DOI: 10.5061/dryad.nk3qt
title: Data from: Integrating the pace-of-life syndrome across species, sexes and individuals: covariation of life history and personality under pesticide exposure

description: The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis integrates covariation of
 life-history traits along a fast–slow continuum and covariation of
 behavioural traits along a proactive–reactive personality continuum. Few
 studies have investigated these predicted life-history/personality
 associations among species and between sexes. Furthermore, whether and how
 contaminants interfere with POLS patterns remains unexplored. We tested
 for covariation patterns in life history and in behaviour, and for
 life-history/personality covariation among species, among individuals
 within species and between sexes. Moreover, we investigated whether
 pesticide exposure affects covariation between life history and behaviour
 and whether species and sexes with a faster POLS strategy have a higher
 sensitivity to pesticides. We reared larvae of four species of Ischnura
 damselflies in a common garden experiment with an insecticide treatment
 (chlorpyrifos absent/present) in the final instar. We measured four
 life-history traits (larval growth rate during the pesticide treatment,
 larval development time, adult mass and life span) and two behavioural
 traits (larval feeding activity and boldness, each before and after the
 pesticide treatment). At the individual level, life-history traits and
 behavioural traits aligned along a fast–slow and a proactive–reactive
 continuum, respectively. Species-specific differences in life history,
 with fast-lived species having a faster larval growth and development, a
 lower mass at emergence and a shorter life span, suggested that time
 constraints in the larval stage were predictably driving life-history
 evolution both in the larval stage and across metamorphosis in the adult
 stage. Across species, females were consistently more slow-lived than
 males, reflecting that a large body size and a long life span are
 generally more important for females. In contrast to the POLS hypothesis,
 there was only little evidence for the expected positive coupling between
 life-history pace and proactivity. Pesticide exposure decreased larval
 growth rate and affected life-history/personality covariation in the most
 fast-lived species. Our study supports the existence of life-history and
 behavioural continua with limited support for life-history/personality
 covariation. Variation in digestive physiology may explain this decoupling
 of life history and behaviour and provide valuable mechanistic insights to
 understand and predict the occurrence of life-history/personality
 covariation patterns.
description: Debecker et al 2016 JAE
 repository dataLife-history and
 behavioural data from larvae of four Ischnura species reared under common
 garden conditions in the laboratory from the egg stage. During the final
 instar, larvae got an 8-day pesticide treatment (2 µg/l chlorpyrifos
 present/absent). Behavioural data (feeding activity(=projections) and
 latency time after a simulated predator attack) were collected just before
 the start en after the end of the pesticide treatment. See manuscript and
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