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Bergmüller, R., & Taborsky, M. (2010). Animal personality due to social niche specialisation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 25(9), 504–511.
Abstract: The existence of 'animal personality', i.e. consistent individual differences in behaviour across time and contexts, is an evolutionary puzzle that has recently generated considerable research interest. Although social factors are generally considered to be important, it is as yet unclear how they might select for personality. Drawing from ecological niche theory, we explore how social conflict and alternative social options can be key factors in the evolution and development of consistent individual differences in behaviour. We discuss how animal personality research might benefit from insights into the study of alternative tactics and illustrate how selection can favour behavioural diversification and consistency due to fitness benefits resulting from conflict reduction among social partners.
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Amodio, P., Boeckle, M., Schnell, A. K., Ostojic, L., Fiorito, G., & Clayton, N. S. (2018). Grow Smart and Die Young: Why Did Cephalopods Evolve Intelligence? Trends. Ecol. Evol., .
Abstract: Intelligence in large-brained vertebrates might have evolved through independent, yet similar processes based on comparable socioecological pressures and slow life histories. This convergent evolutionary route, however, cannot explain why cephalopods developed large brains and flexible behavioural repertoires: cephalopods have fast life histories and live in simple social environments. Here, we suggest that the loss of the external shell in cephalopods (i) caused a dramatic increase in predatory pressure, which in turn prevented the emergence of slow life histories, and (ii) allowed the exploitation of novel challenging niches, thus favouring the emergence of intelligence. By highlighting convergent and divergent aspects between cephalopods and large-brained vertebrates we illustrate how the evolution of intelligence might not be constrained to a single evolutionary route.
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Taberlet, P., Waits, L. P., & Luikart, G. (1999). Noninvasive genetic sampling: look before you leap. Trends Ecol. Evol, 14(8), 323–327.
Abstract: Noninvasive sampling allows genetic studies of free-ranging animals without the need to capture or even observe them, and thus allows questions to be addressed that cannot be answered using conventional methods. Initially, this sampling strategy promised to exploit fully the existing DNA-based technology for studies in ethology, conservation biology and population genetics. However, recent work now indicates the need for a more cautious approach, which includes quantifying the genotyping error rate. Despite this, many of the difficulties of noninvasive sampling will probably be overcome with improved methodology.
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Tibbetts, E. A., & Dale, J. (2007). Individual recognition: it is good to be different. Trends. Ecol. Evol, 22(10), 529–537.
Abstract: Individual recognition (IR) behavior has been widely studied, uncovering spectacular recognition abilities across a range of taxa and modalities. Most studies of IR focus on the recognizer (receiver). These studies typically explore whether a species is capable of IR, the cues that are used for recognition and the specializations that receivers use to facilitate recognition. However, relatively little research has explored the other half of the communication equation: the individual being recognized (signaler). Provided there is a benefit to being accurately identified, signalers are expected to actively broadcast their identity with distinctive cues. Considering the prevalence of IR, there are probably widespread benefits associated with distinctiveness. As a result, selection for traits that reveal individual identity might represent an important and underappreciated selective force contributing to the evolution and maintenance of genetic polymorphisms.
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Purvis, A. (2006). The h index: playing the numbers game. Trends. Ecol. Evol, 21(8), 422.
Abstract: Article Outline
References
The ‘h index’ was developed recently as a measure of research performance [1]: a researcher's h is the number of his or her papers that have been cited at least h times. In their thoughtful critique of the index, Kelly and Jennions [2] point out many ways in which h is no better than ‘traditional’ bibliometrics, such as total citation counts. However, there is one way in which, for researchers, it could be very much better, especially if (as Hirsch suggests [1]) it is to inform hiring and promotion decisions. The skewed nature of the distribution of citations among publications means that most researchers have several papers that nearly but not quite count. Consequently, h can be distorted much more easily than can total citation count just by finding a subtle way to cite one's own papers that are ‘bubbling under’. Incidentally, bats show broadly the same life-history allometries as other mammalian clades [3].
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Sih, A., Bell, A., & Johnson, J. C. (2004). Behavioral syndromes: an ecological and evolutionary overview. Trends. Ecol. Evol, 19(7), 372–378.
Abstract: Recent studies suggest that populations and species often exhibit behavioral syndromes; that is, suites of correlated behaviors across situations. An example is an aggression syndrome where some individuals are more aggressive, whereas others are less aggressive across a range of situations and contexts. The existence of behavioral syndromes focuses the attention of behavioral ecologists on limited (less than optimal) behavioral plasticity and behavioral carryovers across situations, rather than on optimal plasticity in each isolated situation. Behavioral syndromes can explain behaviors that appear strikingly non-adaptive in an isolated context (e.g. inappropriately high activity when predators are present, or excessive sexual cannibalism). Behavioral syndromes can also help to explain the maintenance of individual variation in behavioral types, a phenomenon that is ubiquitous, but often ignored. Recent studies suggest that the behavioral type of an individual, population or species can have important ecological and evolutionary implications, including major effects on species distributions, on the relative tendencies of species to be invasive or to respond well to environmental change, and on speciation rates. Although most studies of behavioral syndromes to date have focused on a few organisms, mainly in the laboratory, further work on other species, particularly in the field, should yield numerous new insights.
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Pusey, A. E. (1987). Sex-biased dispersal and inbreeding avoidance in birds and mammals. Trends. Ecol. Evol, 2(10), 295–299.
Abstract: Sex differences in dispersal distance are widespread in birds and mammals, but the predominantly dispersing sex differs consistently between the classes. There has been persistent debate over the relative importance of two factors -- intrasexual competition and inbreeding avoidance -- in producing sex-biased dispersal, and over the sources of the difference in dispersal patterns between the two classes. Recent studies cast new light on these questions.
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Wilson, S. D., Clark, A. B., Coleman, K., & Dearstyne, T. (1994). Shyness and boldness in humans and other animals. Trends. Ecol. Evol, 9(11), 442–446.
Abstract: The shy-bold continuum is a fundamental axis of behavioral variation in humans and at least some other species, but its taxonomic distribution and evolutionary implications are unknown. Models of optimal risk, density- or frequency-dependent selection, and phenotypic plasticity can provide a theoretical framework for understanding shyness and boldness as a product of natural selection. We sketch this framework and review the few empirical studies of shyness and boldness in natural populations. The study of shyness and boldness adds an interesting new dimension to behavioral ecology by focusing on the nature of continuous behavioral variation that exists within the familiar categories of age, sex and size.
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Creel, S. (2001). Social dominance and stress hormones. Trends. Ecol. Evol, 16(9), 491–497.
Abstract: In most cooperatively breeding birds and mammals, reproductive rates are lower for social subordinates than for dominants, and it is common for reproduction in subordinates to be completely suppressed. Early research conducted in captivity showed that losing fights can increase glucocorticoid (GC) secretion, a general response to stress. Because GCs can suppress reproduction, it has been widely argued that chronic stress might underlie reproductive suppression of social subordinates in cooperative breeders. Contradicting this hypothesis, recent studies of cooperative breeders in the wild show that dominant individuals have elevated GCs more often than do subordinates. The findings that elevated GCs can be a consequence of subordination or a cost of dominance complicate the conventional view of social stress, with broad ramifications for the evolution of dominance and reproductive suppression.
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Noë, R., & Hammerstein, P. (1995). Biological markets. Trends. Ecol. Evol, 10(8), 336–339.
Abstract: In biological markets, two classes of traders exchange commodities to their mutual benefit. Characteristics of markets are: competition within trader classes by contest or outbidding; preference for partners offering the highest value; and conflicts over the exchange value of commodities. Biological markets are currently studied under at least three different headings: sexual selection, intraspecific cooperation and interspecific mutualism. The time is ripe for the development of game theoretic models that describe the common core of biological markets and integrate existing knowledge from the separate fields.
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