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<p>The study of personality has become a well-established tool in exploring inter-individual differences in social insects. However, more comprehensive studies on repeatability and context consistency integrating a larger variety of behavioural traits in ecologically meaningful contexts are still scarce. In our study on individually-marked adult foragers of <i>Holcoponera striatula</i> ants, we investigated whether individual-based behavioural traits are consistent across ecologically relevant contexts, and studied their modifications over time, as well as possible correlations among them. We performed four behavioural tests (open field, shelter, aggressiveness, and social tests), repeated 3–5 times with 54 individuals. We found a general tendency for behavioural responses during the first test to be different from subsequent ones, probably due to habituation and novelty effects. Only one out of the seven behavioural variables we quantified in the four tests showed a notable, albeit rather low, repeatability over time: the distance covered in the open field, suggesting consistent inter-individual differences in locomotor activity (<i>R</i> = 0.178). We found no significant individual-level associations between the different behavioural responses quantified in the four different tests reflecting different contexts, thus no indications for a behavioural syndrome in our study species. Based on these findings, we discuss the complexity of the interpretation of personality testing including its methodological limitations, and the importance of designing ecologically relevant tests and choosing meaningful variables. Our findings also challenge the premise of a general validity of the existence of behavioural syndromes in different taxa.</p>

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Temporal consistency and associations between behavioural responses of foragers of an Ectatominae ant in a multiple test set-up

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年2月13日

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  • V. A. Jardim,
  • R. S. Ferreira,
  • E. M. Nunes,
  • F. G. Robles-Guerrero,
  • H. G. Rödel,
  • N. Châline

摘要

The study of personality has become a well-established tool in exploring inter-individual differences in social insects. However, more comprehensive studies on repeatability and context consistency integrating a larger variety of behavioural traits in ecologically meaningful contexts are still scarce. In our study on individually-marked adult foragers of Holcoponera striatula ants, we investigated whether individual-based behavioural traits are consistent across ecologically relevant contexts, and studied their modifications over time, as well as possible correlations among them. We performed four behavioural tests (open field, shelter, aggressiveness, and social tests), repeated 3–5 times with 54 individuals. We found a general tendency for behavioural responses during the first test to be different from subsequent ones, probably due to habituation and novelty effects. Only one out of the seven behavioural variables we quantified in the four tests showed a notable, albeit rather low, repeatability over time: the distance covered in the open field, suggesting consistent inter-individual differences in locomotor activity (R = 0.178). We found no significant individual-level associations between the different behavioural responses quantified in the four different tests reflecting different contexts, thus no indications for a behavioural syndrome in our study species. Based on these findings, we discuss the complexity of the interpretation of personality testing including its methodological limitations, and the importance of designing ecologically relevant tests and choosing meaningful variables. Our findings also challenge the premise of a general validity of the existence of behavioural syndromes in different taxa.