DOCSLIB.ORG

Plasticity in Female Mate Choosiness

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Plasticity in Female Mate Choosiness University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences Biological Sciences, School of 5-2014 Plasticity in Female Mate Choosiness: A Result of Variation in Perceived Predation Risk and the Interaction of Female Age and Male Density Ashley Atwell University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscidiss Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons, and the Biology Commons Atwell, Ashley, "Plasticity in Female Mate Choosiness: A Result of Variation in Perceived Predation Risk and the Interaction of Female Age and Male Density" (2014). Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences. 67. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscidiss/67 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Biological Sciences, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. PLASTICITY IN FEMALE MATE CHOOSINESS: A RESULT OF VARIATION IN PERCEIVED PREDATION RISK AND THE INTERACTION OF FEMALE AGE AND MALE DENSITY by Ashley N. Atwell A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science Major: Biological Sciences Under the Supervision of Professor William E. Wagner, Jr. Lincoln, Nebraska May 2014 PLASTICITY IN FEMALE MATE CHOOSINESS: A RESULT OF VARIATION IN PERCEIVED PREDATION RISK AND THE INTERACTION OF FEMALE AGE AND MALE DENSITY Ashley N. Atwell, M.S. University of Nebraska, 2014 Advisor: William E. Wagner, Jr. In many species, female mate choices can be a strong source of sexual selection. Females often prefer a certain male phenotype, and this can be due to benefits females gain from mating with preferred males. However, such benefits can sometimes be outweighed by the cost of searching for a preferred male. These costs and benefits often change concomitantly with changes in environmental (e.g., predator abundance and conspecific density) and internal factors (e.g., female age). Thus, female mate choosiness (the degree to which preferences for certain males are expressed) should often be plastic. Plasticity in female mate choosiness may be complicated because environmental and internal factors may often interact naturally with one another. Therefore, it is important to understand how plasticity in mate choosiness is affected by such interactions. A small, yet growing, number of studies have investigated interactions on female mate choosiness, and have found interesting yet sometimes contradictory results. We conducted two experiments on the variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps. One tested the effect of the interaction between female age (young, intermediate, and old) and male calling density (high and low), and the other tested the effect of the interaction of female age and perceived predation risk (predation chemical cues present or not) from sympatric, cursorial, wolf spider predators Hogna sp. Our results indicate a significant effect of the interaction between female age and male density, as well as a significant effect of perceived predation risk, on the plasticity of female mate choosiness. Young females exhibited the most plasticity in response to variation in male densities: young females were the most choosy in high male density environments and least choosy in low male density environments. Females, regardless of age, responded to variation in perceived predation risk the same: females were choosy when predation cues were absent, but decreased their choosiness when predation cues were present. Overall, these results suggest females who have the highest reproductive potential are the most responsive to changes in environmental and internal factors, but also that these factors can either interact with or overshadow each other to influence female mate choosiness. iv AUTHOR’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The past two years have been unforgettable, fun, and full of crickets. I would like to thank everyone who gave me their time, support, and advice throughout these projects. I truly do not know what I would have done without you. I first want to thank my advisor, William Wagner. He is a fantastic mentor who has guided me through what it means to successfully develop and carry out research projects, write scientifically, and perform proper statistics. He did this with the utmost patience, understanding, and thoughtfulness. I also want to thank the rest of my committee, Alexandra Basolo and Eileen Hebets. They provided extensive and helpful feedback and ideas which improved the quality of these experiments. The Wagner- Basolo-Hebets-Shizuka lab meeting members provided invaluable criticisms on the earlier drafts of these chapters, and for that I am very thankful. I would like to thank the graduate students in the School of Biological Sciences. They kept me sane and entertained, and they are some of the best people, friends, and scientists I could ever have hoped to meet. Finally, I would like to thank my family. I can always count on my mom and dad to be there for me, whether it’s helping me move across state lines or letting me take all the leftovers and tupperware. My sister and her husband are always great for talking about anything, and their dogs are always a great source of laughter. Thank you all. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page..............................................................................................................................i Abstract................................................................................................................................ii Author’s Acknowledgements..............................................................................................iv Table of Contents.................................................................................................................v Chapter 1. Females Can't Always Get What They Want, But They Get What They Need: The Effect of the Interaction Between Male Density and Female Age on Female Mate Choice Plasticity...................................................................................................................1 Abstract....................................................................................................................1 Introduction..............................................................................................................2 Methods....................................................................................................................6 Study System...............................................................................................6 Experimental Treatments.............................................................................7 Measuring Female Choosiness....................................................................8 Statistics.....................................................................................................10 Results....................................................................................................................11 Discussion..............................................................................................................12 Acknowledgments..................................................................................................17 References..............................................................................................................17 Multimedia Objects................................................................................................25 Figure 1.1...................................................................................................25 vi Figure 1.2...................................................................................................26 Table 1.1.....................................................................................................27 Figure 1.3...................................................................................................28 Chapter 2. Along Came a Spider Who Sat Down Beside Her: A Study of the Effect of Predation on the Plasticity of Female Mate Choice...........................................................29 Abstract..................................................................................................................29 Introduction............................................................................................................30 Methods..................................................................................................................33 Study System.............................................................................................33 Experimental Treatments...........................................................................35 Measuring Female Choosiness..................................................................38 Statistics.....................................................................................................40 Results....................................................................................................................41 Discussion..............................................................................................................41 Acknowledgments..................................................................................................44 References..............................................................................................................45
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Behavioral Plasticity Across Non-Social Contexts in Female Green Swordtails, Xiphophorus Hellerii Lindsey M
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences Biological Sciences, School of 5-2017 Behavioral Plasticity Across Non-Social Contexts in Female Green Swordtails, Xiphophorus Hellerii Lindsey M. Coit University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscidiss Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons, Biology Commons, and the Evolution Commons Coit, Lindsey M., "Behavioral Plasticity Across Non-Social Contexts in Female Green Swordtails, Xiphophorus Hellerii" (2017). Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences. 98. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscidiss/98 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Biological Sciences, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. BEHAVIORAL PLASTICITY ACROSS NON-SOCIAL CONTEXTS IN FEMALE GREEN SWORDTAILS, XIPHOPHORUS HELLERII by Lindsey M. Coit A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science Major: Biological Sciences Under the Supervision of Professor Alexandra L. Basolo Lincoln, Nebraska May, 2017 BEHAVIORAL PLASTICITY ACROSS NON-SOCIAL CONTEXTS IN FEMALE GREEN SWORDTAILS, XIPHOPHORUS HELLERII Lindsey M. Coit, M.S. University of Nebraska, 2017 Advisor: Alexandra L. Basolo Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an individual to alter its phenotype in response to environmental change. Individuals that express plasticity in behavior can quickly respond to changes that occur in the environment.
    [Show full text]
  • Testosterone Modulates Status-Specific Patterns of Cooperation in a 4 Social Network
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/453548; this version posted June 17, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 1 The authors wish to be identified to the reviewers. 2 Testosterone modulates status-specific patterns of cooperation in a 4 social network 6 Short title: Testosterone modulates cooperation 8 T. Brandt Ryder1*§, Roslyn Dakin1§, Ben J. Vernasco2, Brian S. Evans1, Brent M. Horton3, and Ignacio T. Moore2 10 1Migratory Bird Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, 12 Washington, DC 20013, USA 2Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA 14 3Department of Biology, Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania 17551, USA 16 §Authors contributed equally 18 *Correspondence: [email protected] bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/453548; this version posted June 17, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 2 20 Summary Stable cooperation requires plasticity whereby individuals are able to express competitive or 22 cooperative behaviors depending on social context. To date, however, the physiological mechanisms that underlie behavioral variation in cooperative systems are poorly understood. We 24 studied hormone-mediated behavior in the wire-tailed manakin (Pipra filicauda), a gregarious songbird whose cooperative partnerships are crucial for fitness.
    [Show full text]
  • Cricket Responses to Sexual Signals Are Influenced More by Adult Than Juvenile Experiences
    J Insect Behav (2015) 28:328–337 DOI 10.1007/s10905-015-9504-6 Cricket Responses to Sexual Signals are Influenced More by Adult than Juvenile Experiences Elizabeth Swanger1 & Marlene Zuk1 Revised: 24 April 2015 /Accepted: 29 April 2015 / Published online: 12 May 2015 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract Behavioral plasticity can occur on multiple timescales, from traits fixed during development to traits that remain plastic throughout an individual’slifetime. Because mate choice is a key factor in determining selection on male ornaments, understanding the timescale of plasticity in female choice behavior is critical to understanding how this plasticity influences selection. Experience of sexual signals during both the juvenile and adult stages often shapes mating behavior, but the relative importance of experience during each stage is unclear. Does mate preference become fixed during development or does it remain plastic throughout adulthood? We manip- ulated the perceived social environment of female Pacific field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) by exposing them to either song or silence during the juvenile and adult stages. Exposure to song during the adult stage significantly decreased measures of responsiveness to calling song, while experience of calling songs during the juvenile stage resulted in a suggestive but non-significant reduction in measures of responsive- ness. Mate choice behaviors of adult female crickets are therefore predicted to track changes in their environments’ fluctuating demographics, and this plasticity may have important evolutionary implications. Keywords Plasticity. social environment . mate choice . sexual selection Introduction Adaptive phenotypic plasticity is widespread in nature (Gotthard and Nylin 1995; Nylin and Gotthard 1998; West-Eberhard 2003; Ghalambor et al.
    [Show full text]
  • A Guide for Studying Among-Individual Behavioral Variation from Movement Data in the Wild Anne G
    Hertel et al. Movement Ecology (2020) 8:30 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-020-00216-8 REVIEW Open Access A guide for studying among-individual behavioral variation from movement data in the wild Anne G. Hertel1,2* , Petri T. Niemelä3, Niels J. Dingemanse3 and Thomas Mueller1,4 Abstract Animal tracking and biologging devices record large amounts of data on individual movement behaviors in natural environments. In these data, movement ecologists often view unexplained variation around the mean as “noise” when studying patterns at the population level. In the field of behavioral ecology, however, focus has shifted from population means to the biological underpinnings of variation around means. Specifically, behavioral ecologists use repeated measures of individual behavior to partition behavioral variability into intrinsic among-individual variation and reversible behavioral plasticity and to quantify: a) individual variation in behavioral types (i.e. different average behavioral expression), b) individual variation in behavioral plasticity (i.e. different responsiveness of individuals to environmental gradients), c) individual variation in behavioral predictability (i.e. different residual within-individual variability of behavior around the mean), and d) correlations among these components and correlations in suites of behaviors, called ‘behavioral syndromes’. We here suggest that partitioning behavioral variability in animal movements will further the integration of movement ecology with other fields of behavioral ecology. We provide a literature review illustrating that individual differences in movement behaviors are insightful for wildlife and conservation studies and give recommendations regarding the data required for addressing such questions. In the accompanying R tutorial we provide a guide to the statistical approaches quantifying the different aspects of among-individual variation.
    [Show full text]
  • Sih, A., Bell, A.M., Johnson, J.C., Ziemba, R.E
    Volume 79, No. 3 June 2004 The Quarterly Review of Biology BEHAVIORAL SYNDROMES: AN INTEGRATIVE OVERVIEW Andrew Sih Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California Davis, California 95616 USA e-mail: [email protected] Alison M. Bell Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California Davis, California 95616 USA J. Chadwick Johnson Department of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky 40506 USA Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California Davis, California 95616 USA Robert E. Ziemba Department of Biology, Centre College Danville, Kentucky 40422 USA Department of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky 40506 USA keywords behavioral syndromes, behavioral correlations, tradeoffs, aggressiveness, shy/bold continuum, proactive/reactive coping styles, limited plasticity, behavioral types, animal personalities, behavioral genetics The Quarterly Review of Biology, September 2004, Vol. 79, No. 3 Copyright ᭧ 2004 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0033-5770/2004/7903-0001$15.00 241 242 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY Volume 79 abstract A behavioral syndrome is a suite of correlated behaviors expressed either within a given behavioral context (e.g., correlations between foraging behaviors in different habitats) or across different contexts (e.g., correlations among feeding, antipredator, mating, aggressive, and dispersal behaviors). For exam- ple, some individuals (and genotypes) might be generally more aggressive, more active or bold, while others are generally less aggressive, active or bold. This phenomenon has been studied in detail in humans, some primates, laboratory rodents, and some domesticated animals, but has rarely been studied in other organisms, and rarely examined from an evolutionary or ecological perspective.
    [Show full text]
  • Behavioral Syndromes: an Ecological and Evolutionary Overview
    Review TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution Vol.19 No.7 July 2004 Behavioral syndromes: an ecological and evolutionary overview Andrew Sih1, Alison Bell2 and J. Chadwick Johnson3 1Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA 2Department of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, UK, G12 8QQ 3Division of Life Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M1C 1A4 Recent studies suggest that populations and species for example, life-history or dispersal syndromes [4,5]. We often exhibit behavioral syndromes; that is, suites of therefore refer to suites of correlated behaviors as BEHA- correlated behaviors across situations. An example is VIORAL SYNDROMES. A population or species can exhibit a an aggression syndrome where some individuals are behavioral syndrome with each individual showing a beha- more aggressive, whereas others are less aggressive vioral type (e.g. more bold or more shy). Alternatively, a group across a range of situations and contexts. The existence of species can exhibit a syndrome with each species having a of behavioral syndromes focuses the attention of beha- behavioral type (e.g. species that are more bold versus those vioral ecologists on limited (less than optimal) beha- that are more shy). vioral plasticity and behavioral carryovers across The idea of studying correlated suites of behaviors situations, rather than on optimal plasticity in each iso- across situations represents an important shift in how lated situation. Behavioral syndromes can explain beha- behavioral ecologists typically address behavior [6]. In viors that appear strikingly non-adaptive in an isolated essence, when traits are correlated, they should be studied context (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Rapid Evolution and Behavioral Plasticity Following Introduction to an Environment with Reduced Predation Risk
    Received: 30 August 2018 | Revised: 13 November 2018 | Accepted: 21 January 2019 DOI: 10.1111/eth.12849 RESEARCH PAPER Rapid evolution and behavioral plasticity following introduction to an environment with reduced predation risk Sarah E. Westrick1 | E. Dale Broder1 | David N. Reznick2 | Cameron K. Ghalambor1 | Lisa Angeloni1 1Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado Abstract 2Department of Biology, University of Adaptive behavioral plasticity can play a beneficial role when a population becomes California at Riverside, Riverside, California established in a novel environment if environmental cues allow the expression of ap‐ Correspondence propriate behavior. Further, plasticity itself can evolve over time in a new environ‐ Sarah E. Westrick, Department of ment causing changes in the way or degree to which animals respond to environmental Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. cues. Colonization events provide an opportunity to investigate such relationships Email: [email protected] between behavioral plasticity and adaptation to new environments. Here, we inves‐ Present Address tigated the evolution of behavior and behavioral plasticity during colonization of a E. Dale Broder, Biology Department, St. new environment, by testing if female mate‐choice behavior diverged in Trinidadian Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa guppies 2–3 years (~6–9 generations) after being introduced to four locations with Funding information reduced predation risk. We collected wild‐caught fish from the source and intro‐ Division of Environmental Biology, Grant/ Award Number: DEB-0846175 and duced populations, and we reared out second‐generation females in the laboratory DEB‐1146489; Division of Integrative with and without predator cues to examine their plastic responses to a bright and dull Organismal Systems, Grant/Award Number: IOS-0920622, IOS-1457383; Division of male.
    [Show full text]
  • Behavioral Plasticity Is Not Significantly Associated with Head Volume in a Wild Chestnut Thrush (Turdus Rubrocanus) Population Qingshan Zhao1,2 and Yuehua Sun1*
    Zhao and Sun Avian Res (2016) 7:12 DOI 10.1186/s40657-016-0048-z Avian Research RESEARCH Open Access Behavioral plasticity is not significantly associated with head volume in a wild Chestnut Thrush (Turdus rubrocanus) population Qingshan Zhao1,2 and Yuehua Sun1* Abstract Background: The drivers of intraspecific variation in behavioral plasticity are poorly known. A widely held hypothesis is that brain size is positively correlated with behavioral plasticity. Methods: A total of 71 Chestnut Thrushes (Turdus rubrocanus) were caught in the wild population. We quantified behavior plasticity of activity of individuals measured in the same cage across two contexts (common and with a novel object stimulation), using a random regression analysis. We then investigated whether head volume (a proxy for brain size) was associated with behavioral plasticity in activity level using Spearman rank-order correlation. Results: We found no significant evidence that activity plasticity was associated with relative head volume. There was no sex difference in head volume or in variance in head volume. Conclusions: We speculate that the absence of an association between brain volume and activity behavior plasticity may result from the inaccuracy of using external skull measurements to estimate brain size, or from a particular part of the brain being responsible for plasticity in activity level. Keywords: Activity, Behavioral plasticity, Chestnut Thrush, Head volume Background behaviors based on current different contexts or environ- Behavioral plasticity is the ability of an animal to alter its ments, regardless of the past environment (Dingemanse behavior in response to changes in the environment, and and Wolf 2013; Snell-Rood 2013).
    [Show full text]
  • Animal Personalities: Behavior, Physiology, and Evolution
    11 Parental Infl uences on Off spring Personality Traits in Oviparous and Placental Vertebrates TON G. G. GROOTHUIS AND DARIO MAESTRIPIERI Introduction Although the study of animal personality has become a fl ourishing fi eld over the past decade, the ontogeny of personality has received relatively little attention (see Stamps and Groothuis 2010a, b). This may be due to several reasons: fi rst, the main goal of early studies was to explore the very existence of animal personality and describe its nature rather than under- stand its development; second, trait stability over time is one defi ning char- acteristic of personality while, by defi nition, ontogeny deals with change over time; third, early studies often used selection lines, emphasizing the role of genes rather than environment in shaping animal personality. How- ever, all developmental processes are the result of a continuous interaction between genes and other internal and external factors, and evidence for one does not exclude evidence for the others. Moreover, insight into the devel- opment of personality is important for several reasons: fi rst, it may enhance our knowledge of the degree of heritability and fl exibility of animal person- alities, their developmental constraints, and their life-history– dependent changes, which is extremely useful for understanding the ecology and evolution of animal personality; second, it may reveal underlying and per- haps age- specifi c mechanisms useful for understanding the physiology and neuro biology of animal personality (for a more extensive discussion on this topic, see Stamps and Groothuis 2010a, b). Chapter 10 in this book addresses many aspects of the ontogeny of ani- mal personality, and particularly what studies of laboratory rodents have revealed about the molecular mechanisms through which early experience can result in long-term epigenetic modifi cations of behavior and neuroen- docrine function.
    [Show full text]
  • Plasticity of the Mate Choice Mind: Courtship Evokes Choice-Like Brain Responses in Females from a Coercive Mating System
    Genes, Brain and Behavior (2014) 13: 365–375 doi: 10.1111/gbb.12124 Plasticity of the mate choice mind: courtship evokes choice-like brain responses in females from a coercive mating system S. M. T. Wang, M. E. Ramsey and M. E. Female mate choice is an important aspect of sexual selec- Cummings∗ tion and mating system diversity (Darwin 1859; Guilford & Dawkins 1991). In mating systems where coercive male Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas Austin, harassment is the predominant mating tactic, female mate Austin, TX, USA bias is usually muted relative to systems with courting males, *Corresponding author: M. E. Cummings, Department of Integra- where female choice directly determines male mating suc- tive Biology, University of Texas, 2400 Speedway, Austin 78712, cess. Female responses toward males in these systems TX, USA. E-mail: [email protected] differ, yet little is known as to whether canalized (invari- ant with mating system) or plastic (variation due to envi- ronmental stimuli) mechanisms underlie these differences. Female mate choice is fundamental to sexual selection, and determining molecular underpinnings of female Here we ask if female ‘choice-typical’ behavioral and neural preference variation is important for understanding mat- responses to males are constrained to ‘choice’ species or ing character evolution. Previously it was shown that can we recover it in a ‘coercive’ species with courting male whole-brain expression of a synaptic plasticity marker, stimuli? neuroserpin, positively correlates with mating bias in the We investigate this question with Poeciliidae, a family female choice poeciliid, Xiphophorus nigrensis,when of livebearer fishes exhibiting a spectrum of mating sys- exposed to conspecific courting males, whereas this tems from female choice to male coercion (Bisazza 1993; relationship is reversed in Gambusia affinis, a mate coer- Farr 1989).
    [Show full text]
  • Behavioral Variation, Adaptation, and Evolution
    C HAPTER 1 1 BEHAVIORAL VARIATION, ADAPTATION, AND EVOLUTION Delia S. Shelton and Emília P. Martins Individual animals behave differently from each Similarly, the study of individualASSOCIATION differences has a other for myriad interrelated intrinsic and extrinsic rich history situated in the areas of behavioral genet- reasons, and this behavioral variation is the raw ics, sociobiology, behavioral ecology, developmen- substrate for evolutionary change. Behavioral varia- tal psychology, personality theory, and studies of tion can both enhance and constrain long-term learning and cognition. Each area has its own goals, evolution (Foster, 2013), and it provides the basic associated techniques, and levels of explanation. The materials on which natural and sexual selection study of behavioral variation during early develop- can act. A rich body of historical experimental and ment, for instance, has been documented primarily conceptual foundations precedes many of the topics by psychologists studying proximate mechanisms in discussed. This classic literature is vast and impor- laboratoryPSYCHOLOGICAL animal models, whereas the study of dif- tant, and we encourage the reader to examine it in ferent adult morphs using the adaptationist perspec- detail (e.g., Lehrman, 1953; Lorenz, 1971; Schnei- tive has been dominated by behavioral ecologists rla, 1966; Waddington, 1959) because we discuss examining natural populations (Foster, 1995). A more recent literature. For example, the study of the more complete description of individual differences mechanisms that underlie behavioral variationAMERICAN has requires an integrative study of the mechanisms a divisive history, which involves carving© out the (e.g., developmental, physiological) that guide intra- relative contributions of genes and environment to individual flexibility and the associated adaptive fine a particular phenotype.
    [Show full text]
  • Inter- and Intra-Individual Variation in Predator-Related Behavioral Plasticity Expressed by Female Green Swordtails (Xiphophorus Hellerii)" (2016)
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences Biological Sciences, School of 11-2016 Inter- and Intra-individual Variation in Predator- related Behavioral Plasticity Expressed by Female Green Swordtails (Xiphophorus hellerii) Rachael A. DiSciullo University of Nebraska–Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscidiss Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons, Biology Commons, and the Evolution Commons DiSciullo, Rachael A., "Inter- and Intra-individual Variation in Predator-related Behavioral Plasticity Expressed by Female Green Swordtails (Xiphophorus hellerii)" (2016). Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences. 91. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscidiss/91 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Biological Sciences, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. INTER- AND INTRA-INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN PREDATOR-RELATED BEHAVIORAL PLASTICITY EXPRESSED BY FEMALE GREEN SWORDTAILS (XIPHOPHORUS HELLERII) by Rachael A. DiSciullo A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science Major: Biological Sciences Under the Supervision of Professor Alexandra L. Basolo Lincoln, Nebraska November, 2016 INTER- AND INTRA-INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN PREDATOR-RELATED BEHAVIORAL PLASTICITY EXPRESSED BY FEMALE GREEN SWORDTAILS (XIPHOPHORUS HELLERII) Rachael A. DiSciullo, M.S. University of Nebraska, 2016 Advisor: Alexandra L. Basolo Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of one genotype to express multiple phenotypes under variable environments.
    [Show full text]