Abstract
Recent theoretical work suggests that personality is a component of life history, but links between personality and either age-dependent reproductive success or life-history strategy are yet to be established. Using quantitative genetic analyses on a long-term pedigree we estimated indices of boldness and docility for 105 bighorn sheep rams (Ovis canadensis), born between 1983 and 1999, and compared these indices to their reproductive history from 2 years of age until death. Docility and boldness were highly heritable and negatively genetically correlated. Docile and bold rams survived longer than indocile and shy rams. Docility and boldness had a weak negative effect on reproductive success early in life, but a strong positive effect on older rams. Our findings highlight an important role of personality on reproductive success and suggest that personality could be an important component of life-history strategy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1599-1607 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Evolutionary Biology |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 23 Jun 2009 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2009 |
Keywords
- bighorn sheep
- boldness
- docility
- heritability
- longevity
- Ovis canadensis
- predicted breeding values
- temperament