Unravelling the causes and consequences of dispersal syndromes in a wild passerine

Evidence accumulates that dispersal is correlated with individual behavioural phenotype (‘dispersal syndrome’). The evolutionary causes and consequences of such covariation depend on the degree of plasticity vs inheritance of the traits, which requires challenging experiments to implement in mobile organisms. Here, we combine a forced dispersal experiment, natural colonisation and longitudinal data to establish if dispersal and aggression levels are integrated and to test their adaptive nature in pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca). We found that (forced) dispersers behaved more aggressively in their first breeding year after dispersal and decreased their aggression in following years. Strength of dispersal syndrome and direction of fecundity selection on aggression in newly colonised areas varied between years. We propose that the net benefits of aggression for dispersers increase under harsh conditions (e.g. low food abundance). This hypothesis now warrants further testing. Overall,...