Personality shapes pair bonding in a wild bird social system

TY - JOUR

T1 - Personality shapes pair bonding in a wild bird social system

AU - Firth, Josh A.

AU - Cole, Ella F.

AU - Ioannou, Christos C.

AU - Quinn, John L.

AU - Aplin, Lucy M.

AU - Culina, A.

AU - McMahon, Keith

AU - Sheldon, Ben C.

N1 - 6612, AnE; Data Archiving: All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files.

PY - 2018/10/1

Y1 - 2018/10/1

N2 - Mated pair bonds are integral to many animal societies, yet how individual variation in behaviour influences their formation remains largely unknown. In a population of wild great tits (Parus major), we show that personality shapes pair bonding: proactive males formed stronger pre-breeding pair bonds by meeting their future partners sooner and increasing their relationship strength at a faster rate. As a result, proactive males sampled fewer potential mates. Thus, personality may have important implications for social relationship dynamics and emergent social structure.

AB - Mated pair bonds are integral to many animal societies, yet how individual variation in behaviour influences their formation remains largely unknown. In a population of wild great tits (Parus major), we show that personality shapes pair bonding: proactive males formed stronger pre-breeding pair bonds by meeting their future partners sooner and increasing their relationship strength at a faster rate. As a result, proactive males sampled fewer potential mates. Thus, personality may have important implications for social relationship dynamics and emergent social structure.

KW - international

U2 - 10.1038/s41559-018-0670-8

DO - 10.1038/s41559-018-0670-8

M3 - Article

SN - 2397-334X

VL - 2

SP - 1696

EP - 1699

JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution

ER -