birds reveal their personality when singing鸟类唱歌时展示他们的个性.pdf

Birds Reveal their Personality when Singing ´ ´ 1 1 ´ ¨ ¨ 2 Laszlo Zsolt Garamszegi *, Marcel Eens , Janos Torok ¨ ¨ ´ 1 Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium, 2 Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary Abstract Background: Individual differences in social behaviour may have consequences for mate choice and sexual signalling, because partners should develop preferences for personalities that maximize reproductive output. Here we propose that behavioural traits involved in sexual advertisement may serve as good indicators of personality, which is fundamental for sexual selection to operate on temperament. Bird song has a prominent and well-established role in sexual selection, and it displays considerable variation among individuals with a potentially strong personality component. Therefore, we predicted that features of song would correlate with estimates of personality. Methodology/Principal Findings: In a field study of free-living male collared flycatchers, Ficedula albicollis, we characterised personality based on the exploration of an altered breeding environment, and based on the risk taken when a potential predator was approaching during a simulated territorial interaction. We found that explorative and risk-taker individuals consistently sang at lower song posts than shy individuals in the presence of a human observer. Moreover, males from lower posts established pair-bonds relatively faster than males from higher posts. Conclusions/Significance: Our results may demonstrate that risk taking during singing correlates with risk taking during aggression and with