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Correlational selection does not explain the evolution of a behavioural syndrome.
1Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Journal of Evolutionary Biology
|August 29, 2013
Summary
Correlated behaviors in water striders do not appear to be maintained by correlational selection. Further research is needed to understand the origins of these behavioral syndromes.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral ecology
- Evolutionary biology
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Behavioral syndromes, or suites of correlated behaviors, are common but their maintenance mechanisms are poorly understood.
- Correlational selection, where specific combinations of traits confer higher fitness, is a proposed mechanism for generating and maintaining these syndromes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the correlational selection hypothesis for the maintenance of behavioral syndromes.
- To investigate the relationship between behavioral syndrome structure and fitness in male water striders.
Main Methods:
- Measured dispersal ability, exploration behavior, latency to remount, and sex recognition sensitivity in male water striders.
- Assessed the multivariate fitness surface based on mating success across varying sex ratio environments.
Main Results:
- Significant correlational selection was detected, but the overall behavioral syndrome structure was not associated with this selection.
- The strong correlations between behaviors may not be maintained by correlational selection or linkage disequilibrium.
Conclusions:
- Correlational selection is unlikely to be the primary driver maintaining the observed behavioral syndrome in water striders.
- Alternative mechanisms, potentially involving physiological or quantitative genetic factors, may explain the maintenance of these correlated behaviors.
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