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Updated: May 4, 2026
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Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes
Published on: August 29, 2016
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Differences in boldness are repeatable and heritable in a long-lived marine predator
Samantha C Patrick1, Anne Charmantier, Henri Weimerskirch
1Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS-UPR1934 79360, Villiers-en-Bois, France.
Ecology and Evolution
|December 17, 2013
Summary
Animal personalities, specifically the shy-bold continuum in wandering albatrosses, are heritable and repeatable. Behavioral differences are influenced by colony density, suggesting ecological factors shape these traits.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Ornithology
Background:
- Animal personalities, consistent individual behaviors, have fitness consequences.
- Life-history trade-offs are predicted to maintain personality differences, but this is poorly understood in long-lived species.
- Genetic underpinnings of personality traits are rarely studied.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the shy-bold continuum in wandering albatrosses.
- Determine if boldness is heritable and repeatable.
- Explore the influence of ecological factors on personality variation.
Main Methods:
- Measured behavioral response to human approach in wandering albatrosses.
- Utilized generalized linear mixed models in a Bayesian framework.
- Analyzed repeatability and heritability of boldness.
Main Results:
- Boldness in wandering albatrosses is highly repeatable and heritable.
- Significant differences in boldness were observed between breeding colonies.
- Albatrosses in denser colonies exhibited shyer behavior.
Conclusions:
- Boldness is a heritable and repeatable personality trait in this seabird population.
- Ecological factors, such as colony density, can shape personality.
- Highlights the interplay of evolutionary and ecological processes in shaping animal personality.
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