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Behavioral responses of male fowl did not depend on social rank after 3 weeks in stable groups, but were consistent over time for an individual. Theory suggests that stable social states, for examp ...

Many factors can affect the probability for an individual to obtain a high social rank, including size, weaponry, and behavioral attributes such as aggression. Recent experiences of winning or losi ...

Consistent behavioral differences among individuals, that is, personality, are described in numerous species. Nevertheless, the development of behavioral consistency over ontogeny remains unclear, ...

The causes of individual variation in behavior are often not well understood, and potential underlying mechanisms include both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as early environmental, physiological, and genetic differences. In an exploratory laboratory study, we raised three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) under 4 different environmental conditions (simulated predator environment, complex environment, variable social environment, and control). We investigated how these manipulations related to behavior, brain physiology, and gene expression later in life, with focus on brain dopamine and serotonin levels, turnover rates, and gene expression. The different rearing environments influenced behavior and gene expression, but did not alter monoamine levels or metabolites. Specifically, compared to control fish, fish exposed to a simulated predator environment tended to be less aggressive, more exploratory, and more neophobic; and fish raised in both complex and variable social environments tended to be less neophobic. Exposure to a simulated predator environment tended to lower expression of dopamine receptor DRD4A, a complex environment increased expression of dopamine receptor DRD1B, while a variable social environment tended to increase serotonin receptor 5-HTR2B and serotonin transporter SLC6A4A expression. Despite both behavior and gene expression varying with early environment, there was no evidence that gene expression mediated the relationship between early environment and behavior. Our results confirm that environmental conditions early in life can affect phenotypic variation. However, the mechanistic pathway of the monoaminergic systems translating early environmental variation into observed behavioral responses was not detected. Funding agencies: Langmanska Kulturfonden; Royal Physiographic Society of Lund; LiU program "Future research leaders"; Center for Systems Neurobiology; Lars Hierta Memorial Foundation

There is an increased focus in biology on consistent behavioural variation. Several terms are used to describe this variation, including animal personality and coping style. Both terms describe between individual consistency in behavioural variation; however, they differ in the behavioural assays typically used, the expected distribution of response variables, and whether they incorporate variation in behavioural flexibility. Despite these differences, the terms are often used interchangeably. We conducted experiments using juvenile and adult red junglefowl, Gallus gallus, as subjects to explore the degree to which animal personality and coping styles overlap. We demonstrate that animal personality and coping styles can be described in this species, and that shyer individuals had more flexible responses, as expected for coping styles. Behavioural responses from both personality and coping style assays had continuous distributions, and were not clearly separated into two types. Behavioural traits were not correlated and, hence, there was no evidence of a behavioural syndrome. Further, behavioural responses obtained in personality assays did not correlate with those from coping style tests. Animal personality and coping styles are therefore not synonymous in the red junglefowl. We suggest that the terms animal personality and coping style are not equivalent and should not be used interchangeably. (C) 2017 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Funding Agencies|Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Swedish Research Council; ERC (Advanced Research Grant Genewell); LiU programme for Future research leaders; Swedish research council Formas

Despite intense research efforts, biologists are still puzzled by the existence of animal personality. While recent studies support a link between cognition and personality, the directionality of this relationship still needs to be clarified. Early-life experiences can affect adult behaviour, and among these, cognitive stimulation has been suggested theoretically to influence personality. Yet, the influence of early cognitive stimulation has rarely been explored in empirical investigations of animal behaviour and personality. We investigated the effect of early cognitive stimulation on adult personality in the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus). To this end, we assessed adult behaviour across a number of personality assays and compared behaviour of individuals previously exposed to a series of learning tasks as chicks, with that of control individuals lacking this experience. We found that individuals exposed to early stimulation were, as adults, more vigilant and performed fewer escape attempts in personality assays. Other behaviours describing personality traits in the fowl were not affected. We conclude that our results support the hypothesis that early stimulation can affect aspects of adult behaviour and personality, suggesting a hitherto underappreciated causality link between cognition and personality. Future research should aim to confirm these findings and resolve their underlying dynamics and proximate mechanisms.

Individuals in social species commonly form dominance relationships, where dominant individuals enjoy greater access to resources compared to subordinates. A range of factors such as sex, age, body size and prior experiences has to varying degrees been observed to affect the social status an individual obtains. Recent work on animal personality (i.e. consistent variation in behavioural responses of individuals) demonstrates that personality can co-vary with social status, suggesting that also behavioural variation can play an important role in establishment of status. We investigated whether personality could predict the outcome of duels between pairs of morphologically matched male domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus), a species where individuals readily form social hierarchies. We found that males that more quickly explored a novel arena, or remained vigilant for a longer period following the playback of a warning call were more likely to obtain a dominant position. These traits were uncorrelated to each other and were also uncorrelated to aggression during the initial part of the dominance-determining duel. Our results indicate that several behavioural traits independently play a role in the establishment of social status, which in turn can have implications for the reproductive success of different personality types.

Stability of ‘state’ has been suggested as an underlying factor explaining behavioural stability and animal personality (i.e. variation among, and consistency within individuals in behavioural responses), but the possibility that stable social relationships represent such states remains unexplored. Here, we investigated the influence of social status on the expression and consistency of behaviours by experimentally changing social status between repeated personality assays. We used male domestic fowl ( Gallus gallus domesticus ), a social species that forms relatively stable dominance hierarchies, and showed that behavioural responses were strongly affected by social status, but also by individual characteristics. The level of vigilance, activity and exploration changed with social status, whereas boldness appeared as a stable individual property, independent of status. Furthermore, variation in vocalization predicted future social status, indicating that individual behaviours can both be a predictor and a consequence of social status, depending on the aspect in focus. Our results illustrate that social states contribute to both variation and stability in behavioural responses, and should therefore be taken into account when investigating and interpreting variation in personality.