Competitive social feedback amplifies the role of early life contingency in male mice

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zipple, Matthew N.; Kuo, Daniel Chang; Meng, Xinmiao; Reichard, Tess M.; Guess, Kwynn; Vogt, Caleb C.; Moeller, Andrew H.; Sheehan, Michael J.
• 署名单位: Cornell University; Princeton University; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Yale University
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-9755
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adq0579
• 发表日期: 2025-01-03
• 页码: 81-85
• 关键词: animal personality; sexual selection; RESOLUTION; dominance; models; evolutionary; exposure; BEHAVIOR; ecology; fitness

摘要

Contingency (or luck) in early life plays an important role in shaping individuals' development. By comparing the developmental trajectories of functionally genetically identical free-living mice who either experienced high levels of resource competition (males) or did not (females), we show that competition magnifies early contingency. Male resource competition results in a feedback loop that magnifies the importance of early contingency and pushes individuals onto divergent, self-reinforcing life trajectories, while the same process appears absent in females. Our results indicate that the strength of sexual selection may be self-limiting, and they highlight the potential for contingency to lead to differences in life outcomes, even in the absence of any underlying differences in ability (merit).