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Related Experiment Video

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Automated, Quantitative Cognitive/Behavioral Screening of Mice: For Genetics, Pharmacology, Animal Cognition and Undergraduate Instruction
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The lag-time constraint for behavioural plasticity.

Ana Cristina R Gomes1, Gonçalo C Cardoso1,2

  • 1CIBIO/InBIO-Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|April 30, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Environmental instability can favor fixed behaviors due to a lag-time constraint, even in adaptable traits like behavior. Responsive behaviors only evolve when the rate of performance gain outweighs performance loss from disuse.

Keywords:
behavioural performancelag-time constraintpersonalityplasticityunstable environments

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Behavioral ecology
  • Animal behavior

Background:

  • Environmental instability can lead to the selection of fixed phenotypes due to adaptation lag times (lag-time constraint).
  • Behavioral plasticity is often assumed to be exempt from lag-time constraints due to rapid behavioral adjustments.
  • Responsive behaviors are typically thought to evolve in unstable environments to match environmental changes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the conditions under which environmental instability selects for fixed behaviors versus responsive behaviors.
  • To determine if lag-time constraints apply to behavioral plasticity.
  • To explore the evolution of behavioral traits in fluctuating environments.

Main Methods:

  • Individual-based evolutionary simulations were employed.
  • The study modeled the dynamics of behavioral performance increase and decrease.
  • Key parameters included the rates of performance gain and loss for behaviors.

Main Results:

  • Environmental instability selects for fixed behaviors when the ratio of performance increase rate to decrease rate falls below a specific threshold.
  • Responsive behaviors evolve only when this ratio exceeds the threshold.
  • The lag-time constraint applies to behaviors where performance gains are slow or performance decreases rapidly when unused.

Conclusions:

  • Behavioral plasticity is subject to lag-time constraints, contrary to previous assumptions.
  • The evolution of fixed behaviors or responsive behaviors in unstable environments depends on the relative rates of acquiring and losing behavioral proficiency.
  • These findings offer insights into the evolution of stable behavioral differences, such as personality traits.