TY - JOUR T1 - The role of trade-offs and feedbacks in shaping integrated plasticity and behavioral correlations JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.07.26.453877 SP - 2021.07.26.453877 AU - Ned A. Dochtermann Y1 - 2023/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/01/24/2021.07.26.453877.abstract N2 - How behaviors vary among individuals and covary with other behaviors has been a major topic of interest over the last two decades. Unfortunately, proposed theoretical and conceptual frameworks explaining the seemingly ubiquitous observation of behavioral (co)variation have rarely successfully generalized. Two observations perhaps explain this failure: First, phenotypic correlations between behaviors are more strongly influenced by correlated and reversible plastic changes in behavior than by “behavioral syndromes”. Second, while trait correlations are frequently assumed to arise via trade-offs, the observed pattern of correlations is not consistent with simple pair-wise trade-offs. A possible resolution to the apparent inconsistency between observed correlations and a role for trade-offs is provided by state-behavior feedbacks. This is critical because the inconsistency between data and theory represents a major failure in our understanding of behavioral evolution. These two primary observations emphasize the importance of an increased research focus on correlated reversible plasticity in behavior—frequently estimated and then disregarded as within-individual covariances.LAY SUMMARY Correlations between behaviors are common but observed patterns of these correlations are, at least superficially, inconsistent with expectations of trade-offs. This mismatch is potentially resolved via feedbacks between behaviors and energy availability, suggesting important new research directions.DATA AND MODEL AVAILABILITY Model code, as well as the data associated with Figures 2 & 3, are available at github.com/DochtermannLab/FeedbacksModel. Both code and data will be made available at Dryad if accepted.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -