Personality, Plasticity, and Resource Polymorphisms

个性、可塑性和资源多态性

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04624
• 负责人: McLaughlin, Robert
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: University of Guelph
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=713169
• 关键词: Personality; Plasticity; Resource; Polymorphisms

As humans, we all exhibit behavioural differences that give us a distinctive character or quality, even though our behaviour is flexible. We call these differences personality. In the past few years, behavioural scientists have accumulated a lot of evidence that wild animals from the same population also differ in personality traits, such as general activity, sociability, boldness, and willingness to take risks in new situations. These scientists have also shown that differences in personality can be related to field behaviours important to an animal's survival and reproduction, including foraging, mating, and finding a new place to live. Trying to understand the genetic (nature) and environmental (nurture) mechanisms creating these personality differences is an area of active research. Our research on brook charr (also called brook trout) examines how personality differences contribute to the tendency for populations of animals to diverge into subgroups differing in where and what they eat, and the size and form of their body and brains. This phenomenon, called resource polymorphism, occurs commonly in fishes from northern streams and lakes. Resource polymorphisms represent unique biodiversity that can lead to the evolution of new species. Understanding the mechanisms creating resource polymorphisms is needed in this time of global losses of species, especially fish. Our research will examine the co-creation of personality and resource polymorphisms in three steps. It will first examine personality differences early in life and the intrinsic factors (e.g. energy state) influencing these differences. It will then ask if these personality differences predispose individuals to adopt a specific foraging style and location. Lastly, it will test a variety of mechanisms that could create behavioural feedback loops that can cause the divergence in behaviour and body form seen in resource polymorphisms. For example, foraging in a particular style or location can induce changes in body shape that reinforce that foraging style, such that individuals with differing foraging styles develop very different body forms. In this way, resource polymorphisms offer an excellent opportunity to understand the mechanisms creating animal personalities, and the factors facilitating and constraining flexibility in behaviour. At the same time, feedback models proposed to understand divergence in personality provide an excellent opportunity to learn about the mechanisms responsible for resource polymorphism, in ways that should help us preserve this fascinating form of biodiversity.

作为人类，我们都表现出行为差异，这些差异赋予我们独特的性格或品质，尽管我们的行为是灵活的。我们将这些差异称为个性。 在过去的几年里，行为科学家积累了大量证据，表明同一种群的野生动物在性格特征上也存在差异，例如一般活动性、社交性、大胆性以及在新情况下愿意冒险的程度。这些科学家还表明，性格差异可能与对动物生存和繁殖很重要的野外行为有关，包括觅食、交配和寻找新的居住地。试图了解造成这些人格差异的遗传（先天）和环境（后天）机制是一个活跃的研究领域。 我们对溪红点鲑（也称为溪鳟）的研究探讨了性格差异如何导致动物种群分化为不同亚群的趋势，这些亚群的饮食地点和食物以及身体和大脑的大小和形状各不相同。这种现象称为资源多态性，常见于北方溪流和湖泊的鱼类中。资源多态性代表了独特的生物多样性，可以导致新物种的进化。在全球物种（尤其是鱼类）丧失的时期，需要了解造成资源多态性的机制。 我们的研究将分三个步骤检验人格和资源多态性的共同创造。它将首先检查生命早期的人格差异以及影响这些差异的内在因素（例如能量状态）。然后它会询问这些性格差异是否会使个体倾向于采用特定的觅食方式和地点。最后，它将测试各种可能创建行为反馈循环的机制，这些机制可能导致资源多态性中出现的行为和身体形态的差异。例如，以特定方式或地点觅食会引起身体形状的变化，从而强化这种觅食方式，使得具有不同觅食方式的个体形成非常不同的身体形态。 通过这种方式，资源多态性提供了一个绝佳的机会来了解创造动物个性的机制以及促进和限制行为灵活性的因素。与此同时，为理解人格差异而提出的反馈模型提供了一个绝佳的机会来了解造成资源多态性的机制，这应该有助于我们保护这种迷人的生物多样性形式。