Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 May 7;279(1734):1724-30. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1820. Epub 2011 Nov 30.
Understanding causes of variation in promiscuity within populations remain a major challenge. While most studies have focused on quantifying fitness costs and benefits of promiscuous behaviour, an alternative possibility--that variation in promiscuity within populations is maintained because of linkage with other traits-has received little attention. Here, we examine whether promiscuity in male and female great tits (Parus major)--quantified as extra-pair paternity (EPP) within and between nests--is associated with variation in a well-documented personality trait: exploration behaviour in a novel environment. Exploration behaviour has been shown to correlate with activity levels, risk-taking and boldness, and these are behaviours that may plausibly influence EPP. Exploration behaviour correlated positively with paternity gained outside the social pair among males in our population, but there was also a negative correlation with paternity in the social nest. Hence, while variation in male personality predicted the relative importance of paternity gain within and outside the pair bond, total paternity gained was unrelated to exploration behaviour. We found evidence that males paired with bold females were more likely to sire extra-pair young. Our data thus demonstrate a link between personality and promiscuity, with no net effects on reproductive success, suggesting personality-dependent mating tactics, in contrast with traditional adaptive explanations for promiscuity.
理解群体内滥交变异的原因仍然是一个主要挑战。虽然大多数研究都集中在量化滥交行为的适应成本和收益上，但另一种可能性——即群体内滥交的变异是由于与其他特征的连锁而维持的——却很少受到关注。在这里，我们研究了雄性和雌性大山雀（Parus major）——通过巢内和巢间的额外配对父权（EPP）来量化——是否与一个有充分文献记载的个性特征有关：在新环境中的探索行为。探索行为已被证明与活动水平、冒险和大胆有关，这些行为可能会影响 EPP。在我们的种群中，雄性的探索行为与社会对之外获得的父权呈正相关，但与社会巢中的父权呈负相关。因此，虽然雄性个性的变化预测了在对的内外获得父权的相对重要性，但总父权与探索行为无关。我们有证据表明，与大胆的雌性交配的雄性更有可能生育额外的后代。因此，我们的数据表明个性与滥交之间存在联系，而对繁殖成功率没有净影响，这表明个性依赖的交配策略，与滥交的传统适应性解释形成对比。
