Adaptive significance of affiliative behaviour differs between sexes in a wild reptile population.

ABSTRACT: In recent years, we have begun to appreciate that social behaviours might exhibit repeatable among-individual variation. Such behavioural traits may even covary and have critical evolutionary implications. Importantly, some social behaviours such as aggressiveness have been shown to provide fitness benefits, including higher reproductive success and survival. However, fitness consequences of affiliative behaviours, especially between or among sexes, can be more challenging to establish. Using a longitudinal behavioural dataset (2014-2021) collected on eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii), we investigated whether various aspects of affiliative behaviour (i) were repeatable across years, (ii) covaried with each other at the among-individual level, and (iii) influenced individ

SUBMITTER: Delme C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10281801 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature