Modelling adaptive phenotypic plasticity of behaviour and the evolution of behavioural syndromes

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The study of between-individual variation in behavioural phenotypes, which previously has been perceived mainly as unexplained and insignificant variation, has gained significant attention during recent years and induced a major paradigm shift in behavioural ecology. Numerous recent studies have convincingly demonstrated that individuals show consistent behavioural phenotypes (i.e. personality) both in time and across contexts. Nevertheless, although many descriptive studies have revealed such individual differences in personality, experiments and models elucidating the causes for the evolution and maintenance of these differences are still rare. In this project, we will use theoretical approaches to shed new light on this unsolved problem. One sub-project will consist of a series of models focussing on general principles. The ambition is to incorporate sexual selection and the pace-of-life syndrome into theoretical models of behavioural types. This will increase the understanding how the potential interplay between sexual selection, life history, and metabolism can affect the emergence of behavioural types. Furthermore, with more specific models, inspired by the data gained in the empirical projects of our research group, we will explore the effects of i) seasonal differences, ii) varying intensity in maternal care, iii) food quality variation, and iv) state relative to litter-mates on the evolution and maintenance of behavioural phenotypes. This explicit modelling approach will be performed in close collaboration with the empirical groups, having the positive implication that the necessary realistic conditions will be implemented appropriately and that the involved empiricists will learn how to use modeling as an important scientific method.