Behavioural reaction norms: animal personality meets individual plasticity.
Recent studies in the field of behavioural ecology have revealed intriguing variation in behaviour within single populations. Increasing evidence suggests that individual animals differ in their average level of behaviour displayed across a range of contexts (animal 'personality'), and in their responsiveness to environmental variation (plasticity), and that these phenomena can be considered complementary aspects of the individual phenotype. How should this complex variation be studied? Here, we outline how central ideas in behavioural ecology and quantitative genetics can be combined within a single framework based on the concept of 'behavioural reaction norms'. This integrative approach facilitates analysis of phenomena usually studied separately in terms of personality and plasticity, thereby enhancing understanding of their adaptive nature.
Dingemanse
Niels J
NJ
Animal Ecology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies & Department of Behavioural Biology, Centre for Behaviour and Neurosciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands. ndingemanse@orn.mpg.de
Kazem
Anahita J N
AJ
Réale
Denis
D
Wright
Jonathan
J
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D017753:Ecosystem; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010551:Personality; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000502:physiology*