Published in

The Royal Society, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 1709(278), p. 1223-1230, 2010

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1769

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Individual differences in plasticity and sampling when playing behavioural games

Journal article published in 2010 by Julie Morand-Ferron ORCID, Elisabeth Varennes, Luc-Alain Giraldeau
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

When engaged in behavioural games, animals can adjust their use of alternative tactics until groups reach stable equilibria. Recent theory on behavioural plasticity in games predicts that individuals should differ in their plasticity or responsiveness and hence in their degree of behavioural adjustment. Moreover, individuals are predicted to be consistent in their plasticity within and across biological contexts. These predictions have yet to be tested empirically and so we examine the behavioural adjustment of individual nutmeg mannikins ( Lonchura punctulata ), gregarious ground-feeding passerines, when playing two different social foraging games: producer–scrounger (PS) and patch-choice (PC) games. We found: (i) significant individual differences in plasticity and sampling behaviour in each of the two games, (ii) individual differences in sampling behaviour were consistent over different test conditions within a game (PC) and over a six month period (PS), (iii) but neither individual plasticity nor sampling behaviour was correlated from one social foraging game to another. The rate at which birds sampled alternative tactics was positively associated with seed intake in PS trials but negatively associated in PC trials. These results suggest that games with frequency dependence of pay-offs can maintain differences in behavioural plasticity but that an important component of this plasticity is group- and/or context-specific.