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Evidence for Environment-Specific Pace-of-Life Syndromes
Fragkiskos Darmis1, Anja Guenther2
1Research Group Behavioural Ecology of Individual Differences, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology Plön Germany.
Ecology and Evolution
|March 10, 2026
Summary
The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) in house mice depends on food quality. High-quality food leads to slower life paces, while low-quality food results in faster life paces, showing context-dependent behavior-life-history links.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Life-History Evolution
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis links behavior, physiology, and life history, suggesting behavior mediates trade-offs.
- Empirical support for POLS is mixed, with environmental context, particularly resource quality, proposed to explain inconsistencies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how resource quality influences life-history traits and behavior-life-history correlations in house mice.
- To test the context-dependency of the pace-of-life syndrome in relation to food quality.
Main Methods:
- Monitored life histories of 344 female house mice across four semi-natural enclosures.
- Provisioned enclosures with either high or standard-quality food.
- Repeatedly measured behavior and analyzed among-individual correlations with life-history traits within each treatment.
Main Results:
- Life-history variation in mice was primarily structured along a fast-slow continuum, irrespective of food quality.
- The relationship between behavior and life history was context-dependent.
- Under low-quality food, exploratory mice showed a faster pace-of-life (risk-mortality trade-off).
- Under high-quality food, active mice delayed reproduction, exhibiting a slower pace-of-life (asset protection).
Conclusions:
- Pace-of-life syndromes are context-dependent, emerging when behavioral variation interacts with environmental factors affecting fitness.
- POLS can vary significantly across different ecological conditions, emphasizing the importance of environmental context in linking behavior and life history.
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