Data from: Maternal egg hormones in the mating context: the effect of pair personality

Animal personality traits emerge developmentally from the interaction of genetic and early environmental factors. Maternal hormones, such as androgens (testosterone, T and androstenedione, A4), transferred to embryos and egg yolks may simultaneously organize multiple behavioural and physiological traits. Whereas previous studies demonstrated an association between the mother's personality and yolk androgen levels, the independent effects of the male partner's personality and pair combination are unknown. We test this association using an ecological model species for personality research, the great tit (Parus major) using multiple approaches: 1) a wild population, 2) a randomly-mated captive population, and 3) an experimental study with (dis)assortatively mated pairs from lines selected for fast exploration/boldness or slow exploration/shyness. Egg androgen concentrations were associated with variation in female personality traits, and the experimental data suggested that this is independent of male personality: experimental females from slow-shy line tended to have higher egg T concentrations than females from the fast-bold line, with no effect of male personality. Shy females from the wild population had higher egg A4 concentration than bold females. However, in the correlative data yolk hormones were linked with male personality, as well as the interaction between female and male traits and yolk androgen levels: Male handling responsiveness correlated negatively with egg A4 concentration in wild birds. In randomly-mated birds, pairs that were mated assortatively for personality had lower egg T concentrations than disassortatively mated pairs. Given that egg androgens are known mediators of avian personality, our results suggest that maternal hormones might contribute to the heritability of personality, may be sensitive to the social context of mating, and act as key drivers of individual differences.动物的人格特质是在发育过程中，由遗传与早期环境因素的交互作用逐步形成的。母体激素，例如雄激素（androgens），包含睾酮（testosterone，T）与雄烯二酮（androstenedione，A4），经传递进入胚胎与卵黄后，可同时调控多种行为与生理特质。尽管已有研究证实母体人格与卵黄雄激素水平存在关联，但雄性伴侣的人格以及配对组合所产生的独立效应仍未明确。 本研究以人格研究的经典生态模式物种——大山雀（Parus major）为对象，采用三种研究方案验证上述关联：1）野生种群；2）随机交配的圈养种群；3）以经选育的快探索/大胆型或慢探索/羞怯型品系为亲本，进行（非）选型交配的实验研究。 卵黄雄激素浓度与雌性人格特质的变异存在显著关联，实验数据表明该关联不受雄性人格的影响：源自慢探索/羞怯品系的实验雌性个体，其卵内睾酮浓度往往高于快探索/大胆品系的雌性，且雄性人格未产生显著效应。野生种群中的羞怯雌性个体，其卵内雄烯二酮浓度显著高于大胆个体。不过，在相关性数据中，卵黄激素不仅与雄性人格相关，还与雌雄特质的交互作用以及卵黄雄激素水平存在关联：野生鸟类中，雄性的人工操控应激反应性与卵内雄烯二酮浓度呈负相关。在随机交配的个体中，按人格选型交配的配对组，其卵内睾酮浓度低于非选型交配的配对组。 鉴于卵黄雄激素已被证实为鸟类人格特质的调控介质，本研究结果表明，母体激素或可助力人格特质的遗传传递，且能响应交配的社会情境，进而成为个体间差异形成的关键驱动因素。