Work

Sexual selection and animal personality

Year: 2009

Type: review

Abstract: Consistent individual behavioural tendencies, termed "personalities", have been identified in a wide range of animals. Functional explanations for personality have been proposed, but as yet, very little consideration has been given to a possible role for sexual selection in maintaining differences in personality and its stability within individuals. We provide an overview of the available literature on the role of personality traits in intrasexual competition and mate choice in both human and non-human animals and integrate this into a framework for considering how sexual selection can generate and maintain personality. For this, we consider the evolution and maintenance of both main aspects of animal personality: inter-individual variation and intra-individual consistency.

Source: Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society

DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-185x.2009.00101.x

Authors: Wiebke Schuett, Tom Tregenza, Sasha R. X. Dall

Institution: University of Exeter

Language: English

Topic: Animal Behavior and Reproduction

Subfield: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Natural Environment Research Council

Award: Natural and sexual selection in a wild insect population