Behavioral syndromes shape evolutionary trajectories via conserved genetic architecture

Abstract

Behaviors are often correlated within broader syndromes, creating the potential for evolution in one behavior to drive evolutionary changes in other behaviors. Despite demonstrations that behavioral syndromes are common across taxa, whether this potential for evolutionary effects is realized has not yet been demonstrated. Here we show that populations of field crickets (Gryllus integer) exhibit a genetically conserved behavioral syndrome structure despite differences in average behaviors. We found that the distribution of genetic variation and genetic covariance among behavioral traits was consistent with genes and cellular mechanisms underpinning behavioral syndromes rather than correlated selection. Moreover, divergence among populations average behaviors was constrained by the genetically conserved behavioral syndrome. Our results demonstrate that a conserved genetic architecture linking behaviors has shaped the evolutionary trajectories of populations in disparate environments--illustrating an important way by which behavioral syndromes result in shared evolutionary fates.