Behavioral syndromes shape evolutionary trajectories via conserved genetic architecture

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, this potential for evolutionary
effects has not 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 for behav...