title: Density fluctuations represent a key process maintaining personality variation in a wild passerine bird.
abstract: Heritable personality variation is subject to fluctuating selection in many animal taxa; a major unresolved question is why this is the case. A parsimonious explanation must involve a general ecological process: a likely candidate is the omnipresent spatiotemporal variation in conspecific density. We tested whether spatiotemporal variation in density within and among nest box plots of great tits (Parus major) predicted variation in selection acting on exploratory behaviour (n = 48 episodes of selection). We found viability selection favouring faster explorers under lower densities but slower explorers under higher densities. Temporal variation in local density represented the primary factor explaining personality-related variation in viability selection. Importantly, birds did not anticipate changes in selection by means of adaptive density-dependent plasticity. This study thereby provides an unprecedented example of the key importance of the interplay between fluctuating selection and lack of adaptive behavioural plasticity in maintaining animal personality variation in the wild.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse 7, 82319, Seewiesen, Germany.|Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Science (GELIFES), University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nicolaus
authors.affiliation: Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Science (GELIFES), University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Joost M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tinbergen
authors.affiliation: Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Science (GELIFES), University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ubels
authors.affiliation: Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Science (GELIFES), University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christiaan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Both
authors.affiliation: Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse 7, 82319, Seewiesen, Germany.|Behavioural Ecology, Department of Biology, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Großhadener Str. 2, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.
authors.forename: Niels J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Dingemanse
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000502:physiology*; D010551:Personality; D011156:Population Density; D012641:Selection, Genetic
keywords: Parus major; competition; coping styles; density-dependent selection; fluctuating selection; great tit; personality; selection gradient; temperament