CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China.
College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University , Chengdu 610064, People's Republic of China.
Proc Biol Sci. 2024 Jul;291(2027):20241012. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1012. Epub 2024 Jul 31.
Persistent individual variation in behaviour, or 'personality', is a widespread phenomenon in animals, and understanding the evolution of animal personality is a key task of current biology. Natural selection has been proposed to promote the integration of personality with animal 'intrinsic states', such as metabolic or endocrine traits, and this integration varies with ecological conditions. However, these external ecological modulatory effects have rarely been examined. Here, we investigate the effects of thermal acclimation on between-individual covariations between physiology and behaviour in Asiatic toads () along an altitudinal gradient. Our results reveal that the thermal modulatory effects on the covariations depend on the altitudinal population. Specifically, at low altitudes, between-individual covariations are highly plastic, with risk-taking behaviour covarying with baseline glucocorticoids (GCs) under warm acclimation, but risk-taking and exploration behaviour covarying with resting metabolic rate (RMR) under cold acclimation. In contrast, between-individual covariations are relatively fixed at high altitudes, with risk-taking behaviour consistently covarying with baseline GCs. Furthermore, at low altitudes, changes in covariations between RMR and personality are associated with adjustment of energy management models. Evidently, animal physiological states that determine or covary with personality can adapt according to the seasonal thermal environment and the thermal evolutionary background of populations. Our findings highlight the importance of a multi-system physiological approach to understand the evolution of animal personality.
动物行为的个体持续性变化，或“个性”，是一种广泛存在的现象，理解动物个性的进化是当前生物学的一项关键任务。自然选择被提出促进个性与动物“内在状态”的整合，如代谢或内分泌特征，这种整合随生态条件而变化。然而，这些外部生态调节效应很少被研究。在这里，我们沿着海拔梯度调查了生理和行为之间的个体间变异性在亚洲蟾蜍（）中的个体间变异性对热驯化的影响。我们的结果表明，热调节对变异性的影响取决于海拔种群。具体来说，在低海拔地区，个体间的变异性具有高度的可塑性，冒险行为与温暖驯化下的基础皮质酮（GCs）共变，但冒险和探索行为与寒冷驯化下的静息代谢率（RMR）共变。相比之下，在高海拔地区，个体间的变异性相对固定，冒险行为始终与基础 GCs 共变。此外，在低海拔地区，RMR 和个性之间的变异性的变化与能量管理模型的调整有关。显然，决定或与个性共变的动物生理状态可以根据季节性热环境和种群的热进化背景进行适应。我们的研究结果强调了采用多系统生理方法来理解动物个性进化的重要性。
