| 1. |
- Favati, Anna, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of social experience during development on competitive ability and personality traits in male domestic fowl
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The ability to dominate conspecifics and thereby gain access to important resources depends on a number of traits and skills that may be both heritable and influenced by the environment. Experience of dominance relationships during development is a potential source of learning such skills. We here study the relative importance of social experience, personality, and morphological traits on competitive ability in male domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus). By letting males grow up as either a single (dominant) male, as the dominant male of a pair, or as an intermediate ranked male in a group of males, we investigate if competitiveness in social interactions (winning duels) is mainly due to individual qualities or also influenced by social experience. We found that males were consistent over time in their competitive ability. Single raised males were inferior to pair dominant males and group-raised males in competitive ability, while pair dominant and group males did not differ significantly. This indicates that social training is important for future fighting success, but that the social position during development does not have a decisive influence on male fighting success in adulthood. Aggression and comb size, the latter possibly being a proxy for testosterone levels, had a marked effect on competitive ability. Together, our results indicate that certain behavioural and morphological traits are more important than experience of a social position in shaping competitive ability. These findings elucidate the relationship between social dominance and personality.
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| 2. |
- Favati, Anna, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Individual aggression, but not winner–loser effects, predicts social rank in male domestic fowl
- 2017
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Ingår i: Behavioral Ecology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1045-2249 .- 1465-7279. ; 28:3, s. 874-882
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many factors can affect the probability for an individual to obtain a high social rank, including size, weaponry, and behavioral attributes such as aggression. Recent experiences of winning or losing can also affect the chances of winning future contests, commonly referred to as “winner–loser effects”. Individuals often differ in behavior in a consistent way, including in aggression, thereby showing differences in personality. However, the relative importance of recent experience and aspects of personality in determining rank, as well as the extent to which winning or losing affects aggression, has rarely been studied. Here, we investigate these questions using male domestic fowl. We matched males for body size, comb size, and aggression in pair-wise duels to: 1) study the effect of contest outcome on aggression and 2) compare the effect of individual aggression and contest experience on future social status in small groups. We found that aggression was a highly repeatable personality trait and that aggression increased after winning and decreased after losing. Nevertheless, such winner–loser effects were not enough to increase the odds of becoming dominant in a small group. Instead, aggressiveness measured prior to a contest experience best predicted future rank. Boldness and exploration did not predict rank and of the 2, only boldness was positively correlated with aggressiveness. We conclude that for male domestic fowl in contests among phenotypically matched contestants, aggressiveness is more important for obtaining high rank than winner–loser effects, or other aspects of personality.
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| 3. |
- Favati, Anna, 1980-
(författare)
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Social dominance and personality in male fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus)
- 2013
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Individuals in social species commonly form dominance relationships among each other, andare often observed to differ in behaviour depending on their social status. However, whethersuch behavioural differences are a consequence of dominance position, or also a cause to it,remains unclear. In this thesis I therefore investigated two perspectives of the relationshipbetween social dominance and personality in the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus), asocial species that forms relatively stable dominance hierarchies. In paper I I investigated theinfluence of social status on the expression and consistency of behaviours by experimentallychanging status between repeated personality assays. The level of vigilance, activity andexploration changed with social status, while boldness and territorial crows appeared asstable individual properties, independent of status. These results showed that social statuscontribute to both variation and consistency in behavioural responses. Social status shouldtherefore be taken into account when investigating and interpreting variation in personality.In paper II I showed that behaviour in a novel arena test and during encounter with anopponent can predict social status, more specifically that fast exploration and aggressivenesspredicted a dominant social position. Together, these results highlight the dynamics of thetwo-way relationship between social position and individual behaviour and indicate thatindividual behaviour can both be a cause and a consequence of social status.
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| 4. |
- Favati, Anna, 1980-
(författare)
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The relationship between personality and social dominance in the domestic fowl – a critical perspective
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Social dominance relationships are formed within numerous animal species and reduce costly fights over resources. Dominant individuals often enjoy greater access to important resources such as food and mating partners, and are generally more aggressive, bold, active and explorative compared to subdominant individuals. These behavioural traits can differ among individuals, but they can also be consistent within the individual, thereby describing the individual’s personality type. However, the causal direction of the observed correlation between dominance and personality is not well studied. One possibility is that some personality types have higher chances of obtaining a dominant social position. This would suggest that personality has consequences for fitness. Another possible explanation is that possessing different social positions gives rise to consistent behavioural differences among individuals on various timescales. If social status has a lasting effect on behaviour, social status would constitute a ‘stable state’ that explains some of the diversity of personality types that has been observed in a multitude of animal species. Dominance and personality may also share underlying proximate factors. In this thesis, I investigate the relationship between social dominance and personality using male domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus. The species is group-living with pronounced dominance hierarchies, and dominance increases male access to mating partners. I show that some aspects of personality, exploration, vigilance and in particular aggressiveness, increased a male’s chances of obtaining dominance (paper III, IV, V), and that aggressiveness can be even more important than body weight and ornament size (comb size, paper V) or recent experience of winning or losing (paper IV). Winning a social interaction resulted in an increase in aggressiveness, while a decrease was seen in males that experienced a loss (paper IV). By observing behaviour before and after changes in male dominance relationships, I further show that a recent (2 days earlier) change in social status induced behavioural adjustments to the new social status in activity, exploration and vigilance (paper I). By extending the time of the new social relationship to 3 weeks, I show that such behavioural changes did not continue (paper II). Finally, I show that the social environment during juvenile development had little impact on adult male competitiveness (paper V). Social interactions appear to have several short-term effects on behaviour, but did not contribute significantly to variation and long-term consistency of personality in male fowl. Instead, a male's personality, and in particular his aggressiveness, affected the outcome of dominance interactions. Overall, my studies reveal important consequences of individual differences in behaviour, and contribute to the highly sought-after empirical testing of hypotheses explaining variation in animal personality.
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