Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Foraging syndromes and trait variation in antlions along a climatic gradient

  • Behavioral ecology - Original research
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Behavioral syndromes arise when individual behavior is correlated over time and/or across environmental contexts, often resulting in inter-population behavioral differences. Three main hypotheses have been suggested to explain the evolution of behavioral syndromes. The constraint hypothesis suggests that behaviors originate from a shared mechanism with a strong genetic or physiological basis. In contrast, according to the adaptive hypothesis, behavioral syndromes depend on specific selective pressures in each environment, and thus should evolve when specific behavioral combinations are advantageous. Finally, behavioral syndromes can also arise owing to neutral stochastic processes. We tested here for variation in the foraging syndromes of pit-building antlions originating from different populations along a climatic gradient. Although inter-population variation existed in some traits, foraging syndromes were similar across populations, supporting the constraint hypothesis. These findings suggest that stabilizing selection, acting on the foraging behavior of antlions during their larval phase, outweighs local selection pressures, resulting in “constraint syndromes.” We also explored behavioral repeatability of foraging-related traits within and among habitats (natural, novel and disturbed habitats), and detected different levels of repeatability: pit diameter was more repeatable than response time to prey, followed by prey exploitation efficiency. Behavioral repeatability of the same trait differed according to context, suggesting that repeatability is a trait in itself and should not be considered identical even when studying the same behavioral trait.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abràmoff MD, Magalhães PJ, Ram SJ (2004) Image processing with ImageJ. J Biophotonics 11:36–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Abramsky Z (1988) The role of habitat and productivity in structuring desert rodent communities. Oikos 52:107–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alcalay Y, Barkae ED, Ovadia O, Scharf I (2014a) Consequences of the instar stage for behaviour in a pit-building antlion. Behav Process 103:105–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alcalay Y, Ovadia O, Scharf I (2014b) Behavioral repeatability and personality in pit-building antlion larvae under differing environmental contexts. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 68:1985–1993

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armbruster W, Schwaegerle K (1996) Causes of covariation of phenotypic traits among populations. J Evol Biol 9:261–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnett AE, Gotelli NJ (1999a) Bergmann’s rule in the ant lion Myrmeleon immaculatus DeGeer (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae): geographic variation in body size and heterozygosity. J Biogeogr 26:275–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnett AE, Gotelli NJ (1999b) Geographic variation in life-history traits of the ant lion, Myrmeleon immaculatus: evolutionary implications of Bergmann’s rule. Evolution 53:1180–1188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnett AE, Gotelli NJ (2001) Pit-building decisions of larval ant lions: effects of larval age, temperature, food, and population source. J Insect Behav 14:89–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson D (1994) Temperature and organism size—a biological law for ectotherms? Adv Ecol Res 25:1–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barkae ED, Scharf I, Subach A, Ovadia O (2010) The involvement of sand disturbance, cannibalism and intra-guild predation in competitive interactions among pit-building antlion larvae. Zoology 113:308–315

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barkae ED, Scharf I, Abramsky Z, Ovadia O (2012) Jack of all trades, master of all: a positive association between habitat niche breadth and foraging performance in pit-building antlion larvae. PLoS One 7:e33506

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bell AM (2005) Behavioural differences between individuals and two populations of stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). J Evol Biol 18:464–473

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bell AM (2007) Future directions in behavioural syndromes research. Proc R Soc B Lond B Biol Sci 274:755–761

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell AM, Sih A (2007) Exposure to predation generates personality in three spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Ecol Lett 10:828–834

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bengston S, Dornhaus A (2014) Be meek or be bold? A colony-level behavioural syndrome in ants. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 281:20140518

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blanckenhorn W, Demont M (2004) Bergmann and converse Bergmann latitudinal clines in arthropods: two ends of a continuum? Integr Comp Biol 44:413–424

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JS (1988) Patch use as an indicator of habitat preference, predation risk, and competition. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 22:37–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown C, Laland KN (2003) Social learning in fishes: a review. Fish Fish 4:280–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castellano S, Cuatto B, Rinella R, Rosso A, Giacoma C (2002) The advertisement call of the European treefrogs (Hyla arborea): a multilevel study of variation. Ethology 108:75–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chown SL, Gaston KJ (1999) Exploring links between physiology and ecology at macro-scales: the role of respiratory metabolism in insects. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 74:87–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dall SRX, Bell AM, Bolnick DI, Ratnieks FL (2012) An evolutionary ecology of individual differences. Ecol Lett 15:1189–1198

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dall’Olmo G, Karnieli A (2002) Monitoring phenological cycles of desert ecosystems using NDVI and LST data derived from NOAA-AVHRR imagery. Int J Remote Sens 23:4055–4071

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danin A (1978) Plant species diversity and plant succession in a sandy area in the Northern Negev. Flora 167:409–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Devetak D, Novak T, Janžekovič F (2012) Effect of substrate density on behaviour of antlion larvae (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae). Acta Oecol 43:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dingemanse NJ, Wolf M (2010) Recent models for adaptive personality differences: a review. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 365:3947–3958

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dingemanse NJ, Both C, Drent PJ, Tinbergen JM (2004) Fitness consequences of avian personalities in a fluctuating environment. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 271:847–852

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dingemanse NJ, Wright J, Kazem AJ, Thomas DK, Hickling R, Dawnay N (2007) Behavioural syndromes differ predictably between 12 populations of three-spined stickleback. J Anim Ecol 76:1128–1138

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dochtermann NA, Jenkins SH (2007) Behavioural syndromes in Merriam’s kangaroo rats (Dipodomys merriami): a test of competing hypotheses. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 274:2343–2349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dochtermann NA, Jenkins SH, Swartz MJ, Hargett AC (2012) The roles of competition and environmental heterogeneity in the maintenance of behavioral variation and covariation. Ecology 93:1330–1339

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duckworth RA (2006) Behavioral correlations across breeding contexts provide a mechanism for a cost of aggression. Behav Ecol 17:1011–1019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dupont-Prinet A, Chatain B, Grima L, Vandeputte M, Claireaux G, McKenzie D (2010) Physiological mechanisms underlying a trade-off between growth rate and tolerance of feed deprivation in the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). J Exp Biol 213:1143–1152

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eltz T (1997) Foraging in the ant-lion Myrmeleon mobilis Hagen 1888 (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae): behavioral flexibility of a sit-and-wait predator. J Insect Behav 10:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Endler JA, Houde AE (1995) Geographic variation in female preferences for male traits in Poecilia reticulata. Evolution 49:456–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falissard B (2012) psy: Various procedures used in psychometry. R package version 1.1. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=psy

  • Farji-Brener AG (2003) Microhabitat selection by antlion larvae, Myrmeleon crudelis: effect of soil particle size on pit-trap design and prey capture. J Insect Behav 16:783–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farji-Brener AG, Carvajal D, Gei MG, Olano J, Sanchez JD (2008) Direct and indirect effects of soil structure on the density of an antlion larva in a tropical dry forest. Ecol Entomol 33:183–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foster SA (1999) The geography of behaviour: an evolutionary perspective. Trends Ecol Evol 14:190–195

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Foster SA, Endler JA (1999) Thoughts on geographic variation in behavior. In: Foster SA, Endler JA (eds) Geographic variation in behavior. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldreich Y (2003) The climate of Israel: observation, research, and application. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gosling SD (2001) From mice to men: what can we learn about personality from animal research? Psychol Bull 127:45–86

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli NJ (1993) Ant lion zones: causes of high-density predator aggregations. Ecology 74:226–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guerra PA, Pollack GS (2007) A life history trade-off between flight ability and reproductive behavior in male field crickets (Gryllus texensis). J Insect Behav 20:377–387

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes JP, Jenkins SH (1997) Individual variation in mammals. J Mamm 78:274–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herczeg G, Gonda A, Merilä J (2009) Predation mediated population divergence in complex behaviour of nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius). J Evol Biol 22:544–552

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann AA, Merilä J (1999) Heritable variation and evolution under favourable and unfavourable conditions. Trends Ecol Evol 14:96–101

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Karan D, Parkash R (1998) Desiccation tolerance and starvation resistance exhibit opposite latitudinal clines in Indian geographical populations of Drosophila kikkawai. Ecol Entomol 23:391–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klokočovnik V, Devetak D, Orlačnik M (2012) Behavioral plasticity and variation in pit construction of antlion larvae in substrates with different particle sizes. Ethology 118:1102–1110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas JR (1982) The biophysics of pit construction by antlion larvae (Myrmeleon, Neuroptera). Anim Behav 30:651–664

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas JR (1985a) Partial prey consumption by antlion larvae. Anim Behav 33:945–958

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas JR (1985b) Metabolic rates and pit-construction costs of two antlion species. J Anim Ecol 54:295–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ofer J (2000) Let’s go to the ant. A field guide to the ants of Israel (in Hebrew). Yuval Ofer, Jerusalem

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons SM, Joern A (2014) Life history traits associated with body size covary along a latitudinal gradient in a generalist grasshopper. Oecologia 174:379–391

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Price T, Langen T (1992) Evolution of correlated characters. Trends Ecol Evol 7:307–310

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pruitt JN, Riechert SE, Iturralde G, Vega M, Fitzpatrick BM, Aviles L (2010) Population differences in behaviour are explained by shared within-population trait correlations. J Evol Biol 23:748–756

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn JL, Cresswell W (2005) Personality, anti-predation behaviour and behavioural plasticity in the chaffinch Fringilla coelebs. Behaviour 142:1377–1402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2014) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Réale D, Reader SM, Sol D, McDougall PT, Dingemanse NJ (2007) Integrating animal temperament within ecology and evolution. Biol Rev 82:291–318

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Refsnider JM, Milne-Zelman C, Warner DA, Janzen FJ (2014) Population sex ratios under differing local climates in a reptile with environmental sex determination. Evol Ecol 28:977–989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roff DA (2002) Life history evolution. Sinauer, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig MR, Bennett EL (1996) Psychobiology of plasticity: effects of training and experience on brain and behavior. Behav Brain Res 78:57–65

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rotkopf R, Ovadia O (2014) Examining growth rate and starvation endurance in pit-building antlions from Mediterranean and desert regions. Ecol Entomol 39:94–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rotkopf R, Alcalay Y, Bar-Hanin E, Barkae ED, Ovadia O (2013) Slow growth improves compensation ability: examining growth rate and starvation endurance in pit-building antlions from semi-arid and hyper-arid regions. Evol Ecol 27:1129–1144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scharf I, Ovadia O (2006) Factors influencing site abandonment and site selection in a sit-and-wait predator: a review of pit-building antlion larvae. J Insect Behav 19:197–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scharf I, Filin I, Golan M, Buchshtav M, Subach A, Ovadia O (2008) A comparison between desert and Mediterranean antlion populations: differences in life history and morphology. J Evol Biol 21:162–172

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scharf I, Filin I, Ben-Yehoshua D, Ovadia O (2009a) Phenotypic plasticity and variation in morphological and life-history traits of antlion adults across a climatic gradient. Zoology 112:139–150

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scharf I, Filin I, Ovadia O (2009b) A trade-off between growth and starvation endurance in a pit-building antlion. Oecologia 160:453–460

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scharf I, Golan B, Ovadia O (2009c) The effect of sand depth, feeding regime, density, and body mass on the foraging behaviour of a pit-building antlion. Ecol Entomol 34:26–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scharf I, Barkae ED, Ovadia O (2010) Response of pit-building antlions to repeated unsuccessful encounters with prey. Anim Behav 79:153–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scharf I, Lubin Y, Ovadia O (2011) Foraging decisions and behavioural flexibility in trap-building predators: a review. Biol Rev 86:626–639

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sih A, Bell AM, Johnson JC, Ziemba RE (2004) Behavioral syndromes: an integrative overview. Q Rev Biol 79:241–277

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simon D (1988) Ant-lions (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) of the coastal plain: systematical, ecological, and zoogeographical aspects with emphasis on the coexistence of a species guild of the unstable dunes. Ph.D. thesis, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

  • Smith MJ, Hunter D (2005) Temporal and geographic variation in the advertisement call of the booroolong frog (Litoria booroolongensis: Anura: Hylidae). Ethology 111:1103–1115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sogavker U (2004) The relationship between productivity and ant-species richness at regional and local scales. M.Sc. thesis, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

  • Stillwell RC (2010) Are latitudinal clines in body size adaptive? Oikos 119:1387–1390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabachnick B, Fidell L (2007) Using multivariate statistics, 5th edn. Pearson, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitlock MC, Phillips PC, Fowler K (2002) Persistence of changes in the genetic covariance matrix after a bottleneck. Evolution 56:1968–1975

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson DS (1998) Adaptive individual differences within single populations. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 353:199–205

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson AD, Whattam EM, Bennett R, Visanuvimol L, Lauzon C, Bertram SM (2010) Behavioral correlations across activity, mating, exploration, aggression, and antipredator contexts in the European house cricket, Acheta domesticus. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64:703–715

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf M, Weissing FJ (2010) An explanatory framework for adaptive personality differences. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 365:3959–3968

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zar JH (1999) Biostatistical analysis, 4th edn. Prentice Hall, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The research leading to this manuscript was partially funded by a start-up grant of the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation no. 2013086 to I. S.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Yehonatan Alcalay & Ofer Ovadia

  2. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Inon Scharf

Authors
  1. Yehonatan Alcalay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Inon Scharf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ofer Ovadia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yehonatan Alcalay.

Additional information

Communicated by Roland A. Brandl.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 18 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Alcalay, Y., Scharf, I. & Ovadia, O. Foraging syndromes and trait variation in antlions along a climatic gradient. Oecologia 178, 1093–1103 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3284-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3284-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation