Animal personalities and their implications for complex signaling

Abstract

Animal personalities have been a major focus of behavioral ecology over the past decade. Consistent individual differences in behavior have been found across taxa, and have been shown to influence a range of ecological processes. The role of personalities in sexual selection has been considered, and examples exist that show selection for personality traits with both assortative and disassortative mating patterns between personality types. One overlooked aspect of the personality and sexual selection literature is the potential for personality-signaling interactions, specifically with complex signaling. Complex signaling is a diverse topic in itself, and in short, consists of multiple signals within one or more modalities that interact to elicit a receiver response. Research into complex signaling has been thorough, although at times studies discover complex signaling systems that fail to fit into one of the existing hypotheses in the literature. Here, we argue that personalities may interact with complex signaling, which should be considered by researchers of both personality and sexual selection and communication. We describe several ways in which personality-complex signaling interactions could affect both the signaler and receiver, and the way in which they may drive personality-specific signals as well as receiver preferences. Finally, we discuss how considering personality in complex signaling studies may inform theory as well as improve the ability of researchers to accurately describe its function. © 2014 Current Zoology.