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Dryad

Data from: Sex-specific pace-of-life syndromes

Cite this dataset

Moschilla, Joe A.; Tomkins, Joseph L.; Simmons, Leigh W. (2019). Data from: Sex-specific pace-of-life syndromes [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sr16pd0

Abstract

The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis considers an animal’s behavior, physiology, and life-history as non-independent components of a single integrated phenotype. However, frequent deviations from the expected correlations between POLS traits suggests that these relationships may be context, and potentially, sex-dependent. To determine whether the sexes express distinct POLS trait covariance structures, we observed the behavior (mobility, latency to emerge from a shelter), physiology (mass-specific metabolic rate) and life-history (lifespan, development time) of male and female Australian field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus). Path analysis modelling suggested that POLS trait covariation differed between the sexes. Although neither sex displayed the complete integration of traits predicted by the POLS hypothesis, females did display greater overall integration with a significant negative correlation between metabolic rate and risk-taking behavior but with life-history traits varying independently. In males, however, there was no clear association between traits. These results suggest that T. oceanicus do indeed display sex-specific trait covariance structures, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging sex in assessments of pace-of-life syndromes.

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