Meeting Abstract
Theory indicates that animal personality should arise in association with predictable life history trade-offs. Environmental gradients are common in the wild and generate predictable trade-offs, yet we have limited knowledge of how animal personality varies at broad spatial scales. Here, I examined variation in a suite of behaviors in 18 populations of a livebearing fish across latitude, one of Earth’s major environmental gradients. Consistent with environmental variation across latitude, and with observed variation in life history traits, personality changed across latitude. Individuals from high latitudes tended to be less social, more bold, and more active than counterparts from lower latitudes, potentially associated with the need to grow and reproduce quickly in regions with shorter seasons and more extreme winters. Overall, these results indicate that animal personality changes in a predictable manner along a major environmental gradient, with potential implications for broader evolutionary patterns.
