy continuum, where individuals differ consistently in their propensity to take risks. A predation-risk cost to boldness is often assumed, but also that the reproductive benefits associated with boldness lead to equivalent fitness outcomes between bold and shy individuals over a lifetime. However, an alternative or complementary explanation may be that bold individuals phenotypically compensate for their risky lifestyle to reduce predation costs, for instance by investing in more pronounced morphological defences. Here, we investigate the ‘phenotypic compensation’ hypothesis, i.e. that bold individuals exhibit more pronounced anti-predator defences than shy individuals, by relating shell shape in the aquatic snail Radix balthica to an index of individual boldness. Our analyses find a strong relationship between risk-taking propensity and shell shape in this species, with bolder individuals exhibiting a more defended shell shape than shy individuals. We suggest that this supports the ‘phenotypic compensation’ hypothesis and sheds light on a previously poorly studied mechanism to promote the maintenance of personality variation among animals.

scholarly journals The Importance of Chimpanzee Personality Research to Understanding Processes Associated with Human Mental Health

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Latzman ◽  
Lindsey M. Green ◽  
Mary A. Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Animal Personality ◽  
Personality Pathology ◽  
Research Domain Criteria ◽  
Model Species ◽  
Personality Research ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Research Domain

Personality research seeks to identify and understand underlying process associated with individual differences in dispositional traits. In humans, individual variation across personality traits have been found to associate with mental health outcomes often times via common neurobiological processes. This shared neurobiological basis demonstrates the value of personality research in elucidating processes associated with mental disorders. More recently, a burgeoning animal personality literature has made efforts to elucidate neurobiological and environmental mechanisms associated with variation in personality—within this literature, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) represent the most promising model species with respect to optimal translational value to humans. The purpose of the current paper was thus to review the chimpanzee personality literature, with particular emphasis on the organizational, genetic, environmental, and neuroscientific basis of individual variation in personality. We further present a primate-translational operationalization of personality pathology underscoring the notion that personality pathology is rooted within basic dispositions, with evidence of genetic and environmental contributions to such tendencies. Finally, benefits with regard to animal welfare and the National Institute of Mental Health’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Initiative, as well as roadblocks associated with curtailment of research involving captive chimpanzees are reviewed. In sum, the current review highlights the importance of translational personality research with chimpanzees as an unparalleled animal model for investigations into the pathophysiology of human mental health.

scholarly journals Animal personality as a cause and consequence of contest behaviour

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 20141007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Briffa ◽  
Lynne U. Sneddon ◽  
Alastair J. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variation ◽  
Animal Personality ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Endocrine Control ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Behavioural Syndromes ◽  
Contest Behaviour ◽  
Animal Personalities ◽  
Plastic Responses

We review the evidence for a link between consistent among-individual variation in behaviour (animal personality) and the ability to win contests over limited resources. Explorative and bold behaviours often covary with contest behaviour and outcome, although there is evidence that the structure of these ‘behavioural syndromes' can change across situations. Aggression itself is typically repeatable, but also subject to high within-individual variation as a consequence of plastic responses to previous fight outcomes and opponent traits. Common proximate mechanisms (gene expression, endocrine control and metabolic rates) may underpin variation in both contest behaviour and general personality traits. Given the theoretical links between the evolution of fighting and of personality, we suggest that longitudinal studies of contest behaviour, combining behavioural and physiological data, would be a useful context for the study of animal personalities.

The challenge of accounting for individual differences in folk-economic beliefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin C. Ruisch ◽  
Rajen A. Anderson ◽  
David A. Pizarro
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Economic Beliefs ◽  
Existing Data

AbstractWe argue that existing data on folk-economic beliefs (FEBs) present challenges to Boyer & Petersen's model. Specifically, the widespread individual variation in endorsement of FEBs casts doubt on the claim that humans are evolutionarily predisposed towards particular economic beliefs. Additionally, the authors' model cannot account for the systematic covariance between certain FEBs, such as those observed in distinct political ideologies.

Inter-individual variation shapes the human microbiome

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily F. Wissel ◽  
Leigh K. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Human Microbiome ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Microbiota Composition ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Microbiome Research

Abstract The target article suggests inter-individual variability is a weakness of microbiota-gut-brain (MGB) research, but we discuss why it is actually a strength. We comment on how accounting for individual differences can help researchers systematically understand the observed variance in microbiota composition, interpret null findings, and potentially improve the efficacy of therapeutic treatments in future clinical microbiome research.

Cell morphology, volume, and surface area determinations from multilevel contouring within HVEM micrographs of serial sections and whole-cell mounts

1987 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 588-589
Author(s):  
M. Marko ◽  
A. Leith ◽  
D. Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Surface Area ◽  
Electron Micrographs ◽  
Cell Morphology ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Serial Section ◽  
Stereo Pair ◽  
Complex Structures ◽  
Serial Sections ◽  
Surface Areas ◽  
Computer Based

The use of serial sections and computer-based 3-D reconstruction techniques affords an opportunity not only to visualize the shape and distribution of the structures being studied, but also to determine their volumes and surface areas. Up until now, this has been done using serial ultrathin sections.The serial-section approach differs from the stereo logical methods of Weibel in that it is based on the Information from a set of single, complete cells (or organelles) rather than on a random 2-dimensional sampling of a population of cells. Because of this, it can more easily provide absolute values of volume and surface area, especially for highly-complex structures. It also allows study of individual variation among the cells, and study of structures which occur only infrequently.We have developed a system for 3-D reconstruction of objects from stereo-pair electron micrographs of thick specimens.

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