| Over the past decade it has been established that consistent behavioral variations (also called behavioral syndromes, behavioral types, or animal personalities) have important implications for individual fitness and ecology. It has also been long established that social environment, such as sex ratio and density, play a role in individual fitness, particularly in systems with sexual conflict. However few studies have examined both individual behavioral type and social environment together, and fewer studies have examined the behavioral social environment. The main theme in this dissertation was to explore this relationship. In the first chapter I examined the effects of keystone individuals, identified as hyper-aggressive males (HAMs; any male displaying hyper-aggressive behavior), in social environments composed of various activity-aggression behavioral types of stream water striders (Aquarius remigis) on group behavior, microhabitat use, and mating success. I found that HAMs who displayed hyper-aggression more frequently had significant negative effects on mean male activity, aggression, and mating success, and thus overwhelmed the effects of activity-aggression social environments. My second chapter explored individual outcomes, but specifically focused on the mating benefits of being a HAM while taking into account social environment and individual behavioral type, with a focus on if HAMs had good social skill (the ability and tendency to exhibit adaptive adjustments in social behavior). I found that activity-aggression behavioral types in general positively predicted mating success, but that HAMs had a negative effect on their own mating success, and thus had poor social skill. I also confirmed our findings for chapter 1 in showing that HAMs had negative effects on individual male activity, aggression, mating success, and microhabitat use. For the third chapter I explored the effect of social environment and the largely understudied individual female water striders behavioral type on female feeding and mating success. I found that while females still spent a large proportion of time hiding, individual behavioral differences did play a role in the tendency to transition into feeding and mating. Additionally, while social environment did not play a role in female feeding, it was significant in transitions into female mating, with females in social environments of high male density and low female density mating the most. These results highlighted the differences between the fitness interests in a system of high sexual conflict. In all, the three chapters show the importance of accounting for both individual behavior and social environment on behavioral, space use, and mating outcomes. |
