Data from: Correlational selection on personality and social plasticity: morphology and social context determine behavioural effects on mating success

Despite a central line of research aimed at quantifying relationships between mating success and sexually dimorphic traits (e.g., ornaments), individual variation in sexually selected traits often explains only a modest portion of the variation in mating success. Another line of research suggests that a significant portion of the variation in mating success observed in animal populations could be explained by correlational selection, where the fitness advantage of a given trait depends on other components of an individual's phenotype and/or its environment. We tested the hypothesis that interactions between multiple traits within an individual (phenotype dependence) or between an individual's phenotype and its social environment (context dependence) can select for individual differences in behaviour (i.e., personality) and social plasticity. To quantify the importance of phenotype- and context-dependent selection on mating success, we repeatedly measured the behaviour, social environment and mating success of about 300 male stream water striders, Aquarius remigis. Rather than explaining individual differences in long-term mating success, we instead quantified how the combination of a male's phenotype interacted with the immediate social context to explain variation in hour-by-hour mating decisions. We suggest that this analysis captures more of the mechanisms leading to differences in mating success. Males differed consistently in activity, aggressiveness and social plasticity. The mating advantage of these behavioural traits depended on male morphology and varied with the number of rival males in the pool, suggesting mechanisms selecting for consistent differences in behaviour and social plasticity. Accounting for phenotype and context dependence improved the amount of variation in male mating success we explained statistically by 30–274%. Our analysis of the determinants of male mating success provides important insights into the evolutionary forces that shape phenotypic variation. In particular, our results suggest that sexual selection is likely to favour individual differences in behaviour, social plasticity (i.e., individuals adjusting their behaviour), niche preference (i.e., individuals dispersing to particular social conditions) or social niche construction (i.e., individuals modifying the social environment). The true effect of sexual traits can only be understood in interaction with the individual's phenotype and environment.尽管学界已有诸多核心研究致力于量化交配成功率与性二态性状（如装饰性状）之间的关联，但性选择性状的个体差异通常仅能解释交配成功率变异的有限部分。 另有研究表明，动物种群中观测到的交配成功率变异，有相当一部分可通过相关选择得到解释——即某一性状的适合度优势，取决于个体表型的其他组成部分及其所处环境。我们针对如下假说开展了检验：个体内部多性状间的互作（表型依赖性），或是个体表型与其社会环境间的互作（情境依赖性），可通过选择塑造行为（即个性）与社会可塑性的个体差异。 为量化表型依赖性与情境依赖性选择对交配成功率的重要性，我们对约300只雄性溪流黾蝽（*Aquarius remigis*）的行为、社会环境及交配成功率进行了重复测定。本研究并未聚焦于解释长期交配成功率的个体差异，而是量化了雄性表型组合与即时社会情境的互作，如何解释逐小时交配决策的变异。我们认为，该分析能够更全面地揭示导致交配成功率差异的潜在机制。 雄性个体在活动水平、攻击性与社会可塑性方面均存在稳定差异。这些行为性状的交配优势，取决于雄性的形态特征，并随水潭内雄性竞争者的数量而变化，这表明存在可塑造行为与社会可塑性稳定个体差异的选择机制。在统计层面纳入表型与情境依赖性因素后，我们所解释的雄性交配成功率变异量提升了30%至274%。 我们针对雄性交配成功率决定因素的分析，为塑造表型变异的进化动力提供了重要见解。具体而言，我们的研究结果表明，性选择大概率会青睐以下个体差异：行为模式、社会可塑性（即个体调整自身行为的能力）、生态位偏好（即个体扩散至特定社会情境的倾向），或是社会生态位构建（即个体改造自身所处社会环境的行为）。只有结合个体表型与所处环境进行分析，才能真正理解性性状的实际效应。