Looks or personality: what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild?

AbstractUnderstanding the connection between personality and fitness is an important topic in both behavioural and evolutionary ecology. Most of our current knowledge stems from lab-studies despite that studies in natural populations for most parts generate more ecologically relevant information on...

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Main Authors: M. J. Golab, T. Brodin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-01-01
Series:The European Zoological Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/24750263.2023.2294090
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author M. J. Golab
T. Brodin
author_facet M. J. Golab
T. Brodin
author_sort M. J. Golab
collection DOAJ
description AbstractUnderstanding the connection between personality and fitness is an important topic in both behavioural and evolutionary ecology. Most of our current knowledge stems from lab-studies despite that studies in natural populations for most parts generate more ecologically relevant information on behavioural variation and mating success. Here, we quantified Calopteryx splendens male mating success across two behavioural axes: courtship and boldness-aggression, testing personality and plasticity of behavioural traits in a natural population situated in the central-core of the species distribution. We also measured wing patch area and body size as these traits are important in damselfly sexual selection. The only behavioural trait that positively affected mating success was consistency in courtship effort. Among morphological traits, smaller wing patch size was associated with greater male mating success, while thorax size was a better predictor of male mating success than either personality or plasticity in boldness and activity. Our results demonstrate the importance of behavioural consistency over plasticity in a wild insect population and support prior studies showing the importance of body size for mating success.
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spelling doaj.art-996180e5dd964358ac3b3a6c1cdb52a72024-01-08T12:14:02ZengTaylor & Francis GroupThe European Zoological Journal2475-02632024-01-01911819310.1080/24750263.2023.2294090Looks or personality: what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild?M. J. Golab0T. Brodin1Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, PolandDepartment of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, SwedenAbstractUnderstanding the connection between personality and fitness is an important topic in both behavioural and evolutionary ecology. Most of our current knowledge stems from lab-studies despite that studies in natural populations for most parts generate more ecologically relevant information on behavioural variation and mating success. Here, we quantified Calopteryx splendens male mating success across two behavioural axes: courtship and boldness-aggression, testing personality and plasticity of behavioural traits in a natural population situated in the central-core of the species distribution. We also measured wing patch area and body size as these traits are important in damselfly sexual selection. The only behavioural trait that positively affected mating success was consistency in courtship effort. Among morphological traits, smaller wing patch size was associated with greater male mating success, while thorax size was a better predictor of male mating success than either personality or plasticity in boldness and activity. Our results demonstrate the importance of behavioural consistency over plasticity in a wild insect population and support prior studies showing the importance of body size for mating success.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/24750263.2023.2294090Calopteryx splendensboldnessactivitycourtshipbehavioural syndromewild population
spellingShingle M. J. Golab
T. Brodin
Looks or personality: what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild?
The European Zoological Journal
Calopteryx splendens
boldness
activity
courtship
behavioural syndrome
wild population
title Looks or personality: what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild?
title_full Looks or personality: what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild?
title_fullStr Looks or personality: what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild?
title_full_unstemmed Looks or personality: what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild?
title_short Looks or personality: what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild?
title_sort looks or personality what drives damselfly male mating success in the wild
topic Calopteryx splendens
boldness
activity
courtship
behavioural syndrome
wild population
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/24750263.2023.2294090
work_keys_str_mv AT mjgolab looksorpersonalitywhatdrivesdamselflymalematingsuccessinthewild
AT tbrodin looksorpersonalitywhatdrivesdamselflymalematingsuccessinthewild