Behavioral responses to post-fire succession: plasticity or selection for personality?

Behavioral flexibility is favored in unpredictable or rapidly changing environments. Some behaviors may fluctuate readily with different environmental or social contexts while others may be constrained by genetics, physiology, or early environmental experiences. Alternatively, selection could favor alternative behavioral phenotypes which differ among individuals but are consistent in different contexts. Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens; FSJs) occupy recently burned oak scrub. Post-fire succession is rapid and renders habitat unsuitable for jays within 15-20 years. The maximum longevity of jays is 15+ years, thus many individuals experience dramatic succession within their life span which may favor behavioral plasticity; however, jays show distinct personalities which can constrain individual behavioral responses. As part of a long-term study, we hypothesize that intense competition for early-successional post-fire habitat leads to selection for bold, aggressive birds that can successfully compete but experience little selection for behavioral flexibility because they occupy optimal habitat for most of their breeding lifespan, and for shyer, less aggressive birds that avoid the costs of competition by settling in later successional patches, but experience habitat change that favors behavioral flexibility. Using Giving-Up Density experiments, behavioral assays, and social networks, we are beginning to test predictions of our hypothesis. We present preliminary data on behavioral flexibility relative to time since fire, habitat preferences relative to time since fire by birds of differing behavioral phenotype during pre-breeding exploratory forays, and patterns of social behavior relative to phenotype.