Golab Maria J, Sniegula Szymon, Brodin Tomas
Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-120 Krakow, Poland.
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90187 Umeå, Sweden.
Insects. 2022 Mar 31;13(4):342. doi: 10.3390/insects13040342.
Behavioural variation is important for evolutionary and ecological processes, but can also be useful when predicting consequences of climate change and effects on species ranges. Latitudinal differences in behaviour have received relatively limited research interest when compared to morphological, life history and physiological traits. This study examined differences in expression of three behavioural axes: activity, courtship and boldness, and their correlations, along a European latitudinal gradient spanning ca. 1500 km. The study organism was the temperate damselfly (Harris). We predicted that the expression of both behavioural traits and behavioural syndromes would be positively correlated to latitude, with the lowest values in the southern populations, followed by central and the highest in the north, because animals usually compensate behaviourally for increasing time constraints and declining environmental conditions. We found that behavioural expression varied along the latitudinal cline, although not always in the predicted direction. Activity was the only behaviour that followed our prediction and gradually increased northward. Whereas no south-to-north gradient was seen in any of the behavioural syndromes. The results, particularly for activity, suggest that climatic differences across latitudes change behavioural profiles. However, for other traits such as courtship and boldness, local factors might invoke stronger selection pressures, disrupting the predicted latitudinal pattern.
行为变异对于进化和生态过程很重要，但在预测气候变化的后果以及对物种分布范围的影响时也很有用。与形态、生活史和生理特征相比，行为的纬度差异受到的研究关注相对有限。本研究沿着约1500公里的欧洲纬度梯度，考察了活动、求偶和大胆这三个行为轴的表达差异及其相关性。研究对象是温带豆娘（哈里斯豆娘）。我们预测行为特征和行为综合征的表达都将与纬度呈正相关，南方种群的值最低，其次是中部种群，北方种群的值最高，因为动物通常会通过行为来补偿时间限制增加和环境条件下降的情况。我们发现行为表达沿着纬度梯度变化，尽管并不总是朝着预测的方向。活动是唯一符合我们预测并逐渐向北增加的行为。而在任何行为综合征中都没有观察到从南到北的梯度变化。这些结果，特别是关于活动的结果，表明纬度上的气候差异会改变行为特征。然而，对于求偶和大胆等其他特征，局部因素可能会引发更强的选择压力，从而扰乱预测的纬度模式。
