The eco-evo-devo of social personalities

Like humans, animals differ systematically in their behaviour toward conspecifics: some individuals are consistently pro-social and cooperative, while others are consistently anti-social and competitive. In this project we try to understand why such ‘social personalities’ have evolved in many animal species, how personality differences emerge in the course of individual development, and whether personalities affect population survival and the ability to adapt to environmental change. We address these questions in an experimental study with sticklebacks, which exhibit pronounced social personalities and can be studied in their natural environment and under controlled conditions in the lab.