Data from: Do personality and innovativeness influence competitive ability? An experimental test in the great tit

Competitive ability is a major determinant of fitness, yet why individuals
vary in their ability to compete for resources is often unclear. Rather
than simply reflecting inherent differences in the ability of individuals
to reach an assumed optimum behavior quality, empirical evidence suggests
that competitive ability may also reflect alternative strategies that
arise because of correlations with other behaviors, such as innovativeness
and personality. We examined experimentally how two behavioral traits -
exploration of a novel environment (an index of the reactive-proactive
personality axis) and performance in a novel lever pulling task (a measure
of innovativeness) - were related to the outcomes of dyadic contests
involving wild-caught great tits. Dyads were then allowed to compete
freely at a feeder before being exposed to a novel string-pulling task.
Although we found no significant relationship between exploration behavior
or innovativeness in isolation and competitiveness, individuals that were
less competitive were more likely to spontaneously perform the
string-pulling behavior during the dyadic trials, the first direct
experimental demonstration of competitive exclusion leading to innovation.
Our results support the hypothesis that innovations provide a means for
less competitive individuals to access resources in line with the
“necessity drives innovation hypothesis”, and we discuss the functional
significance of innovative behaviors in wild populations.