Metabolic Scope as a Proximate Constraint on Individual Behavioral Variation: Effects on Personality, Plasticity, and Predictability.

Metabolic Scope as a Proximate Constraint on Individual Behavioral Variation: Effects on Personality, Plasticity, and Predictability.
Am Nat. 2018 Aug;192(2):142-154
Authors: Biro PA, Garland T, Beckmann C, Ujvari B, Thomas F, Post JR
Abstract
Behavioral ecologists have hypothesized that among-individual differences in resting metabolic rate (RMR) may predict consistent individual differences in mean values for costly behaviors or for behaviors that affect energy intake rate. This hypothesis has empirical support and presently attracts considerable attention, but, notably, it does not provide predictions for individual differences in (a) behavioral plasticity or (b) unexplained variation (residual variation from mean individual behavior, here termed predictability). We outline how consideration of aerobic maximum metabolic rate (MMR) and particularly aerobic scope (= MMR - RMR) can be used to simultaneously make predictions about mean and among- and within-individual variation in behavior. We predict that while RMR should be proportional to an individual's mean level of sustained behavioral activity (one aspect of its personality), individuals with greater aerobic scope will also have greater scope to express behavioral plasticity and/or greater unpredictability in behavior (=greater residual variation). As a first step toward testing these predictions, we analyze existing activity data from selectively bred lines of mice that differ...

Source: The American Naturalist - July 19, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Biro PA, Garland T, Beckmann C, Ujvari B, Thomas F, Post JR Tags: Am Nat Source Type: research