Artificial environments and the study of 'adaptive' personalities

Petri T Niemelä; Niels J Dingemanse

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2014.02.007

Artificial environments and the study of 'adaptive' personalities

Trends Ecol Evol. 2014 May;29(5):245-7. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.02.007. Epub 2014 Mar 11.

Authors

Petri T Niemelä¹, Niels J Dingemanse²

Affiliations

¹ Behavioural Ecology, Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany. Electronic address: niemela@bio.lmu.de.
² Behavioural Ecology, Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany; Evolutionary Ecology of Variation Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany. Electronic address: ndingemanse@orn.mpg.de.

PMID: 24629720
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.02.007

Abstract

Research on the adaptive nature of animal personality is blooming. We detail here the common practice of conducting such studies in the laboratory, inherent shortcomings of this approach when addressing ecological or evolutionary questions, and alternative strategies that might be applied to firmly place personality research in evolutionary biology.

Keywords: adaptive evolution; cryptic genetic variation; gene-environment interaction; personality; reaction norm.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological*
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Biological Evolution
Environment
Gene-Environment Interaction
Personality*
Research