Few personality studies of zebra finches have taken into account the importance of the social environment of this highly social species, which is important as it may influence how personality is formed and maintained. Moreover, no work has yet studied zebra finch personality in the wild, to examine the role of fitness. I addressed these questions by first examining the relationship between sociality and well-established personality traits in captivity, such as exploratory behaviour and activity, along with examining the effects of personality on fitness in a captive aviary population. Secondly, I studies personality in the wild zebra finch for the first time.
Table of ContentsChapter One. General introduction -- Chapter Two. The social life of the zebra finch in the wild -- Chapter Three. Active but antisocial : exploration and activity is linked to social behaviour in a colonially breeding finch -- Chapter Four. Nestling activity levels during begging behaviour predict activity levels in adulthood -- Chapter Five. Personality in captivity : more exploratory males reproduce better -- Chapter Six. Personality in the wild zebra finch : exploration, sociality and reproduction -- Chapter Seven. General discussion.
NotesIncludes bibliographical references
Thesis by publication.
Awarding InstitutionMacquarie University
Degree TypeThesis PhD
DegreePhD, Macquarie University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Biological Sciences
Department, Centre or SchoolDepartment of Biological Sciences
Year of Award2014
Principal SupervisorSimon Griffith
Additional Supervisor 1Martin Whiting
Additional Supervisor 2Mylene M. Mariette
RightsCopyright Luke S.C. McCowan 2014.
Copyright disclaimer: http://mq.edu.au/library/copyright
Extent1 online resource (x, 213 pages colour illustrations)