Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Department of Game Management and Wildlife Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
Sci Rep. 2022 Aug 3;12(1):13341. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16339-4.
Animal personality can affect individual fitness and population growth. Personality traits of either parent or parents' combination may facilitate reproduction and offspring survival across species. However, previous studies focused mainly on the role of only one sex, and the link between personality and fitness has not been confirmed in primates. We examined this link in both sexes of captive common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), a cooperatively breeding primate with extensive paternal care. We studied the effects of five personality traits of the parents (Agreeableness, Assertiveness, Conscientiousness, Inquisitiveness, and Patience), including their absolute and directional differences within pairs, on key components of reproductive performance. We expected pairs with more similar personality scores to have higher reproductive success as found in other species with long-term pairs and biparental care, but found no evidence for this hypothesis. Instead, we detected strong effects of female traits on inter-birth intervals, which were shorter in more agreeable females, and fecundity rates, which were higher in more inquisitive females. Male traits appeared to have only a limited effect on reproductive success of the pair. Our study demonstrates that various aspects of animal personality underpin reproductive performance in captive common marmosets and provides novel insights into the possible ultimate causes of personality in cooperatively breeding species.
动物的个性可以影响个体的适应度和种群的增长。无论是父母一方还是父母双方的个性特征都可能有助于物种间的繁殖和后代的生存。然而，之前的研究主要集中在单一性别的作用上，并且在灵长类动物中，个性与适应度之间的联系尚未得到证实。我们在圈养的普通狨猴（Callithrix jacchus）的两性中研究了这种联系，普通狨猴是一种具有广泛父性照顾的合作繁殖灵长类动物。我们研究了父母的五个个性特征（宜人性、果断性、尽责性、好奇心和耐心）对繁殖性能关键组成部分的影响，包括它们在对中内的绝对和方向差异。我们期望具有更相似个性得分的对具有更高的繁殖成功率，就像其他具有长期对和双亲照顾的物种中发现的那样，但没有发现这个假设的证据。相反，我们发现雌性特征对产仔间隔有强烈的影响，更宜人性的雌性产仔间隔更短，而更具好奇心的雌性生育能力更高。雄性特征似乎对配对的繁殖成功率只有有限的影响。我们的研究表明，动物个性的各个方面是圈养普通狨猴繁殖性能的基础，并为合作繁殖物种中个性的可能终极原因提供了新的见解。
