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Contemporary climate change affects population dynamics, but its influence varies with landscape structure. It is still unclear whether landscape fragmentation buffers or amplifies the effects of climate on population size and the age and body size of individuals composing these populations. This study aims to investigate the impacts of warm climates on lizard life-history traits and population dynamics in habitats that vary in their connectivity. We monitored common lizard Zootoca vivipara populations for 3 years in an experimental system in which both climatic conditions and connectivity among habitats were simultaneously manipulated. We considered two climatic treatments (i.e. present-day climate and warm climate [+1.4°C than present-day climate]) and two connectivity treatments (i.e. a connected treatment in which individuals could move from one climate to the other and an isolated treatment in which movement between climates was not possible). We monitored survival, reproduction, growth, dispersal, age and body size of each individual in the system as well as population density through time. We found that the influence of warm climates on life-history traits and population dynamics depended on connectivity among thermal habitats. Populations in warm climates were (i) composed of younger individuals only when isolated; (ii) larger in population size only in connected habitats and (iii) composed of larger age-specific individuals independently of the landscape configuration. The connectivity among habitats altered population responses to climate warming likely through asymmetries in the flow and phenotype of dispersers between thermal habitats. Our results demonstrate that landscape fragmentation can drastically change the dynamics and persistence of populations facing climate change.Le changement climatique actuel impacte la dynamique des populations, mais son influence varie avec la structure du paysage. A ce jour, il est difficile de prédire si la fragmentation du paysage réduit ou augmente les effets du réchauffement climatique sur la taille des populations, ainsi que sur l'âge et la taille corporelle des individus qui composent ces populations. Cette étude s'intéresse aux impacts d'un climat plus chaud sur les traits d'histoire de vie et la dynamique de populations vivant dans des habitats qui diffèrent quant à leur niveau de connectivité. Pendant trois ans, nous avons suivi des populations de lézards vivipares Zootoca vivipara au sein d'un dispositif expérimental qui permet de manipuler simultanément les conditions climatiques et le niveau de connectivité entre habitats. Nous avons considéré deux traitements climatiques [i.e., climat actuel et climat chaud (+1.4°C plus chaud que le climat actuel)] et deux traitements de connectivité (i.e., un traitement connecté au sein duquel les individus pouvaient se déplacer d'un climat à un autre, et un traitement isolé au sein duquel les déplacements entre climats n'étaient pas permis). Tout au long de l'expérience, nous avons mesuré la survie, la reproduction, la croissance, la dispersion, l'âge et la taille corporelle de chaque individu ainsi que la densité des populations. Nous avons observé que l'influence du climat chaud sur les traits d'histoire de vie et la dynamique de population dépendait du niveau de connectivité entre habitats. Les populations en climat chaud étaient composées (i) d'individus plus jeunes seulement en habitat isolé, (ii) de plus d'individus uniquement en habitat connecté et (iii) d'individus plus grands à âge égal et ce indépendamment de la configuration du paysage. Nos résultats montrent que le niveau de connectivité entre habitats altère les réponses des populations au réchauffement climatique via une asymétrie dans le flux et le phénotype des dispersants entre climats. Nos résultats démontrent que la fragmentation du paysage peut influencer de façon drastique la dynamique et la persistance des populations face au changement climatique.

International audience

International audience; Although animal dispersal is known to play key roles in ecological and evolutionary processes such as colonization, population extinction and local adaptation, little is known about its genetic basis, particularly in vertebrates. Untapping the genetic basis of dispersal should deepen our understanding of how dispersal behaviour evolves, the molecular mechanisms that regulate it and link it to other phenotypic aspects in order to form the so-called dispersal syndromes. Here, we comprehensively combined quantitative genetics, genome-wide sequencing and transcriptome sequencing to investigate the genetic basis of natal dispersal in a known ecological and evolutionary model of vertebrate dispersal: the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara. Our study supports the heritability of dispersal in semi-natural populations, with less variation attributable to maternal and natal environment effects. In addition, we found an association between natal dispersal and both variation in the carbonic anhydrase (CA10) gene, and in the expression of several genes (TGFB2, SLC6A4, NOS1) involved in central nervous system functioning. These findings suggest that neurotransmitters (serotonin and nitric oxide) are involved in the regulation of dispersal and shaping dispersal syndromes. Several genes from the circadian clock (CRY2, KCTD21) were also differentially expressed between disperser and resident lizards, supporting that the circadian rhythm, known to be involved in long-distance migration in other taxa, might affect dispersal as well. Since neuronal and circadian pathways are relatively well conserved across vertebrates, our results are likely to be generalisable, and we therefore encourage future studies to further investigate the role of these pathways in shaping dispersal in vertebrates.

Aging is the price to pay for acquiring and processing energy through cellular activity and life history productivity. Climate warming can exacerbate the inherent pace of aging, as illustrated by a faster erosion of protective telomere DNA sequences. This biomarker integrates individual pace of life and parental effects through the germline, but whether intra- and intergenerational telomere dynamics underlies population trends remains an open question. Here, we investigated the covariation between life history, telomere length (TL), and extinction risk among three age classes in a cold-adapted ectotherm ( Zootoca vivipara ) facing warming-induced extirpations in its distribution limits. TL followed the same threshold relationships with population extinction risk at birth, maturity, and adulthood, suggesting intergenerational accumulation of accelerated aging rate in declining populations. In dwindling populations, most neonates inherited already short telomeres, suggesting they were born physiologically old and unlikely to reach recruitment. At adulthood, TL further explained females’ reproductive performance, switching from an index of individual quality in stable populations to a biomarker of reproductive costs in those close to extirpation. We compiled these results to propose the aging loop hypothesis and conceptualize how climate-driven telomere shortening in ectotherms may accumulate across generations and generate tipping points before local extirpation.

Facing warming environments, species can exhibit plastic or microevolutionary changes in their thermal physiology to adapt to novel climates. Here, using semi-natural mesocosms, we experimentally investigated over two successive years whether a 2°C-warmer climate produces selective and inter- and intragenerational plastic changes in the thermal traits (preferred temperature and dorsal coloration) of the lizard Zootoca vivipara. In a warmer climate, the dorsal darkness, dorsal contrast, and preferred temperature of adults plastically decreased and covariances between these traits were disrupted. While selection gradients were overall weak, selection gradients for darkness were slightly different between climates and in the opposite direction to plastic changes. Contrary to adults, male juveniles were darker in warmer climates either through plasticity or selection and this effect was strengthened by intergenerational plasticity when juveniles’ mothers also experienced warmer climates. While the plastic changes in adult thermal traits alleviate the immediate overheating costs of warming, its opposite direction to selective gradients and to juveniles’ phenotypic responses may slow down evolutionary shifts toward phenotypes that are better adapted to future climates. Our study demonstrates the importance of considering inter- and intragenerational plasticity along with selective processes to better understand adaptation and population dynamics in light of climate change.

Organisms can gain information about predation risks from their parents, their own personal experience, and their conspecifics and adjust their behavior to alleviate these risks. These different sources of information can, however, provide conflicting information due to spatial and temporal variation of the environment. This raises the question of how these cues are integrated to produce adaptive antipredator behavior. We investigated how common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) adjust the use of conspecific cues about predation risk depending on whether the information is maternally or personally acquired. We experimentally manipulated the presence of predator scent in gestating mothers and their offspring in a full-crossed design. We then tested the consequences for social information use by monitoring offspring social response to conspecifics previously exposed to predator cues or not. Lizards were more attracted to the scent of conspecifics having experienced predation cues when they had themselves no personal information about predation risk. In contrast, they were more repulsed by conspecific scent when they had personally obtained information about predation risk. However, the addition of maternal information about predation risk canceled out this interactive effect between personal and social information: lizards were slightly more attracted to conspecific scent when these two sources of information about predation risk were in agreement. A chemical analysis of lizard scent revealed that exposure to predator cues modified the chemical composition of lizard scents, a change that might underlie lizards’ use of social information. Our results highlight the importance of considering multiple sources of information while studying antipredator defenses., L.W. was supported by the Fyssen Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship and J.C. by an ANR-12-JSV7-0004-01. This work was supported by an “Investissements d’avenir” programme from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche number ANR-11- INBS-0001 Ana EE-Services.

Dispersal is a key process for the dynamics and functioning of meta-communities and meta-ecosystems. Meta-ecosystem theory, however, does not fully integrate the possible effects of dispersal, largely assuming random diffusion of organisms and nutrients, contrasting with rising empirical evidence for intraspecific variability in dispersal strategies. Dispersal is often associated with a suite of phenotypic traits, forming dispersal syndromes. Since phenotypic variability is now acknowledged as a key factor mediating ecosystem dynamics, we argue that dispersal syndromes can link trait-based ecology and meta-ecosystem functioning together. We highlight that the dispersal of individuals can be associated with functional effect traits and can therefore alter trophic and nutrient-mediated interactions in ecosystems. We illustrate how the association between dispersal tendency and functional traits can modify the spatial heterogeneity of ecosystems.

Dispersal is a central biological process tightly integrated into life-histories, morphology, physiology and behaviour. Such associations, or syndromes, are anticipated to impact the eco-evolutionary dynamics of spatially structured populations, and cascade into ecosystem processes. As for dispersal on its own, these syndromes are likely neither fixed nor random, but conditional on the experienced environment. We experimentally studied how dispersal propensity varies with individuals' phenotype and local environmental harshness using 15 species ranging from protists to vertebrates. We reveal a general phenotypic dispersal syndrome across studied species, with dispersers being larger, more active and having a marked locomotion-oriented morphology and a strengthening of the link between dispersal and some phenotypic traits with environmental harshness. Our proof-of-concept metacommunity model further reveals cascading effects of context-dependent syndromes on the local and regional organisation of functional diversity. Our study opens new avenues to advance our understanding of the functioning of spatially structured populations, communities and ecosystems.

International audience; Maternal effects can give newborns a head start in life by adjusting natal phenotypes to natal environments. Yet their strength and adaptiveness are often difficult to investigate in natural populations. Here, we studied anticipatory maternal effects and their adaptiveness in common lizards in a semi-natural experimental system. Specifically, we investigated how maternal environments (i.e. vegetation cover) and maternal phenotype (i.e. activity levels and body length) can shape offspring phenotype. We further studied whether such maternal effects influenced offspring survival in natal environments varying with respect to vegetation cover, conspecific density, and, consequently, maternal fitness. More active females from dense vegetation habitats produced bigger offspring than their less active counterparts, the contrary being true for sparse vegetation habitats. Moreover, females from dense vegetation habitats produced more active offspring and more active offspring survived better in dense vegetation habitats, resulting in greater maternal fitness through maternal effects. These results suggest adaptive anticipatory maternal effects, induced by vegetation structure and mediated by activity levels that may shape early life prospects in natal environments.

Movements of individuals are conditioned by information acquisition coming from either personal or social sources. Yet, little is known about the processes used by individuals to make movement decisions when facing multiple sources of social information simultaneously. This study aimed to test experimentally how social information from multiple sources is used to make movement decisions, and whether a contrast in this information allows individuals to orientate in space. We used common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) in a replicated experimental setting: one focal individual received information from two other individuals coming from peripheral environments, before being given the opportunity to relocate in one or another of the peripheral environments.Our analyses revealed that the behavior of informants, their mother’s morphology, as well as the quality of informants’ environment, affected movement decisions: the probability to relocate from the focal area increased when informants displayed traits associated with low resources (no food intake, poor maternal condition) or high competition (high activity). The physical condition of individuals also mediated the use of social information about food intake, with a match between resource availability in informants and personal condition. Conversely, spatial orientation was not affected by the contrast of phenotype between informants nor by spatial variability in resource availability.This study highlights that multiple social information sources can be used for movement decisions, likely because these information sources reflect the quality of the surrounding environment (e.g., competition level or resources availability). It also emphasizes that social information use for movement is conditioned by individual phenotype.

International audience; There is growing evidence that anthropogenic landscapes can strongly influence the evolution of dispersal, particularly through fragmentation, and may drive organisms into an evolutionary trap by suppressing dispersal. However, the influence on dispersal evolution of anthropogenic variation in habitat patch turnover has so far been largely overlooked. In this study, we examined how human‐driven variation in patch persistence affects dispersal rates and distances, determines dispersal‐related phenotypic specialization, and drives neutral genetic structure in spatially structured populations. We addressed this issue in an amphibian, Bombina variegata, using an integrative approach combining capture–recapture modeling, demographic simulation, common garden experiments, and population genetics. B. variegata reproduces in small ponds that occur either in habitat patches that are persistent (i.e., several decades or more), located in riverine environments with negligible human activity, or in patches that are highly temporary (i.e., a few years), created by logging operations in intensively harvested woodland. Our capture–recapture models revealed that natal and breeding dispersal rates and distances were drastically higher in spatially structured populations (SSPs) in logging environments than in riverine SSPs. Population simulations additionally showed that dispersal costs and benefits drive the fate of logging SSPs, which cannot persist without dispersal. The common garden experiments revealed that toadlets reared in laboratory conditions have morphological and behavioral specialization that depends on their habitat of origin. Toadlets from logging SSPs were found to have higher boldness and exploration propensity than those from riverine SSPs, indicating transgenerationally transmitted dispersal syndromes. We also found contrasting patterns of neutral genetic diversity and gene flow in riverine and logging SSPs, with genetic diversity and effective population size considerably higher in logging than in riverine SSPs. In parallel, intrapatch inbreeding and relatedness levels were lower in logging SSPs. Controlling for the effect of genetic drift and landscape connectivity, gene flow was found to be higher in logging than in riverine SSPs. Taken together, these results indicate that anthropogenic variation in habitat patch turnover may have an effect at least as important as landscape fragmentation on dispersal evolution and the long‐term viability and genetic structure of wild populations.

International audience; Ecology and evolution unfold in spatially structured communities, where dispersal links dynamics across scales. Because dispersal is multicausal, identifying general drivers remains challenging. In a coordinated distributed experiment spanning organisms from protozoa to vertebrates, we tested whether two fundamental determinants of local dynamics, top-down and bottom-up control, generally explain active dispersal. We show that both factors consistently increased emigration rates and use metacommunity modelling to highlight consequences on local and regional dynamics.

Animal personality, the consistent between-individual differences in e.g., risk-taking, exploration, antipredator or mating behaviours, has major impacts on the fitness of individuals in many species. Understanding how to quantify animal personality should help us predicting how species interact with their environment and with the current environmental changes. We adapted existing behavioural assays to quantify the personality of two Brazilian tortoises, Chelonoidis carbonarius and C. denticulatus. We recorded behavioural responses to stress, novel environments, novel objects and social encounters. Behavioural components were consistent through time, supporting the existence of personality in both species. These behaviours were further correlated and could be summarized into two behavioural axes with recognizable biological meanings. One axis was related to responses to threats and novelty, as well as interest and interaction behaviours towards conspecifics and one to submission. The behavioural dimensions were similar in both species, suggesting that they share the same behavioural syndromes, but C. carbonarius had greater frequency of risk taking behaviours. This pattern can be related to differences in resource availabilities and predator pressures in their respective natural habitats. Within each species, however, the individual variation in morphology only had a weak effect on personality and males tended to show more signs of submission. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of habitat features (resource availabilities and predation risk) on individual behavioural variation in each species in order to improve conservation and translocations programs.

Dispersal is a process of central importance for the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of populations and communities, because of its diverse consequences for gene flow and demography. It is subject to evolutionary change, which begs the question, what is the genetic basis of this potentially complex trait? To address this question, we (i) review the empirical literature on the genetic basis of dispersal, (ii) explore how theoretical investigations of the evolution of dispersal have represented the genetics of dispersal, and (iii) discuss how the genetic basis of dispersal influences theoretical predictions of the evolution of dispersal and potential consequences. Dispersal has a detectable genetic basis in many organisms, from bacteria to plants and animals. Generally, there is evidence for significant genetic variation for dispersal or dispersal-related phenotypes or evidence for the micro-evolution of dispersal in natural populations. Dispersal is typically the outcome of several interacting traits, and this complexity is reflected in its genetic architecture: while some genes of moderate to large effect can influence certain aspects of dispersal, dispersal traits are typically polygenic. Correlations among dispersal traits as well as between dispersal traits and other traits under selection are common, and the genetic basis of dispersal can be highly environment-dependent. By contrast, models have historically considered a highly simplified genetic architecture of dispersal. It is only recently that models have started to consider multiple loci influencing dispersal, as well as non-additive effects such as dominance and epistasis, showing that the genetic basis of dispersal can influence evolutionary rates and outcomes, especially under non-equilibrium conditions. For example, the number of loci controlling dispersal can influence projected rates of dispersal evolution during range shifts and corresponding demographic impacts. Incorporating more realism in the genetic architecture of dispersal is thus necessary to enable models to move beyond the purely theoretical towards making more useful predictions of evolutionary and ecological dynamics under current and future environmental conditions. To inform these advances, empirical studies need to answer outstanding questions concerning whether specific genes underlie dispersal variation, the genetic architecture of context-dependent dispersal phenotypes and behaviours, and correlations among dispersal and other traits.

International audience; A key challenge in invasion biology is identifying characteristics that allow some species to be repeatedly successful at invading novel environments. Invasions can often be disproportionately driven by a single sex, with differences in behavioural mechanisms between the sexes potentially underlying sex-biased invasiveness. Here, we took an animal personality approach to study the behaviour of two repeatedly successful congeneric invasive species, the western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis, and the eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki. In each species, we investigated whether males and females shared common personality traits (i.e. behavioural types and behavioural syndromes), with the aim of identifying possible behavioural mechanisms that could help explain why mosquitofish invasions are often characterised by sex-biased founder populations. We found sex-dependent personality, although sex differences varied between species. Specifically, male G. affinis were bolder and less social than female G. affinis, whereas we found no behavioural type differences between the sexes in G. holbrooki. We also found a consistent correlation between boldness and exploration in both sexes within G. affinis, but this correlation was weak in G. holbrooki. Finally, exploration was also correlated with sociability in male G. affinis, but not in females. Our results suggest that behavioural tendencies may diverge, both among species and between the sexes, because of adaptation experienced during different invasion pathways. Broadly, identifying the behavioural mechanisms that predict an individual's 'invasiveness' may be difficult to tease apart between species because each invasion is characterised by different abiotic and biotic interactions that likely require different suites of behaviours. Future studies are needed to elucidate whether, in fact, personality variation between the sexes can mediate the occurrence of sex-biased invasions.

International audience; The adaptive value of correlations among phenotypic traits depends on the prevailing environmental conditions. Differences in selection pressures during species range expansions may therefore shape phenotypic integration. In this study, we assessed variation in behavioral and morphological traits, as well as their covariations, in replicated southern and northern European populations of the northward expanding dragonfly Crocothemis erythraea. Larvae from northern populations were, on average, darker in color, and therefore, better camouflaged than larvae from southern populations. However, there was no difference in activity level. Darkness and activity were positively correlated in larvae from northern populations, whereas this trait covariation was missing in southern populations. These findings indicate the emergence of alternative strategies in time-limited northern populations, a higher activity level that required better camouflage through darker coloration, while less active larvae benefited from an energy-saving strategy by reducing the investment in costly traits, such as body darkness. We further found that larger larvae emerged into larger adults, with a higher investment in flight morphology. Our findings imply that phenotypic integration is associated with the northward range shift, potentially differentially shaping fitness consequences, and ecological interactions in southern versus northern populations.

There is growing evidence that anthropogenic landscapes can strongly influence the evolution of dispersal, particularly through fragmentation, and may drive organisms into an evolutionary trap by suppressing dispersal. However, the influence on dispersal evolution of anthropogenic variation in habitat patch turnover has so far been largely overlooked. In this study, we examined how human-driven variation in patch persistence affects dispersal rates and distances, determines dispersal-related phenotypic specialization, and drives neutral genetic structure in spatially structured populations. We addressed this issue in an amphibian, Bombina variegata, using an integrative approach combining capture–recapture modeling, demographic simulation, common garden experiments, and population genetics. B. variegata reproduces in small ponds that occur either in habitat patches that are persistent (i.e. several decades or more), located in riverine environments with negligible human activity, or in patches that are highly temporary (i.e. a few years), created by logging operations in intensively harvested woodland. Our capture–recapture models revealed that natal and breeding dispersal rates and distances were drastically higher in spatially structured populations (SSPs) in logging environments than in riverine SSPs. Population simulations additionally showed that dispersal costs and benefits drive the fate of logging SSPs, which cannot persist without dispersal. The common garden experiments revealed that toadlets reared in laboratory conditions have morphological and behavioral specialization that depends on their habitat of origin. Toadlets from logging SSPs were found to have higher boldness and exploration propensity than those from riverine SSPs, indicating transgenerationally transmitted dispersal syndromes. We also found contrasting patterns of neutral genetic diversity and gene flow in riverine and logging SSPs, with genetic diversity and effective population size considerably higher in logging than in riverine SSPs. In parallel, intra-patch inbreeding and relatedness levels were lower in logging SSPs. Controlling for the effect of genetic drift and landscape connectivity, gene flow was found to be higher in logging than in riverine SSPs. Taken together, these results indicate that anthropogenic variation in habitat patch turnover may have an effect at least as important as landscape fragmentation on dispersal evolution and the long-term viability and genetic structure of wild populations.

International audience; In fragmented landscapes, the reduced connectivity among patches drives the evolution of movement strategies through an increase of transience costs. Reduced movements may further alter heterogeneity in biotic and abiotic conditions experienced by individuals. The joint action of local conditions and matrix permeability may shape emigration decisions. Here, we tested the interactive effects of predation risk and matrix permeability on movement propensity, movement costs and movers’ phenotype in the common toad Bufo bufo. In a full‐crossed experimental design, we assessed the movement propensity of juveniles in three connectivity treatments (from poorly to highly permeable matrix), with or without predation risk in their living patch. We also assessed the relationships between movement propensity and morphological traits (i.e. body and leg length) and how it affected the movement cost (i.e. mass loss). Movement propensity increased in presence of predation risk, while matrix permeability had no effect. However, matrix permeability interacted with predation risk to influence movers’ phenotype and the physiological cost they endured while moving. In particular, a well‐known movement syndrome in toads (i.e. movement propensity positively related to longer legs) depended on the interaction between matrix permeability and predation risk and resulted in differences in mass loss among matrix types. Movers lost more mass on average than residents except when they also displayed longer legs or when they crossed the most permeable matrix in the presence of predation risk. Our results show that matrix permeability shapes the physiological cost of dispersal by changing the identity of individuals moving away from local conditions. As the movers’ phenotype can importantly alter (meta)population dynamics, context‐dependency of dispersal syndromes should be considered in studies predicting the functioning of human‐altered natural systems.

International audience; Habitat fragmentation has the potential to influence ecological and evolutionary dynamics in various ways. Fragmentation experiments explore these multiple influences and the underlying mechanisms. We review experiments used in arthropods and highlight gaps in biological focus, methodology and questions addressed. While the consequences on community structure were often reported, fewer studies focused on ecosystem functions and evolutionary processes, with striking gaps on genetic and eco-evolutionary dynamics. Regarding fragmentation components, matrix quality was often overlooked while inter-patch (and source-patch) distance was the most studied component. The identified gaps outlined our need to study fragmentation at different timescales , and on teasing apart the respective roles of each fragmentation component on each eco-evolutionary process.

It is widely recognized that ecological dynamics influence evolutionary dynamics, and conversely that evolutionary changes alter ecological processes. Because fragmentation impacts all biological levels (from individuals to ecosystems) through isolation and reduced habitat size, it strongly affects the links among evolutionary and ecological processes such as population dynamics, local adaptation, dispersal and speciation. Here, we review our current knowledge of the eco-evolutionary dynamics in fragmented landscapes, focusing on both theory and experimental studies. We then suggest future experimental directions to study eco-evolutionary dynamics and/or feedbacks in fragmented landscapes, especially to bridge the gap between theoretical predictions and experimental validations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Dispersal and migration are superficially similar large-scale movements, but which appear to differ in terms of inter-individual behavioural synchronization. Seasonal migration is a striking example of coordinated behaviour, enabling animal populations to track spatio-temporal variation in ecological conditions. By contrast, for dispersal, while social context may influence an individual's emigration and settlement decisions, transience is believed to be mostly a solitary behaviour. Here, we review differences in drivers that may explain why migration appears to be more synchronized than dispersal. We derive the prediction that the contrast in the importance of behavioural synchronization between dispersal and migration is linked to differences in the selection pressures that drive their respective evolution. Although documented examples of collective dispersal are rare, this behaviour may be more common than currently believed, with important consequences for eco-evolutionary dynamics. Crucially, to date, there is little available theory for predicting when we should expect collective dispersal to evolve, and we also lack empirical data to test predictions across species. By reviewing the state of the art in research on migration and collective movements, we identify how we can harness these advances, both in terms of theory and data collection, to broaden our understanding of synchronized dispersal and its importance in the context of global change.

International audience; Global change is altering biodiversity locally and globally and subsequently affecting the dynamics of communities and ecosystems. Biodiversity can be impacted both at the interspecific (i.e., species composition of communities) and at the intraspecific (evolutionary modification of phenotypic traits through selection or plasticity) levels. Changes in intraspecific diversity have been demonstrated to generate evolutionary feedbacks acting on ecological dynamics. Quantifying the role of intraspecific trait variation, global change and their interactions on ecological dynamics is of utmost importance. Here, we used the range‐expanding dragonfly Crocothemis erythraea as a model species to test the relative effects of intraspecific trait variation in larvae and thermal conditions on the dynamics of freshwater community and ecosystem functioning. Using experimental mesocosms, we manipulated intraspecific trait variation arising from genetic (G), early developmental environment (EE) and late developmental environment (EL) contributions in a full factorial design. We showed that intraspecific trait variation arising from genetic effects has the strongest consequences on community and ecosystem dynamics relative to trait variation driven by the thermal environment (EE and EL). Importantly, the ecological effects of trait variation due to genetic effects were partly modulated by thermal conditions (G × EL, and to a lesser extent G × EE interactions) and varied among ecological response variables. For instance, the strongest G × EL effects were observed on primary productivity and zooplankton dynamics. Trait variation driven by plasticity related to early or late developmental environments has an overall weak effect on ecological dynamics. Intraspecific trait variation induced by genetic effects can affect ecological dynamics (evo‐to‐eco dynamics) more strongly than variation induced by the developmental environment. However, they likely interact to modulate the structure of communities and the functioning of ecosystems, highlighting the strong context (environmental) dependency of evo‐to‐eco dynamics.

International audience; Species may survive under contemporary climate change by either shifting their range or adapting locally to the warmer conditions. Theoretical and empirical studies recently underlined that dispersal, the central mechanism behind these responses, may depend on the match between an individuals' phenotype and local environment. Such matching habitat choice is expected to induce an adaptive gene flow, but it now remains to be studied whether this local process could promote species' responses to climate change. Here, we investigate this by developing an individual-based model including either random dispersal or temperature-dependent matching habitat choice. We monitored population composition and distribution through space and time under climate change. Relative to random dispersal, matching habitat choice induced an adaptive gene flow that lessened spatial range loss during climate warming by improving populations' viability within the range (i.e. limiting range fragmentation) and by facilitating colonization of new habitats at the cold margin. The model even predicted range contraction under random dispersal but range expansion under optimal matching habitat choice. These benefits of matching habitat choice for population persistence mostly resulted from adaptive immigration decision and were greater for populations with larger dispersal distance and higher emigration probability. We also found that environmental stochasticity resulted in suboptimal matching habitat choice, decreasing the benefits of this dispersal mode under climate change. However population persistence was still better under suboptimal matching habitat choice than under random dispersal. Our results highlight the urgent need to implement more realistic mechanisms of dispersal such as matching habitat choice into models predicting the impacts of ongoing climate change on biodiversity.

International audience; Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) are a widespread, invasive species that frequently colonize habitats where they might encounter novel predators. Earlier work showed that asocial mosquitofish disperse more readily than social fish. Initial colonists to newly invaded, low density sites should thus be relatively asocial. Here, we tested the hypothesis that asocial mosquitofish should survive better than social fish when exposed to predators at low mosquitofish density. We used standardized behavioural assays to quantify the individual behavioral type (boldness, sociability, activity, exploratory tendency) of 224 mosquitofish, and then exposed them to predators in small groups. As predicted, asocial individuals survived exposure to predators better than social individuals. In addition, while body mass per se did not affect survival, males survived predators better than females. Overall, this study provides an early corroboration of the general prediction that behavioural types that disperse more readily might also be better at coping with predators at low density.

International audience; Range shift, a widespread response to climate change, will depend on species abilities to withstand warmer climates. However, these abilities may vary within species and such intraspecific variation can strongly impact species responses to climate change. Facing warmer climates, individuals should disperse according to their thermal optimum with consequences for species range shifts. Here we studied individual dispersal of a reptile in response to climate warming and preferred temperature using a semi-natural warming experiment. Individuals with low preferred temperatures dispersed more from warmer semi-natural habitats while individuals with higher preferred temperatures dispersed more from cooler habitats. These dispersal decisions partly matched phenotype-dependent survival rates in the different thermal habitats, suggesting adaptive dispersal. This process should result into a spatial segregation of thermal phenotypes along species moving ranges which should facilitate local adaptation to warming climates. We therefore call for range-shift models including intraspecific variation in thermal phenotype and dispersal decision.

International audience; The fear of predators can strongly impact food web dynamics and ecosystem functioning through effects on herbivores morphology, physiology or behaviour. While non-consumptive predator effects have been mostly studied in three-level food chains, we lack evidence for the propagation of non-consumptive indirect effects of apex predators in four level food-webs, notably in terrestrial ecosystems. In experimental mesocosms, we manipulated a four-level food chain including top-predator cues (snakes), mesopredators (lizards), herbivores (crickets), and primary producers (plants). The strength of the trophic cascade induced by mesopredators through the consumption of herbivores decreased in the presence of top-predator cues. Specifically, primary production was higher in mesocosms where mesopredators were present relative to mesocosms with herbivores only, and this difference was reduced in presence of top-predator cues, probably through a trait-mediated effect on lizard foraging. Our study demonstrates that non-consumptive effects of predation risk can cascade down to affect both herbivores and plants in a four-level terrestrial food chain and emphasises the need to quantify the importance of such indirect effects in natural communities.

Studies on climate change responses have often been carried at the species level, without considering the potential inter-individual variation within species in responses to climate and without taking into account the biotic and abiotic environment of the focal species. However, to really understand consequences of climate change, it is necessary to work at all levels of biological organization, from the individual and intraspecific level to the population, community, and ecosystem. Here, we review evidence on the importance of integrating every biological level into studies of climate change consequences, with a particular focus for the importance of intraspecific variation. In this review, we propose a synthetic approach to the study of climate change responses and illustrate our stance with a case study on a model ectotherm species, the common lizard ( Zootoca vivipara ). We advocate that this approach may allow unraveling potential feedbacks between biological levels and their nonadditive effects on biodiversity response to climate. Controlled mesocosm studies such as the one in this case study can allow a better understanding of these complex dynamics through a fine-tuned balance between ecological realism and the necessity to control ecological parameters.

Organisms rarely experience a homogeneous environment. Rather, ecological and evolutionary dynamics unfold in spatially structured and fragmented landscapes, with dispersal as the central process linking these dynamics across spatial scales. Because dispersal is a multi-causal and highly plastic life-history trait, finding general drivers that are of importance across species is challenging but highly relevant for ecological forecasting.We here tested whether two fundamental ecological forces and main determinants of local population dynamics, top-down and bottom-up control, generally explain dispersal in spatially structured communities. In a coordinated distributed experiment spanning a wide range of actively dispersing organisms, from protozoa to vertebrates, we show that bottom-up control, that is resource limitation, consistently increased dispersal. While top-down control, that is predation risk, was an equally important dispersal driver as bottom-up control, its effect depended on prey and predator space use and whether dispersal occurred on land, in water or in the air: species that routinely use more space than their predators showed increased dispersal in response to predation, specifically in aquatic environments. After establishing these general causes of dispersal, we used a metacommunity model to show that bottom-up and top-down control of dispersal has important consequences for local population fluctuations as well as cascading effects on regional metacommunity dynamics. Context-dependent dispersal reduced local population fluctuations and desynchronized dynamics between communities, two effects that increase population and community stability.Our study provides unprecedented insights into the generality of the positive resource dependency of dispersal as well as a robust experimental test of current theory predicting that predator-induced dispersal is modulated by prey and predator space use. Our experimental and theoretical work highlights the critical importance of the multi-causal nature of dispersal as well as its cascading effects on regional community dynamics, which are specifically relevant to ecological forecasting.

Dispersers are often not a random draw from a population, dispersal propensity being conditional on individual phenotypic traits and local contexts. This non-randomness consequently results in phenotypic differences between dispersers and non-dispersers and, in the context of biological invasions, in an invasion front made of individuals with a biased phenotype. This bias of phenotypes at the front may subsequently modulate the strength of ecological effects of an invasive species on invaded communities. We recently demonstrated that more asocial mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), one of the 100 worst invasive species, disperse further, suggesting a sociability-biased invasion front. As behavioural types are related to the strength of interspecific interactions, an invasion by a biased subset of individuals should have important ecological implications for native communities. Here, we tested the impact of phenotypic biases in dispersing individuals (relative to non-dispersers) on prey communities in experimental mesocosms. We show that dispersers reduce prey abundance more than do non-dispersers during the first 4 weeks after introduction, and that the disperser's social types are likely drivers of these differences. These differences in prey communities disappeared after 8 weeks suggesting prey community resilience against predation in these mesocosm ecosystems. Consequently, we call for the integration of non-random dispersal, dispersal syndromes and more generally intraspecific variation into studies predicting the impacts of invasions.

International audience; Species interactions are central in predicting the impairment of biodiversity with climate change. Trophic interactions may be altered through climate-dependent changes in either predator food preferences or prey communities. Yet, climate change impacts on predator diets remain surprisingly poorly understood. We experimentally studied the consequences of 2°C-warmer climatic conditions on the trophic niche of a generalist lizard predator. We used a system of semi-natural mesocosms housing a variety of invertebrate species and in which climatic conditions were manipulated. Lizards in warmer climatic conditions ate a greater predatory to phytophagous invertebrate ratio and had smaller individual dietary breadths. These shifts mainly arose from direct impacts of climate on lizard diets rather than from changes in prey communities. Dietary changes were associated with negative changes in fitness-related traits (body condition, gut microbiota) and survival. We demonstrate that climate change alters trophic interactions through top-predator dietary shifts which might disrupt eco-evolutionary dynamics.

International audience; Climate change is now considered as the greatest threat to biodiversity and ecological networks, but its impacts on the bacterial communities associated with plant or animals remain largely unknown. Here, we studied the consequences of climate warming on gut bacterial communities of an ectotherm, the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), using a semi-natural experimental approach. We found that +2/3°C warmer climates cause a 34% loss of populations' microbiota diversity, with possible negative consequences for host survival.

Phenotypic variability is increasingly assessed through functional response and effect traits, which provide a mechanistic framework for investigating how an organism responds to varying ecological factors and how these responses affect ecosystem functioning. Covariation between response and effect traits has been poorly examined at the intraspecific level, thus hampering progress in understanding how phenotypic variability alters the role of organisms in ecosystems. Using a multi-trait approach and a nine-month longitudinal monitoring of individual red-swamp crayfish ( Procambarus clarkii ), we demonstrated that most of the measured response and effect traits were partially stable during the ontogeny of individuals. Suites of response and effect traits were associated with a response syndrome and an effect syndrome, respectively, which were correlated to form a functional syndrome. Using a bioenergetic model, we predicted that differences in the response syndrome composition of hypothetical populations had important ecological effects on a key ecosystem process (i.e. whole-lake litter decomposition) to a level similar to those induced by doubling population size. Demonstrating the existence of a functional syndrome is likely to improve our understanding of the ecological impacts of phenotypic variation among individuals in wild populations across levels of biological organization, and the linkage between ecosystem and evolutionary ecology.

Habitat fragmentation, an important element of current global change, has profound repercussions on population and species extinction. Landscape fragmentation reduces individual movements between patches (i.e. dispersal) while such movements connecting patches enhance the persistence of metapopulations and metacommunities. Through the recognition of non-random movements, dispersal has recently been recognized as a highly complex process. This complexity likely changes the predictions on the evolution of dispersal in spatially structured populations and communities. In this article, we emphasize the effects of fragmentation on the evolution of non-random dispersal. Habitat fragmentation may shape local and global selective pressures acting on a large array of phenotypic traits known to covary with dispersal behaviors. On top of changes in dispersal propensity, habitat fragmentation could therefore modify dispersal syndromes (i.e. dispersers’ phenotypic specializations). Habitat fragmentation often leads to spatial structuring of local conditions and consequently may lead to the evolution of different dispersal syndromes at the landscape scale. By neglecting impacts on dispersal syndromes, we might underestimate the impacts of fragmentation on a crucial biodiversity level for metapopulation and metacommunity functioning. We highlight a set of priorities for future empirical and theoretical work that together would provide the understanding of eco-evolutionary dynamics of dispersal syndromes required for improving our ability to predict and manage spatially structured populations and communities. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Dispersal of organisms generates gene flow between populations. Identifying factors that influence dispersal will help predict how species will cope with rapid environmental change. We developed an innovative infrastructure, the Metatron, composed of 48 interconnected patches, designed for the study of terrestrial organism movement as a model for dispersal. Corridors between patches can be flexibly open or closed. Temperature, humidity and illuminance can be independently controlled within each patch. The modularity and adaptability of the Metatron provide the opportunity for robust experimental design for the study of 'meta-systems'. We describe a pilot experiment on populations of the butterfly Pieris brassicae and the lizard Zootoca vivipara in the Metatron. Both species survived and showed both disperser and resident phenotypes. The Metatron offers the opportunity to test theoretical models in spatial ecology.

Ecology Letters (2012) Abstract Interspecific trait variation has long served as a conceptual foundation for our understanding of ecological patterns and dynamics. In particular, ecologists recognise the important role that animal behaviour plays in shaping ecological processes. An emerging area of interest in animal behaviour, the study of behavioural syndromes (animal personalities) considers how limited behavioural plasticity, as well as behavioural correlations affects an individual’s fitness in diverse ecological contexts. In this article we explore how insights from the concept and study of behavioural syndromes provide fresh understanding of major issues in population ecology. We identify several general mechanisms for how population ecology phenomena can be influenced by a species or population’s average behavioural type, by within-species variation in behavioural type, or by behavioural correlations across time or across ecological contexts. We note, in particular, the importance of behavioural type-dependent dispersal in spatial ecology. We then review recent literature and provide new syntheses for how these general mechanisms produce novel insights on five major issues in population ecology: (1) limits to species’ distribution and abundance; (2) species interactions; (3) population dynamics; (4) relative responses to human-induced rapid environmental change; and (5) ecological invasions.

Summary 1. Although ecologists commonly categorize species in terms of their functional roles, function diversity occurring at the level of the individual is often dismissed. 2. Multi-female colonies of the spider Anelosimus studiosus serve as habitat for a myriad of arthropods, and colony members display notably polymorphic behavioural tendencies: females exhibit either an ‘aggressive’ or ‘docile’ behavioural phenotype. 3. We manipulated the phenotypic composition of colonies (100% aggressive, 50% aggressive and 50% docile, 100% docile) and tested its effects on species interactions between A. studiosus and its web associates, and among the web associates themselves. 4. We found that the phenotypic composition of A. studiosus colonies significantly impacted interactions within their web. In colonies of all aggressive females, the relationship between A. studiosus (−) and its web associates (+) was exploitative and web associates negative impacted each other’s performance. In colonies of all docile females, the relationship between A. studiosus (+) and its web associates (+) was facilitative and web associates positively influenced each other’s performance. Colonies of mixed phenotype had intermediate interactions. 5. Our data suggest that (i) the mixture of behavioural trait variants within groups can mediate the nature of both direct and indirect species interactions, and (ii) community structure can affect which social group compositions enjoy highest fitness.

Stressful events typically induce glucocorticoid production that suppresses unnecessary physiological and behavioural functions. The glucocorticoid production also temporally activates alternative behavioural and physiological pathways. These responses are generally adaptive changes to avoid the negative effects of stressors. However, under low food availability, these behavioural and physiological modifications might lead to energetic costs. We therefore predict that these responses should not be activated when there are energetic constraints (e.g., low food availability). We experimentally tested whether food deprivation modifies corticosterone-induced behavioural and physiological responses in captive male common lizards. We measured corticosterone-induced responses in terms of body mass, metabolic rate, activity level and basking behaviour. We found that corticosterone-induced various behavioural and physiological responses which were dependent on food availability. Well-fed lizards treated with corticosterone were active earlier, and increased their basking behaviour. These behavioural modifications did not occur in food-deprived lizards. This inactivation of stress-related behavioural changes probably allows the lizard to save energy.

There is accumulating evidence that individuals leave their natal area and select a breeding habitat non-randomly by relying upon information about their natal and future breeding environments. This variation in dispersal is not only based on external information (condition dependence) but also depends upon the internal state of individuals (phenotype dependence). As a consequence, not all dispersers are of the same quality or search for the same habitats. In addition, the individual's state is characterized by morphological, physiological or behavioural attributes that might themselves serve as a cue altering the habitat choice of conspecifics. These combined effects of internal and external information have the potential to generate complex movement patterns and could influence population dynamics and colonization processes. Here, we highlight three particular processes that link condition-dependent dispersal, phenotype-dependent dispersal and habitat choice strategies: (1) the relationship between the cause of departure and the dispersers' phenotype; (2) the relationship between the cause of departure and the settlement behaviour and (3) the concept of informed dispersal, where individuals gather and transfer information before and during their movements through the landscape. We review the empirical evidence for these processes with a special emphasis on vertebrate and arthropod model systems, and present case studies that have quantified the impacts of these processes on spatially structured population dynamics. We also discuss recent literature providing strong evidence that individual variation in dispersal has an important impact on both reinforcement and colonization success and therefore must be taken into account when predicting ecological responses to global warming and habitat fragmentation.

International audience

Dispersal barriers have demographic, evolutionary, and ecosystem-wide consequences. With ongoing changes in the environment, some dispersal bar riers will likely disappear while new ones will appear, and it is crucial to understand these dynamics to forecast species’ distributions and adaptive potential. Here we review recent literature on the ecological and evolutionary aspects of dispersal to highlight key dynamics of dispersal barriers in the face of global change. After defining dispersal barriers, we explain that a better understanding of their dynamics requires identifying the barrier types that are most susceptible to change and predicting species’ responses. This knowledge is a prerequisite for designing management strategies to increase or reduce connectivity, and maintain adaptive potential. Our intent is to motivate researchers to explicitly consider dispersal barriers in order to better forecast the dynamics of species and ecosystems subject to global change.

Both intra- and inter-sexual selection may crucially determine a male’s fitness. Their interplay, which has rarely been experimentally investigated, determines a male’s optimal reproductive strategy and thus is of fundamental importance to the understanding of a male’s behaviour. Here we investigated the relative importance of intra- and inter-sexual selection for male fitness in the common lizard. We investigated which male traits predict a male’s access to reproduction allowing for both selective pressures and comparing it with a staged mating experiment excluding all types of intra-sexual selection. We found that qualitatively better males were more likely to reproduce and that sexual selection was two times stronger when allowing for both selective pressures, suggesting that inter- and intra-sexual selection determines male fitness and confirming the existence of multi-factorial sexual selection. Consequently, to optimize fitness, males should trade their investment between the traits, which are important for inter- and intra-sexual selection.

International audience; Spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of phenotypes among populations is of major importance for species evolution and ecosystem functioning. Dispersal has long been assumed to homogenise populations in structured landscapes by generating maladapted gene flows, making spatial heterogeneity of phenotypes traditionally considered resulting from local adaptation or plasticity. However, there is accumulating evidence that individuals, instead of dispersing randomly in the landscapes, adjust their dispersal decisions according to their phenotype and the environmental conditions. Specifically, individuals might move in the landscape to find and settle in the environmental conditions that best match their phenotype, therefore maximizing their fitness, a hypothesis named habitat matching. Although habitat matching and associated non-random gene flows can produce spatial phenotypic heterogeneity, their potential consequences for metapopulation and metacommunity functioning are still poorly understood. Here, we discuss evidence for intra and interspecific drivers of habitat matching, and highlight the potential consequences of this process for metapopulation and metacommunity functioning. We conclude that habitat matching might deeply affect the eco-evolutionary dynamics of meta-systems, pointing out the need for further empirical and theoretical research on its incidence and implications for species and communities evolution under environmental changes.

Sex allocation theory predicts that facultative maternal investment in the rare sex should be favoured by natural selection when breeders experience predictable variation in adult sex ratios (ASRs). We found significant spatial and predictable interannual changes in local ASRs within a natural population of the common lizard where the mean ASR is female-biased, thus validating the key assumptions of adaptive sex ratio models. We tested for facultative maternal investment in the rare sex during and after an experimental perturbation of the ASR by creating populations with female-biased or male-biased ASR. Mothers did not adjust their clutch sex ratio during or after the ASR perturbation, but produced sons with a higher body condition in male-biased populations. However, this differential sex allocation did not result in growth or survival differences in offspring. Our results thus contradict the predictions of adaptive models and challenge the idea that facultative investment in the rare sex might be a mechanism regulating the population sex ratio.

International audience; The way an individual reacts to the risk of predation or disturbance may have important consequences for its immediate and future survival. Risk is likely perceived differently by individuals in relation to among-individual differences in correlated behavioral traits, that is, syndromes or personalities. Given that animals can avoid the risk of predation/disturbance through modification of their habitat use, we might expect individuals of differing behavioral types to adopt contrasting tactics of habitat use when faced with risky or stressful situations. We studied the relationship between habitat use and among-individual variation in behavioral profile in a population of roe deer. We hypothesized that an individual's habitat use tactics should be related to their capacity to cope with risky situations. In particular, we predicted that more reactive (risk-averse) roe deer, with relatively high behavioral response and high body temperature at capture, long flight distances and which were more vigilant during feeding, should use riskier open habitat less, particularly when risk is high. We found that although the use of open habitat during the day was negatively correlated with the indices of reactivity at capture, it was also positively correlated with indices of reactivity while foraging in open habitat. Furthermore, most of the behavioral parameters we measured were intercorrelated and moderately repeatable, potentially indexing personality traits. We conclude that there is substantial interindividual variability in how individuals manage risky situations which imposes constraints on how they are able to exploit high-risk habitats, suggesting the existence of a risk management syndrome in this large herbivore.

International audience; De nombreuses invasions biologiques induisent des perturbations écologiques qui se propagent à tous les niveaux d'organisation biologique au sein des écosystèmes receveurs (Cucherousset & Olden, 2011 ; Vilà et al., 2011). Néanmoins, même si les espèces introduites constituent un facteur souvent associé à une érosion de la biodiversité, il reste difficile de déterminer si elles constituent la cause directe de cette érosion, ou si d'autres perturbations d'origine anthropique associées aux changements globaux (par exemple : destruction des habitats, fragmentation, eutrophisation, pollution, surexploitation, etc.) en sont la cause directe. Dans ce second cas, l'installation et le développement des populations d'espèces introduites pourraient être facilités par ces perturbations multiples, la présence d'espèces introduites n'étant alors que la résultante de ces perturbations. Ainsi, il apparaît primordial de déterminer si les espèces introduites sont des 'passagers' des changements globaux, accompagnatrices passives des modifications environnementales causées par l'homme ou si, au contraire, elles en sont des acteurs authentiques agissant directement sur les écosystèmes receveurs (MacDougall & Turkington, 2005). Ces deux hypothèses ne se résument pas à une simple opposition dichotomique, les espèces pouvant jouer alternativement chaque rôle au cours du temps. En effet, des espèces introduites qui profitent initialement de changements écosystémiques pour s'installer, peuvent, par leur persistance, accentuer à plus long terme les effets écologiques d'autres perturbations anthropiques. Traditionnellement, la plupart des études portant sur les conséquences écologiques des invasions biologiques se concentraient sur leurs impacts directs à des niveaux d'organisation biologique les plus bas, c'est-à-dire aux niveaux génétiques, individuels et populationnels. Ces travaux ont notamment permis de fournir de nombreux exemples d'impacts écologiques, parfois inattendus, des espèces invasives issues de la plupart des groupes taxinomiques et dans tous les écosystèmes à travers le globe. Un nombre croissant d'études porte désormais sur les impacts écologiques des invasions biologiques à des niveaux d'organisation biologique plus élevés, i.e. les communautés, les réseaux trophiques et les écosystèmes. Ces travaux ont d'ailleurs permis de mettre en évidence la complexité des interactions biotiques nouvellement mises en place entre espèces natives et introduites et leurs conséquences en cascades, parfois difficiles à prévoir, sur les réseaux trophiques et le fonctionnement des écosystèmes. Il est désormais avéré que les invasions biologiques peuvent induire des modifications structurelles dans les communautés, en modifiant notamment la diversité taxinomique. L'échelle

International audience; Mate choice is known as an important behavior allowing females to choose the best mate to increase their reproductive success. To estimate male quality, females can use multiple traits. Among those, recent studies have shown that male personality traits could play an important role in mate choice as they are often linked to major life-history traits and can be heritable. However, because the relationships between life-history traits and personality traits are context dependent, females are expected to choose male personality types according to the mating context. In this study on common lizards (Zootoca vivipara), we examined the role of personality traits in female mate choice and mating behavior after experimentally manipulating the predation risk experienced by females prior to mating. We showed that females not exposed to predator cues preferred males with high-activity level, a heritable behavior. When females are exposed to predator cues prior to mating, this preference was reversed. High-activity levels generally increase competitive abilities and survival but could be detrimental when predators are present. Our results suggest that female common lizards choose males based on their personality types and can modify their preferences according to their environmental context in order to produce offspring that are better adapted to their environment.

While the ecological impacts of invasive species have been demonstrated for many taxonomic groups, the potential effects of behavioural variation among non-native individuals (i.e. personality) on these impacts have been largely overlooked. This is despite the fact that recent studies have demonstrated that, by nature, the three first stages of biological invasions (i.e. transport, establishment and spread) can lead to personality-biased populations. Freshwater ecosystems provide a unique oppor- tunity to investigate this issue, notably because the ecological impacts of non-native species have been extensively documented and because animal personality has been widely studied using freshwater model species. Here, we aim at developing some per- spectives on the potential effects of animal personality on the ecological impacts of freshwater non-native species across levels of biological organizations. At the individual level, personality types have been demonstrated to affect the physiolo- gy, metabolism, life history traits and fitness of individuals. We used these effects to discuss how they could subsequently impact invaded popula- tions and, in turn, recipient communities. We also discussed how these might translate into changes in the structure of food webs and the functioning of invaded ecosystems. Finally we discussed how these perspectives could interact with the management of invasive species (Current Zoology 60 (3): 417-427, 2014). Keywords Biological invasions, Behavioural syndromes, Aquatic ecosystems, Temperaments, Behavioural types, Cascading effects