The effect of environmental variation on the selection of risk-taking behaviour in a migratory songbird

Krenhardt, Katalin and Martínez-Padilla, Javier and Canal, David and Jablonszky, Mónika and Hegyi, Gergely and Herényi, Márton and Laczi, Miklós and Markó, Gábor and Nagy, Gergely and Rosivall, Balázs and Szász, Eszter and Szöllősi, Eszter and Török, János and Vaskuti, Éva and Zsebők, Sándor and Garamszegi, László Zsolt (2024) The effect of environmental variation on the selection of risk-taking behaviour in a migratory songbird. JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 37. pp. 566-576. ISSN 1010-061X (print), 1420-9101 (online)

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Abstract

Temporal changes in environmental conditions may play a major role in the year-to-year variation in fitness consequences of behaviours. Identifying environmental drivers of such variation is crucial to understand the evolutionary trajectories of behaviours in natural contexts. However, our understanding of how environmental variation influences behaviours in the wild remains limited. Using data collected over 14 breeding seasons from a collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) population, we examined the effect of environmental variation on the relationship between survival and risk-taking behaviour, a highly variable behavioural trait with great evolutionary and ecological significance. Specifically, using annual recapture probability as a proxy of survival, we evaluated the specific effect of predation pressure, food availability, and mean temperature on the relationship between annual recapture probability and risk-taking behaviour (measured as flight initiation distance [FID]). We found a negative trend, as the relationship between annual recapture probability and FID decreased over the study years and changed from positive to negative. Specifically, in the early years of the study, risk-avoiding individuals exhibited a higher annual recapture probability, whereas in the later years, risk-avoiders had a lower annual recapture probability. However, we did not find evidence that any of the considered environmental factors mediated the variation in the relationship between survival and risk-taking behaviour.

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