Quantifying individual variation in behaviour: mixed-effect modelling approaches
TLDR
An overview of how mixed-effect models can be used to partition variation in, and correlations among, phenotypic attributes into between- and within-individual variance components is provided.Abstract:
Growing interest in proximate and ultimate causes and consequences of between- and within-individual variation in labile components of the phenotype - such as behaviour or physiology - characterizes current research in evolutionary ecology. The study of individual variation requires tools for quantification and decomposition of phenotypic variation into between- and within-individual components. This is essential as variance components differ in their ecological and evolutionary implications. We provide an overview of how mixed-effect models can be used to partition variation in, and correlations among, phenotypic attributes into between- and within-individual variance components. Optimal sampling schemes to accurately estimate (with sufficient power) a wide range of repeatabilities and key (co)variance components, such as between- and within-individual correlations, are detailed. Mixed-effect models enable the usage of unambiguous terminology for patterns of biological variation that currently lack a formal statistical definition (e.g. 'animal personality' or 'behavioural syndromes'), and facilitate cross-fertilisation between disciplines such as behavioural ecology, ecological physiology and quantitative genetics.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Demystifying animal 'personality' (or not): why individual variation matters to experimental biologists.
TL;DR: Understanding how and why behavioural traits evolve requires linking repeatable inter-individual behavioural differences with core aspects of physiology and evolutionary biology, and some of the benefits of estimating variation in phenotypic traits at the inter- and intra-individual levels are highlighted.
Journal ArticleDOI
Paceless life? A meta-analysis of the pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis
TL;DR: A meta-analysis of 42 articles and 179 estimates testing the pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis as it applies to the integration of behaviors with physiological or life-history traits found little overall support for the hypothesis and suggests that general assertions regarding phenotypic integration due to “pace- of-life” should be re-evaluated.
Book ChapterDOI
Glucocorticoid-Mediated Phenotypes in Vertebrates : Multilevel Variation and Evolution
TL;DR: This chapter was originally published in the book Advances in the Study of Behavior, Volume 48, and is provided by Elsevier for the author's benefit and for the benefit of theAuthor's institution, for non-commercial research, and educational use.
Journal ArticleDOI
An empiricist guide to animal personality variation in ecology and evolution
TL;DR: The substantial body of theoretical work that exists for providing well-reasoned hypotheses, which new empirical studies should be designed to test are highlighted, and the importance of understanding the ecology of the chosen study animal is stressed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Individual differences in searching behaviour and spatial foraging consistency in a central place marine predator
Samantha C. Patrick,Stuart Bearhop,David Grémillet,Amélie Lescroël,W. James Grecian,Thomas W. Bodey,Keith C. Hamer,Ewan D. Wakefield,Mélanie Le Nuz,Stephen C. Votier +9 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that widespread individual foraging consistency may represent specialisation and be linked with individual responses to environmental conditions, and divergent searching behaviour could provide a mechanism by which consistent foraging behaviour arises and is maintained among animals that forage across large spatial scales.
References
More filters
Book
Introduction to quantitative genetics
TL;DR: The genetic constitution of a population: Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and changes in gene frequency: migration mutation, changes of variance, and heritability are studied.
Book
Mixed-Effects Models in S and S-PLUS
TL;DR: Linear Mixed-Effects and Nonlinear Mixed-effects (NLME) models have been studied in the literature as mentioned in this paper, where the structure of grouped data has been used for fitting LME models.
Journal Article
Human biochemical genetics
TL;DR: For the next few weeks the course is going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach it’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery.
Book
Multilevel analysis : an introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling
Tom A. B. Snijders,Roel Bosker +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a multilevel regression model to estimate within-and between-group correlations using a combination of within-group correlation and cross-group evidence.
Journal ArticleDOI
Generalized linear mixed models: a practical guide for ecology and evolution
Benjamin M. Bolker,Mollie Elizabeth Brooks,Connie J. Clark,Shane W. Geange,John R. Poulsen,M. Henry H. Stevens,Jada-Simone S. White +6 more
TL;DR: The use (and misuse) of GLMMs in ecology and evolution are reviewed, estimation and inference are discussed, and 'best-practice' data analysis procedures for scientists facing this challenge are summarized.